Red Emma’s

Elmaz Abinader will read from her new collection of poetry, This House, My Bones. Chosen as the 2014 Editor’s Selection in Poetry at Willow Books/Aquarius Press, This House, My Bones has been praised by poet Patricia Smith as "a gorgeously scripted chronicle that probes the collective heart and the countries we inhabit when we dare to speak out loud."  Elmaz is an award-winning author, poet, and playwright whose works are inspired by the dislocation of her parents from Lebanon to the US, as well as dislocations, occupations, and disenfranchisement of other people in the Arab World and Diaspora.  Elmaz will be joined by VONA Voices alumni and local authors Willona Sloan and Derrick Weston Brown who will each perform a short reading.  Willona M. Sloan has published non-fiction, fiction and poetry in many publications, including Publishers Weekly and The University of Virginia magazine. She has released the digital collection Come to Our Show: Punk Show Flyers from D.C. to Down Under, and she frequently hosts literary events and workshops.  Derrick Weston Brown is the founding Poet-In-Residence of Busboys and Poets. His work has been published in many journals including The Drunken Boat and Tidal Basin Review; he was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2012; and he teaches Creative Writing to high school and middle school students in D.C.