Please join us on January 12th, 2-4 pm, when our featured poets will be Ann Bracken, Tara Campbell, and Julie Bloss Kelsey. The reading will be at the Quince Orchard Library (15831 Quince Orchard Rd./Gaithersburg 20878) and is hosted by Lucinda Marshall and will be followed by an Open Mic. Please feel free to bring a poem that you have written to share (one page maximum).
Ann Bracken, an activist with a pen, has authored two poetry collections, No Barking in the Hallways: Poems from the Classroom and The Altar of Innocence, serves as a contributing editor for Little Patuxent Review, and co-facilitates the Wilde Readings Poetry Series. Her poetry, essays, and interviews have appeared in anthologies and journals, including Bared: Contemporary Poetry & Art on Bras & Breasts, Fledgling Rag, and Gargoyle. Ann’s poetry has garnered two Pushcart Prize nominations and her advocacy work centers around arts-based interventions for mental health, education, and prison reform.
Tara Campbell is a writer, teacher, Kimbilio Fellow, and fiction editor at Barrelhouse. Prior publication credits include SmokeLong Quarterly, Masters Review, Jellyfish Review, Booth, and Strange Horizons. She’s also the author of a novel, TreeVolution, and two collections, Circe’s Bicycle and Midnight at the Organporium. She received her MFA from American University in 2019.
Julie Bloss Kelsey is a short-form poet based in Germantown, Maryland, best known for her haiku, scifaiku, and tanka. Her poetry has appeared in Rattle, Jersey Devil Press, Frogpond, The Heron’s Nest, Scifaikuest, Star*Line, among others. In 2011, she won the Dwarf Stars Award for one of her science fiction haiku. She won the Marlene Mountain Memorial Haiku Contest in 2018 and placed first in Sonic Boom’s Fifth Annual Senryu Contest in 2019. Julie is married and has three children, one dog, and three fish. Connect with her on Twitter (@MamaJoules) and Instagram (@julieblosskelsey).
DiVerse Gaithersburg 