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National Poetry Month Kickoff Event

  • Solid State Books 600 H Street Northeast Washington, DC, 20002 United States (map)

Join us in person on the rooftop of the Apollo building for an evening of poetry to celebrate this year’s national poetry month! This event is IN PERSON and is FREE FOR ALL TO ATTEND, please RSVP here

National Poetry Month was launched by the Academy of American Poets in April 1996. National Poetry Month reminds the public that poets have an integral role to play in our culture and that poetry matters. Over the years, it has become the largest literary celebration in the world, with tens of millions of readers, students, K–12 teachers, librarians, booksellers, literary events curators, publishers, families, and—of course—poets, marking poetry's important place in our lives. It will be an evening of reading, writing and celebrating!

About the Poets:

Klecko is Winner of a 2020 Midwest Book Award for Hitman-Baker-Casketmaker: Aftermath of an American's Clash with ICE, Klecko is also the author of Lincolnland and 3 a.m. Austin Texas. He is a 40+ year master bread baker from St. Paul, Minnesota. Currently, Klecko and the Russian Supermodel live catty-corner from where F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote This Side of Paradise.

Phil Goldstein is a poet, journalist, and senior editor for a content marketing agency.  How to Bury a Boy at Sea is his debut poetry collection, available now from Stillhouse Press. His poetry has been nominated for a Best of the Net award and has appeared in The Laurel ReviewMoist Poetry JournalRust + Moth, Two Peach, 2River ViewAwakened Voices, The Indianapolis Review and elsewhere. Phil and his wife, Jenny, live in Alexandria, Virginia, with their dog Brenna and cats Grady and Princess.




Dwayne Lawson-Brown (@CrochetKingpin) is a DC native poet, activist, and CEO of Crochet Kingpin LLC. With hosting credits for Spit Dat DC, Floetic Fridays, Flashband DC, Busboys and Poets 450K and featured readings at every Busboys and Poets location, SAGAfest Iceland, Spirits and Lyrics NYC and Manassas, Woolly Mammoth Theater, and the C2EA “We Can End AIDS” march -- Dwayne has proven there's a lot to be said. Dwayne's work to increase HIV awareness through spoken-word garnered recognition from the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, BBCAmerica, the Discovery Channel, and The Washington Post. Recently, Dwayne was named "DMV Male Poet of The Year" at the 2021 DMV Renaissance Awards. *Additional Note* Dwayne doesn't like writing bios. 

Teri Ellen Cross Davis is the author of a more perfect Union, awarded the 2019 Journal/Charles B. Wheeler Poetry Prize and Haint, awarded the 2017 Ohioana Book Award for Poetry. She is the winner of the Poetry Society of America's 2020 Robert H. Winner Memorial Award. In 2022, she was one of two recipients of the Maryland State Arts Council state-wide award. She has received fellowships and scholarships to Cave Canem, the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, Hedgebrook, Community of Writers Poetry Workshop, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, the Hermitage Artist Retreat, and the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. She is the O.B. Hardison Poetry Series Curator and Poetry Programs manager for the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington D.C.

Earlier Event: March 31
Kate Folk: OUT THERE
Later Event: April 14
Dawn Winter: Sedating Elaine