The Writer’s Center welcomes 1455 to celebrate the launch of their Women Writers Anthology for a Q&A between 1455 Executive Director Sean Murphy and local author Hannah Grieco, followed by readings from the anthology.

FREE & open to the public. RSVP below.

About the Anthology

1455’s first Women Writers Anthology brings together original poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and hybrid work from women writers across the globe, each offering a unique perspective on identity, resilience, connection, and the complexities of modern life. As one of the inaugural titles from 1455 books, this collection reflects a commitment to accessibility, authenticity, and the enduring power of literary community. Find our more at 1455litarts.org/wwa/

Sean Murphy is the founder of the non-profit 1455 Literary Arts and directs the Center for Story at Shenandoah University. He is the author of four poetry collections—The Blackened Blues (2021), Rhapsodies in Blue (2023), Kinds of Blue (2024), and Red, White, and Blues (2026). The short fiction collection This Kind of Man published in 2024, and his memoir, Please Talk About Me When I’m Gone, won Memoir Magazine’s 2022 Memoir Prize. He has been nominated four times for the Pushcart Prize and twice for Best of the Net. Murphy also hosts the podcast and Substack Some Things Considered, where he interviews best-selling authors, acclaimed critics, and celebrated musicians. Find him at seanmurphy.net

Hannah Grieco is the author of First Kicking, Then Not, out now from Stanchion Books. She writes a literary column for Washington City Paper and teaches literature at Marymount University. Read more of her work in The Washington Post, Al Jazeera, Brevity, Craft, Poet Lore, Shenandoah, Fairy Tale Review, Wigleaf, The Offing, and more.

Mae Black is a Tennessee-born archivist and poet with degrees from Vanderbilt and the University of Louisville, where she studied Pan-African. Her work blends modernist, existential, and confessional traditions, exploring identity, alienation, and belonging with a raw, abstract voice.

Mary Kay Zuravleff is the award-winning author of American Ending, chosen for Oprah’s Spring Reading List. Earlier novels include Man Alive! (a Washington Post Notable Book), The Bowl Is Already Broken, and The Frequency of Souls, winner of the American Academy’s Rosenthal Award and the James Jones First Novel Award. She lives in Washington, DC. Published both in the anthology, The Overturning (Erratics Press, 2025), and reprinted in Gargoyle Online (Issue #12, 2025).

Christina Tudor is a writer living in Washington, D.C. Her fiction has been featured in CRAFT, SmokeLong Quarterly, matchbook, HAD, Flash Frog, The Citron Review, Best Small Fictions 2024, and more. Her debut chapbook, CALL MY BODY A CAUTIONARY TALE, will be published by Thirty West this October 2026. Follow her on social media @christinaltudor

Holly Karapetkova is Poet Laureate Emerita of Arlington, Virginia, and recipient of an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship for her work with young poets. Her third book of poems is Dear Empire from Gunpowder Press.

Caroline Bock is the author of THE OTHER BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE (Regal House Publishing, June 2026), young adult novels LIE and Before My Eyes (St. Martin’s Press), and the award-winning short story collection Carry Her Home (WWPH). Her short work appears in the Best Microfiction 2026 and many other literary journals. She is the co-president and prose editor at the Washington Writers’ Publishing House.

Sarah Trembath is on faculty in the American University Writing Studies Program and is executive director of AU’s Antiracist Research and Policy Center. She is widely published across indie presses and reviews books for the Washington Independent Review of Books. She is also a mom, Philadelphia Eagles fan, and social justice activist concerned about propaganda and the rise of the far-right. Her book of epistolary essays and poems—This Past Was Waiting for Me: A Chronicle at Quarter Century—was released by Lazuli Literary Group in May 2026.

Alyson Weinberg is the author of Bellow & Hiss, A New Women’s Voices Chapbook Competition finalist (Finishing Line Press), award-winning poet Alyson Gold Weinberg’s work has been featured in Quarter After Eight, December, ONE ART, Halfway Down the Stairs, Silver Birch Press, and Yellow Arrow, among others.

If you need an accommodation for this event, please contact us at access@writer.org. We will attempt to fulfill all requests, but advance notice is necessary to arrange for some accessibility services.

Enjoying our free events? Help us offer more programs to support writers with a $10 donation »