In an event co-sponsored by The Writer’s Center, 10 DMV-area Finishing Line Press authors will read selections from their books. Books will also be available for purchase from the authors.
Free and open to the public, limited space, registration required. Please view and agree to [link id=’2132036′ text=’COVID Policies’] before attending our live events.
Please note that the reading will take place in-person at The Writer’s Center. In the event that is not possible, we will hold the reading on Zoom, with the link available the week of the reading.
Featured Readers
Luther Jett
Everyone Disappears
W. Luther Jett is a native of Montgomery County, Maryland and a retired special educator. His poetry has been published in numerous journals as well as several anthologies. He is the author of four poetry chapbooks: “Not Quite: Poems Written in Search of My Father”, (Finishing Line Press, 2015), and “Our Situation”, (Prolific Press, 2018), “Everyone Disappears” (Finishing Line Press, 2020), and “Little Wars” (Kelsay Books, 2021).
Michael H. Levin
Falcons
Michael H. Levin is a lawyer, solar-energy developer and writer based in Washington DC. His work has appeared on stage and in three collections plus numerous anthologies and periodicals, and has received poetry and feature journalism awards. He recently co-authored a full-length nonfiction book, A Border Town in Poland: A Twentieth Century Memoir (2021). See michaellevinpoetry.com; twopianosplayingforlife.org.
Lucinda Marshall
Inheritance Of Aging Self
Lucinda Marshall is the author of Inheritance Of Aging Self (Finishing Line Press, 2021). She lives in Gaithersburg, MD where she is the Founder of DiVerse Gaithersburg Poetry Reading and helped create the Local Poets collection at Quince Orchard Library. Marshall is an accomplished mixed media and fabric artist. More information about her work writing and art can be found at LucindaMarshall.com.
Leeya Mehta
A story of THE WORLD before the FENCE
Leeya Mehta is a prize-winning poet, fiction writer and essayist. She writes a column on the literary life, The Company We Keep and is an editor with Plume Poetry, where she features poets from Maine to Bombay. Poems are forthcoming in a Red Hen Press anthology and Penguin’s anthology, Extinction Violin. You can find more on her work at leeyamehta.com.
Stewart Moss
For Those Whose Lives Have Seen Themselves: Poems
Stewart Moss has taught literature and creative writing in both the USA and abroad; Scotland, Greece, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, and Nepal are among the countries in which he has lived and worked. His poems and essays have been published in journals and books. He has also been featured in “The Poet and the Poem” podcasts at The Library of Congress. A native of Boston, MA, he resides in Annapolis, MD.
Mary K O’Melveny
MERGING STAR HYPOTHESES
Mary K O’Melveny’s poetry collection MERGING STAR HYPOTHESES (Finishing Line Press 2020) was a semi-finalist for the 2019 Washington Prize sponsored by The Word Works. She is also the author of “A Woman of a Certain Age” (FLP 2018) and “Dispatches From The Memory Care Museum” (Kelsay Books 2021), among other works.
Maya Ribault
Hôtel de la Providence
Maya Ribault’s poetry has appeared in Agni, Bloodroot, Cloudbank, North American Review, Speak, The New Yorker, and TSR Online. Her chapbook, Hôtel de la Providence, was released by Finishing Line Press in 2020. She served as the 2020-2021 writer in residence at St. Albans School and is a graduate of the Bennington Writing Seminars.
Ellen Sazzman
The Shomer
Ellen Sazzman has recently been published in Another Chicago, Poetry South, PANK, Ekphrastic Review, WSQ, Sow’s Ear, Lilith, Beltway Quarterly, and CALYX, among others. She received an honorable mention in the 2019 Ginsberg contest, was shortlisted for the 2018 O’Donoghue Prize, and won first place in Poetica’s 2016 Rosenberg competition. She was also a 2012 Pushcart Prize nominee. The Shomer was a finalist for the Blue Lynx Prize and a semifinalist for the Codhill Award.
Mary M. Sesso
The Open Window
Mary Sesso is a retired nurse who volunteers at the National Children’s Center. She’s a member of The Writer’s Center and her poems have appeared in numerous journals. She’s the author of The Open Window (FLP 2018), and her new chapbook, Her Hair Plays With Fire, will be published by FLP in 2022.
Lee Woodman
Homescapes
Lee Woodman won the 2020 William Meredith Prize for Poetry. Her poetry collections, Mindscapes, Poets’ Choice Publishing, Homescapes, Finishing Line Press, were published in 2020 and Lifescapes by Kelsay Books in 2021. Artscapes is upcoming from Shanti Arts.