Looking back, and looking around now
As the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence nears, what better time for an exploration of its principal author’s moral core, as disclosed by his private life? Sally & Tom shines the spotlight most intensively on the heart and soul of Sally Hemings, the enslaved woman who was 14 at the start of her sexual relationship with Thomas Jefferson. By also weaving in a compelling depiction of Jefferson’s choices reverberating into the modern day, this is a play perfectly suited for the present moment.
“O beware my lord of jealousy. It is the green-eyed monster”
The Shakespeare Theatre’s current production presents us with a very different Othello than we might expect. The set is simple—no ducal palace or vast battlefield—and intimate, all the better to allow the audience to follow Iago’s intricate schemes …
Calling all classic film lovers
Caroline Bock’s first novel for adults, The Other Beautiful People (Regal House 2026), is rich, layered, intellectually complex, and, yes, beautiful. Equal parts domestic fiction and workplace drama, the novel centers on Amy Greene, a television executive, wife, mother, and film aficionado whose life is combusting.
Poems on family, deep friendship, and . . . Italy
The language in this fine collection is mostly straightforward, “daily” language, skillfully woven to have the rhythm, subtlety, and imagery of poetry. Many of the poems themselves reflect dailiness—finding acorns in her son’s pocket after school, conjuring up delights with a seven-year-old during lockdown. Yet descriptions of daily moments widen into deeper explorations.
“You forget I can regrow my fangs, charmer”
The vagaries of love—romantic, sexual, or platonic—are an eternal theme for poetry, but Katherine Gekker manages to bring fresh observations to the subject in her second collection, O My Charmer. By turns witty and angry, contented and fearful, the poems in this book are compelling as they chart various phases of a sometimes turbulent relationship. It’s good to have new work from this fine poet.
When Respecting Your Elders Isn’t Quite Right
Chitra, of the eponymous Chitra Demands to Go Home is neither soft, wise, nor charmingly grumpy. I can’t say I love her for it—her personality is prickly without much to balance it out—but in this debut novel from Rajendrani Mukhopadhyay, I found myself loving the story precisely because Chitra is a character to chafe against.
America is a mother
Multiple traditions, immigrant roots, the hard labor of making a life in the United States, the joys and sorrows of family life: Agusto-Cox treats all of these and more in this remarkable book. For anyone who has followed Serena’s career, it is extremely gratifying to see her work come to fruition in this excellent collection.
Blending the search for identity with the search for home
An amalgam is a mixture or blending of disparate elements to create something new. It’s fitting that Maria Karametou’s debut novel The Amalgam (Vine Leaves, 2026) is a book that is many things at once. It’s an immigrant story, a story of place and belonging, a family story. But at its core, The Amalgam is a story of a woman searching for herself. For identity.
Poems of the Unexpected—and the Struggle to Connect
Two words I’d use to describe the poems in this collection—their language and imagery—are muscular and unexpected. By muscular I mean the words and images aren’t just substantial, they flex and push against you as you read; a reader feels pulled into grappling with them. Unexpected images and metaphors—that sometimes don’t initially seem to fit the tone—and unusual words surface a lot. This makes the reading experience satisfying work. It doesn’t shut the reader out, but demands something from them.
Where a Poetic Repository of Gesture Becomes a Spiritual Release
Gestures carry the weight of words. Think of the hand wave that signals “hello” or “goodbye,” or blowing a kiss to someone. These tiny actions can hold such significance. Gestuary by French-Senegalese poet Sylvie Kandé, translated into English by Nancy Naomi Carlson, is a repository for gestures that carry cultural significance and instances of violence, as well as historical significance. The original was published as Gestuaire by Éditions Gallimard in 2016 and received the 2017 Prix Louise Labé. Carlson’s translation, issued by Seagull Books, came out this year.
“She told me and I remember knowing”
Displacement, memory, raising a child in a new country—these are some of the themes that Burgi Zenhausern treats in her first full length collection, White Door. The fact that these fine poems were written in Zenhausern’s second language makes this achievement even more impressive.
We Are Arden
Do you need a break, but not too much of a break, from our political madness? The Folger Theatre, enacting the vision of Artistic Director Karen Ann Daniels, presents Shakespeare’s pastoral comedy As You Like It as a subtle parable for the multifaceted realities of life in Washington, D.C. The creative team is positing that vibrant cultural and community life has long flourished here, apart from, and often overshadowed by, the focus on federal government matters, and that we should appreciate and celebrate the qualities of this realm. Without being blatant, the production weaves in the notion that we can, and do, benefit sumptuously from these wellsprings of local identity.
Regenerating a Scattered Family
Bsrat Mezghebe’s debut novel, I Hope You Find What You’re Looking For (Liveright/Norton, 2026), is an affecting portrait of three Eritrean women living in Alexandria, Va in 1991, as their country’s long war for independence from Ethiopia enters its final push. The story, weaving the prosaic and the extraordinary, juxtaposes day-to-day struggles in the DMV with the brutal war for independence back home. It unfolds through the alternating perspectives of these three strong-willed characters.
Getting into the magic
What a moment for a show juxtaposing truth and deception. In Nothing Up My Sleeve … Simple Deceptions for Curious Humans, master illusionist and actor Dendy delivers a wondrous, multifaceted solo performance perfectly calibrated to confound your mind, tickle your fancy, and touch your heart. This world premiere runs through March 15 at Round House Theatre in Bethesda.
A tense, gripping story of survival
Prudence Wright has made it. She’s overcome a traumatic past, beaten the odds, and is now living a comfortable, upper-middle-class life. Perhaps even the American Dream. Big house in Washington, D.C. Beautiful clothes. The occasional fancy night out with her husband, Davis. She and Davis are well-educated, cultured, accomplished, and beautiful. And yet she is weighed down by personal challenges and the constant reminder that the color of her skin defines much of her reality.
“Where does tranquility exist?”
True Blue, while ostensibly a journey through the pandemic, in fact ranges widely through interiors (both physical and mental), nature and cities, and memories in search of those consolations.
In Memoriam
Washington Unbound is honored to present eminent D.C. poet, writer, and literary historian Kim Robetts’ In Memoriam list of DMV authors who passed away in 2025.
“I started including “In Memoriam” notices in the Poetry News section of Beltway Poetry Quarterly when I founded the journal in 2000. I continued them for 15 or 16 years, until I stopped including the Poetry News as a regular online feature,” Kim told us.
“What’s More American?”
Tawny Chatmon’s art would be well worth seeing for its sheer beauty alone. But come closer and look deeper: These pieces contain multiple levels and tell important stories. It is because of this historical and narrative dimension that we have chosen to review a visual art show in our publication.
Step inside poetic art and emerge with new perspectives on humanity
Enter through the door on the cover of Reasons for Étant Donnés by Sara Cahill Marron and you enter a world of mystery. Like the peepholes ofMarcel Duchamp’s last major artwork, Étant Donnés, Marron’s poetry is a window into a world of mysteries—Water, Marriage, Kingdom, Transfiguration, and Body—that are open to interpretation and reinterpretation by the reader.
An interwoven tapestry of belonging, family, and homeland
Restitution (Regal House, 2025) is a quiet but powerful novel about place, belonging, and family. It asks us to consider what it means to belong to a place, to a person, or to a people. And what does it mean to not belong? What do we owe each other? And can we ever understand the truth of the past?