Songs of yearning
Rarely has a collection of poems so perfectly embodied the experiences of the poet as does In the House of Modern Upbringing for Girls, by Majda Gama. Gama, born in Beirut to a Saudi father and an American mother and now residing in the D.C. area, has chronicled her life of moving between cultures and identities before coming to at least a temporary rest here.
The Phillips Collection memorializes one of D.C.’s finest artists
Essex Hemphill was a force of nature. The multifaceted artist—poet, performer, visual artist, activist—is the subject of a powerful exhibition at the Phillips Collection, Essex Hemphill: Take Care of Your Blessings.
A fresh perspective on classical music
Martha Anne Toll’s second novel, Duet for One, is a lovely, meditative, lyrical book that drew me in immediately. I want to say that this is a quiet novel, but it's about music and musicians, so that seems like the wrong word. Especially because Toll excels at describing the classical music that permeates this story so well that I can almost hear the music.
One-dollar stories pay off
In Elizabeth Bruce’s Universally Adored & Other One Dollar Stories, the needs that can be satisfied by a single dollar are varied and surprising: a can opener, the comforts of a coin-operated massage bed, forgiveness. The power of these stories emerges in the elaboration of those needs and the sharp glimpses they provide into the fuller breadth of the characters’ lives.
Complicated landscapes of beauty, threat, and unease
Sandra Marchetti’s third full-length collection, Diorama (Stephen F. Austin University Press, 2025) depicts a woman in complicated uneasy relationships with the world, nature, and herself. Marchetti presents a dazzling array of poems that demonstrate the sure hand with language of a veteran poet who is also an accomplished writer of prose.
A meticulously researched glimpse into the Depression-era South
In her second work of historical fiction, Liza Nash Taylor brings us to early 1930s Virginia, New England, and many locales in between. In All Good Faith is richly detailed—from the glass jars of pickles and beet-pink eggs in the Keswick Market, to the “golden-hued marble lobby” of the Boston Public Library, to a bedraggled campsite beside the Anacostia River.
Interrogating and modernizing the myth of Psyche
In Psyche (Anxiety Press, 2024) Casey Catherine Moore interrogates, queers, and modernizes the myth of Psyche, the goddess of the soul in Greek and Roman mythology who was loved by Eros and tormented by Aphrodite. Rich in explanatory notes and annotations, the book reflects Moore’s extensive scholarship and her strong poetic skills.
Drawing on tales to explore roles—and whiteness
Holly Karapetkova seems to me a poet who understands the power of spells, of arranging words so that they get to a more primal level of meaning beyond whatever ordinary situation her words describe. The first poem in Dear Empire (Gunpowder Press, 2025) could almost be a blessing or spell for motherhood. The words hang in such a way that something slightly unreal—gift or curse—seems about to break through.
Waves and Threads
Michele Evans, a fifth-generation Washingtonian, is a writer, teacher, and adviser for Unbound, an award-winning Northern Virginia high school literary magazine (no relation to Washington Unbound). This first book shows the benefits a poet derives from many years of teaching and working with student writers.
The satirical, the earnest, and the politics of activism
Z. Hanna’s debut book, We’re Gonna Get Through This Together (Modern Artist Press, March 2025), is a smart, lyrical, and incisively witty short story collection about the murky waters we find ourselves in when we try to fight against injustice and search for a place to belong. At once satirical and earnest, this collection explores race, class, gender, sexuality, and the politics of activism.