The free first Friday Words out Loud series features Marlena Chertock and Joanne van Wie on Friday, September 7, at 7:30 PM reading from their poetry. At Glen Echo Park, Arcade Building, Room 302, 7300 MacArthur Boulevard, Glen Echo, MD. Includes open mic and literary trivia quiz. Parking lot on Oxford Road, Glen Echo.

Questions? - 240-899-6514 Marlena Chertock is the author of two books of poetry, Crumb-sized (Unnamed Press, 2017) and On that one-way trip to Mars (Bottlecap Press, 2016). She lives in Washington, D.C. and uses her skeletal dysplasia and chronic pain as a bridge to scientific poetry. Her poems and short stories have appeared in Breath & Shadow, The Deaf Poets Society, Noble/Gas Quarterly, Paper Darts, Rogue Age, Wordgathering, and more. Marlena regularly moderates or speaks on panels at literary conferences and festivals. She serves as the Communications Coordinator for the LGBTQ Writers Caucus and is on the planning committee for OutWrite. Find her at marlenachertock.com or @mchertock.

Joanne Van Wie is a poet and writer from southern Maryland with a degree in design and architecture. She recently has published her first chapbook, Surfaces, Edges, and Openings through Foothills Publishing, and her work can also be found in Connections Magazine of the College of Southern Maryland and TEXTure Magazine of Annapolis. She is, as well, a full time stay-at-home mother of seven children, all homeschooled.

Location: North Arcade Building at Glen Echo Park: Room 302