Please join us for our next Takoma Park Arts poetry reading to hear a diverse range of work by four local poets. The poets include Hazel Cherry, Laura Costas, Katherine Smith, and Emily Walz.

Captivated by art, nature, and the senses, Hazel Cherry is a storyteller who seeks to empower women to love themselves and chart their spiritual paths with authenticity and freedom. She obtained a Master’s in Divinity degree from Howard University and an MFA in creative writing from American University. She is working on her first poetry collection.

Laura Costas is an artist, writer, and D.C. native. She will be sharing new poems and work from her third book, Ariadne Awakens, Instructions for the Labyrinth, which was published in 2021.

Katherine Smith works at Montgomery College where she is the poetry editor of the Potomac Review. Her work has appeared in many publications, including Boulevard, North American Review, and Southern Review. Her third book, Secret City, was published this year.

Emily Walz is working on a chapbook, and her poetry has been published in the MaLa Literary Journal in China. She won the James Wright Poetry Prize in 2013 and second place in the Bethesda Magazine poetry contest in 2018.

The City of Takoma Park’s Arts and Humanities Division organizes many free events in the Takoma Park Arts series at the Takoma Park Community Center, including poetry readings, concerts, film screenings, theater, and art exhibitions. Go to takomaparkmd.gov/arts for more info and to sign up for our e-newsletter