AMERICA’S FUTURE PRESS RELEASE

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Media Inquiries: Caroline Bock at wwphpress@gmail.com

America’s Future: Poetry & Prose in Response to Tomorrow

Most expansive, diverse, and inclusive anthology from the

Washington Writers’ Publishing House in its 50-year history

[Washington, DC]—Washington Writers’ Publishing House is thrilled to announce the upcoming publication of its most ambitious, expansive anthology in its 50-year history. AMERICA’S FUTURE: poetry & prose in response to tomorrow, edited by Caroline Bock and Jona Colson.(On sale date: September 9, 2025. List price: $30.00).

AMERICA’S FUTURE features 164 bold, thought-provoking writers, with strong representation from writers across the press’s footprint (DC, Maryland, and Virginia)–writers from Baltimore to Roanoke, and writers with connections to the DMV from as far as California and Washington state. The anthology arrives at an urgent moment in our nation’s history, when many are anxiously questioning: What are the possibilities for the future? Some pieces turn to our past, reckoning with the wounds we still carry in today’s scars before questioning the future. Others turn their gaze forward, imagining the ways hope and reinvention can carve new paths.

The anthology opens with the first publication of a speech by U.S. Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland— “Remarks as Delivered at The Hands Off! Rally on The National Mall”—given in April of 2025. The prose sends a powerful reminder to the “authoritarian despots…that the people always have and always will be the ones with the power.” He adds, “Our Founders wrote a Constitution that does not begin with, ‘We the Dictators.’ The Preamble says, ‘We The People.’”

The first poem in this 526-page collection is a collaborative poem between iconic Black poet E. Ethelbert Miller and Miho Kinnas, “To Write Is To Flower,” noting in the last two lines, “The future sticks to our fingers/calling us to write and flower.” A complete list of contributors can be found here.

Co-editors of AMERICA’S FUTURE and presidents of Washington Writers’ Publishing House, Caroline Bock and Jona Colson, share in their short foreword, “This anthology is a meditation on tomorrow—it challenges us to confront the struggles we’ve inherited, question the uncertainties of our present, and create possibilities for a future we dare to imagine.” AMERICA’S FUTURE is a testament to the power our art and our words hold in shaping our future.

AMERICA’S FUTURE festivities/readings will kick off with a virtual (Zoom) reading on September 10^th at 7-8:30 pm, ET, hosted by the Writer’s Center of Bethesda, Maryland, and led by Bock and Colson. Free and open to all. RSVP for link here www.writer.org/event/americas-future

This nationwide virtual reading will be followed by a 50^th anniversary celebration for the Washington Writers’ Publishing House on Sunday, September 14^th, from 3-6 pm, hosted by master poets Grace Cavalieri and E. Ethelbert Miller. Notably, Grace Cavalieri is one of the founders of the Washington Writers’ Publishing House and remains involved with the press to this day. The Washington Writers’ Publishing House will take over the Writer’s Center in Bethesda with readings, literary celebrations, and libations (please note this is a ticketed event- $50.00 for 50 years!) More information and tickets at writer.org/event/wwph50/

A series of free, in-person readings/discussions probing the literary and creative state of our union today and tomorrow at bookstores and libraries across DC, Maryland, and Virginia is also planned. Highlights include Busboys & Poets in Takoma on Sunday, September 21st at 5 pm, and at the Enoch Pratt Library in Baltimore on September 27th at 3 pm. A complete list of America’s Future events/readings can be found here.

Washington Writers’ Publishing House is the longest continuously operating nonprofit, cooperative, literary small press in the United States—dedicated to publishing and celebrating the richness and diversity of the literary arts in Washington, DC, Maryland, and Virginia. Established in 1975 in our nation’s capital, the press has published over 100 volumes of poetry, as well as fiction, nonfiction, and works in translation in more recent years. More information about the press can be found at www.washingtonwriters.org.

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Critics Say

"Among the 111 pieces featured are a remarkable number of standouts — far too many to highlight here. But I was especially moved by the breadth of humanity on display in all its sadness, joy, rage, despair, and humor..."

—Washington Independent Review of Books on This Is What America Looks Like: Poetry & Fiction from DC, Maryland, Virginia

"This Is What America Looks Like is wildly diverse with short stories...and poetry speaking to relationships and experiences that redefine what identity means."

—Washington City Paper on This Is What America Looks Like: Poetry & Fiction from DC, Maryland, Virginia

"Refreshingly fearless and, like a subway's third rail, hums with electricity."

—Adam Ross, editor of the Sewanee Review on Adam Schwartz's The Rest of The World

"These brilliant poems stun the page..."

—Zakia Henderson-Brown on Steven Leyva's The Understudy's Handbook

"When I read the first poem in Words We Might One Day Say, I thought Holly Karapetkova was related to Gabriel Marquez. A surprise seems to appear in many of her poems. Some come close to being magical. I like how this woman writes about childhood. I want to grow old with this book."

——E. Ethelbert Miller on Holly Karapetkova's Words We Might One Day Say