The Washington Writers’ Publishing House (WWPH) launched its 50th Anniversary celebrations with a reading at the Takoma location of Busboys and Poets. I joined my pressmates in exploring the loose theme of “community” in readings from our WWPH titles and other works.
For my contribution, I turned to Strivers and read from its opening story, “Some Get Back.” This piece, rooted in fragments of family lore my father shared about his time working in his father’s Augusta grocery store during the 1940s, felt both nostalgic and newly resonant as I read it aloud. Revisiting the story reminded me of how narratives continually evolve—even in their published form. I found myself making impromptu edits and wondering about the characters’ futures, hopes, and speculations. Perhaps there’s a new writing project waiting to emerge from these musings.
WWPH is “the longest, continuously operating cooperative nonprofit literary small press in the United States,” as the tagline now proclaims. Given the volitivity of the publishing space and the shoe string budgets small presses operate with, this milestone is a real accomplishment. 2025 will bring forth more events and work on an anthology to be published in the fall. I am looking forward to all the voices that will be represented in the book.
WWPH’s Instagram post about the event
