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Find Your Story... Short and Sweet

A day of writing and writers at MLK Library celebrating the art of short pieces of writing.

Find Your Story will be a day of workshops, presentations, and author talks focused on DC’s writing community. This year, we are focusing on all writing that is short and sweet... poems, essays, short plays, flash fiction and more. Whether you come for a workshop in the morning or an author talk in the afternoon, come join us for a day of writing as a community.

Conference Center

10:30 – 11:25 
My Soul Is A Wild, Wild, Wild Horse Galloping Across Galaxies: The Art of the 11-word Poem with Regie Cabico. We will explore the construction of poems, one word at a time, and play with the combinations of adjectives and concrete nouns to create the American form of the Haiku: The Lune. Invented by Jack Collom, this form offers an opportunity to play with mood, style, and imagery.  
Bio: Regie Cabico is the author of A Rabbit In Search of a Rolex (Day Eight)  and the Interim Executive Director of A Gathering of the Tribes. His work appears in the Poetry Foundation and the Academy of American Poets' Poem-A-Day. The Washington Post named Regie Cabico "The Fairy Godmother of Spoken Word" and is listed in BUST magazine's 100 Men We Love. 

Combing the Classifieds: Narrative and Flash Fiction with Dubian Campbell
The classifieds section of a newspaper are places where small community ads appear for a variety of different things, from items for sale to real estate and even dating. Their modern analogue includes online lists such as Craigslist as well as social media forms such as Facebook Marketplace. Brief and economical, these short pieces of writing provide a keyhole-sized window into the inner lives of their authors, and in so doing suggest and imply narrative. In this workshop we will explore the narrative possibilities of classified ads and how they lend themselves so well to flash fiction.  

11:30 - 12:25
Short and Sweet: The Power of One Line Poetry; Writing the Monostitch Poem with Adrian Garcia Gaston.
Can a single line hold an entire story? In this interactive workshop, participants will explore the monostich: a one-line poem that distills emotion, image, and voice into a single powerful statement. Through examples, generative prompts, and guided exercises, writers will experiment with compression, surprise, and voice to craft their own monostich poems. The session will emphasize play, experimentation, and community sharing, and is accessible for writers of all levels.

A Recipe Is A Story with Genevieve Villamora
For many people, a recipe is a practical tool for getting dinner on the table. In addition to its utilitarian form, every recipe tells a pithy story. It might be about the history of a special ingredient or an immigrant family’s journey to their new home. It might be linked to a cultural holiday or a vivid childhood memory. In this workshop, we will examine how the building blocks of every recipe - the headnotes, the ingredient list, the instructions, and the extra tips - work together to weave a layered narrative. We’ll use the work of writers like Edna Lewis, Hetty McKinnon, Rick Martinez, and Cynthia Shanmugalingam as reference points for writing drafts of original recipes.

First Floor New Books Room

1:00-1:55
Keynote: Double Dutch Fuss with Phill Branch. 
Join us for an author talk and presentation on storytelling by Find Your Story Keynote speaker, Phill Branch. Branch, a renowned storyteller, will read from his new memoir The Double Dutch Fuss, discuss the fundamentals of storytelling with demos, and take questions from the audience.

2:00-2:55
Short Story Spotlight with Mahreen Sohail.
Join the Library and PEN/Faulkner for a conversation with the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction winner Mahreen Sohail to discuss her collection of short stories Small Scale Sinners. In conversation with Gwydion Suilebahn, Mahreen will discuss the new book and share tips for writing a collection of short stories. 

3:00-3:55
Essential Essex Hemphill with Gregory Adams, Regie Cabico, Michele Parkerson, and Dan Vera. Four poets examine the enduring impact of DC poet Essex Hemphill, by examining their favorites of his poems. Featuring: Gregory Adams, Regie Cabico, Michele Parkerson, and Dan Vera. Moderated by Kim Roberts Meikle. 

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