MidnightRose: A Reading Series of Poetry and Prose

Esther Productions Inc., The Institute for African American Writing, and the Black Student Fund present a reading by David Nicholson, Teri Ellen Cross Davis, and Amuche The Poet (Amuchechukwu Nwafor).

MidnightRose is a showcase of the multigenerational, multicultural writers in the Washington Metropolitan Region and beyond. Experience the richness of the community through the presentations of award-winning poets and authors.

Registration is not required to attend, but is encouraged.

About the Authors

David Nicholson is the author of The Garretts of Columbia: A Black South Carolina Family from Slavery to the Dawn of Integration. His collection of short fiction, Flying Home: Seven Stories of the Secret City, was included on a Los Angeles Times list of books that "show us where to find the real America." A graduate of the University of the District of Columbia, Nicholson was a reporter in San Francisco, Milwaukee, and Dayton, Ohio before coming home to work as an editor and book reviewer for the Washington Post Book World. He is writing a second family history that begins with his grandparents' courtship in South Carolina and continues with their move to Washington, DC during the Great Migration.

Teri Ellen Cross Davis is the author of a more perfect Union, awarded the 2019 Journal/Charles B. Wheeler of the Poetry Society of America’s Robert H. Winner Memorial Award and a Maryland State Arts Council award. Her work has appeared in print, online, and in many journals and anthologies including Harvard Review, [PANK], Poetry Ireland Review, and Kenyon Review. She is the O.B. Hardison Poetry Series curator and Poetry Programs manager for the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC.

Amuche The Poet (Amuchechukwu Nwafor) is an active local writer, performance artist, host, event curator, educator, teaching artist and figure model in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. She is a first-generation born Black American whose poetry touches on the diaspora, sexual advocacy, mental health, and the female experience. Amuche considers her poems to be still life paintings of intimate experiences, emotions and observations. Her debut collection of poetry, Saltwater Roots, was published October 2024 in collaboration with the DC Poet Project and Day Eight Publishing. Through her writing she aspires to heal, grow, and inspire people from all different walks of life.

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