A Celebration of Books,
Writers & LIterary Excellence

Save the Date


Gaithersburg
Book Festival

May 16, 2026

10am – 6pm

Bohrer Park


Moderator

Jona Colson

Featured Title: America's Future: poetry & prose in response to tomorrow
America's Future: poetry & prose in response to tomorrow
America's Future

America’s Future: poetry and prose in response to tomorrow features 164 bold, thought-provoking writers including an opening speech, published here for the first time, by Congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland; poetry by master poet E. Ethelbert Miller in collaboration with Miho Kinnas, essays by Marvin Kalb and Bethanne Patrick, and short stories by Mary Kay Zuravleff, Kathleen Wheaton, and more. 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.

About Jona Colson

Jona Colson is a poet, educator, and translator. His poetry collection, “Said Through Glass,” won the Jean Feldman Poetry Prize from the Washington Writers’ Publishing House. He is also the translator of “Aguas/Waters” by Miguel Avero, co-editor of “America’s Future: poetry and prose in response to today” (2025), and co-editor of “Capital Queer” (2025). His poems, translations, and interviews have appeared in Ploughshares, The Southern Review, LitHub, and elsewhere.

Facebook

Instagram: @jonacolson

X: @jcolson01

 

Moderator Schedule:

Venue(s):

Edgar Allan Poe Pavilion

Presentation Start Time:

4:15 pm

Presentation End Time:

5:05 pm

Signing Time:

5:15 pm

Author Website:

http://jonacolson.com/