On Sun, May 19th, poets from the Busboys tribe celebrated the 5th Anniversary of Split This Rock with Inaugural Poet Richard Blanco, Split This Rock’s Executive Director Sarah Browning, DC Youth Slam Team poets Thomas “Vocab” Hill and Asha Gardner, and many more.
We’re excited for the celebration to continue at Sunday Kind of Love with Inaugural Poet Richard Blanco tonight at 5pm, 14th & V.
We’re proud to announce A Seat at the Table: The Making of Busboys and Poets, the new memoir from our CEO and Founder, which reveals the vision, challenges, and triumphs behind opening Busboys and Poets. Packed with misadventures, unexpected triumphs, and insights on race, business and politics, Andy Shallal’s memoir takes us on a “How I Built … Continued
Speech given on February 1, 2024 in Havana, Cuba In 1927 Langston Hughes walked into a Cuba amid an emerging community of artists, intellectuals, and radicals. He saw a “sunrise in a new land [– a day – in his words]sic – full of brownskin surprises, and hitherto unknown contacts in a world of color.” … Continued
January 18, 2024 – January 25, 2024 In keeping with our ongoing mission of uplifting racial and cultural connections, Busboys and Poets is hosting Palestine Week (January 18 through January 25, 2024). This week-long series of events will offer a diverse range of programming featuring Palestinian food, music, dance, poetry, discussions, and other enriching events. … Continued
February saw the release of If God Invented Baseball, the latest collection of poetry from DC legend and literary activist E. Ethelbert Miller. A devoted fan of the Washington Nationals, Ethelbert celebrates in the book the magic of baseball and its lessons for life. In advance of the poet’s upcoming event at Busboys and Poets … Continued
Joseph Green is a spoken word artist, educator, and motivational speaker with over 15 years’ experience in youth development. He co-founded poetryN.O.W., a nonprofit providing creative writing programming and curriculum for DC-area youth and schools. While serving as Split This Rock’s Director of Youth Programs for 3 years, he transferred poetryN.O.W’s work into Split This Rock’s care. Joseph has … Continued
In this substantial entry into the history of Black radical politics, Keisha N. Blain uncovers the legion of Black women that made waves in the growing Black nationalist and Garveyite movements of the early Twentieth Century. Black nationalism, which promotes the establishment of a Black nation state as the answer to racial oppression, first gained … Continued
From the bride: “Obi proposed during a double dinner date at Busboys & Poets – Shirlington the day before my birthday, also the location of our third date.”