Don’t be basic! Stay calm and get your nerd on to welcome the New Year!

Click here to get tickets

Featuring live music and performance by:

Featuring live music and performance by:
DJ Ayescold, The CooLots, Lethal Bark feat. Tom Toles, Chocolate City Burlesque

Tickets include 2 drink tickets, food, and live entertainment.  Ticket proceeds go to support Capital Area Food Area and DC Youth Slam Team.

Busboys and Poets is throwing the quirkiest new year’s bash in DC – all to benefit the Capital Area Food Bank and DC Youth Slam Team! Fight hunger and help young poets thrive as you welcome the new year with the hottest DJs, live entertainment, games, food, 2 drinks per person with additional drink specials all night – and more.

Come dressed as YOU – and if YOU is nerdy, even better!

#NerdyNYE #NerdsDoNewYears

The Making of Busboys and Poets

A Seat at the Table: The Making of Busboys and Poets

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

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For Langston Hughes on His 123 Birthday

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

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Palestine Week 2024

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

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‘Tis the Season for Holiday Gift Cards

Delight a friend, family member, co-worker or maybe even yourself with a gift cards to Busboys and Poets! Our gift cards can be used to purchase food (mmm sweet potato pancakes), drinks (Langston Cooler, anyone?), books and any other items sold at our bookstore. This includes Busboys merch, notebooks, cards and other fun gifts. Send a physical … Continued

A Girls Guide to Joining the Resistance Book Review

A Girls Guide to Joining the Resistance Book Review

Emma Gray’s tiny book of feminist resistance promises to be a guide to doing more and doing good in a world that seems to have turned against women all together. The book is extremely readable and well-put together, starring personal anecdotes, interviews with amazing activists, and step-by-step guides made to help us as readers do … Continued

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Food for Thought: A Conversation with Chef José Andrés

“I think the true meaning of leadership is recognizing your weakness, so you can make them your strong points.” On October 30, we had the pleasure of hosting Chef José Andrés at our 450K location. The conversation moderated by founder Andy Shallal with Chef Andrés, discussed the humbling story of why he went into cooking, … Continued

Busboys and Poets Books Review: Love Poems

Busboys and Poets Books Review: Love Poems

In Love Poems, Nikki Giovanni gives an empowered edge to the topics of sexuality, intimacy and what it means to love. Published in 1997, the collection’s poems span thirty years of her career as a writer. We hear Giovanni through many lenses: as a young woman, as an activist striving for change, as a lover, … Continued