Get Lit: Robbins, Bock, Colson, Scott and Carr

DC Public Library Podcast

Join us this month as we talk with author Denise S. Robbins who has a new book out called The Unmapping; the Washington Writers Publishing House co-president Caroline Bock and Jona Colson, who are celebrating WWPH’s 50th anniversary; author Rion Amilcar Scott who reads from his book, The World Does Not Require You; and indie lit legend Brian Allen Carr, author of Bad Foundations, Opioid, Indiana, Short Bus, and others.

Denise S. Robbins is from Madison, Wisconsin, the city where she grew up and to which she returned after sixteen years of living and working in climate activism on the East Coast. In Madison, she lives with her husband in a yellow house circled by oaks and pines and two owls, and works as a consultant for several climate advocacy groups. She is a Pushcart Prize–nominated author whose stories have been published in literary journals including The Barcelona Review, Gulf Coast, and many more. Her debut novel, The Unmapping, was published in June 2025 from Mareas at Bindery Books. It is number 2 on People Magazine’s top reads for the summer. The Unmapping is on order at DCPL. You can place a hold for when it arrives.

Caroline Bock’s short story collection, Carry Her Home, received the 2018 WWPH Fiction Prize. She is the author of two critically acclaimed young adult novels, LIE and Before My Eyes, from St. Martin’s Press. In addition to her role as co-president, she is the prose editor at WWPH Writes, our bi-weekly literary journal, and the co-editor of our 2021 anthology This Is What America Looks Like Fiction and Poetry from D.C. Maryland, and Virginia. Her new novel, THE OTHER BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE. (Regal House Publishing) will be published on June 2, 2026.

Jona Colson’s poetry collection, Said Through Glass, won the 2018 Jean Feldman Poetry Prize from WWPH. He teaches English at Montgomery College. Notably, in addition to his role as co-president, he is the poetry editor of WWPH Writes, our bi-weekly literary journal, and the co-editor of This Is What America Looks Like: Poetry and Fiction from D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. He is also the translator for Aguas/Waters by Miguel Avero, our first work in translation, published in May 2024.

Rion Amilcar Scott was born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland. His parents are from Trinidad and came to the United States to study at Howard University. He graduated from George Mason University and teaches at The University of Maryland, College Park. His book Insurrections: Stories is available from DCPL

2019:The World Doesn't Require You is available from DCPL

Brian Allen Carr is an Aspen Words Finalist and two time Wonderland Book Award winner.

His books include Opioid, Indiana, Bad Foundations and several others.

He is from Texas and lives in Indiana.

His novel Sip is available through DCPL.

His novel Opioid, Indiana is available through DCPL.

*********************************************************************************************************************************************

Credits

Dream Pop by HoliznaCC0 is licensed under a CC0 1.0 Universal License.

https://freemusicarchive.org/music/holiznacc0/only-in-the-milky-way-part-3/dream-pop/

Dark Ambient Music (Death And Forever) by TheBoseDeity

is licensed under the Attribution NonCommercial 3.0 License.

https://freesound.org/people/TheBoseDeity/sounds/395691/

Java Pop by Spires That in the Sunset Rise is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Spires_That_in_the_Sunset_Rise/Curse_the_Traced_Bird/Java_Pop/

Washington, DC by The Nighttime Adventure Society is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License.

https://freemusicarchive.org/music/The_Nighttime_Adventure_Society/Chapter_One_The_First_Chapter/The_Nighttime_Adventure_Society_-_Chapter_One-_The_First_Chapter_-_01_Washington_DC/

kalas by Uncle Milk is licensed under a CC0 1.0 Universal License.

https://freemusicarchive.org/music/microSong_Challenge/2015021275957958/kalas_1886/

Function! by junior85 is licensed under a CC0 1.0 Universal License.

https://freemusicarchive.org/music/microSong_Challenge/2015021275957958/junior85_-_07_-_Function/

Re-Function! by junior85 is licensed under a CC0 1.0 Universal License.

https://freemusicarchive.org/music/microSong_Challenge/2015021275957958/junior85_-_08_-_Re-Function/

Tipping Point by Ellennerv is licensed under a CC0 1.0 Universal License.

https://freemusicarchive.org/music/microSong_Challenge/2015021275957958/Tipping_Point/

Pasty Cline “I’m Gonna Walk Some Dog” is in the public domain and is an official record of the United States Army. Armed Forces Radio Service.

Arkansas Traveler by ecfike is licensed under a CC0 license

https://freesound.org/people/ecfike/sounds/135127/

All audio comments are consented to by the The Labs Consent and Release form.

Chorale by Andrew Christopher Smith is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Orbiting A Distant Planet by Quantum Jazz is licensed under a Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 International License.

Palimpseste by Iliaque is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

SOLO ACOUSTIC GUITAR by Jason Shaw is licensed under a Attribution 3.0 United States License.

Times square 1700.m4a by olofguf is licensed under CC0.

https://freesound.org/people/olofgud/sounds/639703/