Featured Lineup
Lauren Bullock
Lauren Bullock is a poet and a writer. She is a member of the Beltway Poetry Slam team and recently competed with them in the National Poetry Slam. She was a founding member of the University of North Carolina slam team and competed in the College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational. Currently, Lauren serves as an editor for literary magazine FreezeRay. She is also a contributing staff writer for the website Black Nerd Problems.
Lauren lives in Arlington, VA.
John-Mark Davidson
John-Mark is a writer and co-founder of As Was Written. His first short story collection entitled I Want You to Be My Second was released in 2012. He relocated to Brazil in 2014 and maintains a regular blog about life there.
John-Mark lives in São Paulo, Brazil.
Elahe Izadi
Elahe is a writer and comedian. She has written for the National Journal and currently reports for the Washington Post. Earlier this year, she was a panel guest on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher. She can be seen performing standup comedy around the DC area.
Elahe lives in Washington, DC.
Clay Tumey
Clay is a writer and public speaker. In the mid-2000s, with his life spiraling out of control, Clay robbed an undisclosed number of banks throughout the American southwest. He was never caught and never hurt anyone. Following the birth of his first child, Clay decided to turn his life around. He gave himself up to the police and served three years in prison. His first book, The Blue Chip Store, details his life in crime, his redemption afterwards and the importance of self accountability and second chances. He has appeared on the Resume Podcast and the Dave Ramsey Show. His Reddit AMA session garnered over 14,000 comments.
Clay lives in Rockwall, TX.
Mat Vance
Mat is a writer. He served in the US Army for six years and saw combat in Iraq, spending a total of 27 months deployed. His first book, The Funny Side of War, departs from most military memoirs by focusing on the laughter that soldiers create and thrive on under the most stressful of circumstances.
Mat lives in Alexandria, VA.
Dan Wolff & Steve Mead
Dan and Steve are the lead vocalist/guitarist and pianist of the roots rock group Dan Wolff & The Muddy Crows. They released their first album in 2014 and have toured nationally with it. Earlier this year, Reverb-Nation heralded the group as one of the 25 best US bands in their genre.
Dan and Steve live in the Washington, DC area.