About this Event
Old Town Books is celebrating local non-profit publisher 1455 books and their Women Writers Anthology with an author reading!
The event will start with a short Q&A with Hannah Grieco speaking with Sean Murphy, the editor and publisher. After, we will hear reading from several of the authors featured in the anthology.
This event is free, but does require an RSVP.
About Women Writers Anthology:
Silence speaks—if we’re willing to listen. 1455’s Women Writers Anthology brings together bold and compelling work from women across genres— poetry, fiction, and nonfiction—exploring the theme of silence in all its complexity. From what is withheld to what insists on being heard, these pieces examine silence as refuge, fortitude, erasure, and revelation. These stories and poems challenge us to reconsider what goes unspoken— and why—and how voice itself becomes an act of power. Through moments of quiet resistance, reflection, and transformation, this collection illuminates both what silence conceals and what it ultimately exposes. As part of the inaugural list from 1455 books, this anthology showcases a commitment to amplifying diverse voices, expanding access, and redefining whose stories frame our literary landscape.
Sean Murphy is the founder of the non-profit 1455 Literary Arts and directs the Center for Story at Shenandoah University. He is the author of four poetry collections—The Blackened Blues (2021), Rhapsodies in Blue (2023), Kinds of Blue (2024), and Red, White, and Blues (2026). The short fiction collection This Kind of Man published in 2024, and his memoir, Please Talk About Me When I'm Gone, won Memoir Magazine’s 2022 Memoir Prize. He has been nominated four times for the Pushcart Prize and twice for Best of the Net. Murphy also hosts the podcast and Substack Some Things Considered, where he interviews best-selling authors, acclaimed critics, and celebrated musicians. Find him at seanmurphy.net
About the Writers:
Hannah Grieco is the author of First Kicking, Then Not, out now from Stanchion Books. She writes a literary column for Washington City Paper and teaches literature at Marymount University. Read more of her work in The Washington Post, Al Jazeera, Brevity, Craft, Poet Lore, Shenandoah, Fairy Tale Review, Wigleaf, The Offing, and more.
Stacy Kafka is a teller of stories. Now retired, she taught special education expressive arts for Fairfax County, VA Public Schools. She is a poet, storyteller, professional cantorial soloist and a chanting meditation facilitator. She lives in Winchester, VA with her husband, extensive garden, and resident bunny.
Author of the novel Famous Adopted People (Unnamed Press, 2018), Alice Stephens is also a book reviewer, essayist, and short story writer. Her work has appeared in LitHub, The Margins, the Los Angeles Review of Books, The Washington Post, and elsewhere. Her historical novel, The Twain, is forthcoming from Regal House Publishing in 2027.
Marjorie Gowdy is a writer and illustrator who works on her farm at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia. Her poems are widely published in regional journals, including Artemis, the Virginia Writers Project, and the Clinch River Review. She has also had works published in international magazines Friends and Certain Age. Gowdy is the author of three chapbooks.
Katherine Gekker is the author of In Search of Warm Breathing Things (2019) and O My Charmer (2026). Her poems have been published in numerous journals. Gekker was born in Washington, DC. She founded a commercial printing company in 1974 and sold it 31 years later.
Michele Evans is the author of februaries (Yellow Arrow Publishing, 2026) and purl (Finishing Line Press, 2025). She is a fifth-generation Washingtonian (D.C.), writer, teacher, and adviser for Unbound, a national recognized high school literary magazine. Her poetry has appeared in journals, literary magazines, and anthologies, including Artemis, Bellevue Literary Review, and Gargoyle Magazine.
Laura Younger resides in Alexandria, VA, and engages in her love of words at every opportunity. Her poetry has appeared in Artemis Journal, Kakalak, North Carolina Poetry Society’s Pinesong, The Poetry Society of Virginia Centennial Anthology and others.
Bianca Ambrosino is a somewhat reclusive poet from Richmond, Virginia. Her sensory based, Autistic perspective illuminates universal themes with startling connections and vivid synesthesia. She spends her time writing, walking outdoors, raising her children, and reading countless academic papers/ scientific publications (for fun). Her poetry appears in: The Thieving Magpie, Hawaii Pacific Review, AAWP: Meniscus, and elsewhere.
Event venue & nearby stays
Old Town Books, 104 South Union Street, Alexandria, United States
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