Out & About
1455 Literary Arts Summer Festival celebrates queer work
Features Douglas Stuart, Lisa Ling, Sunny Hostin and more
The third annual 1455 Literary Arts Summer Festival will be held from Thursday, July 15 to Saturday, July 17. This free virtual event features 200 literary leaders, from top book award winners to journalists and poets including Douglas Stuart, Lisa Ling, Sunny Hostin and more.
This year’s festival will focus on the power of storytelling and the crucial role it plays not only in creative and academic fields, but far beyond. The gathering will be a rare opportunity for participants to learn from some of today’s most celebrated, diverse, and up-and-coming storytellers, who bring their unique perspectives to timely issues such as politics, race relations, and sexual equality.
As part of the festival, 1455 will also host a Teen Poetry Contest centered around the theme of “Finding Community During Crisis.” The competitors will submit work that is a reflection on or reaction to the contemporary sociopolitical and cultural environment. The winner will receive recognition and an award of $5,000.
For more information about the festival, visit: https://1455litarts.org.
Out & About
Washington Improv Theatre hosts ‘The Queeries’
Event to celebrate queer DMV talent and pop culture camp
The Washington Improv Theatre, along with the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs and the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington DC, will team up to host “The Queeries!” on Friday, April 26 at 9:30 p.m. at Studio Theatre.
The event will celebrate Queer DMV talent and pop culture camp. With a mixture of audience-submitted nominations and blatantly undemocratically declared winners, “The Queeries!” mimics LGBTQ life itself: unfair, but far more fun than the alternative.
The event will be co-hosted by Birdie and Butchie, who have invited some of their favorite bent winos, D.C. “D-listers,” former Senate staffers, and other stars to sashay down the lavender carpet for the selfie-strewn party of the year.
Tickets are just $15 and can be purchased on WITV’s website.
Out & About
Drag Underground returns
Indiana Bones, Bombalicious Eklaver, Shi-Queeta Lee, Cake Pop! to perform
Dupont Underground and the Washington Blade have teamed up to host “Drag Underground” on Friday, April 26 at 7:30 p.m. at Dupont Underground.
Performers include Indiana Bones, Bombalicious Eklaver, Shi-Queeta Lee and Cake Pop.
Tickets start at $15 and can be purchased on Eventbrite.
The annual White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner is set for Saturday, April 27 at the Washington Hilton with Colin Jost serving as emcee.
President Biden is scheduled to speak and numerous celebrities are expected around D.C. all weekend for related parties and events.
The Washington Blade is the only LGBTQ outlet that is a member of the Association and is hosting a table of VIPs, including actor Billy Porter and Congressman Robert Garcia (D-Calif.).
“We look forward to the Dinner each year to celebrate our press freedoms and to thank a range of allies and supporters for their work on behalf of the LGBTQ movement,” said Blade Editor Kevin Naff.