Local poet and co-chair of the OutWrite Festival, DC's annual LGBTQ+ Literary Festival, Marlena Chertock talks with Jenny about disability in the literary community and shares a few poems. Check out the OutWrite Festival August 6th-8th, 2021 by going to thedccenter.org/outwrite.
Click here for more information about the 2021 OutWrite Festival.
Click here to read the poems Marlena shared in their original format
SPEAKER #1 (Voiceover)
DC Public Library Podcast is made possible, in part, by the Institute of Museum and Library Services and is a production of the Labs at DC Public Library.
JENNY
You're listening to the DC Public Library Podcast recorded from the Labs recording studio in the historic modernized Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in downtown Washington, DC. I'm Jenny, and welcome to "Access This," our series on disability culture and community brought to you by the Center for Accessibility at DCPL.
JENNY
My guest today is Marlena Chertock, the co-chair of OutWrite, Washington DC's annual LGBTQ+ Literary Festival, which this year takes place August 6th through 8th, along with local poet Malik Thompson. She cultivates inclusive literary programming that reflects and uplifts LGBTQ+ communities, manages coordinators and volunteers and oversees the publication of the Festival's journal and chapbook competition. She also serves on the board of Split This Rock, a national network of socially engaged poets. A 2020 Pushcart Prize nominee, Marlena has two books of poetry: "Crumb-sized: Poems" from Unnamed Press, and "On That One-Way Trip to Mars" from Bottlecap Press. She writes about chronic pain, disability, sexuality and science fiction and regularly moderates panels at literary conferences, facilitates writing workshops and performs poetry at open mics and reading series. So first, I just want to welcome you Marlena, thank you so much for being on the show today.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
Thank you, Jenny, for having me. It's really an honor to be a part of this.
JENNY
Yeah, I'm so glad you could join us. Have you been doing a lot of these sorts of virtual recordings of things during this pandemic year?
MARLENA CHERTOCK
Uh less, less of like podcast recordings, but many open mics and poetry readings. And one of, one of the ones that I recently did was like a real dream come true. I was invited back to my alma mater of University of Maryland and read for the Writers Here Now series. And it was, you know, hard to not be in person, but still a really great community over Zoom.
JENNY
Yeah, that's such an honor. Did they give you like a coupon for some, like, student loan repayment voucher or something?
MARLENA CHERTOCK
(Laughing) Oh if only! They did give me a very nice honorarium though. So I'm very grateful for that.
JENNY
Well, we're thankful to them for supporting you and the arts as well. Well, can you tell us a little bit about your background, you did mention you went to University of Maryland. So you're a local. But tell us a little bit about yourself and about being a member of the disability community.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
Yeah, so I am local. I grew up in Maryland, and now live in Washington, DC. And I was born with a bone disorder called Spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia, which is actually a form of dwarfism. And it presents in so many different ways. It can give somebody scoliosis, short stature, joint pain, a lot of different different things like that. It affects the joints and cartilage. And something that's really been so interesting to me is how it presents differently in all the members of my family. And also, I'm connected to a Facebook group of people with the same condition. And my mom actually found it for us. And it's just been such a invaluable community to be a part of online with people going through a lot of the same things, or a lot more surgeries than me personally. But just, just to be connected in that way has been really helpful.
JENNY
That's amazing. Yeah, I think that was something that I personally was missing when I was younger was that, you know, not knowing other kids, you know, with disabilities or chronic health issues, and you don't understand like, how your experience is shared by, by others.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
Yeah, I think that's so true. And something that like, I remember reading, like, Judy Bloom's "Deenie," and that was like, one of the first times I saw somebody growing up with like scoliosis in like the book, and I was like, Oh, my God, like, I was dealing with that as a 13 year old and had to wear a boxy brace under my clothes, and like, wear it to summer camp. And yeah, so being able to, like, have that representation was really important, even if like, it wasn't exactly the same as what I was going through, because scoliosis was on top of other things, but still really powerful.
JENNY
Yeah, that's so meaningful. We're seeing, I think, a lot more disability representation in children's literature. And, you know, we're- I'm always thinking about those books because I'm a Children's Librarian and, and the way that disability is represented has evolved a lot. I think in a positive direction. Of course, there can always be more. So a little plug to those listening, you know, maybe write your own story.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
Yeah, and just to jump in, there's there's a whole movement called Own Voices where people are really looking for people who experienced the, you know, have disabilities and are writing from that experience.
JENNY
Mmhmm. Yeah, absolutely. And you write a lot about disability and your poetry. How did you start writing poems? And did you always write- include disability in your work?
MARLENA CHERTOCK
Yeah, that's a really good question. I, I feel like in some ways, yes. And no, like, I remember, first starting to get interested in writing in elementary school. And just like writing poetry. My first short story was very much a plagiarized version of "The Lion King", it was "How the Dog Got Its Bark: a fable story."
JENNY
(Laughing) I love it.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
And there was a, an elephant named Rafiki, who had magic and gave the dog its bark. So very much plagiarism and hopefully I'm better now.
JENNY
You were evolving, you were finding your voice. Yeah.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
But yeah, I remember like, after that, like, getting all this, like, education and like medical terminology at such a young age, and just like really being steeped in it, which is something that people who are born with disability, or come to it later, like really experience a lot of. Of just like, having to be their own advocate and learning everything they can about their condition so that they are educated and can sometimes educate doctors.
JENNY
Yeah, I've found that too. I found like impressing a medical student who's observing when I just rattle things off and know the dates and everything, it's like, yeah, we just have to know these things.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
And how to say and spell these hard to pronounce conditions or medicine.
JENNY
Yeah, exactly.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
But yeah, I think something that really drew me to disability, and, and trying to, like, express what I was going through is like, just knowing that, like, pain is so invisible, but so real. And that really struck me because I knew that like me and my sister both have the same bone disorder, but experience things so differently. She had a lot more surgeries than I've had. And so just that alone, that like, we can have the same thing, but have it so differently. And we can have similar pain, but maybe experience it very differently. So that really drew me to poetry, particularly because you can get so so exact with the words that you use and the figurative language. And so I'm really drawn to like trying to describe pain and like, give different examples from nature of like, how it might feel in a body.
JENNY
Yeah, that's so interesting. Because like you said, it's, I think the disabled experience can be very similar, but everyone experiences it so personally, even within the same disorder, or within, you know, the same day, you can experience it very differently.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
A hundred percent.
JENNY
Yeah, being able to verbalize those feelings in a, in a way that is beautiful, like poetry. And, like you said, so precise in the language, because you have a limited number of words you're using. So do you tend to write long form poems? Or do you, are you a shorter...
MARLENA CHERTOCK
I started out much more long form and just trying to like, because writing really helps me understand the world and what I'm thinking like, I just kind of had to rant, get it all down on paper, like a word vomit. But then like, through going through University of Maryland's Jiménez-Porter Writers' House and a lot of creative writing workshops and things like that, and just being able to like learn about revision and learn about different forms and things like that. I've been writing shorter and shorter pieces, and sometimes playing with form, but much more free versus is where I've been comfortable.
JENNY
Yeah, it's nice. I love that it, you know, is- it's a very specific format, poetry, but there's so many ways to do it that are equally as you know, gorgeous when you have the right words.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
And also like, breaking the rules too. Like some, some of the Deaf and disabled poets that I follow and really admire are like doing some incredible things with like, linebreaks and just the way that a poem is spaced on the page and how it looks. It's, and it really like elevates a feeling or like a description of pain or description of, however they're experiencing their disability. It's, it's really, really cool what you can do with poetry, and I'm always learning something new.
JENNY
Yeah, that's very cool. Do you find that you experience poetry more strongly by reading it or by hearing it?
MARLENA CHERTOCK
Hmm. That's a good question. I-
JENNY
I just thought of it (laughing).
MARLENA CHERTOCK
Yeah. For a long time, how I engaged with poetry was definitely just by reading it, and like listening to the voice in my head. And then I think only until only at college when I was in the Jiménez-Porter Writers' House we, we were honored to have- we read Patricia Smith's "Blood Dazzler," which is an amazing book of poetry. She personifies Hurricane Katrina, and just is an incredible writer. And she came and visited our class and read poems aloud. And just the way she performs and like reads it on a stage is so evocative of slam poetry. And that's not how I was personally reading it in my head. So hearing how she wrote it and reads, it was really, really just awesome to hear. And it just goes to show that there's so many ways to experience poetry, and there's no one right or wrong. Like, I know, sometimes there's a discussion of Oh, what's the quote unquote, "real poetry" like, is it stage, is it page? And I think that's like a false dichotomy. I think it's, it's all of it. And also poetry is meant to be performed and experienced too.
JENNY
Yeah, that's wonderful. Do you find that the literary world, from what you've experienced of it, to be very inclusive of disabled writers and the disabled experience?
MARLENA CHERTOCK
Yeah, I, I think it could always be more inclusive and accessible. I think that literary journals and presses have a long way to go so that they can be fully accessible to everybody. I know that the Deaf Poets Society, for instance, is a journal that does a really great job of providing photo captions and audio and just different ways to engage with the pieces they publish. And that is not always the way that that everybody does it. And I think there's just a lot of education and learning and awareness to be raised to show how lip mag could be more accessible. And then in terms of submission fees, or reading fees, or things like that, a lot of times people with disabilities don't have as much access or as much ability to submit to lit mags, or contests that have high reading fees. So I think that should also be something that's considered. But also at the same time, I've definitely seen an influx of literary magazines that are started by disabled people or lit mags that have like a special issue that wants to highlight and elevate people with disabilities. So at the same time, I know that there's been a lot of elevation of these voices, which is really wonderful to see, too.
JENNY
Yeah, that's great. I think anytime that we can have our, like you said, our own voices celebrated and- and be represented as, you know, valuable contributors to this art form, then that's a great thing. You know.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
Yeah and if I could just give a few. Now that I'm thinking about it, there's some really great literary magazines that are run by people with disabilities, include the Deaf Poet Society, Sick Magazine, Rogue Agent, Word Gathering, Breath and Shadow. There's, there's so many- The Human Touch- there's, there's just some starting everyday, and it's really, it's really exciting to see.
JENNY
That's great. We'll definitely make a list of all of those with links so folks can find out more about those publications. That's exciting. Do you have other favorite writers or artists with disabilities? Probably a lot.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
I'll try to keep it short.
JENNY
Yeah, no, go wild. We love to, you know, support each other's work, so.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
Absolutely. And like I was saying earlier, like I I'm just always blown away by what people are doing with with form and, and with their ability to describe, like embodiment and pain and the way that their body exists in the world. It's just, it's, it's really, I'm just so happy to be a community with these writers. Some of them are Travis Chi Wing Lau, who has a new book out called "Paring." Kay Olanday Barrett also has a new book out I think it's called "Organs" please correct me if I'm wrong [NOTE: the book is titled "More Than Organs"]. Jillian Weiss, Alice Wong, who runs the Disability Visibility Project.
JENNY
Oh, yeah, we had Alice do a program with us-
MARLENA CHERTOCK
Oh excellent
JENNY
For the book launch, it was great.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
She is a powerhouse and just unstoppable, it's amazing what she does.
JENNY
Yeah, and has built such a great community online too.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
Absolutely. Some really great Deaf poets and writers, Meg Day and Camisha Jones. They're- what they do with with poetry is just like beautiful. And just some others that are that are friends and friends through, you know, writing festivals and conferences, Jes Silfa, Jill Khoury and Tyler Vile, who is a fellow poet that I went to University of Maryland and Writer's House with.
JENNY
Oh, great, that's a great list, I'm definitely gonna have to check a lot of those folks out. We're always looking for good recommendations, you know, here on the Library podcast for more people to, to read about and work to support. So that's great. Well, we'd love to have you read a couple of your poems, too. And just I want to plug your second book, "Crumb-sized" from Unnamed Press is available in the DC Library catalog, you can place a hold, check it out. And we'll post a catalog link to that. But yeah, tell us about some of the poems you're going to read today.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
Yeah, thank you. So I think I'm going to read a few different ones. This one is, from my first book called "On That One-way Trip to Mars." And if it's not clear from the title, I'm a huge space nerd. Jenny was saying earlier, I write a lot of science fiction. I also think I write sci-poetry if that's a thing, or like cli-fi, climate fiction. Yeah, I'm just really inspired by nature and also terrified of climate change. So I write what I'm terrified of too (Laughing).
JENNY
Of course, how could you not be? (Laughing)
MARLENA CHERTOCK
As one does? So this this one, you know, when you're growing up, the doctors plot you on a growth chart. And I was always way under it because SED is a form of dwarfism. And even though I'm on the taller end of that spectrum, it just, that's not a growth chart that was made for our bodies. So this is called "Short curve II." Actually, I think I'll read both of them if that's okay. They're "Short curve" and "Short curve II."
JENNY
Yeah, please do.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
So this one's called "Short curve."
MARLENA CHERTOCK
"One: Spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia. It's strange how it comes down to see C,A, G, and T, the confusing string of letters that make us up. CAGT like a cage. She can't escape the letters in nuclei, zipped deep in her, a genetic straightjacket. Her dad's hip stubborn, frozen like a window stuck sharp winter. Soon she'll become that, their collagen written wrong. She wants to understand, their genes broken on the same line.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
Two: Growth chart.Poppop picked up a pencil and carefully drew a faint mark over her head on the basement door. The tradition started before she was born. He traced his son's and daughter's height for years, their initials on the doorframe in a race to see who would reach dad first. She understood inch by inch engraved in the wood, not by being plotted on the doctor's growth chart, a chart tracking trees, and she was a seed. Other girls her age were far above on the thick line of the normal curve. Her lonely dot was making it slow progression on a curve of its own."
MARLENA CHERTOCK
And this is "Short curve II," kind of a continuation of that.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
"Hidden in body are a 50-year-old's bones. Joints sound like tree branches in an ice storm. A pill a day keeps the inflammation away- but these bones are special, these bones are hungry. They want hundreds of pills a day to stop aching, heating pads, foot insoles, massages, epsom salt baths. These bones keep finding more ways to show pain. They want bone disorder to be my middle name. Teeth are the only visible bones- but these bones are shouting to be seen past their x-rays, they're keeping me up at night, whispering 'notice me.' "
JENNY
I love that.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
Thank you so much.
JENNY
It's very- very evocative.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
Yeah I, I think that I write from- I'm trying to find the other one, here it is. I often write when I'm, you know, experiencing a moment of really sharp pain. A few years back, I had really bad back spasms and it changed the whole way I walked, it changed my gait, it changed how long I was able to stand and walk. And you know, at the time I was really worried- is this my new forever? You know, like whenever something new changes in our body, or pain gets sharper and more intense, you know, we we don't know and that's what the doctors said too like, "We don't really know either, like it might be your new normal, it might not, who knows?" And, yeah, I had, I had done something because my whole right leg was numb for like a year. So I pulled something but nothing showed up in x-rays. So it was very frustrating and confusing. But I don't know, years went by, and I just did a lot of physical therapy and different things. And luckily, that pain has subsided a lot. But yeah, it's just really interesting that, you know, you could be in your body for 30 years, and one day you wake up, and it's completely different. And, yeah, it's, pain is just very strange.
JENNY
Yeah, I've heard disability, or the disabled experience described as like a constant grieving process. Because you sort of get, you get used to one way of existing and it might be limited in whatever way is limiting for you. And then that can change and shift too and then you're rea- constantly readjusting or having to modify behavior. And it's, you know, it's like experiencing grief for the way your body used to be.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
Yeah, yeah, I think that's a really poignant way of putting it. And it's, it's grief for like, what you maybe once were able to do, what you maybe can't do, or what you maybe were never able to do. But also, and not to, like, tout myself or like, completely, like, deny that at all. Because disability comes with a lot of challenges. And you don't always get the answers you're looking for or any answers. Some people are never given a diagnosis. And that's, like, difficult in its own way. But something that's really helped me, and yeah, I don't, I don't really know how I came to it. It was like radical self love. Because I remember being given a back brace at 13 and, and nobody could tell me how long that might be my life. And if and when I might need back surgery- ended up that I didn't knock on wood, I haven't needed it yet. But that's the thing. Like, when I was getting that brace, I was staring down who knows how many years of living in it? And I thought, Okay, well, I can be really upset and really frustrated and really angry and really sad about this for however many years that might be, or I can just be like, Okay, this is it for now. Let me try to gain that perspective and move through that and love what I do have now. And that's that's really stuck out because bodies really are so incredibly resilient.
JENNY
Absolutely, yeah, it's like those- you go through, like maybe a stage of grief, and then that can move into acceptance. And then it's like, you know, we live joyful, full lives as well, you know, and are, are grateful for the victories. So it's, you know, I feel like it's like, sort of like a healthy body's experience, but just amplified on a different scale.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
Yeah, I think you're right. And I think that's what makes the fact that disabled writers are writing about their experience and publishing their, their thoughts and their words and their experience so powerful, because it, it invites people without disabilities, and even people with other disabilities a way in, a window into their experience and what what it's like to live in their body. And I think that that's really a gift that they're giving. And, yeah, I just I want to see more more disabled writers sharing and publishing and getting into the literary community because we need more voices, and we need you.
JENNY
Yeah, and, you know, most people do end up with a disability of some kind, at some point in their life, whether that's much later or much earlier. So having those voices amplified, I think just helps to a better understanding and can only make people you know, more empathetic to different experiences and also accepting perhaps, if they themselves are you know, diagnosed with some form of disability later on too.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
Yeah, I think that's really true. And, and that just makes me think of like, the way that disability is so incredibly intersectional. It affects so many- I can't remember the stat off the top of my head, but a huge percentage of Americans, huge percentage of the world across all you know, races, ages, genders, class, all of tha. It's, it's really, it affects everybody, you know, it's so I think that raising awareness number one of disabled writing, just being a way to raise awareness, but not only that, that, you know it, it shows that disability is so varied and complex and doesn't affect anybody one way. But also, like you were saying earlier, it celebrates us and shows that, you know, yes, we deal with so many challenges and pain and different ways of living. But we live such full, varied lives.
JENNY
Yeah. And that self love, like you talked about is possible, you know? Yeah. That's great. Would you like to read another poem? I'd love to hear another one.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
Sure. I was gonna read two others that kind of speak to each other across the books.
JENNY
Yes, please. Yay. They're calling out to each other.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
(Both laughing) Yes, they really are.
JENNY
I love that.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
So I wrote, I wrote this one, when I learned that NASA actually has height restrictions to be an astronaut. And number one, I probably would never be an astronaut. I was very terrible at science and math.
JENNY
Would, would you given the opportunity, would you want to go to space?
MARLENA CHERTOCK
100%.
JENNY
Yeah, I'm the opposite.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
I don't know what it is. It's always been a calling.
JENNY
Yeah.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
Yeah. It's maybe it's the unknown. Maybe it's like that, I think, probably there's some other life forms out there. I don't know what it is. But it's just, I think it's beautiful and scary.
JENNY
Yeah, I find it terrifying. And also, just overwhelmingly beautiful. You know.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
It's just endless too.
JENNY
That's the scary part to me (Laughing).
MARLENA CHERTOCK
It's incomprehensible.
JENNY
Yeah, it really is beyond- it's like the depth of the ocean. There's no way to really understand that, in my brain anyway. But the magnitude of it is, you know, is very awe-inspiring. So I can, I can definitely see why you are moved to write about it.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
Totally. So yeah, so after learning that NASA has height restrictions, I wrote this one, and it's called "On that one-way trip to Mars."
MARLENA CHERTOCK
"If I didn't have a bone disorder, I would go to Mars and never come back. I would go to Mars, send an application to NASA, tell them my coding is so-so, I've never peered into a robot's circuitry but I'd like to learn how. I would go to Mars, someone who has to look and write and revise to understand. Someone who believes there's other life out there, not because of scientific proof, or a god told me, but because I want humanity to feel less lonely. I would go to Mars and send back news of the Sols. I'd create the first Martian newspaper, publish the first book of Martian poetry, paint the Martian soil with my words. I would go to Mars if I wasn't too short for NASA's height restrictions. I'd tell them you can fit more short people into a rocket. Don't worry about my bone deterioration rate, I had arthritis at 13. Walked like an old lady at 20. It'd be nice to float and give my bones a break. I would go to Mars if I didn't have bones clicking against each other, if I wasn't jellified blob. If the genetic letters within me didn't spell out feeble, different, unfit for space travel."
MARLENA CHERTOCK
And then this is from my second book, "Crumb-sized," which actually, I'll tell the story real quick of that title. There-I was teased a lot in elementary school because I was so short. And this one bully called me "smaller than a crumb." And it really stuck out to me and I did not know how to respond. But I was like, I'm gonna use use that later for something? (Laughing)
JENNY
Yeah, like very rude of that bully. But it's a great title, I will say that, so yeah. (Both laughing)
MARLENA CHERTOCK
Thank you! Well he gave me that.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
He they, yeah he gave you something, so. It is a great title. And once again, available through the DC Public Library, or for purchase where you buy books. So yeah, take it away.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
So this one is called "Application to NASA" and it's kind of a response to that last one.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
"Application to NASA. Even if all the pain I felt in my whole life doesn't equal the pressure and astronaut experiences in G-forces on reentry, even if the fact that I've been staring up since I was born- at people and the stars- isn't enough, even if I was born with arthritis, cushioning between my bones faulty, even though I'm beneath your stated height restrictions, I was shorter than every waterslide and roller coaster I've ridden on too, even when my lower left back feels like it's been hollowed out with a jagged spoon, even through the spreading unfeeling, numbness from my butt my toes, even when my room at 10 and 25 shines with green glow-in-the-dark stick-on stars, even when sneezing feels like I'll push my spine out of alignment, still I'm strong. I may be one of the strongest candidates you've ever had."
JENNY
I mean, I'm going to write to NASA (Both laughing). I don't think they're that busy right now. I don't know, they landed that Mars Rover so like that's done. And I would definitely read your Mars literary magazine, I would subscribe. I would buy an advertisement. So well, that was great.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
Thank you so much.
JENNY
Thank you so much for sharing those with us.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
I'm trying to find the person I think it's, let's see. There's a disabled man on Instagram that I follow. I think his name is Eddie Ndopu, but I could be wrong. And he is a Black disabled man in a wheelchair. And he wants to be the first person in space, the first disabled person in space. And I really hope that he achieves that that would be incredible. But yeah, I feel so like in alignment with that kind of energy.
JENNY
Yeah, Eddie, we're rooting for you. We're definitely rooting for you. I think everyone who wants to go to space should go to space. I'm just gonna say, I'm just supportive of it, as long as I don't have to go (Both laughing). And especially to have a disabled person in space, that would be I think, huge.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
We're already so adaptable, like we would be able to figure out like, all all the things that astronauts have to study, or, you know, like, I'm just thinking, wow, like, we're already we have to learn, like, like you were saying almost every day, hour by hour can be different living in our bodies, so.
JENNY
Yeah, often used to using specialized equipment or making adaptations, um yeah.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
Yeah, it just makes sense for space. I actually recently wrote, or I have been writing a series of short stories, and one of them is, came out recently, in Miniskirt magazine. And it's a short story that focuses on a crew of interplanetary waste cleaners, and they're on a Kepler planet, way out in the Kepler solar system, and one of them is disabled, because I really wanted to make a disabled astronaut.
JENNY
Yeah, there should be. Why not? So someone can also be too tall to be an astronaut, is that right? There's like, a range that they need.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
You know, there might be I need to look into that. But maybe it's because of like, the amount of rocket fuel they need on the rocket or how like, how big they make the spacesuits. I'm not really sure, but I just read that and I was so, so pissed off (Laughing).
JENNY
Yeah!
MARLENA CHERTOCK
Even though I'm probably not gonna be an astronaut, I was like really? There's a, there's a height restriction, just like a roller coaster?
JENNY
Yeah, I feel like being too tall might be a bigger issue, because it's so compact in there. And you have to, you know, get through tighter spaces. So you're right, I think being,
JENNY
Yeah, we'll start a campaign, so (Both Laughing). If any listeners want to write a letter, I don't know.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
Let us be in space.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
Yes.
JENNY
But you're also really crushing it here on Earth, so.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
No!
JENNY
I think things are going okay. And speaking of you're also the co chair with Malik Thompson of the OutWrite Festival, which is the, DC's annual LGBTQ+ Literary Festival. Can you tell us a little bit about the background about that event, how long it's been going on for those who aren't familiar and also what people can expect from that this August?
MARLENA CHERTOCK
Yes, I can. So OutWrite is DC's free annual LGBTQ Literary Festival. And it happens the first weekend of August, every August. This time, August 6th to 8th is when it's taking place. It's, this will be our 11th year, and I really want to give a shout out to Dave Ring who served as the chair of the festival for, I think it's been five years before me. He's done an incredible job of really building it up. And I'm really, really honored to have stepped into the role and be chairing with Malik, another local poet and I, I'm just really excited. We're working to finalize the schedule and we'll be releasing it soon. There's going to be really diverse lineup of readings, workshops, panel discussions. And due to the pandemic, it's most likely going to be 100% virtual. We're still deciding if anything can be hybrid. But stay tuned. We'll be releasing more about that soon.
JENNY
Yeah, that's very exciting. Do you do any youth focused programming for the festival as well?
MARLENA CHERTOCK
We haven't in the past, but they're not precluded from joining by any means. It's free. And everything's open to the public. We actually had a youth Poet Laureate from Arlington get in touch with us, and we're finding a way to have her be a part of the festival as well. We're really excited about that.
JENNY
Oh, very cool. That's great. So a very, yeah very inclusive event. All things literary coming up August 6th through 8th and what is the website for the OutWrite Festival, we will post that as well.
MARLENA CHERTOCK
It is TheDCCenter.org/OutWrite
JENNY
OutWrite. And that's write: W-R-I-T-E. But we will make sure to post a link to all of that information too. And as we've mentioned a couple times, we got to plug it again, because it's great. Your second volume of poetry "Crumb-sized", which we heard, the last poem you read was from, is available here at the DC Public Library. You can find it in our library catalog at DCLibrary.org or wherever books are sold. And you can learn more about Marlena's work and upcoming events, including the OutWrite Festival by going to MarlenaChertock.com. Marlena, any final thoughts for our library listeners today?
MARLENA CHERTOCK
I'm just really- So it's just really such an honor to have my book in a library. It's like I still have to pinch myself that I have books out and for it to be in a library because I remember spending so much time in libraries as a kid and even still now. So that's just like such a dream come true. And I just really am grateful to you, Jenny for this opportunity and really hope that other disabled writers and queer writers and writers of color are able to find writing opportunities for themselves. And yeah, this this I found such a really strong and welcoming writing community in the DC area. So I hope that if you're local, you find it as well for yourself.
JENNY
That's great. Thank you so much for being on the show and I can't wait to see more of your work in the library in the future.
JENNY
You just listened to "Access This" on the DC Public Library Podcast recorded from the Labs Recording Studio in the historic modernized Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in downtown Washington, DC. You can reach out to the Center for Accessibility at DCPL by emailing DCPLaccess@DC.gov. Stay safe, and stay accessible.
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