The Poet and the Poem
2026-27 Series

Featured Dan Vera and Jona Colson

Click here for Dan Vera and Jona Colson podcast.mp3

Dan Vera is an award-winning writer, editor, and literary historian living in Washington, DC. Recipient of the Oscar Wilde Award for Poetry and the Letras Latinas/Red Hen Poetry Prize. He’s the co-editor of Imaniman: Poets Writing In The Anzaldúan Borderlands (Aunt Lute Books) and author of three books of poetry, most recently, Celestial Fire: Songs For A Love That Dares. His work has been featured by the Poetry Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Poetry Out Loud high school poetry competition. They also appear in high school textbooks and university curricula, various journals and anthologies including The Library of America’s Latino Poetry anthology.

Jona Colson is poet, educator, and translator, and he is the author of Said Through Glass (a poetry collection). He is also the translator of Aguas/Waters by Miguel Avero and the co-editor of America’s Future: poetry and prose in response to today (2025). His poems, translations, and interviews have appeared in Ploughshares, The Southern Review, LitHub, and elsewhere. He is co-president of Washington Writers’ Publishing House and edits the bi-weekly journal, WWPH Writes. He is a professor of ESL at Montgomery College and lives in Washington, D.C. www.jonacolson.com

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