HoCoPoLitSo welcomes all to the April edition of the Wilde Reading Series, with Nishi Chawla and Jennifer Keith, hosted by Laura Shovan. Please join us at independent bookstore Queen Takes Book on Tuesday, March 11th at 7 p.m., at 6955 Oakland Mills Rd, Suite E, Columbia MD, 21045. Please spread the word— bring your friends, family and students! Light refreshments will be served and books by the readers available for sale.

An open mic follows the featured authors and we encourage you to participate. Please prepare no more than five minutes of performance time, about two poems. Sign up when you arrive, or in advance via this online form.

Below, get to know Nishi and Jenny!

Who is the person in your life (past or present) that shows up most often in your writing?

Nishi: No single person lingers in my writing, yet traces of many pass through its pages. Faces blur, voices merge, and memory bends into something else – something both familiar and unclaimed. My characters are not reflections but echoes, shaped by moments, by absences, by the weight of untold stories. If anyone appears, it is only in fragments, never whole, never fully known.

Jenny: I don’t want to embarrass them.

Where is your favorite place to write?

Nishi: For me, the act of writing is less about a fixed location and more about the atmosphere it creates, an intangible space where thought deepens and language takes shape. I find myself drawn to places that allow reflection and immersion, where the world hums in the background without overwhelming the silence I need. Sometimes, it’s a quiet study, lined with books whose spines hold centuries of voices. Other times, it’s a window seat with a view – watching the shifting light, the slow dance of trees, or the distant rhythm of life unfolding outside. And then, there are moments when movement itself fuels the writing: a train rushing past blurred landscapes, the steady motion mirroring the flow of words, stories forming like fleeting impressions on a rain-streaked window. My writing space is not defined by walls, but by a feeling, a sense of being both grounded and aloft, where ideas can unfold freely.

For me, writing is also a deeply personal act, untethered from ritual or setting. I can even write in bed, words slipping between wakefulness and dreams, taking shape in the soft hush of late hours or the first light of morning.

Jenny: My beautiful studio. Having a special place for writing is a real luxury.

Do you have any consistent pre-writing rituals?

Nishi: I wouldn’t say I have rigid pre-writing rituals, but there are rhythms, quiet gestures, that help ease me into the act of writing. Sometimes, it begins with a moment of stillness – just sitting, allowing thoughts to settle, waiting for the right thread to emerge. Other times, it’s about movement, a slow walk to let ideas breathe before they take shape on the page.

Reading something – perhaps a poem, a passage from a novel, or even an old notebook filled with half-formed ideas, often sparks a certain energy, nudging me toward the right words. A warm cup of tea, the ritual of holding it, sipping it slowly, can create a bridge between the ordinary and the creative.

And then there is the silence – necessary, but not always literal. Sometimes, it’s the hush of early morning or late night. Other times, it’s the gentle hum of instrumental music, something that doesn’t intrude but instead opens up space within the mind.

But not all writing arrives with ritual. There are days when words come unbidden, unexpected, without ceremony. And those moments are just as welcome.

Jenny: Tea. Lots of tea.

Who always gets a first read?

Nishi: It’s a bit of a moving target, really. Sometimes, the first reader is no one but myself – my eyes tracing over every word, reading and rereading, letting the work breathe before I decide to share it. But when I do share, it’s with someone I trust implicitly, someone who understands the delicate balance of offering both honesty and empathy. It could be a fellow writer, a friend who knows my voice well, or even someone who isn’t a writer at all but has a sharp, perceptive eye. The first read is always an intimate moment, a quiet exchange between the work and those who help shape its journey. It depends on what I’m writing. Sometimes, a piece feels too raw, too close, to share with anyone right away. Mostly, the first reader is just myself – stepping away and returning, letting the work reveal its own flaws and strengths before I decide it’s ready for another set of eyes.

Jenny: My husband, Chris Ciattei, AKA Batworth.

What is a book you’ve read more than twice (and would read again)?

Nishi: There are a few books I’ve returned to time and again, but one that stands out is The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. The layers of surrealism, satire, and spirituality never seem to lose their intrigue. Each time I read it, I find new meanings, new connections, as if the book itself evolves with me. It’s a rare story that can be revisited without ever feeling stale. It pulls me in, like a labyrinth I never quite finish exploring.

Jenny: Alcoholics Anonymous, fourth edition.

What is the most memorable reading you have attended?

Nishi: There have been many readings that have stayed with me, but the most memorable ones are those where the words didn’t just exist on the page but came alive in the air, charged with presence and emotion. It wasn’t always about the fame of the writer or the grandeur of the venue. Sometimes, it was the intimacy of a quiet room where a poet’s voice trembled with unspoken history, or a storyteller wove a world so vividly that the audience forgot to breathe.

Perhaps it was a reading where the language carried weight beyond the words themselves – where literature met lived experience, and something unnameable passed between speaker and listener. The most memorable readings, for me, are those where words linger long after the event is over, reshaping thoughts, leaving echoes that refuse to fade.

Jenny: SO many: Anthony Hecht in Georgetown, D.C., December 1996. 1998 Best of Baltimore at Pikesville Bibelot. HOT L reading in Philadelphia at AWP in 2022. Any time Joe Harrison read. (RIP)

• Dr. Nishi Chawla is a well-known Asian-American poet, playwright, novelist, independent filmmaker and a long-standing academician. She has published two novels, seven volumes of poetry and ten plays. She has co-edited two global volumes of poetry for Penguin Random House. She holds a Ph.D. in English from the George Washington University, Washington DC, and a post-doctorate from Johns Hopkins University. She has also written and directed four arthouse feature films, three of which are now streaming on Amazon Prime. She can be found online at nishichawla.com.

• Jennifer Keith‘s poems have appeared in The Free State Review, Fledgling Rag, The Baltimore Review, Best American Poetry 2015, Able Muse, and elsewhere. Keith received the 2014 John Elsberg poetry prize, and was a finalist in the 2021 Erskine J. Poetry Prize from Smartish Pace. Her first full-length book of poems, Terminarch, was chosen by David Yezzi for the 2023 Able Muse Book Award. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland. Her home page can be found at jenniferkeithwriter.com, now under development.