HoCoPoLitSo welcomes all to the September meeting of its Wilde Reading Series, the start of our eleventh season of highlighting local authors in Howard County. This month’s reading features Serena Agusto-Cox and Henry Crawford, hosted by Laura Shovan and Ricky Jones. Please join us at independent bookstore Queen Takes Book on Tuesday, September 8th at 7 p.m., at 6955 Oakland Mills Rd, Suite E, Columbia MD, 21045.

Our warm and welcoming open mic follows the featured authors and we hope you will let us hear from your stories, poems, or other piece. Please prepare no more than five minutes of performance time (about two poems) and sign up when you arrive. Books by the featured authors will be available for purchase:

Below, get to know Serena and Henry!

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

Serena: It would be my nana, my maternal grandmother, who appears the most, but family appears in most of my poems.

Henry: My Inner Consciousness.

Where is your favorite place to write?

Serena: I write in many places. But it’s usually not a favorite place. It’s a favorite time. Early hours like 5 a.m. or late hours like 11 p.m. to 1 a.m.

Henry: MLK Library in DC.

Do you have any consistent pre-writing rituals?

Serena: I must have something sweet and coffee.

Henry: No.

Who always gets a first read?

Serena: My first reader is always my college roommate, Anna Horner. We’re still friends and even co-workers. And there is my Never-on-Sundays Poetry Workshop group with W. Luther Jett, Fran Abrams, eve burton, and Marc Drexler.

Henry: I’ll workshop some of my poems but mostly just submit them.

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

Serena: I’ve surprisingly read many books more than once and would probably read again, but I’ll give you a couple: IT by Stephen King and Field Guide to the End of the World by Jeannine Hall Gailey.

Henry: “The Most Natural Thing” by David Keplinger.

What is the most memorable reading you have attended?

Serena: One of the most memorable readings has to be after I first moved to the area and saw Richard Blanco read at The Writer’s Center from “City of a Hundred Fires.” It reminded me so much of the immigrant stories from my father and how rough it can be to begin again in a new country. It renewed my resolve to make it on my own away from my family.

• Serena is a Pushcart Prize nominee, editor at The Mid-Atlantic Review published by DayEight, poetry reviewer with Washington Unbound, and coordinator of poetry programming at the Gaithersburg Book Festival. Her poems appear in multiple magazines and anthologies. She has founded Savvy Verse & Wit and Poetic Book Tours, respectively. Echoes Carry, published by Beltway Editions in April 2026, is her debut poetry collection.

Serena’s author website is https://savvyverseandwit.com and she is also on Substack at https://savvyverseandwit.substack.com.

• Henry is author of three collections of poetry, American Software (CW Books, 2017), Binary Planet (The Word Works, 2020, 2nd ed. 2024), and Screens (Broadstone Books, 2025). His poem, “The Fruits of Famine” won first prize in the 2019 World Food Poetry Competition. His work has been published in Boulevard, Copper Nickel, Rattle, the Southern Humanities Review, and many others. He is a two time finalist for the Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest.

Henry shares his and others’ work and builds a community on Substack at https://everydaypoet.substack.com, and also maintains a personal site: http://henrycrawfordpoetry.com.