Holly Bass, poet and performance artist, is a poet-in-residence at Busboys and Poets, where she coordinated open-mike nights. She has won widespread recognition as a writer and performer at some of Washington’s most celebrated venues, including the Kennedy Center. Bass, who studied modern dance and creative writing at Sarah Lawrence and has a master’s in journalism from Columbia University, is known for her performances featuring a creation she calls “the booty ball” - a large, prosthetic rear end that she wears to challenge stereotypes of African-American women. Her most recent body of work explores the endless allure of booty – from the Venus Hottentots to video vixens. A Cave Canem fellow, her poems have appeared in Callaloo, nocturnes (re)view, Beltway, Role Call (Third World Press) and The Ringing Ear, an anthology of Black Southern poetry. Her pieces have been work-shopped and presented at respected regional theaters and performance spaces such as the Kennedy Center, Arena Stage, the Whitney Museum and the Experience Music Project in Seattle.

www.hollybass.com