#PaintTheStorefronts

These are trying times for people and local, small businesses across the globe. Instead of boarding up our windows after an unfortunate act of vandalism, we’ve responded by spreading messages of optimism and hope by hiring local artists to #PaintTheStorefronts. All of our seven locations are painted, and we are spreading the movement; already we’ve painted uplifting messages on José Andres’ restaurants and a Yoga studio in Takoma.

We continue to be open at 14th & V, 450K, Shirlington, Hyattsville and Anacostica locations, employing as many as we can. Thank you to our community for the continuous support <3

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14th & V Busboys and Poets
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Hyattsville
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For Langston Hughes on His 123 Birthday

Speech given on February 1, 2024 in Havana, Cuba In 1927 Langston Hughes walked into a Cuba amid an emerging community of artists, intellectuals, and radicals.  He saw a “sunrise in a new land [– a day – in his words]sic – full of brownskin surprises, and hitherto unknown contacts in a world of color.”  … Continued

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Palestine Week 2024

January 18, 2024 – January 25, 2024 In keeping with our ongoing mission of uplifting racial and cultural connections, Busboys and Poets is hosting Palestine Week (January 18 through January 25, 2024). This week-long series of events will offer a diverse range of programming featuring Palestinian food, music, dance, poetry, discussions, and other enriching events. … Continued

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Dine After Dark

We’re proud to be joining Dine After Dark along with other great local businesses to make dining-out more convenient for our Muslim community celebrating Ramadan. 3.5 million Americans and 1.6 billion people worldwide celebrate Ramadan, the 9th month of the Islamic calendar, as a time of reflection and charity. We’re inviting customers to “Dine After … Continued

Website WCGA 2.0 Accessible Verified by Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind

Website WCGA 2.0 Accessible Verified by Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind

Proud to announce that after working with the Accessibility Assurance Department at Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind, the Busboys and Poets website scored a 92% accessibility compliance against WCAG 2.0 level AA. This means that individuals who require alternative access to printed digital content will have comparable access and use of the website as do … Continued

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Andy Shallal

Founder/CEO Andy Shallal is an artist, social entrepreneur and founder/CEO of Busboys and Poets, a restaurant group in the Washington Metropolitan area where art, culture and politics intentionally collide over mindfully sourced food, drinks, books and event programming. With six, soon to be seven locations in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia, Busboys and Poets has … Continued

On Censorship by Salman Rushdie

On Censorship by Salman Rushdie

No writer ever really wants to talk about censorship. Writers want to talk about creation, and censorship is anti-creation, negative energy, uncreation, the bringing into being of non-being, or, to use Tom Stoppard’s description of death, “the absence of presence.” Censorship is the thing that stops you doing what you want to do, and what writers want to talk about is what they do, not what stops them doing it.