Authors

Masnavi Book 1 Weekly reading and discussion group

Test the Mic Test the Mic is a friendly, no-pressure meetup for people exploring Music, Poetry, Spoken Word, and Storytelling. It’s a space to try, test, practice, and learn together — whether you’re performing for the first time, Seasoned performer or supporting from the audience. This is a welcoming, POD friendly space and feedback-driven environment where performers and listeners help each other grow. Come to share your voice, listen closely, and be part of a community that believes practice makes progress. Location : The Casa Collective, Al Quoz Every 2nd Wednesday starting from 11th February 2026 Free entry, but limited spots & seats - Use the form to register [Fill the form to register](https://forms.gle/mm1n2QNZLQf7uJx96) RSVP only — please fill the signup form using the link to secure your spot or join the group. Come perform. Come support. Come learn.

Please reserve your spot by registering on the below link : **Reserve** [https://Jbic1.eventbrite.com](https://Jbic1.eventbrite.com) **QUESTIONS ?** Pls Reach out to; Anushtha - [+971504724873 ](http://wa.me/971504724873)( WhatsApp Only)

Please reserve your spot by registering on the below link : **Reserve** [https://www.eventbrite.com/e/join-biggest-community-investors-founders-rak-tickets-1328776088049?aff=oddtdtcreator](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/join-biggest-community-investors-founders-rak-tickets-1328776088049?aff=oddtdtcreator) **QUESTIONS ?** Pls Reach out to; Anushtha - [+971504724873](http://wa.me/971504724873) ( WhatsApp Only)

Doing great work is one thing, proving it is another. This interactive workshop shows you how to turn your projects and ideas into real, measurable impact. You will learn practical, human-centered ways to track social and business change without the overwhelm. Through hands-on exercises, we will cover how to choose the right indicators, set smart baselines, and follow progress over time, blending numbers with storytelling and community feedback to bring your impact to life. You will leave with a simple, flexible framework you can use immediately to measure, improve, and communicate the value you create. This workshop is perfect for entrepreneurs, creatives, and changemakers ready to measure what truly matters. Speaker [Afaf Al Kharfan](https://www.linkedin.com/in/afafalkharfan/), Programme Manager,[ Pearl Initiative](https://www.pearlinitiative.org/) Afaf specializes in cultural programming and social impact initiatives and is passionate about social entrepreneurship and human-centered design.

Come and have tea, meet new friends and engage in an open conversation about life's purpose, our collective responsibility towards humanity, our existence on this planet, diverse religious perspectives, spiritual insights, the interconnectedness of all people, gender equality, the convergence of faiths, and current world issues. Location: Burj Crown Building - Lounge Room on the 7th floor. Above "Baba Roma" restaurant. Free parking is available in the Dubai Opera House parking. 15 Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Blvd - Downtown Dubai [https://maps.app.goo.gl/h5NH1VNXSHCJC7bq5](https://maps.app.goo.gl/h5NH1VNXSHCJC7bq5) Time: 19:30 for an 20:00 prompt start

**Are you an Investor or a Founder? Are you actively Investing / Raising? Is it $2M or less? Yes? This event is for you!** This is a paid event and will be deleted from here pls register below [https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1709355240539?aff=meetup](https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1709355240539?aff=meetup) For any quereies [Whats App](https://api.whatsapp.com/send/?phone=971547174965&text&type=phone_number&app_absent=0) \- Sumit [+971547174965](https://api.whatsapp.com/send/?phone=971547174965&text&type=phone_number&app_absent=0)

**Looking for a group you can write with *whilst sipping your fave coffee*?** ☕✍️ Then come join **Shut Up & Write!** on **Saturday, February 14th from 1:30pm to 4:00pm** at **Ridgetop Coffee & Tea**! Whether you're cranking out a novel, journaling, looking for new friends, or just trying to get that stubborn paragraph right—we’ve got a cozy seat and a supportive group waiting for you! **No critiques, no peer review, no pressure—just a chill space to get words on the page.** 📝 **What to expect:** 1:30–2:00pm – Grab your coffee or tea, find your seat, and meet your fellow writers. 2:00pm–3:30pm – Silent, focused writing time 3:30–4:00pm – Debrief, celebrate any writing wins, commiserate on any obstacles, and head out feeling accomplished. **RSVP Info:** The room seats only 8 people comfortably! RSVP as soon as possible to secure your spot!! If you are unable to attend, please cancel your reservation **ASAP** so those on the wait list are able to RSVP and attend!!! **Meeting Room:** Enter the coffee shop, walk straight towards the play area and on your left you will see a meeting room just past the bathrooms. The room has a TV, white board, and walls are painted green. **What to Bring:** Whatever helps you focus, and be productive. There is a wall outlet at each end of the room, so you're able to bring your laptop to write. You're welcome to bring headphones if you enjoy listening to music while working. **Parking & Accessibility:** there is a large parking lot out front and it is free! There are no stair cases when entering the coffee shop or when inside. This coffee shop is incredibly spacious with many seating options. If you have any questions, please message me through MeetUp. I'm happy to help. **Dietary Information:** many GF, Vegan, and SF options. Just ask your barista when ordering for specifics! Can’t wait to see you there! 🎉

Meet the author in an exclusive Blind Date with a Book event! Elle Cosimano is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, an International Thriller Award winner, a Bram Stoker Award finalist, and an Edgar® Award nominee. Elle’s debut novel for adults, “Finlay Donovan Is Killing It,” kicked off a witty, fast-paced contemporary mystery series, which was a PEOPLE Magazine Pick and was named one of New York Public Library’s Best Books of 2021. Participants of [Blind Date With a Book](https://pwcgov.beanstack.org/reader365) will be entered into a special drawing for signed copies of the Finlay Donovan series.

We will meet in the Janney parlor.

**NOTE: This is NOT a screening, please watch the movie before the discussion.** *"Hey Ted, where the hell's the corkscrew?!"* *Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter* arrives at a point where the series knows exactly what it is. Picking up immediately after Part 3, the film traps a new group of unlucky victims near Camp Crystal Lake as Jason Voorhees continues his unstoppable march through the annals of horror history. Lean, mean, and packed with some of the series’ most memorable kills, *The Final Chapter* distills the formula to its sharpest elements — suspense, savagery, and a mounting sense of inevitability — before slamming the door shut with brutal efficiency. Often regarded as the strongest entry in the original series, the film balances classic slasher suspense with some of the most effective practical effects of the era. It’s a no-frills, high-impact installment that solidified Jason as a horror icon. ***

Join our partners Watermark Woods Native Plants, Loudoun County Public Library (LCPL), and Birch Tree Bookstore for the Read! Plant! Grow! Book Club, which focuses on native plants, sponsored by Loudoun Wildlife Conservancy and LCPL. At this meeting we’ll discuss the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. Both memoir and journalistic investigation, this book explores how the Kingsolver family took on a new challenge: to spend a year on a locally -produced diet, paying close attention to the provenance of all they consume. Concerned about the environmental, social, and physical costs of American food culture, they hoped to recover what Kingsolver considers our nation’’s lost appreciation for farms and the natural processes of food production. You can either buy the book from Birch Tree Bookstore or contact Allison Forbes at [Allison.forbes@loudoun.gov](mailto:Allison.forbes@loudoun.gov) to borrow a copy of the book at the library. There are two ways to participate: attend the event online via the library website or [sign up to participate in person at Birch Tree Bookstore](https://www.birchtreebookstore.com/event-details/read-plant-grow-2026-02-24-18-30). ***Questions:*** *Contact [info@loudounwildlife.org](mailto:info@loudounwildlife.org)*.

**CONTENT WARNING: Disease, mutilation, abortion.** **This film contains extreme body horror, prolonged depictions of illness and bodily decay, environmental contamination, and disturbing imagery. It also includes references to pregnancy loss and a graphic act involving the removal of a fetus from a woman’s body. Themes of obsession, emotional distress, and death are central to the film. Viewer discretion is strongly advised. You are welcome to step out at any time.** Please read the original manga ahead of the dicussion: https://mangadex.org/chapter/bf397fc1-17bc-4fa1-8cd7-2cfd35f8170c Hideshi Hino's *Mermaid in a Manhole* is body horror stripped of bravado. When a lonely artist encounters a dying mermaid trapped in an underground sewer, he attempts to care for her — documenting her condition as her body deteriorates in disturbing and intimate ways. What begins as a strange act of compassion transforms into a bleak meditation on decay, obsession, and environmental collapse. Blending body horror with tragic romance, the film replaces shock-for-shock’s-sake with an atmosphere of sickness and inevitability that seeps into every frame.

[Profs and Pints Northern Virginia](https://www.profsandpints.com/washingtondc) presents: **“Love and Monsters,”** on the inescapable bond between romance and horror, with Joshua Barton, scholar of horror and lecturer in English at Virginia Commonwealth University. [Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at [https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/profsandpints/nv-love-monsters](https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/profsandpints/nv-love-monsters) .] Romance and horror might seem like opposite genres, but they share a deep emotional core, and the combination of them has captivated audiences across time and culture. Put even your worst Valentine’s Day in perspective by hearing this strange relationship discussed by Joshua Barton, who has earned a big following among Profs and Pints fans with his past talks on cryptids, American horror, and Christmas ghosts. He’ll explore the undeniable and unsettling intersection of romance and horror and examine how and why love and fear intensify each other and combined to create tension, drive narratives, and explore human vulnerability. We’ll look at works that have blended passion and terror, including Gothic literature like the vampire novella *Carmilla* and modern films like *Spring* and *Crimson Peak*. We’ll study the fine line between obsession and adoration running through Stephen King’s “I Know What You Need,” Adrian Lyne’s *Fatal Attraction*, and the timeless *The Phantom of the Opera.* We’ll discuss the seeds of monstrous love that were planted with *Beauty and the Beast* and *Creature from the Black Lagoon* and bloom ferociously in works like *Twilight* and *The Shape of Water*. Through it all, we’ll find the threads of otherness and the taboo that intertwine horror, love, and reflections on identity. Join us for a journey through storytelling that combines the grotesque and the scintillating as we uncover why romance and horror are a match made in the dark. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. Talk starts 30 minutes later.) Image: From the original 1954 advertising poster for *Creature from the Black Lagoon* (Artist: Reynold Brown / Public Domain).