Caroline Bock moved to Potomac in 2012 when her husband Richard, a labor lawyer, took a position at the National Labor Relations Board in Washington. Now the former cable television executive has become one of the area's most active literary advocates, co-leading a nonprofit press with local ties and teaching writing workshops open to area residents.
Bock serves as co-president and prose editor of Washington Writers' Publishing House, a cooperative nonprofit literary press founded in 1975 that has published more than 100 volumes of poetry, fiction and nonfiction. The organization describes itself as based in Washington, D.C., though its Wikipedia entry lists its headquarters in Potomac. Either way, it is the longest continuously operating cooperative nonprofit literary press in the country, according to the organization's website.
She shares the co-presidency with poet Jona Colson. Both took the helm in 2023.
A recent profile in the Beacon Newspapers highlighted how Bock's literary roots run deep. She studied creative writing as an undergraduate at Syracuse University with Raymond Carver, Tess Gallagher, Tobias Wolff and Jack Gilbert. In that profile, Bock recalled one of Carver's favorite teaching maxims: "Make sure you're never boring. Get right to the emotional truth. Cut everything else out except the heart."
She later earned an MFA in fiction from the City College of New York in 2011.
Bock's path to WWPH leadership started with a prize. In 2018, she submitted her short story collection Carry Her Home to the press's annual fiction contest and won. The cooperative model required her to volunteer at least two years helping run the organization. She never left.
Before turning to fiction full time, Bock spent two decades in marketing and public relations in the cable television industry, rising to senior vice president at AMC, Bravo and IFC. She was part of the executive team that launched the Independent Film Channel and IFC Films.
Her latest novel, The Other Beautiful People, a workplace love story inspired by her cable career, was published June 2 by Regal House Publishing. In 2025, she co-edited the WWPH anthology America's Future, featuring 164 writers. In May, she and Colson published Capital Love, the second in a series of pocket-sized "Capital" mini-anthologies.
Bock also teaches writing workshops at The Writer's Center in Bethesda, according to the center's instructor listing.
For aspiring writers in the D.C. region, WWPH offers several open opportunities. The press's "Worlds Beyond" speculative fiction and poetry contest accepts free submissions through Tuesday, Sept. 15, with prizes of $100 and $50 in each category. A call for English translations of poetry and prose, Capital Translation, is open through Tuesday, Sept. 1, with a $25 honorarium per contributor. WWPH Writes, the press's free biweekly online literary journal, reaches more than 1,500 subscribers and pays contributors $25 per piece.
WWPH has received grants from the Maryland State Arts Council, the Amazon Literary Partnership, the National Endowment for the Arts and the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.
Upcoming community events:
- Saturday, Aug. 22: Free reading screening for kindergarten through grade 5 students, 8:30 a.m., McLean School-Falls Road Campus (Lower School), 11810 Falls Rd., Potomac.
- Sunday, Aug. 23: WWPH "Summer of Love" reading celebrating Capital Love, 7 p.m., The Ivy Bookshop, Baltimore.
- Sunday, Sept. 27: WWPH "Summer of Love" reading, 5 p.m., Lost City Books.
