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The Washington Writers Conference Presents Brigid Schulte

Brigid Schulte is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, speaker, and author of Over Work: Transforming the Daily Grind in the Quest for a Better Life and the New York Times bestselling Overwhelmed: How to Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time. What’s her advice for not getting overwhelmed…

An Interview with Pelumi Olatinpo

A philosopher and provocateur of our collective consciousness, Washington, DC, poet Pelumi Olatinpo is the author of Poeta: Sonetas and Sonnets, a collection of 303 poems arranged in six movements that examine the human condition in all its hopes, struggles, beauty, and flaws. When not writing poetry, he manages a…

Children’s Book Roundup: February 2025

Kwesi and Nana Ruby Learn to Swim by Kobina Commeh (author) and Bárbara Quintino (illustrator) (Barefoot Books). “Kwesi sank into the sand as his friends splashed in Lagoon Lake. ‘Let’s get in the water,’ said Efua. ‘It’s warm! Just dip a toe!’ called Jake.” But Kwesi can’t swim. He soon…

Geraldine Brooks in Conversation with Kara Swisher

After spending their early years together in conflict zones as foreign correspondents, Geraldine Brooks and Tony Horwitz settled down to raise two boys on Martha’s Vineyard. The life they built over more than three decades was one of meaningful work, good humor, and tenderness. But that ended abruptly when Horwitz…

Finding My Father

Paul Wojdak, a retired geologist living near Vancouver, British Columbia, has written in 2024’s Escape from Siberia, Escape from Memory a singular memoir of his father, Pawel Wojdak (1912-1984). Part of what makes this story such remarkable reading is the fact that the author didn’t discover until adulthood that the…

Meet Michael Nayak

Join us at Bards Alley for a discussion with debut local author Michael Nayak for his sci-fi thriller, Symbiote. Based on real-life experiences, Contagion meets “The Walking Dead” in this new work, in which a biological threat ravages scientists and military personnel at the South Pole! Hosted by Bards Alley…

Weaker by the Dozen

Some time ago, I picked up a novel at Politics and Prose in Washington, DC, with the odd title of Bruno, Chief of Police. It turned out to be surprisingly good, blending mystery and the unmatchable cuisine of Périgord. Unfortunately, as many series do, its quality faded as the author,…

The Washington Writers Conference Presents Louis Bayard

The New York Times says that prolific novelist Louis Bayard — the author of The Pale Blue Eye (now a Netflix movie starring Christian Bale), the national bestseller Courting Mr. Lincoln, Jackie & Me, The Wildes: A Novel in Five Acts, and many other books — “reinvigorates historical fiction.” Find…

Authors on Audio: Lindsay Chervinsky

A presidential historian and executive director of the George Washington Presidential Library, Lindsay M. Chervinsky is also the author of multiple scholarly articles and books, including The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution and, most recently, Making the Presidency: John Adams and the Precedents That Forged…

An Interview with Radha Vatsal

In No. 10 Doyers Street, author Radha Vatsal again dives into historical fiction. As in her Kitty Weeks Mystery series, Vatsal’s new novel is set in the early 1900s and follows a reporter. This time, our narrator, Archana Morley, investigates top players in New York’s Chinatown, including the rival gang…

Meet Natasha Hakimi Zapata

Real-world solutions to America’s thorniest social problems — from housing to retirement to drug addiction — based on original reporting from around the world. A new generation of Americans has declared that another world is possible. And yet, the stubborn problems of inequality, climate change, and declining health seem as…

Adrift But Not Alone

My mom is one of the biggest reasons I survived the pandemic. When I was sinking in a never-ending quicksand of loneliness, she would come visit me nightly, sitting and reading with me or watching a Marvel movie and valiantly trying to follow along with the wacky plot twists. So,…

Hot L Poets Series: Eric D. Goodman & Tramaine Suubi

The HOT L Poets Series continues at Bird in Hand Charles Village (Baltimore) with poets Eric D. Goodman & Tramaine Suubi! The reading includes an open mic so bring a poem (1 poem, 3 min. or less). In our 7th year, the reading series is sponsored by Smartish Pace and…

Romance Roundup: February 2025

After all the festivities of December, January was a long, cold month of overcast days and questionable snacking choices. On the plus side, I read a bunch of really good books, February holds the promise of warmer afternoons to come, and there’s Valentine’s Day! (Mmm… chocolate.) Here are a few…

Oh, Mercy.

There’s a tradition of so-called virtue names — like Hope, Patience, Grace, Faith, Joy, Comfort, Prudence, Constance, Charity, Valor, Honor, and Justice — that proclaim aspirational qualities. I love these old-fashioned monikers, even though naming an individual for an estimable trait risks lifelong burden. To live up to the nominal…

Kalela Williams in Conversation with Kit Ballenger

After moving to rural Virginia with her professor mother, Noni is living on a former plantation that her ancestors built. Rebelling against being forced to give up her dreams of costume design, she researches an ancestor from whom she inherited her fashion aesthetic. As she digs deeper into the family…

The Washington Writers Conference Presents Daniel de Visé

Longtime journalist Daniel de Visé is also the author of five books. The latest, The Blues Brothers: An Epic Friendship, the Rise of Improv, and the Making of an American Film Classic, is a dual biography of John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd that explores their friendship and the genesis of…

An Interview with Marc Leepson

On the night of April 6, 1967, U.S. Navy Seaman Apprentice Doug Hegdahl, 20, found himself swimming for hours in the Gulf of Tonkin after falling from his ship, which was under fire off the Vietnamese coast. Once captured, he spent more than two years in the “Hanoi Hilton” as…

Our 7 Most Favorable Reviews in January 2025

Embers of the Hands: Hidden Histories of the Viking Age by Eleanor Barraclough (W.W. Norton & Company). Reviewed by Anne Cassidy. “Also found in Herjolfsnes was a runic stick with the inscription, ‘This woman, who was called Gudveig, was laid overboard in the Greenland Sea.’ Though the Viking Age had…

Our 5 Most Popular Posts: January 2025

“The Best Book I Read in 2024.” “Picking a favorite book — like picking a favorite child — is impossible. Still, if our contributors absolutely, positively, we’re not kidding, had to choose the ONE title that most spoke to them this year, here’s what it would be…” Cara Tallo’s review…

It’s a Family Affair

A few months ago, my son took me to Second Story Books, a large warehouse with thousands of old books tucked into an especially unglamorous part of Rockville, Maryland, between auto body shops and storage facilities — the last place you’d expect to find a treasure trove of products to…

Meet Seth Lorinczi

Death Trip: A Post-Holocaust Psychedelic Memoir takes readers on a journey from Portland’s ayahuasca basements to the streets of Budapest during the darkest days of the Second World War. By turns wrenching and hilarious, it asks whether trauma can be inherited and, if so, if psychedelics can help us heal.…

Maurice Jackson in Conversation with E. Ethelbert Miller

In the Nation's capital, music and sports have played a central role in the lives of African Americans, often serving as a barometer of social conflict and social progress — for sports clubs and ball games, jam sessions and concerts, offered entertainment, enlightenment, and encouragement. At times, they have also…

Have You Applied for a BIPOC Scholarship Yet?

The third-annual BIPOC Scholarship to attend the Washington Writers Conference, the DC-area’s premier publishing-focused writing event, will be awarded to five writers from BIPOC communities! But note: The deadline to apply is tomorrow (Jan. 31st)! Applicants must be 18 years or older and be able to attend the conference in…

The Washington Writers Conference Presents Glory Edim

We’re thrilled to announce that Glory Edim will be the keynote speaker at our 2025 Washington Writers Conference! Best known as the founder of Well-Read Black Girl, a “literary community dedicated to Black women,” Edim is also an advocate, activist, podcaster, and author, most recently, of Gather Me: A Memoir…

An Interview with Larry Kirshbaum

Larry Kirshbaum’s Death in a White Coat delves into the murder of a medical-student prodigy — and into the motivations of the many women who wanted him dead. Full of suspense, the story keeps readers on their toes as each new secret is revealed. While this is his first novel,…

Fiercely Feminist

On the first truly cold day of the new year, an icy cold, snow-drifting grey day, I had a quick-fire email correspondence with Courtney LeBlanc, one of the fieriest poets and publishers in the Washington, DC, area. Based in Arlington, Virginia, her small poetry press, Riot in Your Throat, is…

Chris Hayes in Conversation with Jen Psaki

We all feel it — the distractions and the addictive focus on the wrong things for too long. We stare in pity at the people in the restaurant, all on their phones, and then we feel the buzz in our pocket. Something has changed: for most of human history, the…

Smart? Phone!

I was driving into my gated community the other day and almost hit the barrier, which was down. (An aside: I live in the Villages, which, like many Florida communities, has barriers to keep the riff-raff out. In mine, only the riff is excluded, since anyone pushing a little red…

Matthew C. Halteman in Conversation with Kitty Block

Join us for an afternoon with author Matthew C. Halteman as he discusses his new book, Hungry Beautiful Animals! Joining him in discussion is Kitty Block, President and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States. In Hungry Beautiful Animals, philosopher Matthew C. Halteman shows us how — despite…

Authors on Audio: Lyn Patterson

California poet Lyn Patterson draws heavily on her family’s history in all her work, and that’s especially true in her recent memoir, The Postcards I Never Sent. Author Chloe Dulce Louvouezo says the book “is emotive and imaginative, transcending the reader into Patterson’s world as she balances intimacy with raw…

An Interview with Tom Navratil

A satirical, behind-the-scenes look into the world of diplomatic relations and embassy woes, Tom Navratil’s debut novel, Dog’s Breakfast, depicts career ambitions coming to a head during a fierce battle of wits between a sardonic veteran envoy and a striving junior officer. Set in the U.S. embassy in the fictional…

Meet Elizabeth Zunon

Join the caravan with Malik in Through Sand and Salt as he and his family carry precious salt across the Sahara to Timbuktu. Along the journey, he learns about the astonishing ways that salt brings life to the desert. Vibrant illustrations by West African artist Elizabeth Zunon immerse readers into…

Of NBA League Pass & Crunchyroll

During a water-cooler conversation in the neutral-colored hallway of my university, I said to my colleague, “If I had to get rid of all my streaming services save one, I would keep Crunchyroll, without question.” For the uninitiated, Crunchyroll is an anime-streaming service that has a large library and simulcasts…

Words Matter

It was a big deal when we were finally able to start paying our contributors — good writing matters and has value — even though the amount ($25) was small. Well, we’re excited to announce that we’re raising our rate to $50, effective immediately! Is it still too small? Yes.…

Cozy Reads Book Club

Welcome to Marigold Mind Laundry where we wash away the stains from your heart. In this enchanting tale – a blockbuster bestseller in Korea – the enigmatic owner of a magical laundromat that erases people’s painful memories must learn to find her own peace before she can truly help others.…

On Poetry: January 2025

Maw Shein Win’s Percussing the Thinking Jar (Omnidawn) is comprised mostly of “thought logs,” a poetic form she devised to include declarative statements and fragments, phrases that come in threes, and occasional questions. They are interspersed with Sumi ink drawings by Mark Dutcher, and some are translated into Burmese by…

Authors on Audio: Hena Khan

Hena Khan is the award-winning author of multiple books for young readers, including Amina’s Voice and Amina’s Song. Her newest work, illustrated by Safiya Zerrougui, is the middle-grade We Are Big Time. Publishers Weekly calls the book “an uplifting graphic novel that celebrates female Muslim athletes and highlights how the…

An Interview with Paula Whyman

In her debut memoir, Bad Naturalist, fiction writer Paula Whyman (You May See a Stranger) chronicles her attempt to restore a 200-acre former cow pasture in the Blue Ridge Mountains to its original state. Not an easy feat for a city girl, especially in the face of invasive plants, ravenous…

Children’s Book Roundup: January 2025

Hello, Sun! by Lala Watkins (Random House Books for Young Readers). “Hello, Sun! Hello, Norbit! Hello, friends! It’s time for fun with the sun! Let’s play!” With that, Norbit the pink worm launches into a buoyant, bouncy afternoon frolicking with his pals in the bright sunshine. Best of all? This…

A Neverending Journey

My first airplane ride was at 9 months old, when I flew from Kimpo Airport in Seoul, South Korea, to John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City. I have been on a journey ever since. Born to a Korean woman and an American soldier, I became Alice Stephens when…

Meet Patrick Dixon

For McDonald’s, the Chicken McNugget, the flagship product of further processed chicken, represented a once-in-a-generation innovation, a snack item that quickly evolved into a meal, spawned a legion of imitators, and gained a large share of the global poultry market. Yet, almost as soon as the McNugget made its North…

Romance Roundup: January 2025

New year, new me? Not really. But I do like to start January with a clean slate — which means the holiday decorations are back in their boxes, and while my house will never be completely clutter-free, things are a little tidier, including my bookshelves! Here’s to a fresh year…

Authors on Audio: David Greenberg

A journalism professor at Rutgers, David Greenberg is also the author of multiple books, including Nixon’s Shadow: The History of an Image and Republic of Spin: An Inside History of the American Presidency. His latest work is John Lewis: A Life, which Booklist called “a passionately researched and defining portrait…

An Interview with Teddy Duncan Jr.

In his debut academic title, Interpreting Meat: Theorizing the Commodification and Consumption of Animals, Teddy Duncan Jr. examines all the ways we distance ourselves from animals — including categorizing some of them as “livestock” — so that we can justify subjugating them. In the book, Duncan, a professor at Valencia…

Tim Heaphy in Conversation with Jonathan Karl

This dramatic, revealing book offers an insider account of the planning and aftermath of the racist riot in Charlottesville on August 12, 2017, and the insurrection at the US. Capitol on January 6, 2021. As the lead investigator into both tragic days, Tim Heaphy has an absolutely unique perspective. Readers…

A Portrait of Noble Failure

As 2024 drew to a close, I thought a lot about failure. What if I gave up? What if we all just gave up? What if we allowed our hopes for the future to disappear into the infinite chaos of potentiality? That phrase, “the chaos of potentiality,” comes from John…

Our 7 Most Favorable Reviews in December 2024

Terrible Beauty: Reckoning with Climate Complicity and Rediscovering Our Soul by Auden Schendler (Harvard Business Review). Reviewed by Julie Dunlap. “The most convincing passages in Terrible Beauty aren’t arguments at all. Instead, each chapter ends with a brief and beautiful personal essay that illuminates why Schendler chose climate change as…

Our 5 Most Popular Posts: December 2024

Stephen Case’s review of The Impossible Man: Roger Penrose and the Cost of Genius by Patchen Barss (Basic Books). “For five years, Patchen Barss, a veteran Canadian science writer, spoke to Penrose ‘almost every week,’ read beaucoup personal documents, and interviewed dozens of the man’s close acquaintances. The result is…

Caroline Adams Miller in Conversation with Rob Sayre

Big Goals: The Science of Setting Them, Achieving Them, and Creating Your Best Life delves deeply into effective goal setting practices for both personal growth and corporate excellence, empowering individuals across all ages to pursue their ambitions with a newfound sense of confidence and mastery. Readers of this book will…

Authors on Audio: Katie Gee Salisbury

A finalist for the Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship and presenter of the TED Talk “As American as Chop Suey,” Katie Gee Salisbury is also the author of Not Your China Doll: The Wild and Shimmering Life of Anna May Wong. China Books Review calls the work “a fiercely readable, meticulously…

Our Super-Early Bird Rate Ends at Midnight

Don’t miss your last chance to attend the 2025 Washington Writers Conference at the Super-Early Bird Rate of $389! This entitles you to: Face-to-face pitches with FOUR (instead of three) literary agents. A Friday-evening reception and “How to Pitch an Agent” tutorial. Saturday panels featuring some of your favorite publishing…

A Little Cheese for Your Reading Pleasure

Happy holidays, readers! I hope you’re spending them exactly as you want. As I write this, there’s a dusting of snow on the ground here in Baltimore. I’m in my sweatpants and an oversized T-shirt, sitting down in front of a fireplace video on YouTube. I’m envisioning us in our…

“The Best Book I Read in 2024”

Picking a favorite book — like picking a favorite child — is impossible. Still, if our contributors absolutely, positively, we’re not kidding, had to choose the ONE title that most spoke to them this year, here’s what it would be… Escape from Shadow Physics: The Quest to End the Dark…

The Horrors! The Horrors!

Relic is a 1995 book by the bestselling duo Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child that was made into a film in 1997, “The Relic,” starring Penelope Ann Miller, Tom Sizemore, and James Whitmore. The movie takes some liberties with the book’s plot, not least of which is switching from the…

Authors on Audio: Marc Selverstone

An associate professor of presidential studies at the University of Virginia, Marc Selverstone is also chair of UVA’s Miller Center’s Presidential Recordings Program. His most recent book is The Kennedy Withdrawal: Camelot and the American Commitment to Vietnam, which Tom McCarthy, chair of the history department at the U.S. Naval…

8 Awesome Kids’ Books for Chanukah

A Dragon for Hanukkah by Sarah Mlynowski (author) and Ariel Landy (illustrator) (Orchard Books). “On the first night of Hanukkah, my parents gave me a dragon,” reports young Hannah. “I named him Nerry and let him sleep on my pillow.” From there, the gifts get even more magical and unexpected.…

10 Feel-Good Reads for Christmas Eve

The genius of jólabókaflóð — Iceland’s treasured Yuletide tradition — is its comforting simplicity. And if you’ve been reeling from the horrifying headlines du jour like we have, you could probably use some “Yule Book Flood” comfort right about now. To ensure all is calm and bright around your place…

Hope for Healing

I didn’t want to read Jane Goodall’s The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times. It was shortly after the most disappointing election of my lifetime, and I was eschewing all hope in favor of a sort of numb despair, isolating myself from the news and discussions and…

Portal to the Past

Nineteen years ago, I stayed for 10 days in Kyoto with my husband. It was a visit to my childhood dream of Japan: an open-air museum of temples and gardens, the idealized floating world in springtime. We saw fields of purple iris blooming, soaked in a mountainside onsen. We did…

On Poetry: December 2024

Katerina Stoykova adds to the canon of how-to handbooks with The Poet’s Guide to Publishing: How to Arrange, Edit, Publish and Market a Book of Poetry (McFarland & Company). Pragmatic in its advice, conversational in its tone, and detailed in its observations, it’s a natural companion to Jeannine Hall Gailey’s…

Need a Last-Minute Literary Gift?

Nothing under the tree or next to the menorah for the aspiring scribe in your life? Sign them up for the 2025 Washington Writers Conference! Register at the Super-Early Bird Rate by Dec. 31st, and they’ll get: Four (not the usual three) face-to-face pitches with literary agents. Insider advice from…

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Children’s Book Roundup: December 2024

Bunnies in a Sleigh: A Chaotic Christmas Tale! by Philip Ardagh (author) and Ben Mantle (illustrator) (Candlewick). “It’s Christmas Eve at the North Pole, a magical, wondrous night. But inside Santa’s workshop, something’s not quite right…The elves are eating candy canes. Their tiny tummies swell! Far too many sugary treats…

Folger Frost Fair

Celebrate the season with a month-long winter festival at the Folger. Enjoy festive decorations, holiday music, free activities, and more! The idea for the Folger Frost Fair was inspired by the frost fairs held in London when the River Thames completely froze in winters between the 1600s and 1800s. Londoners…

Getting to Know You

In 1994, I arrived in Washington, DC, for the first time to start an internship in the House of Representatives. I was an ambitious, unqualified public-university student from California with an inferiority complex about the East Coast. The District deeply impressed and intimidated me: Institutions and organizations that I’d only…

Authors on Audio: Malcolm Gladwell

Longtime journalist and New Yorker staff writer Malcolm Gladwell is the author of multiple books, including Outliers: The Story of Success, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, and David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants. His newest title — which harks back to his 2000…

Takoma Park Book Fair

More than 30 local authors will be selling and signing books at Busboys & Poets in Takoma Park. This unique and festive holiday event features an eclectic array of books of every genre, with something for everyone. Come in and browse, meet the authors, pick up some personalized gifts —…

Bedtime Stories: December 2024

Joshua Corin: One year, when I was 11, I read all of Agatha Christie. I began with The Mystery of the Blue Train because it was one of six Christie books my school library owned (and because, well, I was intrigued by the idea of a blue train). What first…

The Indie-Publishing Addict

Andrew Gifford, one of the pillars of the independent-publishing community, is “addicted” to the publishing business. He’s based here in the DC area, even though the name of his company is Santa Fe Writers Project (SFWP), and he believes in books even if “the reality is that I’m running a…

Meet Anna Farro Henderson

Climate scientist and policy expert Anna Farro Henderson embarks on a remarkable narrative journey in CORE SAMPLES, exploring how science is done, discussed, legislated, and imagined. Through stories both raucous and poignant — of far-flung expeditions, finding artistic inspiration in research, and traversing the systemic barriers women and mothers face…

Romance Roundup: December 2024

And here we are again. The end of the year, deep in the throes of the holidays, school breaks, and colder, darker days. Reading has always sustained me when real life feels out of control, and this season is no different. There’s a lot of work to be done, but…

An AI Infestation

Definition of a conundrum: a confusing and difficult problem or question. The following is an answer I got from Google to the question, “How many ants are there on Earth?” Scientists estimate that there are 20 quadrillion ants on Earth, which is about 2.5 million ants for every human: Number:…

Sneak Preview: Winter 2024-2025

Thousands of books are published each month. And as much as we’d like to, we can’t read (or review) them all. But what we can do is point out a few we think you might enjoy. In that spirit, here’s a rundown of forthcoming titles that caught our eye and…

We’re Now Accepting BIPOC Scholarship Applications

The third-annual BIPOC Scholarship to attend the Washington Writers Conference, the DC area’s premier publishing-focused writing event, will be awarded to five writers from BIPOC communities! Applicants must be 18 years or older and be able to attend the conference in person on May 2-3, 2025, in Rockville, MD. Recipients…

Our 7 Most Favorable Reviews in November 2024

Fragments of a Paradise by Jean Giono; translated by Paul Eprile (Archipelago). Reviewed by Mike Maggio. “Giono’s tale is ostensibly about a group of 20th-century sailors who embark on a journey of discovery in a 19th-century ship — an anachronism powered solely by the wind. The narrative is set in…

It’s Giving Tuesday Already?

We all know books have been under assault recently, as have the people trying to protect them. And a glance at the landscape tells us books are about to come under increased fire (we hope “fire” remains figurative). But we promise the Independent will continue advocating for books in all…

Memo to a Young Poet

Another Advent season is upon us, and all I can think is that memory is like walking pneumonia. Hear me out: The crackling at the top of the lungs, the wheeze, the chest heaving, and the stiff cough that won’t abate all feel like the wrestling we do to retain…

Our 5 Most Popular Posts: November 2024

“Our 51 Favorite Books of 2024.” “We respect readers’ varying tastes too much to anoint any books ‘the best’ of the year. But these are our favorites. We hope you love them as much as we did!” Diane Kiesel’s review of Twisting in Air: The Sensational Rise of a Hollywood…

Julia Kornberg and Jack Rockwell in Conversation with Lily Meyer

Join us for a conversation with author Julia Kornberg and translator Jack Rockwell to celebrate the release of Berlin Atomized. RSVP! About the book: A kinetic, globetrotting novel following three siblings — Jewish and downwardly mobile — from 2001 to 2034, as they come of age against the major crises…

17 Authors We’re Thankful For

Kurt Vonnegut. “As I sit here at my desk, drinking coffee from a mug decorated with assorted quotes from Vonnegut, I will always be thankful for the words and thoughts he put into this world. Of course, some of those books will once again serve as banned-book fodder because they…

Authors on Audio: Susan Blumberg-Kason

A contributor to the Asian Review of Books and World Literature Today, Susan Blumberg-Kason is also the author of Good Chinese Wife: A Love Affair with China Gone Wrong and co-editor of Hong Kong Noir. Her new book is Bernardine’s Shanghai Salon: The Story of the Doyenne of Old China,…

In Trying Times, Hold Books Tighter!

We’re entering this season of giving at a particularly fraught moment. We all know that books have been under assault recently, as have the people trying to protect them. And a glance at the landscape tells us books are about to come under increased fire (we truly hope “fire” remains…

It’s Small Business Saturday!

Keep your bookish love — and your dollars — local by shopping at regional indies this Small Business Saturday! Click here for a list of candidates to check out. (Prefer browsing online? You can still support the little guys by eschewing the Big A in favor of Bookshop!) And if…

Our 51 Favorite Books of 2024

The Counterfeit Countess: The Jewish Woman Who Rescued Thousands of Poles During the Holocaust by Elizabeth B. White and Joanna Sliwa (Simon & Schuster). Reviewed by Kitty Kelley. “The authors are unsparing in describing the unrelenting and unrelieved miseries inflicted by the Nazis in decimating the Jewish population of Poland,…

Legends of the Fall (and Winter)

My favorite scene in Nobel laureate Halldór Laxness’ novel Independent People (1934) happens at one of the story’s low points. Rósa, wife of Gudbjartur Jónsson (aka Bjartur of Summerhouses), has died in childbirth. At the funeral, her father recites the Lord’s Prayer: “Our Father, which art in heaven, yes, so…

Hakeem Jeffries in Conversation with Liz Cheney

“American values over autocracy. Benevolence over bigotry.” So began the rousing finale of the first official speech Congressman Hakeem Jeffries made to Congress on January 7, 2023, upon his historic elevation as House Democratic Leader when he was unanimously elected by his colleagues. Equal parts inspiring and urgent, his speech…

On Poetry: November 2024

A lot of us are feeling heartsick right now, so I’ve been on the lookout for poetry that energizes, moves, and welcomes me in, something I can’t wait to share with you. And I think I’ve got it: Biomythography Bayou (Bucknell University Press) by Mel Michelle Lewis, a bountiful feast…

Uncensored Shelves

In a November 17th blessing ceremony that featured a reading by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (left), winner of the Newbery Medal for distinguished contributions to American literature for children, the Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Bethesda, Maryland, launched its new library for “banned and challenged” books. The library contains 95…

An Interview with David Rowell

The last time I saw Elvis Costello, he and his Attractions were opening for Blondie at DC’s Anthem. I guess it was a reunion tour of sorts, since both acts have been around since the 1970s. The audience was filled with people like me, aging music junkies whose college frat…

From Bad to Verse

I know. It’s very bleak. We hoped the election would mark the beginning of the end of the ugliness, the lies, the misogyny, the bigotry, all those cruel stereotypes. We thought liberty and justice might prevail. Instead, we re-elected a felon who continues to elude justice, and it looks like…

A Tale for the Time (and Being)

This isn’t my first time living in DC, but it is my first go of it as a man. I came out to myself in a liminal period, post-college years in my hometown marked by cold beaches and post-traumatic stress. Transitioning felt impossible. Who was I kidding, trying to own…

David Mills in Conversation with Aja Lans

Bird in Hand is honored to host this public event with David Mills and Aja Lans, which is a collaboration between the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University, the Krieger First-Year Seminars, and the Billie Holiday Center for Liberation Arts. David Mills’ BONEYARN is a poetry collection like none other,…

Messy! Sexy? Midlife. Book Club

We will read fiction, memoir, and other types of nonfiction that explore the state of middle age in the world now: marriage, divorce, sex, parenting, reckoning with mortality, emotional inheritance, desire, disappointment, and adjusting expectations. What is a grownup, anyway? Check out http://www.peoplesbooktakoma.com/book-clubs for this month’s selection! Hosted by People’s…

Authors on Audio: Paul Haddad

Born in Hollywood, screenwriter Paul Haddad has also penned numerous works of fiction and nonfiction, including High Fives, Pennant Drives, and Fernandomania: A Fan’s History of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Glory Years, 1977-1981; Skinny White Freak; and Freewaytopia: How Freeways Shaped Los Angeles. His latest book is Inventing Paradise: The…

Mia P. Manansala in Conversation with Gabriella Buba

Join Loyalty and Kwento Bookstore Collective in welcoming Mia P. Manansala and Gabriella Buba for a VIRTUAL event to celebrate the release of Guilt and Ginataan! The Kwento Bookstore Collective is made up of Filipino-owned indie bookstores and this virtual event is co-hosted by Bel Canto Books, Femme Fire Books,…

An Example to Us All?

Library shelves sag with Kennedy books — about the president, his wife, his children, his parents, his siblings, his administration, his policies, his friends, his enemies, his lovers, and even his dogs. “We don’t maintain an exhaustive list of books about JFK or Jacqueline Kennedy,” the archivist of the John…

First, They Came for the Books

The adults are at it again: arguing while the kids look on. There is still peace in our communities, in some places, in some instances. But in other places — those in which the grownups have drawn the lines, are knuckling down, standing toe to toe, gritting our teeth, squaring…

Stories for Children

On Wednesday of last week, at five in the morning, our 10-year-old son quickly padded down the hall from his bedroom to ours and climbed into bed between me and my wife. She and I were already awake, quietly talking about the election. “Who won?” he asked. We told him…

Children’s Book Roundup: November 2024

Thank You, Everything by Icinori (author) and Emilie Robert Wong (translator) (Enchanted Lion). “Thank you alarm clock…Thank you bed…Thank you sink…Thank you glass.” What does it mean to be grateful, and which objects deserve our appreciation? In this deceptively simple tale, a child give thanks to the everyday things we…

The Past Master

Oliver Pötzsch excels at making arcane German history come to life. The author of the bestselling Hangman’s Daughter series, Pötzsch, in the standalone novel The Castle of Kings, turns his attention to the Trifels castle in the Rhineland Palatinate. Trifels is most famous for having served briefly as a prison…

Authors on Audio: Jeffrey Rosen

The president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, host of the “We the People” podcast, and a contributing editor at the Atlantic, Jeffrey Rosen is also the author of several books, including, most recently, The Pursuit of Happiness: How Classical Writers on Virtue Inspired the Lives of the Founders…

Literary Trivia

Are you ready to put your literary knowledge to the test? Put on your thinking caps for a night of quizzy competition hosted by Cap City Trivia (@capcitytrivia) biweekly in the Kramers lounge. Please note RSVPing to this event does not guarantee your seat. Teams are registered first come, first…

Our 7 Most Favorable Reviews in October 2024

John Lewis: A Life by David Greenberg (Simon & Schuster). Reviewed by Kitty Kelley. “A masterful biography is like a shooting star. It’s a celestial phenomenon that lights up the night sky and bestows a sense of wonder and excitement. Such a sensation occurs when the stars align and match…

Learning to Lead

I only managed to get one chapter into Stacey Abrams’ Lead from the Outside: How to Build Your Future and Make Real Change before she convinced me to set a new life goal. “Fighting fear demands sacrifice, and anyone who says otherwise is a liar,” Abrams opines. “Confronting fear, breaking…

Our 5 Most Popular Posts: October 2024

Kristin H. Macomber’s review of Playground: A Novel by Richard Powers (W.W. Norton & Company). “Playground’s swirling narrative centers around two young men: one brilliant and entitled, the other brilliant and penniless, both suffering from personal lives they’re anxious to escape. They meet in high school and bond over their…

Meet Charles King

George Frideric Handel’s Messiah is arguably the greatest piece of participatory art ever created. Adored by millions, it is performed each year by renowned choirs and orchestras, as well as by audiences singing along with the words on their cell phones. But this work of triumphant joy was born in…

Romance Roundup: November 2024

This is my favorite time of year — hoodie and baking season — a time of anticipation and preparation, with a hint of melancholy as the year races to a close. Autumn snuck up on me somehow. The trees have already turned color and are shedding red and yellow leaves…

Announcing the 2025 Washington Writers Conference

You know that manuscript you’ve been toiling over for months (or forever)? Well, it’s time to DO something with it! Attend the 2025 Washington Writers Conference (May 2-3) at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel & Conference Center in Rockville, MD, and pitch your book to agents! Need extra motivation? Register…

Soup’s On!

Mornings, I write. Once up and caffeinated, the first thing I write on is an index card. It’s my priming-the-pump ritual, an aspirational list of intentions, obligations, and recreations for the coming day. The top line, the ribbon, is for daily tasks — regular commitments. There, the invariable first bullet…

13 Spine-Tingling Tales for Halloween

True, the scariest thing about Halloween is that stores are already playing Christmas music. But if you’d like to make your All Hallow’s Eve even more horrifying than Mariah Carey in October, tuck into one of these creepy tales! The Boatman’s Daughter: A Novel by Andy Davidson (MCD x FSG…

Authors on Audio: Elisa Carlsen

Elisa Carlsen (she/they), the poetry editor for New American Press, has had their work published in numerous places, including SixFold, VoiceCatcher, Anti-Heroin Chic, and Oranges Journal. Her first poetry collection, Cormorant, was written in response to the federal government’s plan to slaughter thousands of birds for the sake of salmon…

An Interview with Joel Looper

As Election Day looms, have you pondered why Donald Trump so strongly appeals to Evangelical Christians and the far Right in America? Well, so has Joel Looper. In his new book, Another Gospel: Christian Nationalism and the Crisis of Evangelical Identity, he traces the roots of evangelicalism to colonial America,…

Love Is in the Air

I read several British Mills & Boon romances while in high school in India but didn’t pick up another such story for years and years afterward. The experience of reading these novels as a teen was much like eating candy: enticing but somewhat hollow. I eventually grew out of romances…

Fodor’s Guide to the Nonexistent

Faulkner had his Yoknapatawpha County and Anderson his Winesburg. Rion Amilcar Scott’s Cross River, Maryland, had houses, slapboxing cultists, and even, once-upon-a-time, God. The writer’s adage, “Write what you know,” gets thrown around, and while some authors set their stories in a specific borough or beach town, others, like me,…

Heather Cox Richardson in Conversation with Charlotte Clymer

On the occasion of the paperback release of Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America, a New York Times bestseller declared “Magisterial” by the Washington Post, historian Heather Cox Richardson shares an urgent call to action about the precarious state of American democracy, charting its historical challenges and current…

On Poetry: October 2024

Some poems are best left on the page. That is, they don’t always work better when spoken aloud. Recitation is an art of its own, distinct from the craft of writing, and not all poets are good at both. But what a pleasure when you encounter one who is! Listening…

Authors on Audio: Hampton Sides

A longtime journalist and editor-at-large of Outside magazine, Hampton Sides is also the author of several books, including Hellhound on His Trail: The Electrifying Account of the Largest Manhunt in American History; Americana: Dispatches from the New Frontier; and In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage…

Witchcraft: Fact & Fiction

Join us for a discussion with three different authors as we delve into the truth about witches and the fantastical elements surrounding them! Thorn Mooney is a Wiccan writer and academic who holds graduate degrees in both religious studies and English literature. Thorn writes and lectures about magic, new religious…

An Interview with Sarah Seltzer

I’ve had the pleasure of working with Sarah Seltzer as my editor at Lilith Magazine, so I was excited to get my hands on her debut novel, The Singer Sisters. The story follows two generations of a folk-singing family, with all the complications and heartbreak that family life entails. This…

Endowing the Future

A founding member and major benefactor of Biographers International Organization (BIO), acclaimed author Kitty Kelley is once again demonstrating her commitment to her preferred literary genre by endowing the Kitty Kelley Dissertation Fellowship in Biography. The $25,000 award will be given annually to a promising doctoral student at work on…

After the Shooting Stopped

For this column, I interviewed debut author Megan Doney. I know her work intimately because I was part of the team that chose her lyrical, intense, tightly written debut about the aftermath of a community-college shooting, Unarmed: An American Educator’s Memoir, as the second winner of the Washington Writers’ Publishing…

Bruna Dantas Lobato in Conversation with Talita Fernandes

In a small dorm room at a liberal arts college in Vermont, a young woman settles into the warm blue light of her desk lamp before calling the mother she left behind in northeastern Brazil. Four thousand miles apart and bound by the angular confines of a Skype window, they…

A Perilous Voyage

Okay, it’s official. I am certifiably deranged. As the author of 34 self-published thrillers and mysteries, I’m now trying my hand at screenplays. Such an endeavor should come with a warning label: “Don’t try this at home.” Some are adaptions of my books. Some are “original” screenplays based on characters…

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