10178 results were found.

“Banned Books Week” Book Fair for Grown-Ups

Join us at Frederick Social for a book fair for grown-ups! Featuring banned and challenged books, journals, bookish pins, tote bags, and beer on tap! Free and open to the public. Hosted by Curious Iguana at Frederick Social, 50 Citizen's Way, Frederick, MD. Learn more here. Want more people at…

On Poetry: September 2022

Movement in poetry can convey myriad things, from movement of the line to physical placement — a journey within the poem or poetry collection. In my 20s, I paid little attention to movement within a poem but also to my own movement around the world, which of course ended up…

History as the Future

It may be serendipity or prescience, or something in between, but historical novelist Robert Harris came out with a book about the beheading of King Charles I just as King Charles III is ascending to the British throne. The killing of Charles I paved the way for the so-called protectorate…

Bianca Marais in Conversation with Jamise Harper

East City Bookshop welcomes author Bianca Marais for a hybrid event to discuss her new book, The Witches of Moonshyne Manor. She will be joined by Jamise Harper of Spines & Vines for a conversation and live Q&A. Click here to register for this event via Eventbrite. Note on Format:…

Authors on Audio: Dolen Perkins-Valdez

Dolen Perkins-Valdez, chair of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation’s board of directors and an associate professor at American University, is also author of the bestselling novels Wench and Balm. Her new work is Take My Hand, which the Washington Post calls “a jewel of a book…[the author’s] grasp of large historical themes…

An Interview with Frederic Tuten

Born in the Bronx, Frederic Tuten has had a long, important career as a writer of fiction and criticism. He is the author of five novels, two story collections, a memoir, and the screenplay for the cult film “Possession.” Tuten has also published numerous essays on art and recently had…

Children’s Book Roundup: September 2022

Lupe Lopez: Rock Star Rules! by e.E. Charlton-Trujillo and Pat Zietlow Miller (authors) and Joe Cepeda (illustrator) (Candlewick Press). “Lupe Lopez had big plans for the first day of kindergarten. She’d practiced drumming all summer. And now, she was a real-life, Texas-size rock star. As anyone could see. She strutted…

Embrace the Pain

It’s a kind of magic, I think, how some books come into your life just when you need them. After a complicated apartment move, I turned to Emily Austin’s Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead to process some of my anxiety — and was confronted with a dark…

Matrix

Matrix

Abdulrazak Gurnah in Conversation with Tope Folarin

At this in-person event (with a virtual-attendance option), masks and proof of vaccination are required. Please review our health and safety protocols here. In Afterlives, the 10th novel from the winner of the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature, Abdulrazak Gurnah delivers a sweeping, multi-generational saga of displacement, loss, and love,…

A Patriotic Pick: September 2022

Whether it’s via their tone, topic, or tenor, certain works just say “America.” Here is one such title, suggested by Elizabeth von Hassell, executive director of the National Sporting Library & Museum in Middleburg, Virginia: The Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman. Newsweek called this Pulitzer Prize-winning classic about…

A Day, a Dream

The newspaper runs a feature called “DC Dream Days.” Each week, someone is invited to imagine a perfect day in Washington — with time travel allowed to revisit lost haunts. Shockingly, “Girl Writing” hasn’t yet been asked to participate. Here, I’m getting a jump on sharing my itinerary. I’ve lived…

Authors on Audio: David Maraniss

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Maraniss is the author of 13 works of nonfiction, including Once in a Great City: A Detroit Story, Rome 1960: The Summer Olympics that Stirred the World, and When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi. His most recent book is Path Lit by Lightning:…

Meet Aiden Thomas and Roseanne A. Brown

We are soooo excited to host Loyalty staff faves Aiden Thomas and Roseanne A. Brown for a LIVE and IN-PERSON conversation (moderated by Loyalty's programs and marketing manager Christine Bollow) celebrating the release of The Sunbearer Trials! This is a ticketed event taking place at the Yellow Room at the…

An Interview with James M. Scott

Over the past decade, Pulitzer Prize finalist James M. Scott has established himself as a skilled and prolific researcher and writer in the crowded World War II history space. His latest book, Black Snow, tells the story of General Curtis LeMay’s March 1945 firebombing of Tokyo and the B-29 air…

Yours, Mine, and Ours

“When a writer is born into a family, the family is finished,” wrote the Polish Nobel laureate Czeslaw Milosz, coining a phrase that has been a rallying cry for writers from Philip Roth to Bret Easton Ellis (who tweeted it to his 565K followers) and anyone else who mines the…

Jonathan Darman in Conversation with Evan Thomas

This is an in-person event, and seating is first come, first served. CLICK HERE for the livestreaming link. In popular memory, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the quintessential political “natural.” Born in 1882 to a wealthy, influential family and blessed with an abundance of charm and charisma, he seemed destined for…

Romance Roundup: September 2022

It’s not quite fall yet, but it is one of my favorite times of the year: back to school! And no, that’s not because my kids are out of the house during the day (well, not entirely because of that). It’s because I love, love, love buying school supplies. I…

7 Most Favorable Reviews in August 2022

Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative by Melissa Febos (Catapult). Reviewed by Antoaneta Tileva. “Melissa Febos’ latest essay collection, Body Work, is ‘not a craft book in the traditional sense,’ she states. Nor is it a flowery ode to the writer’s life. Instead, it’s a practical, clear-eyed take…

To White People Who Think You’re Woke

Privilege. Woke. White Supremacy. White Nationalism. Racism. Critical Race Theory. Indoctrination. We’ve all heard these terms in the last few years, and for many of us, they send ripples of anxiety (which they should). But what do they mean, and how do they pertain to us? In Do The Work!:…

5 Most Popular Posts: August 2022

Chris Rutledge’s review of Ordinary Monsters: A Novel by J.M. Miro (Flatiron Books). “Entrancing backstories and sufferings drive Ordinary Monsters. Marlowe, for one, has lost several parental figures; Komako has lost her sister; and even the villainous Jacob has lost his brother, a tragedy that ignites his own cycle of…

Authors on Audio: Andrew Lownie

Along with founding an eponymous literary agency in Great Britain, Andrew Lownie is the author of multiple books, including The Mountbattens: The Lives and Loves of Dickie and Edwina Mountbatten and The Edinburgh Literary Companion. His new work is Traitor King: The Scandalous Exile of the Duke & Duchess of…

A Conversation with Sarah Stodola

A trip to the beach is a cherished summer ritual, but did you know that the beach resort is a relatively modern invention? Before the 20th century, the seaside was viewed primarily as a place to suffer through unpleasant health cures. In The Last Resort: A Chronicle of Paradise, Profit,…

The Hay-Adams Author Series: Geraldine Brooks

Join us for an up-close-and-personal experience with Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Geraldine Brooks and her latest book, Horse: A Novel. A discarded painting in a junk pile, a skeleton in an attic, and the greatest racehorse in American history: from these strands, Geraldine Brooks braids a sweeping story of spirit, obsession,…

New Fiction Book Club

Anthony Marra's epic tale of a brilliant woman who must reinvent herself to survive, moving from Mussolini's Italy to 1940s Los Angeles — a timeless story of love, deceit, and sacrifice. Like many before her, Maria Lagana has come to Hollywood to outrun her past. Born in Rome, where every…

Movers & Takers

I’ve written in the past about books I love and books in my personal library (which are often the same). But I don’t think I’ve penned a column about tomes I can’t live without. Now, because I’m moving, I must. I HAD an extensive collection. But moving a long distance…

I’m the Only Reader on the Planet Who Didn’t Love…

Agatha Christie. “I first picked up Agatha Christie when I was about 16 but quickly gave up as I found it trite, cliched, and utterly uninteresting. That impression has now been confirmed. The Murder at the Vicarage, the first in the Miss Marple series, was our book-club selection. The librarian…

Helena Andrews-Dyer in Conversation with Abby Phillip

This event is not ticketed. Seating is available on a first come, first served basis. CLICK HERE for the livestreaming link. Can white moms and Black moms ever truly be friends? Not just mom friends, but like really real friends? And does it matter? Helena Andrews-Dyer is a senior culture…

An Interview with Marilyn Oser

It takes a cognizant, careful writer to create works that honor the lives of ordinary people thrown into political and cultural turmoil. Marilyn Oser, author of the new novel This Storied Land, is such an author. This Storied Land tells the tale of a small circle of people living in…

Imagined Childhoods

The season turned to summer. I stood in far western Europe on a beach jutting out into the sea, where bogs of the Wild Atlantic Way in Connemara, Ireland, nestle between hills carved by glaciers from the last ice age. In one such part, at the Renvyle House Hotel, where…

A Patriotic Pick: August 2022

Whether it’s via their tone, topic, or tenor, certain works just say “America.” Here is one such title, suggested by Erin Carlson Mast, president and CEO of the Lincoln Presidential Foundation: A House Built By Slaves: African American Visitors to the Lincoln White House by Jonathan W. White. “In her…

On Poetry: August 2022

The two collections for August’s roundup absolutely insisted on being together. I selected one as a definite to-review book during late spring. Then, last week at a literary conference, I found myself in a random conversation about two poems that appear in it. I’d taken a different collection with me…

Women Writing Women in Crime Fiction

It’s always seemed odd to me that, in crime fiction, a moment of intimacy is a moment too far. Especially since quite a few of the books in our genre happily dwell on the minute details of depraved murders. But I’ve noticed something different lately. More and more writers are…

Nina Mingya Powles in Conversation with Chen Chen

Loyalty can't wait to welcome Nina Mingya Powles and Chen Chen for a virtual event celebrating the release of Magnolia木蘭! This event will be held digitally via Crowdcast. Click here to register for the event with a donation of any amount of your choice. You can also order the book…

Bedtime Stories: August 2022

Charlene Thomas: What a perfect time to talk about what I’m reading! Because I’ve been reading so much lately. As an author debuting in 2022, it’s been so fun reading my peers’ stories. There are so many incredible books releasing this year! I recently finished Finding Jupiter, a gorgeous YA…

Children’s Book Roundup: August 2022

Beatrice Likes the Dark by April Genevieve Tucholke (author) and Khoa Le (illustrator) (Algonquin Young Readers). “Beatrice likes the dark dark dark and the dark dark dark likes her. She wears black pajamas and black socks and even black underwear, with little white bats. Beatrice’s younger sister, Roo, likes the…

Procrastination Is Making Me Wait

Procrastination feels bad but can be a productive part of the writing process. At least, that’s what I’m telling myself this summer, which I started off with grand ambitions to finish the first draft of a novel I’ve been working on for more than a year. As a writer, I…

Dana Milbank in Conversation with Karen Finney

Please click here to see current mask requirements. This event is free with first-come, first-served seating. A scathing history of 25 years of Republican attempts to hold on to political power by any means necessary, by a hugely popular Washington Post political columnist. Dana Milbank is a nationally syndicated op-ed…

A Poetic Journey

Like the caves of the same name in northern Spain, Myra Sklarew’s poetry collection Altamira is to be celebrated, studied, and admired. Its title poem asks, “And if I should give / you these words / and you are not there to receive them / so they become part /…

The (Artist’s) Struggle Is Real

Several years ago, at the Giacometti Institute in Paris, I saw an installation of Alberto Giacometti’s legendary studio. It was small and rather squalid. There were some of his drawings on the plaster walls. There was a table of brushes and tools, an easel, pots, and an old wicker chair,…

Authors on Audio: Lucy Ward

A native of England, writer/journalist Lucy Ward has long been interested in Russia, where she lived from 2010-2012. It’s not surprising, then, that her debut book, The Empress and the English Doctor: How Catherine the Great Defied a Deadly Virus, spans both countries. BBC History Magazine calls the work “informative,…

Meet Lisa Jewell

Join Curious Iguana for an evening with the suspense queen Lisa Jewell to celebrate the launch of The Family Remains. Tickets required, click here to purchase. Each ticket includes admission for two (2) and one (1) copy of The Family Remains. The event will take place at the ERUCC Community…

An Interview with Joe Rothstein

Given our current political climate, it’s hard to imagine writing DC-themed fiction that’s stranger than truth, but Joe Rothstein has done just that in his new novel, The Moment of Menace: The Future Looks Glorious…Unless We All Die First. Rothstein, whose long career spans both politics and literature, braids the…

The City Always/Never Changes

The thing about a city is that it stays. People, administrations, styles, trends, businesses, whole modes of living — they all come and go, but barring anything truly catastrophic, the city remains. The city changes all the time, sure, but the city stays. It’s an anchor, a set thing. You…

David Maraniss in Conversation with Sally Jenkins

This event is free with first come, first served seating. Please click here to see current mask requirements. Jim Thorpe rose to world fame as a mythic talent who excelled at every sport. He won gold medals in the decathlon and pentathlon at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, was an All-American…

Romance Roundup: August 2022

I’m not a fan of August. It’s hot. Unrelentingly hot. The excitement of summer has worn off, but autumn is still weeks away. I spend most of August just trying to stay cool and reading. Here are a couple of books I’ve really loved so far this month. ***** Ashley…

The Costumes of Fandom

The poetry community, and by extension the larger literary community, is a fandom. We have our annual conventions (AWP being the largest), which share many similarities with Comic-Con. And Instagram has exposed the various cosplays people perform at panels, happy hours, dance parties, and offsite readings. Our books themselves wear…

A Triumph of the Debuts

Three powerhouse debut authors dominate the New American Voices Award’s fifth-anniversary shortlist. Sindya Bhanoo’s short-story collection, Seeking Fortune Elsewhere, Daphne Palasi Andreades’ novel, Brown Girls, and Aamina Ahmad’s novel, The Return of Faraz Ali, are all finalists for the post-publication book prize created to illuminate the complexity of the human…

Our 7 Most Favorable Reviews in July 2022

The Monster’s Bones: The Discovery of T. Rex and How It Shook Our World by David K. Randall (W.W. Norton & Company). Reviewed by Bob Duffy. “Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution may have sparked a maelstrom of religious and scientific controversy, but it also ignited a furious quest among prestige…

Mohsin Hamid in Conversation with Wajahat Ali

At this in-person event (with a virtual attendance option), masks and proof of vaccination are required. Please review our health and safety protocols here. Mohsin Hamid, the New York Times bestselling author of Exit West and The Reluctant Fundamentalist, saw his world change after September 11, 2001. A brown man…

5 Most Popular Posts: July 2022

Paul D. Pearlstein’s review of The Winning Ticket: Uncovering America’s Biggest Lottery Scam by Rob Sand with Reid Forgrave (Potomac Books). “Tipton was soon charged for buying the ticket and for lying to investigators. Despite his legal jeopardy, he refused to explain how — or if — he was able…

It’s Check-in Time!

I get swept up in the buzz surrounding the “Most Anticipated Books” every year, but I always have my own such list, too. Rarely does it stay the same, though. My list is constantly evolving and includes some titles I never actually get to. That’s why, this year, I want…

An Afternoon with Grace Cavalieri

The day I was to meet Grace Cavalieri for this interview, it was raining a torrential, flood-warning rain. With this time-bending rain, 9 in the morning could have been 9 at night. I had an hour’s drive to Grace’s in Annapolis, a home she bought many years ago with her…

Books by the Bar

Busboys and Poets Books invites you to a colorful discussion with authors Wesley Straton and Natalka Burian while they showcase their skills with a cocktail-making demonstration! The first 40 premium RSVPs will have their first cocktail included. About The Bartender's Cure - Wesley Straton's The Bartender's Cure is a fiercely…

Series Beget Series

Producers of streaming shows are starved for content but seem to have found a good match with book series. While big-budget Hollywood movies thrive on comic books, streaming television is more likely to adapt — dare I say “more adult” — series of books. Michael Connelly, for instance, is a…

Authors on Audio: William Elliott Hazelgrove

William Elliott Hazelgrove is the author of 20+ books, including Madam President: The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson and Al Capone and the 1933 World’s Fair: The End of the Gangster Era in Chicago. His newest work is Greed in the Gilded Age: The Brilliant Con of Cassie Chadwick. Says…

Elaine Castillo in Conversation with Gina Apostol

Loyalty and Bel Canto Books are delighted to welcome Elaine Castillo and Gina Apostol for a celebration of How to Read Now! This event will be held digitally via Crowdcast. Click here to register for the event with a donation of any amount of your choice. You can also order…

Meet Mark Leibovich

Thank You for Your Servitude is Mark Leibovich’s unflinching account of the moral rout of a major American political party, tracking the transformation of Rubio, Cruz, Graham, and their ilk into the administration’s chief enablers, and the swamp’s lesser lights into frantic chasers of the grift. What would these politicos…

Bending, Not Breaking

I’ve been thinking a lot about control lately. Mostly, this is because my therapist wants me to work on better adapting to unknown or uncomfortable situations — with the result being, of course, that all I can think about is control. I want to let go and relax, but it’s…

On Poetry: July 2022

The seductive call of the familiar is powerful in both poetry and immigrant diasporas. The constant refrain to writers at any stage is to write the personal to achieve the universal, and even the smallest image gently (or not so gently) enfolded into a poem can evoke a sense memory…

One Isn’t the Loneliest Number

One of the newspapers I read runs a regular feature called “Myth Busting.” Sometimes, it blows up a bit of local history. Other times, it debunks the efficacy of a common practice or the accuracy of high-volume sound bites on a hot issue. Today, I’d like to bust the myth…

Meet D.J. LeMarr

Join Bards Alley Bookshop as we welcome back former bookseller D.J. LeMarr! D.J. will be signing copies of The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the fourth installment in his Epic of Lucifer series. The rest of the series will also be available for purchase. As always, we ask that partially…

Bedtime Stories: July 2022

Amber Sparks: Right now, I’m just finishing up Elizabeth McCracken’s newest novel, The Hero of This Book, which comes out this fall, and I’m happy to report that it’s just as wonderful and warm and funny and idiosyncratic and inspired as her other books. It’s McCracken’s turn at an autofiction…

The Closer

Before I got married, I was dating (and I use this term loosely) a guy who fancied himself a real operator. He owned a retail boutique that sold cowhide rugs and handbags. It was, he reminded anyone who happened to wander in, not a shop that sold things made from…

Voice, Reason, and Purpose

For DC-area writer, educator, and spoken-word poet Shaquetta Nelson, also known as R.E.I.L. (“real”), poetry and community are inextricably linked. I spoke to R.E.I.L. about her youth as a slam poet, her connection to the DC arts community, and her collaboration with Day Eight, the nonprofit that recently published her…

Zain Asher in Conversation with Julie Bykowicz

The Ivy is super excited to welcome Zain Asher for a reading and conversation about her book, Where the Children Take Us. Zain will be in conversation with journalist Julie Bykowicz. In this spellbinding memoir, popular CNN anchor Zain E. Asher pays tribute to her mother’s strength and determination to…

Shirlene Obuobi Tells It Like It Is

“The worst thing I ever did was grow an ass.” This is the sassy first line in physician, cartoonist, and author Shirlene Obuobi’s debut novel, On Rotation. Obuobi wrote the book for “the Black nerdy girls, who were led to believe that who they were was an anomaly. For the…

Authors on Audio: Polly Barton

A resident of the U.K. and a Japanese-to-English translator, Polly Barton is also author of the recently published Fifty Sounds: A Memoir of Language, Learning, and Longing. Kirkus calls the work “a sharp, belletristic debut…A refreshingly honest and novel look at the nuance and revelatory power of language.” Barton discussed…

Malcolm Nance in Conversation with Zerlina Maxwell

Malcolm Nance is a globally renowned, highly engaging expert on terrorism, extremism, and insurgency, and a multiple New York Times bestselling author, whose books include The Plot to Hack America. A 34-year, Arabic-speaking veteran of the U.S. intelligence community's Combating Terrorism program, he has been called the “Neil DeGrasse Tyson…

The Book I’m FINALLY Going to Read this Summer

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante. “I’m determined to finally read this one since I completely missed out on the whole Neapolitan trilogy and author-identity kerfuffle. Why now? Spending lots of time this summer with my mother, and it’s in her apartment.” ~Jenny Yacovissi This Is Happiness by Niall Williams.…

Children’s Book Roundup: July 2022

Giant Island by Jane Yolen (author) and Doug Keith (illustrator) (Flashlight Press). “Giant Island sat low in the water as the boat approached. ‘Why is it called Giant Island?’ Ava asked, looking at the map. ‘Always been Giant Island,’ Grandpa said, shifting gears.” True, it’s not all that big or…

A Patriotic Pick: July 2022

Whether it’s via their tone, topic, or tenor, certain works just say “America.” Here is one such title, suggested by Kathy Cannon Wiechman, inaugural winner of the Grateful American Book Prize for Like a River: A Civil War Novel: Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates: The Forgotten War That Changed…

A Conversation with Matt Ortile & Others

Loyalty can't wait to celebrate Body Language for a pre-publication virtual event with co-editor Matt Ortile and contributors Natalie Lima, A.E. Osworth, Ross Showalter, s.e. smith, Kayla Whaley, and Jenny Tinghui Zhang! This event will be held digitally via Crowdcast. Click here to register for the event with a donation…

Platform Diving

It has been a disturbing week or so. I keep getting emails from friends about the deaths of other old friends on Staten Island, where I spent much of my life. (Sometimes, I find out about a demise on Facebook!) They are apparently dropping like flies. My wife, whose family…

7 Most Favorable Reviews in June 2022

A Union Like Ours: The Love Story of F.O. Matthiessen and Russell Cheney by Scott Bane (Bright Leaf). Reviewed by Martha Anne Toll. “It is a complicated task to weave together two lives. Cheney and Matthiessen had different career trajectories, and due to their generational gap, lived in separate time…

Authors on Audio: Corban Addison

Corban Addison is the lawyer-turned-author of several novels, including A Harvest of Thorns and The Garden of Burning Sand. His inaugural work of nonfiction, published in June, is Wastelands: The True Story of Farm Country on Trial, which the New York Times called “[a] legal thriller, full of energy and…

5 Most Popular Posts: June 2022

Elizabeth J. Moore’s review of Watergate’s Forgotten Hero: Frank Wills, Night Watchman by Adam Henig (McFarland & Company). “Through no fault of the author’s, Watergate’s Forgotten Hero also suffers from the overshadowing of Wills’ story by recent events. After all, the interpretation of ‘hero’ and ‘saving democracy’ was bound to…

31 Uniquely American Tales

Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson. Nearly 100 years old, this book’s timeless themes — encompassing what feels like the whole of the human condition in small-town America — resonate yet today. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison. Following the life of Milkman, this well-known novel surveys nearly a century of…

Meet D. Watkins

Join us as we welcome D. Watkins back to Frederick! He'll discuss his new book, Black Boy Smile. This event is free and open to the public. Books will be available for purchase and signing at the event. Black Boy Smile is the story of a Black boy who healed.…

Romance Roundup: July 2022

July is the time of year when my reading usually hits a lull because I’m busy finding things to keep my kids entertained. (One of them just said, “I’m bored” for the 751st time since the last day of school.) Still, I’ve come up with some creative ways to keep…

A Conversation with C.J. Prince

You’d be hard-pressed to find a writing organization more important, particularly in today’s political environment, than Sisters in Crime. Founded in 1986 by 26 female crime writers who were frustrated with the disparities between men and women in the genre, Sisters in Crime has since grown to over 50 chapters…

Authors on Audio: Jonathan Martin

Jonathan Martin, a national political correspondent for the New York Times and a CNN analyst, is also the author (with Alexander Burns) of This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America’s Future, which the Guardian calls “473 pages of essential reading.” In a recent program from the…

Meet Jennifer Close and Grant Ginder

Join us in store to welcome Jennifer Close (Marrying the Ketchups) and Grant Ginder (Let’s Not Do That Again) discussing their new books! This is an in-person event with limited seating. Please RSVP here. Hosted by Solid State Books, 600 H St., NE, Washington, DC. Learn more here. Want more…

An Interview with Louis Bayard

Novelist Louis Bayard, the author of 10 books, is perhaps best known for Courting Mr. Lincoln and The Pale Blue Eye (the film version of the latter, starring Christian Bale, is due out this year). Chances are good, though, that Bayard’s name will now be indelibly linked in readers’ minds…

Chinua Achebe’s Cultural Bridge-Building

In a 1994 interview, Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe described how Igbo elders should be greeted. According to tradition, one should approach the elder, shake hands, and call him by his chosen, titled name. But, as Achebe explained, in the face of large assemblies, this is not practical. As a result,…

Tim Miller in Conversation with Olivia Nuzzi

Former Republican political operative Tim Miller answers the question no one else has fully grappled with: Why did normal people go along with the worst of Trumpism? Tim Miller is an MSNBC analyst, writer-at-large at the Bulwark, and the host of “Not My Party” on Snapchat. He has written on…

Weaving a Narrative

When First Nations poet and weaver Anne-Marie Te Whiu looks at a tangled heap of fibers, she sees possibility, creativity, and poetry. She collects the fibers from trees and plants, and as she twists them together, she honors their history by yielding to their natural torque. On a rainy morning…

Meet James Dashner

The House of Tongues is occult horror writing at its strongest. It portrays the vivid dilemma of family man David Player's return to his childhood home, the scene of kidnapping, murder, and curses David barely escaped from in the past. Why return to such a threatening milieu? He's confronting his…

Authors on Audio: Candice Millard

Candice Millard is the author of several New York Times bestsellers, including Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President and Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill. Her new book is River of…

Bedtime Stories: June 2022

Amy Argetsinger: Writing a book meant that I really had no time to read other people’s books for more than a year, so the bedside pile is more like a backlog. And while nighttime pleasure reading always meant fiction for me — as a journalist, I’m up to my elbows…

Children’s Book Roundup: June 2022

Nervous Nigel by Bethany Christou (Templar Books). “Nigel’s mom was the fastest swimmer in crocodile history. His sister Summer could win marathons with her eyes shut. Nigel’s other sister, Bonnie, was the first crocodile to get a perfect diving score…and his brother, Ralf, was captain of the water polo team.”…

Meet Andrew Joseph White

Join us as we welcome Andrew Joseph White to Frederick to celebrate the release of his debut young adult novel, Hell Followed with Us. This is a free public event presented in partnership with Frederick County Public Libraries. Books will be available for purchase and signing at the event. About…

Psych-Verse

Reframing and unconditional positive regard are both concepts that arise out of psychology and counseling, particularly in the work of William R. Miller and Stephen Rollnick called motivational interviewing, or MI. Here is how Miller and Rollnick define the technique: “MI is a collaborative, goal-oriented style of communication with particular…

On Poetry: June 2022

This roundup marks a full calendar year’s passing since I took over as the Independent’s poetry editor, and I greet this anniversary on a full moon, the culmination of the lunar cycle before it begins to wane and start all over again. It puts me in mind of the power…

Juneteenth Book Celebration

Join us for a special day of meet-and-greet book signings with three nationally recognized authors as we celebrate community, family, and friends during Juneteenth weekend. This is the perfect event to bring Dad, the kids, and all your friends to! 11 a.m.: MahoganyBooks owners Derrick and Ramunda Young kick-off their…

Authors on Audio: Daniel de Visé

A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Daniel de Visé is also the author of several books, including The Comeback: Greg LeMond, the True King of American Cycling, and a Legendary Tour de France and Andy and Don: The Making of a Friendship and a Classic American TV Show. His newest book is…

An Interview with Diana Goetsch

Diana Goetsch is the widely published author of eight poetry collections, including Nameless Boy and In America. She taught for 21 years in New York City public schools and was the Grace Paley Teaching Fellow at the New School. Diana wrote the “Life in Transition” blog for the American Scholar…

Up in Flames

A journalist contacted me recently to ask how I feel about two of my titles landing on a proposed banned-books list in Spotsylvania County, Virginia. Honestly, I’m taken aback. My novels have been banned over the years, but not in quite a while. They aren’t trendy and don’t sell particularly…

A Patriotic Pick: June 2022

Whether it’s via their tone, topic, or tenor, certain works just say “America.” Here is one such title, suggested by Jon Parrish Peede, former chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities: African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle & Song, edited by Kevin Young. “The poems gathered here have…

Ibram X. Kendi in Conversation with Clint Smith

Loyalty is honored to welcome Dr. Ibram X. Kendi and Clint Smith for How to Raise An Antiracist! This live, in-person event will take place at AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, located at 8633 Colesville Rd, Silver Spring, MD 20910. This is a ticketed event and you must purchase…

The Lives of Leaders

I’m not a big reader of nonfiction, and even less so of biographies, which often seem long to me because the authors work so hard to uncover new things and make their work definitive for a generation. I’ve taken comfort from the fact that Ron Chernow, famous for Alexander Hamilton…

Authors on Audio: Kostya Kennedy

An editorial director at Dotdash Meredith and a former editor and senior writer at Sports Illustrated, Kostya Kennedy is also the bestselling author of several books, including 56: Joe DiMaggio and the Last Magic Number in Sports and Lasting Impact: One Team, One Season. What Happens When Our Sons Play…

Stronger Together

It’s been a tough few centuries for women, as attested to by Sarah Penner’s The Lost Apothecary. The book follows the life of an 18th-century druggist who dispenses not only healing remedies but also deadly poisons to the women who visit her. The toxins are used as retribution upon philandering…

Gone to the Dogs

I first moved to Washington on New Year’s Day 2011 after a breakup in Philadelphia left me temporarily unhoused, unemployed, and facing a desperate decision either to move back home to live with my parents in Michigan or try my luck staying with a friend in DC until I got…

Romance Roundup: June 2022

It’s the last week of school for my kids (and my husband, the teacher), and I don’t think I’ve ever been so ready for summer. (I will also enjoy not having to pack lunches Every. Single. Day.) Whatever your summer plans, be sure to make time for a little romance!…

7 Most Favorable Reviews in May 2022

A Forgery of Roses by Jessica S. Olson (Inkyard Press). Reviewed by Emma Carbone. “A Forgery of Roses combines art, fantasy, and a truly surprising mystery with authentic and respectful representations of anxiety and chronic illness — both of which are seen as points of strength rather than flaws. Myra…

5 Most Popular Posts: May 2022

Diana Pabst Parsell’s review of A Covert Affair: Julia Child and Paul Child in the OSS by Jennet Conant (Simon & Schuster). “Impressively, Conant manages to make the various storylines of this sprawling book coherent and engaging despite the galloping narrative style and thick layering of details. Even where the…

Our Never-Ending Story

Some travel agents offer “surprise travel.” They choose your destination, plan your trip, reveal the itinerary shortly before departure. It sounds terrible. I love planning, anticipating, and reading guidebooks and (especially) fiction set in my upcoming locale. It’s an oxymoron: planned surprise travel. All travel is surprise travel. Whether we…

Dan Pfeiffer in Conversation with Jen Psaki

At this in-person event (with a virtual attendance option), masks and proof of vaccination are required, including a photo ID that matches the name on the vaccination card. Please review our health and safety protocols here. This program does not include a book signing. All books will include signed bookplates.…

Authors on Audio: Jared A. Goldstein

A law professor and associate dean for academic affairs at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island, Jared A. Goldstein is also author of Real Americans: National Identity, Violence, and the Constitution. Ken I. Kersch, a professor of political science at Boston College, calls the book “essential reading for anyone hoping…

An Interview with Alex Poppe

Alex Poppe’s books often consider the point of view of the outsider. Her stories are fueled by real-life instances of injustice and human despair, and her main characters are women trying to understand the world and their place in it. Duende, Poppe’s new novella, is set in Seville, Spain, and…

Lyla Lee in Conversation with Amélie Wen Zhao

“The first rule of watching K-dramas: Never fall in love with the second lead.” Hana loves K-dramas and has finally landed a starring role in a buzzy new series. To boost their ratings, showrunners set her up to fake date her co-star boyfriend, heartthrob Bryan Yoon, who happens to also…

The Road to Publishing Is Paved with…

Fourteen years in July. It will soon be just over 5,000 days since I queried my first novel. It’s a funny story. I’d worked on it part time for about 10 years while raising kids, working full time, making dinner, and keeping the house clean — you know, all the…

On Poetry: May 2022

It’s been a hard month to focus for a variety of reasons: travel, solo parenting, an endless barrage of bad political news that affects all our lives one way or another. As you know, I tend to be critical of months dedicated to the awareness and celebration of a single…

Authors on Audio: Hasanthika Sirisena

An assistant professor of English and creative writing at Susquehanna University and an associate fiction editor at West Branch, Hasanthika Sirisena is also author of the award-winning story collection The Other One. Yet her newest work is nonfiction. In Dark Tourist, “Sirisena explores how stories can become a ‘talisman against…

An Interview with Kristina Gorcheva-Newberry

In The Orchard, Kristina Gorcheva-Newberry’s powerful debut novel loosely based on Anton Chekhov’s play “The Cherry Orchard,” four teenagers grow inseparable in the last days before the fall of the Soviet Union — but not all of them live to see the new world arrive. Unflinching, exquisitely imaginative, and imbued…

Meet CJ Gross

What’s Your Zip Code Story? helps clarify the intersection of class bias and racial disparity in the workplace and arms organizations with the knowledge to not only have productive discussions, but also adopt effective solutions. Author CJ Gross instructs class-migrants — whether college students, recent graduates, or overlooked employees —…

You Gotta Read This!

I am reluctant to spout generalities, but it seems to me that people who don’t read books tend to be easy prey for conspiracy theories. At least that has been my experience in Naples, FL, where I live, and which tends to be a conservative bastion. Now, I have no…

Frederick Joseph in Conversation with Danté Stewart

Please see in-store for mask requirements. Watch the livestream of this event here! Written in Joseph’s unique voice, with an intelligence and raw honesty that demonstrates both his vulnerability and compassion, Patriarchy Blues forces us to consider the joys, pains, and destructive nature of manhood and the stereotypes it engenders.…

Bedtime Stories: May 2022

James Tate Hill: Vladimir: A Novel by Julia May Jonas. I devoured this debut novel about a conflicted English professor in a few days, vowing to preorder whatever the author writes next. The narrator isn’t the professor facing a Title IX hearing for a long history of affairs with students,…

The Return of the King

It’s always a thrill for the Independent to partner with the area’s premier literary fest, the Gaithersburg Book Festival, but this year is especially sweet. After two years of shifting everything online (thanks, covid), the city of Gaithersburg, MD, will once again host its fantastic event live and in person…

An Interview with Genevieve Grabman

From the moment Genevieve Grabman, a Washington, DC-based attorney and public health advocate, learned she was carrying identical twins, nothing about her pregnancy was routine. Her twins were diagnosed with two rare and dangerous conditions: twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, in which one twin “donates” blood and nutrients to the other, and…

To Serve Mann

“To be rescued, it will have to be defeated.” – Colm Tóibín, The Magician On September 1, 1939, as war broke out in Europe, the Nobel Prize-winning German writer Thomas Mann, who was on vacation in Scandinavia, telegrammed influential Washingtonian Agnes Meyer to help his family escape. She called him…

A Writer Walks into a Bar

I was in a bar, which is where, at least according to my understanding of Hemingway, most good writing starts. It was a reading, poetry probably: low lights, people surprised by lyric images when they’re trying to sidle up to the bar and get an IPA. I don’t like IPAs…

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