The thriller novel has evolved since mid-last century from genre airport read to good literature by artful authors, my client Patrick Anderson wrote in his book, The Triumph of the Thriller. After reading Pat’s manuscript, and prompted by his idea, I began reading some of the best-known authors of the…
10182 results were found.
The Physics of Everyday Things: The Extraordinary Science Behind an Ordinary Day
A devout young boy in rural Ohio, Andrew Evans had his life mapped for him: baptism, mission, Brigham Young University, temple marriage, and children of his own. But as an awkward gay kid, bullied and bored, he escaped into the glossy pages of National Geographic and the wide promise of…
An Interview with Frances FitzGerald
Important historian meets important subject in Frances FitzGerald’s sweeping new book, The Evangelicals. Subtitled “The Struggle to Shape America,” the work tells a fascinating tale of how organized religion has waxed and waned as a political force in the United States. Founded on a principle separating church and state, America…
No doubt, my readers have read the words of Ta-Nehisi Coates, whose books The Beautiful Struggle and Between the World and Me are bestsellers. He has a column in the Atlantic and appears on TV regularly. His fame is likely somewhat bitter to him, but, like Toni Morrison and Annette…
One of today’s boldest and most original poets, Lockwood gained wide attention when her poem “Rape Joke” went viral in 2013. Included in her second collection, Motherland Fatherland Homelandsexuals, it won a Pushcart Prize and a place in The Best American Poetry 2014. Now “the poet laureate of Twitter” applies…
The President Will See You Now: My Stories and Lessons from Ronald Reagan’s Final Years
5 Most Popular Posts: May 2017
“One True Story.” Columnist Alice Stephens’ call for us to embrace global cultures’ literature struck a chord with readers all month long. Nick Wolven’s review of Not a Scientist: How Politicians Mistake, Misrepresent, and Utterly Mangle Science by Dave Levitan. “Levitan sees [Ronald] Reagan’s trope as a hallmark of science…
A few weeks ago, my wife and I went to see the singer/songwriter Abby Mott in concert. I first became aware of Abby’s music through a glowing review in Baltimore Magazine, bought her CD (yes, this was a while ago), and was blown away by her voice, her writing, and…
Heiny’s debut novel is a witty and utterly realistic exploration of marriage, parenting, and the ever-changing dynamics of family life. Graham has been married to Audra for twelve years, but feels he can barely keep up with her. Vivacious and outgoing where Graham is quiet and introspective, Audra lets nothing…
Where the Water Goes: Life and Death Along the Colorado River
An Interview with Elinor Lipman
How did you come up with the idea for On Turpentine Lane? Two things: first was the house, based on the scariest one on my childhood street, which was dilapidated, with black shingles and dwarfed by overgrown trees and shrubs — the whole thing looming large in my memory. The…
Until recently, I didn’t know much about advance reader copies (ARCs) or the readers who were lucky enough to get one. Being a short-story writer, it wasn’t particularly relevant, so I didn’t pay much attention to it. As I write longer and longer pieces, the need to understand why authors…
BUSBOYS AND POETS & @BeltwaySlamDC Presents: the BELTWAY POETRY SLAM. DC's only Poetry Slam, Inc. certified slam event meets the last Tuesday of every month at Busboys and Poets' Brookland location. At Busboys and Poets, 625 Monroe St., NE, Washington, DC. Click here for info. Like what we do? Click…
May 2017 Exemplars: Poetry Reviews by Grace Cavalieri
May 2017 EXEMPLARS of POETRY Reviewed by Grace Cavalieri Exit, Pursued by a Bear by Joseph Mills. Press 53. 71 pages. Kafka’s Shadow by Judith Skillman Deerbrook Editions. 68 pages. Said Not Said by Fred Marchant. Graywolf Press. 73 pages. Quitter by Paula Cisewski. Diode Editions. 59 pages. Fast by…
How to Be a Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy to Live a Modern Life
Writing Outside the Color Lines
Three days after President Trump fired FBI director Jim Comey, George Will’s op-ed in the Washington Post was about…cultural appropriation. It’s not surprising that Will, long the foremost pedant for the intellectual wing of the hard right, chose to ignore the catastrophic moral failure of his party to confront accusations…
A Busboys and Poetry event! On this night, American sign language users and viewers from all corners of life will come together to recite a poem, song, short skit or jokes. Come out and enjoy the wonderful environment while you eat, get your drink on and socialize. Great for those…
Brenda Copeland: My nightstand holds three old books propping up a small lamp, so I’ll extend the metaphor to my whole apartment, where books are waiting for me on chairs, tables, and sometimes even under cats. The book I’m obsessed with right now is Marlena by Julie Buntin. It’s so…
An Interview with Marita Golden
The intersection of the personal and the political, the bonds of friendship among black women, and the stresses on and resilience of the black family are all frequent players in Marita Golden’s fiction and nonfiction. Themes, she believes, that are as individual as they are shared. “I write from the…
ACROSS 3: Creatures, Crimes, and __________, or C3, is a multi-genre conference for writers of mystery, suspense, thriller, horror, sci-fi, fantasy, and paranormal, etc. 7: DCJCC features ______ literature in October. 9: DC conference for all things comics. 10: This community just north of DC holds its annual festival in…
Join us in welcoming local author Nicole Kelleher as she launches The Queen's Dance, Book Two in the Aurelian Guard series! Cathmara, at the northern tip of the Aurelian Territory, produces strong men who make for great warriors. Trian is one such man. But he is helpless against the customs…
Much of the new science fiction seems intent on affirming that science is NOT fiction. Earlier generations of sci-fi writers envisioned what science could do for us if we used it properly, while the current generation is painting a harrowing picture of what will happen if we ignore science. I…
The Gaithersburg Book Festival
The Gaithersburg Book Festival is a celebration of the written word and its power to enrich the human experience. Our mission is to foster an interest in reading, writing and literary conversation. Since its inception in 2010, the festival has quickly become one of the nation’s top literary events, attracting…
An Interview with Laura McBride
Laura McBride’s second novel, ‘Round Midnight, weaves together four very different women — June, Coral, Honorata, and Engracia — each connected in different ways to a midcentury nightclub in Las Vegas. McBride has achieved the difficult feat of keeping her book fast-paced while realizing her characters’ complex and nuanced emotions.…
Two Recent Works on Robert Lowell
We don't tend to honor our poets' memories. If we did, we would be setting off fireworks this spring for Robert Lowell’s centennial. Lowell, who died of a heart attack in a New York taxicab 40 years ago, was a monumental presence brooding over midcentury American poetry. His work was…
May is Short Story Month, otherwise known as a great excuse for me to talk about my love of flash fiction. Flash fictions are short-short stories. They usually run 1,000 words or less and are driven by language, detail, and rhythm. I’ve been the editor of the online flash-fiction journal…
The Gaithersburg Book Festival
The Gaithersburg Book Festival is an annual celebration of great books and great writing that has made its mark as one of the nation’s top literary events. It takes place Saturday, May 20, 2017, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the grounds of City Hall (31 S. Summit Ave.)…
For centuries scientists have written off cannibalism as a bizarre phenomenon with little biological significance. Its presence in nature was dismissed as a desperate response to starvation or other life-threatening circumstances, and few spent time studying it. A taboo subject in our culture, the behavior was portrayed mostly through horror…
Meet the (Small) Press: Yellow Pear
The motto of Yellow Pear Press is “free range publishing,” signifying an interest in releasing a wide variety of books, including those that might not be typical for the average small press, such as travel guides and journals. “Our goal is to publish clever, distinctive, imaginative, beautifully designed books and…
In this comprehensive biography of the pre-presidential Obama, Garrow, who won the Pulitzer for Bearing the Cross, his life of Martin Luther King, looks in detail at each stage of Obama’s personal and political development. Drawing on more than a thousand interviews, Garrow, professor of law and history and Distinguished…
Recently, I was listening to literary agent Malaga Baldi expound on the kind of books that pique her interest. What she described were not big-ticket thrillers, YA dystopian fantasies, or anything with “Girl” in the title. She was talking about intimate, quirky books that had something unique to say in…
5 Most Popular Posts: Apr. 2017
Mark Gamin’s review of Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History by Bill Schutt. “Our fascinated horror with cannibalism goes back a long way; it might even seem innate. On the other hand, Schutt says, it may be merely cultural. Herodotus tells the story of the Persian king, Darius, who asked some…
An Interview with Jill Santopolo
If Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” is a lyrical testament to the proverbial “could have been,” then Jill Santopolo’s debut adult novel, The Light We Lost, could easily be its narrative counterpart. The novel tells the love story of Lucy and Gabe, two students at Columbia University who meet…
Hit Makers is a groundbreaking investigation into the most valuable currency of the 21st century: people’s attention. With insatiable curiosity, great reporting, and beguiling storytelling, Atlantic senior editor Derek Thompson uses the lens of economics to reveal the secret of what makes a hit a hit. Thompson begins with a…
Summaries for Mrs. Dalloway can be misleading. A quick glance at the book jacket informs readers they’re in for a one-day journey through the psyche of a certain Clarissa Dalloway. But Mrs. Dalloway isn’t solely about Clarissa’s personal triumphs and mental hesitations as she prepares for a party on that…
Hailed as a major new voice in international fiction, Statovici was just twenty-three when he wrote this deeply original and moving book. Winner of Finland’s Helsingin Sanomat Literature Prize, Statovici’s assured debut novel starts in 1980s Yugoslavia with an unfortunate marriage, which, like the country, soon falls apart. Following the…
A Vice article written by Blake Butler has been floating around social media the past few days, eliciting exactly what it intended to: sputtering outrage. The author took aim at The Great Gatsby, and everything from its haughtily dismissive title — “Actually, 'The Great Gatsby' is Trash” — to its…
Anatomy of Innocence: Testimonies of the Wrongfully Convicted
Jane Welsh Carlyle and her Victorian World: A Story of Love, Work, Marriage, and Friendship
Driven by the question of what happens to a middle-class community when jobs disappear, Goldstein, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who has covered national social policies for the Washington Post since 1987, tracked the effects of the Great Recession on Janesville, Wisconsin. Until 2008, the small city was home to the…
An Interview with Peter Cozzens
Among Civil War enthusiasts, Peter Cozzens is something of a cult figure as the author and editor of more than a dozen books on that deadly struggle. For his most recent book, though, Cozzens turned to another of his interests — the 19th-century struggle between white settlers and Native Americans.…
When I Find Myself in Times of Trouble…
During the worst of the political situations in the last weeks, I needed an escape. Baseball season hadn’t started, although, mercifully, spring training had. But when I felt my mind threatened by the black-eyed dog of insanity, the weight of narcissistic lies and intentional madness adding up to evil, I…
For longtime residents of Washington, DC’s Shaw/U Street, the neighborhood has become almost unrecognizable in recent years. Where the city’s most infamous open-air drug market once stood, a farmers’ market now sells grass-fed beef and homemade duck egg ravioli. On the corner where AM.PM carryout used to dish out soul…
The Icon Hunter: A Refugee’s Quest to Reclaim Her Nation’s Stolen Heritage
As I have noted before in this space, I am a firm believer that good readers make good writers. The more you read, in a variety of genres, the better you will hone your craft. I will now amend that to argue that thriller and mystery writers (such as moi)…
April 2017 Exemplars: Poetry Reviews by Grace Cavalieri
APRIL 2017 EXEMPLARS When someone is brilliantly cogent, s/he’s called “insane.” If a performer brings a room to life, s/he‘s “killed it“ or “crushed it.” The highest compliment of high couture is now “gangsta.” I think we need some of Spring’s poetry showers to rinse off language. Poetry reviews by…
What can make two women who’ve never met hate each other to the point of outright harassment? Marriage and family therapist Holly Brown decided to explore this very dynamic in her new novel, This Is Not Over. In it, main characters Miranda, 57, and Dawn, 30, find themselves coming to…
The Washington Writers Conference
Don't miss this unique opportunity to learn from the best! Join the DC literary community and successful authors, agents, and publishers from around the country for the 5th Annual Washington Writers Conference at the College Park Marriott Hotel & Conference Center in Hyattsville, MD. See why this inspiring and instructive…
When Your Favorite Author Goes on Hiatus (Pt. II)
My last column explored the horror felt by a reader when a favorite author goes on hiatus in the middle of a series. Being an avid reader, I’ve certainly experienced this, and I hate it as much as anyone. You know there’s a “but,” right? Buuut…being an author, I also…
The Washington Writers Conference Presents an All-Star Lineup
Don’t miss your chance to meet John A. Farrell, Judith Viorst, Ron Charles, Susan Coll, Michael Dirda, Rion Amilcar Scott, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Ron Capps, Tara Bahrampour, Kelly Kennedy, and many others at this year’s Washington Writers Conference on April 28-29 in College Park, MD. And if you’ve got a…
Meet the (Small) Press: The Kenyon Review
In the winter of 1939, Americans were probably thinking about things other than poetry. Spain was crumbling in the face of its civil war; Hitler’s saber-rattling was growing more menacing by the day; and the U.S. economy was just starting to pull out of its nose dive. It was, in…
Celebrating a Washington Literary Press
THE NEWS THAT STAYS NEWS A special April feature by Grace Cavalieri THE WORD WORKS has published over 100 titles since 1975, and in addition to “free range” books, it has four imprints: The Washington Prize, the Hilary Tham Capital Collection (open to poets who volunteer to further the cause…
“It is always heartening to see women step up to the writer’s table. When the results are as adroit and affecting as Marita Golden’s work, it is more than satisfying, it is a cause for celebration.” – Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison As a respected family court judge, Diane Tate spent…
In the beginning, there was the story. It told of the creation of the land, oceans, animals, and people. It told of gods and the people the gods chose as their representatives on earth. It gave the people morals, rituals, and traditions, binding them together as a tribe with One…
The Washington Writers Conference Presents Kelly Kennedy
Kelly Kennedy served in the U.S. Army from 1987-1993, including in Operation Desert Storm and in Mogadishu. She works as a writer for the So Company, a veteran-owned business, and is author of They Fought for Each Other: The Triumph and Tragedy of the Hardest Hit Unit in Iraq. Find…
In this powerful memoir, Tasoula Hadjitofi reveals her perilous journey orchestrating “The Munich Case” ― one of the largest European art trafficking stings since WWII. With the Bavarian police in place, the Cypriots on their way, 70 under-cover agents bust into the Munich apartment of a notorious Turkish smuggler suspected…
An Interview with Odafe Atogun
Taduno’s music used to bring life to his people. He is the most famous musician in the entire country until he disappears — not only physically, but also from the collective memory of his countrymen. He soon wakes up with his guitar, alone in an unknown town, trying to remember…
In publishing, as in life, diversity is a good thing. There’s been a groundswell of concern about the dearth of racial and cultural diversity on America’s bookshelves — and Angela Maria Spring is doing something about it. In April, Angela opened her new bookstore, Duende District, as a pop-up venture…
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, a revelatory portrait of religion in China today — its history, the spiritual traditions of its Eastern and Western faiths, and the ways in which it is influencing China's future. The Souls of China tells the story of one of the world's great spiritual revivals.…
In recent conversations with friends who are well educated and well read, I happened to use a couple of words that were familiar to me but drew blank stares from my companions. At one point, I referred to a “parlous situation” (no prizes for guessing what I had in mind),…
The One-Cent Magenta: Inside the Quest to Own the Most Valuable Stamp in the World
Washington’s Farewell: The Founding Father’s Warning to Future Generations
The Washington Writers Conference Presents Judith Viorst
Judith Viorst is the author of 23 books for children, including Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (inducted into the Children's Picture Book Hall of Fame), and 17 books for adults, including the New York Times bestseller Necessary Losses. Learn what she’s found out about the…
Readers’ Workshop at Curious Iguana
New for 2017! Join us at the Iguana on the second Thursday of every month at 7 p.m. for our new Readers’ Workshop. Free; no registration required. Featured books are discounted 20% four weeks prior to each session. Ever struggle with describing exactly why you like or dislike a book?…
John Waters, 70, cannily employs humor as a subversive tool. For example, “Hairspray,” his 1988 movie that became a hit musical in 2002, is regularly performed in high schools across America. “Nobody seems to notice it’s a show with two men singing a love song to each other that also…
Later this month, one of the nation’s best-loved mystery gatherings, Malice Domestic, will take place in Bethesda, Maryland — April 28-30 at the Hyatt Regency (overlapping with the Independent’s own Washington Writers Conference in College Park, unfortunately, but the resolute writer should attend both). Among this year’s headliners at Malice…
An electric debut novel about love, addiction, and loss; the story of two girls and the feral year that will cost one her life, and define the other's for decades. Everything about 15-year-old Cat's new town in rural Michigan is lonely and off-kilter, until she meets her neighbor, the manic,…
5 Most Popular Posts: Mar. 2017
The Washington Writers Conference. Number one for three straight months, our conference page continues to bring the party. But if you haven’t actually registered yet? HURRY! The big event is just three weeks away! Click here to sign up now! An interview with Bill McPherson. Michael Causey’s 2013 Q&A with…
“Rap music and video have been wrongfully characterized as thoroughly sexist but rightfully lambasted for their sexism.” — Tricia Rose, Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America I was reading the Internet the other day and learned that NWA’s debut album, Straight Outta Compton, has been chosen…
Shattuck’s third novel takes us inside Germany before, during, and after the Third Reich. Drawing on her own grandparents’ experience, Shattuck, author of The Hazards of Good Breeding and Perfect Life, follows the families of Resistance fighters as they live through and then are haunted by events of World War…
At the Edge of the World: The Heroic Century of the French Foreign Legion
Joan Nathan in Conversation with Wolf Blitzer
For nearly 40 years, Nathan has been one of the foremost authorities on Jewish cooking. From The Flavor of Jerusalem to Jewish Cooking in America to Quiches, Kugels, and Couscous, the award-winning author has traveled the world, collecting recipes, stories, and photos, making it her mission to preserve Jewish culinary…
In A Simple Favor, Darcey Bell’s debut novel, moms Stephanie and Emily meet on the playground of their children’s school and strike up a friendship. But initial kindnesses soon fade as their families succumb to a series of awful events. How do you like the book cover? It’s so scary.…
Hester Prynne emerges from prison with a 3-month-old baby in her arms. Blazing on the front of her dress is the ornately embroidered “A” branding her as the colony’s adulterer. A gifted seamstress, Hester has sewn this crest-of-shame by hand. As she’s led through the jeering crowd to stand on…
Building on his popular TED talk and Atlantic article, Liu analyzes the political situation and offers concrete measures for reclaiming power from the bottom up. The digital era has altered the political playing field, Liu argues, and points to Black Lives Matter, Mauricio Lim Miller’s Family Independence Initiative, and other…
Meet the (Small) Press: Lanternfish
It is a little hard to pin down exactly what makes a Lanternfish Press book. In the Philadelphia-based press' short tenure, they've put out a classic reprint, a couple of works of genre-bending fiction, and even a coloring book. Editorial Director Christine Neulieb and Operations Director Amanda Thomas don't mind…
The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency
The Ambulance Drivers: Hemingway, Dos Passos, and a Friendship Made and Lost in War
Bill McPherson: An Appreciation
For such an accomplished man of letters — Pulitzer Prize winner, novelist, literary critic, and the first editor of the Washington Post’s Book World — Bill McPherson, who died here on March 28th at the age of 84, could be remarkably modest and self-effacing. Upon learning of his death, one…
I occasionally get invited to lunch by folks who want to pick my brain about self-publishing. My busy schedule notwithstanding, I usually graciously accept, since no one else ever invites me to lunch. Plus, who needs three naps a day? My hosts presumably think I am an expert on the…
Join us for a special event featuring Catriona Ward, author of The Girl from Rawblood. Catriona will read from the book and take reader questions, followed by a signing. RSVP at [email protected]. RSVPs are not required but are appreciated! About the Book: (Winner of BEST HORROR NOVEL [August Derleth Award]…
5 Smart Books for Middle-Grade Readers
The Dog, Ray By Linda Coggin Recommended for ages 12+ (Candlewick) When 12-year-old Daisy dies in a car accident, her soul returns to earth as a dog — but the girl’s human memories remain. Daisy, now a dog named Ray, is desperate to see her mom and dad again. As…
Ask More: The Power of Questions to Open Doors, Uncover Solutions, and Spark Change
About The Cutaway: When brilliant TV news producer Virginia Knightly receives a disturbing “MISSING” notice on her desk related to the disappearance of a beautiful young attorney, she can’t seem to shake the image from her head. Despite skepticism from her colleagues, Knightly suspects this ambitious young lawyer may be…
In his new book, Better Living Through Criticism: How to Think About Art, Pleasure, Beauty, and Truth, New York Times chief film critic A.O. Scott tries to debunk the popular myth that critics are resentful, frustrated artists. “Criticism is art’s late-born twin,” Scott states. “They draw strength and identity from…
“Creativity in Crystal City: Literature Events at Artomatic.” No, dear readers, that’s not a typo. Those of you who know Artomatic will be asking yourselves, “But isn’t Artomatic all about showcasing local visual artists?” And you would be 100-percent correct. “Oh, and they have music there,” you will then remember.…
March 2017 Exemplars: Poetry Reviews by Grace Cavalieri
MARCH EXEMPLARS Poetry reviews by Grace Cavalieri Reunion by Richard Harteis. Poets Choice Publishing. 187 pages. Blackjack poetry playing cards by Maritza Rivera. Casa Mariposa. Full Deck. Madwoman by Shara McCallum. Alice James Books. 79 pages. Burn by Allison Adelle Hedge Coke. MadHat Press. 47 pages. No Barking in the…
“Shut Up & Write”: YA Authors on Writing
Local Young Adult authors Jon Skovron (This Broken Wondrous World) and Jessica Spotswood (Wild Swans) founded this bimonthly series of panels focused on the craft of writing. Join us at Central Library every other month as Jon interviews other YA authors and discusses the ins and outs of fiction writing.…
Stacey Graham: Spring always gets me wound up. It may be the allergy nasal spray talking, but I flit from book to book like a bee on a bender. I read mostly fiction as an agent, so like to stretch a bit in the other direction by concentrating on nonfiction…
Now that a serial liar occupies the office once held by I-cannot-tell-a-lie George Washington, Honest Abe, and No Drama Obama, my literary-criticism skills are finally paying off, for what is fiction but alternative facts? Donald Trump is the ultimate in unreliable narrators, transforming what should be a nonfiction narrative into…
An Interview with Judith Flanders
A Cast of Vultures begins as protagonist Sam Clair wakes up with a hangover after another book party. An editor and amateur detective, Sam is in sleuth mode again — this time in her own neighborhood, where mysterious fires are set, neighbors disappear, and a friendly family of squatters is…
The Plague of War: Athens, Sparta, and the Struggle for Ancient Greece
The Washington Writers Conference Presents Rion Amilcar Scott
Rion Amilcar Scott’s work has appeared in the Kenyon Review, the Rumpus, Fiction International, Washington City Paper, the Toast, and elsewhere, and his short-story collection, Insurrections, was published last August. Find out what Scott can teach you about getting published at this year’s Washington Writers Conference on April 28-29 in…
Difficult Women is a collection of stories of rare force and beauty, of hardscrabble lives, passionate loves and quirky human connection. The women in these stories live lives of privilege and of poverty. They are in marriages both loving and haunted by past crimes or emotional black mail. Roxane Gay…
When Your Favorite Author Goes on Hiatus
Most authors are avid readers. As a writer, you can learn a lot from reading someone else’s work. I’d like to say every book I read is analyzed for lessons I can incorporate into my own writing. But it’s not true. Reading has surely made me a better writer, but…
Busboys and Poets welcomes Lauren Camp to the Langston Room to present her latest book of poems called “One Hundred Hungers.” At Busboys and Poets, 2021 14th St., NW, Washington, DC 20009. Click here for info. Like what we do? Click here to support the nonprofit Independent!
The Crisis of the Middle-Class Constitution: Why Economic Inequality Threatens Our Republic
The Politics of Anti-Intellectualism
It will come as no shock to you that politics is a fairly anti-intellectual profession. The people who run our government and make our laws spend too much time shaking hands, making small talk, and running around to delve into serious reading or reflection. President John F. Kennedy, even though…
The Washington Writers Conference Presents Leslie Pietrzyk
Award-winning novelist Leslie Pietrzyk is author of Pears on a Willow Tree and A Year and a Day, as well as This Angel on My Chest, a collection of linked short stories. Find out what she can teach you about the power of stories at this year’s Washington Writers Conference…
An Interview with Thomas Dolby
If taking only a cursory glance, it might be easy to label musician Thomas Dolby a classic one-hit wonder. While he’s scored several Billboard Top 100 hits, it’s 1982’s “She Blinded Me with Science” that will forever remain his signature song and video. A staple of MTV’s early days, Dolby…
As America’s economic disparity has grown, political power has become increasingly concentrated in the hands of wealthier Americans. When the U.S. Constitution was framed, Sitaraman shows, it grew from a society of economic equality with a solid middle class, and so made few provisions to prevent the richest from taking…
I suppose it’s possible that some of my dear readers are too young to recall the incandescence of the imported word samizdat in English. When I was a youth in suburban America, we had zines — cool enough for punks and obsessives alike. But in the USSR, behind the Iron…
The Aisles Have Eyes: How Retailers Track Your Shopping, Strip Your Privacy, and Define Your Power
Meet Angela Palm and Kaitlyn Greenidge
Join us as Angela Palm, author of Riverine, and Kaitlyn Greenidge, author of We Love You, Charlie Freeman, discuss their new books. Riverine: Angela Palm grew up in a place not marked on the map, her house set on the banks of a river that had been straightened to make…
Emma Green of the Atlantic started a firestorm recently with the article “Are Jews White?” Taking for granted that Ashkenazi Jews have assimilated to whiteness, Green used the white Jewish question to wonder whether the rise of the so-called “alt-right” (read racist, misogynist white supremacists) is upending Jewish security in…
Recounting events “back then,” when “the news…was full of war, and migrants, and nativists,” Hamid’s fourth novel uses the compressed power and spare language of allegory to tell an urgent story about today. Tracking the fallout of broken countries through the love story of Nadia and Saaed, Hamid, the author…
An op-ed ran in Publishers Weekly’s Soapbox a couple of weeks ago, written by the literary agent to one Milo Yiannopoulos. It was a retort to an earlier editorial in that magazine criticizing the six-figure deal Simon & Schuster had made with his client. Not familiar with Milo? Let’s get…
The Washington Writers Conference Presents Tara Bahrampour
A staff writer for the Washington Post, journalist Tara Bahrampour is also author of the memoir To See and See Again: A Life in Iran and America. See for yourself what she has to say about reporting and writing at this year’s Washington Writers Conference on April 28-29 in College…
5 Most Popular Posts: Feb. 2017
The Washington Writers Conference. Is everybody hoping to snag an agent? It sure seems like it given how many readers logged on to learn more about this year’s conference. (Ready to register? Click here while the not-quite-early-bird rate still applies!) Carrie Callaghan’s review of Mr Iyer Goes to War by…
An Interview with Patricia Bosworth
You were in the nitty-gritty of Hollywood’s Golden Age, first as an actor and then as a biographer for stars such as Montgomery Clift and Jane Fonda. What prompted you to write a memoir, The Men in My Life? I wanted to write about my life at a very tumultuous…
For General Michael Hayden, playing to the edge means playing so close to the line that you get chalk dust on your cleats. Otherwise, by playing back, you may protect yourself, but you will be less successful in protecting America. “Play to the edge” was Hayden's guiding principle when he…
For Christmas this past year, a well-meaning relative bought my husband and me the books 1001 Things It Means to Be a Mom and 1001 Things It Means to Be a Dad. They were stocking stuffers, cute little gift books given with the best of intentions. So you can imagine…
It’s hard to believe, but today’s critique of Dark at the Crossing marks our 2,000th review! It’s an exciting milestone for a mostly volunteer organization of dedicated writers, editors, and book lovers, and it’s also testament to the enthusiasm and loyalty of our readers. (Thanks!) In honor of this momentous…
Frederick County Public Libraries is proud to announce the 2017 Frederick Reads author is Bill Bryson, a bestselling American author of humorous books on travel, the English language, and scientific subjects. His works include A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail, A Short History of Nearly…
I know people who didn't watch the Oscars because they didn't want to hear a lot of Trump-bashing by a bunch of liberal, overrated, overpaid, elitist artists. They probably switched the channel right after they saw what everyone was wearing on the red carpet. Trump aside, I'm not crazy about…
In theory, a defendant in a U.S. court of law is presumed innocent until proven guilty. But in practice, the assumption is often that the accused is guilty. This is just one flaw in the criminal justice system, and Buting, a criminal defense lawyer for more than four decades, reports…
The Platinum Age of Television: From I Love Lucy to The Walking Dead, How TV Became Terrific
The Washington Writers Conference Presents Ron Charles
As the award-winning editor of the Washington Post’s Book World (plus creator and star of its hilarious “Totally Hip Video Book Review” series), Ron Charles knows a thing or two about the literary life. Hear firsthand what he can share with you about that life at this year’s Washington Writers…
An Interview with Melanie Wallace
Melanie Wallace’s new novel, The Girl in the Garden, is a dramatic and mysterious tale about what happens when a small coastal town finds its seemingly sleepy ways interrupted by the arrival of young June, her baby, and a man who abandons them at the first opportunity. As June and…
Dust Bowl Girls: The Inspiring Story of the Team That Barnstormed Its Way to Basketball Glory
What We Talk about When We Talk about Whales
“‘There she blows! —there she blows! A hump like a snow hill! It is Moby Dick!” Moby-Dick has been hailed one of the greatest English-language classics of all time. Nineteenth-century adventure author Herman Melville evoked the White Whale as a catch-all allegory, and in doing so, wrote America’s foundational literary…
Join us on the last Tuesday of every month to explore nonfiction titles. This month's selection is Home Is Burning by Dan Marshall. Featured titles are discounted 20% four weeks prior to each session. Questions? Contact us at 301-695-2500 or [email protected]. At Curious Iguana, 12 N. Market St., Frederick, MD.…
February 2017 Exemplars: Poetry Reviews by Grace Cavalieri
Cinder, New and Selected Poems by Susan Stewart. Graywolf press. 214 pages. Andes by Tomaz Salamun, translated by Jeffrey Young and Katarina Vladimirov Young (afterword by Tobor Hrs Pandur. Black Ocean. 133 pages. The Art of Dissolving by Donald Illich. Finishing Line Press. 25 pages. Last Window at the Punk…
Author and Washington Independent Review of Books columnist Tara Campbell will read from and sign copies of her debut novel, TreeVolution. Walls of Books, 3325 Georgia Ave., NW, Washington, DC. Click here for info. Like what we do? Click here to support the nonprofit Independent!
President Franklin D. Roosevelt famously proclaimed December 7, 1941, a date that will live in infamy. He was conspicuously silent about another date that also deserves to live in infamy: February 19, 1942. On that day, FDR issued Executive Order 9066, authorizing the removal of all enemy aliens from areas…
An Interview with Barry Friedman
Barry Friedman, a professor at the New York University School of Law, has studied, taught, and written about constitutional law for three decades. His first book, The Will of the People, argued counterintuitively that the Supreme Court follows and reflects popular opinion more closely than legal scholars or the general…
The Washington Writers Conference Presents Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Newbery Medal-winning author Phyllis Reynolds Naylor has penned more than 100 books for children and adults, including the bestselling Shiloh and the memoir How I Came to Be a Writer. Discover what she can teach you about becoming a writer at this year’s Washington Writers Conference on April 28-29 in…
A boy on the edge of adolescence fears his mother might be a robot; a psychotically depressed woman is entrusted with taking her niece and nephew trick-or-treating; a reluctant dad brings his baby to a coke-fueled party; a teenage boy tries to prevent his mother from putting his estranged father's…
For many people, accessibility is a passing thought. When was the last time you came across a person with a disability in popular culture, art, or literature? Beyond that, how often do you read about someone with deafness or illness that isn’t presented as tragic or saintly? The Deaf Poets…
ACROSS 2 Walls of Books on _______ Avenue sells new and used books 8 The oldest continuously published poetry journal in America, published by another answer to this puzzle 9 Another name for the Independent's Washington Writers Conference in April 13 _______ & Poets, where you get a good read…
How America Lost Its Secrets: Edward Snowden, the Man and the Theft
The Cold War operated on a number of fronts, from the arms and space races to culture. Expanding on his 2012 Salon article tracing the CIA’s influence on the Paris Review, Whitney documents the Agency’s connections with writers ranging from Ernest Hemingway to James Baldwin to Gabriel García Márquez. While…
“So here I am, upside down in a woman. Arms patiently crossed, waiting, waiting, and wondering who I’m in, What I’m in for.” That Ian McEwan. What a writer. Using me, en ventre sa mere, as the observer-voice of Nutshell. Only he could pull off such a literary stunt successfully.…
Audacity: How Barack Obama Defied His Critics and Created a Legacy That Will Prevail
Not a Scientist: How Politicians Mistake, Misrepresent, and Utterly Mangle Science
How often do you hear someone from your book group say, “I liked the novel, but it could have used some editing”? Or read a review of a 500-page tome and have the reviewer say, “It could have been a couple of hundred pages shorter”? One of the casualties of…
The Washington Writers Conference Presents Ron Capps
A veteran of the U.S. Army and Foreign Service, Bronze Star recipient Ron Capps used his expertise to found the Veterans Writing Project, as well as to pen Seriously Not All Right: Five Wars in Ten Years. Hear what he has to teach you about using your expertise at this…
Lipman’s 11th novel is a classic romantic comedy in the vein of Then She Found Me, her second book, which was adapted for the 2008 film. The narrative follows 32-year-old Faith Frankel, a woman as earnest and open as her name suggests, through a slightly unsettled period of readjustment in…
Release Your Inner Roman: A Treatise by Nobleman Marcus Sidonius Falx
The Scientific Method is Kim Roberts’ fifth book of poems. She’s founding editor of Beltway Poetry Quarterly; editor of the anthology Full Moon on K Street: Poems About Washington, DC; and a literary historian whose research focuses on writers who’ve lived in the District. In The Scientific Method, Roberts combines…
February is the month of love, so naturally I decided to write about sibling rivalry and reading preferences. Am I really going to take favorite childhood fables completely out of context for this article? Yes, yes, I am. Because how else do those of us who have siblings explain why…
This is the inspiring true story of a high-school basketball team that overcame desperate circumstances in 1980s Baltimore to produce four NBA players and give hope to a neighborhood and a city, thanks to a remarkable coach who relentlessly pursued perfection. At the Ivy Bookshop, 6080 Falls Rd., Baltimore, MD.…
Divided We Stand: The Battle Over Women’s Rights and Family Values That Polarized American Politics
How do you keep people from thinking that every sex scene you write is based on your own personal experiences? ~ W. Tyson, PA You can’t. No one will ever believe you. When people read your sex scenes, they are absolutely picturing you and your spouse doin’ it. And the…
The AWP Conference & Bookfair is an essential annual destination for writers, teachers, students, editors, and publishers. Each year, more than 12,000 attendees join our community for four days of insightful dialogue, networking, and unrivaled access to the organizations and opinion-makers that matter most in contemporary literature. The 2016 conference…
Meet Charlotte Malerich and J. Bowers
New from Ashland Creek Press, Among Animals 2 is a second collection of critically acclaimed stories that affirm the bond among humans and animals. The relationships among human and non-human animals have captivated writers since the beginning of time — and the ways in which these relationships have evolved (and…
The Men in My Life: A Memoir of Love and Art in 1950s Manhattan
One of the nation’s largest writerly gatherings — the AWP Conference & Bookfair — comes to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in DC this week, and the Independent will be there! From Thursday, Feb. 9th, to Saturday, Feb. 11th, we’ll be standing by in booth #686 to chat about…
Reality Is Not What It Seems: The Journey to Quantum Gravity
artimo-nos assim do santo templo Que nas praias do mar está assentado, Que o nome tem da terra, para exemplo, Donde Deus foi em carne ao mundo dado. ***** We are thus like the holy temple That on the beaches of the sea is settled, That the name has of…
Raucous family memoir meets medical adventure in this heartfelt, hilarious book exploring the public and private theaters of illness. After a tumor bursts in Mike Scalise's brain, leaving him with a hole in the head and malfunctioning hormones, he must navigate a new, alien world of illness maintenance. His mother,…
In a bold departure from the realism of her earlier work, Cusk’s eighth novel, Outline, used a series of ten conversations to tell the story of a woman recently separated from her husband and struggling to work out just who she might be on her own. Cusk’s sequel, the second…
Last month I wrote a column about how self-published authors, such as yours truly, are frequently bashed by authors who have been “traditionally” published. The implication was that all Amazonians, with very little intellectual effort, are clogging up the literary streambed with unreadable flotsam and jetsam, making it hard for…
5 Most Popular Posts: Jan. 2017
The Washington Writers Conference. Aspiring authors must’ve seen the bat signal because they flocked to our all-about-the-conference pages in huge numbers. (Ready to register? Click here before the early-bird rate expires!) “8 Books President Trump Should Read.” We tried. January’s Poetry Exemplars. Grace Cavalieri’s perpetually popular feature drew tons of…
The Washington Writers Conference Presents Michael Dirda
A Pulitzer Prize-winning book critic for the Washington Post, Michael Dirda also contributes to the New York Review of Books, the Times Literary Supplement, and many other publications. His most recent work is Browsings: A Year of Reading, Collecting, and Living with Books. Find out what Dirda can tell you…
An Interview with Beatriz Williams
Beatriz Williams is a master storyteller of Jazz Age historical fiction. But to say her most recent novel, The Wicked City, is solely a work of historical fiction would be to miss the other elements she conveys in this gentle ghost story about a forgotten flapper who makes her way…
Nearly two weeks early, on March 3, 1947, in the maternity ward of Beth Israel Hospital in Newark, New Jersey, Archibald Isaac Ferguson, the one and only child of Rose and Stanley Ferguson, is born. From that single beginning, Ferguson’s life will take four simultaneous and independent fictional paths. Four…
The Center for the Arts at George Mason University recently hosted the Aquila Theatre production of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Nile, and Mason’s Faculty Arts Club invited me to give an after-performance talk about some aspect of the story, of Christie’s work generally, or of the Golden Age of…
Meet Ellen Prentiss Campbell, Marc Nieson, and Melissa Scholes Young
The three DC-based authors will read from their latest works. A reception and book-signing will follow. This event is free and open to the public. At the Writer's Center, 4508 Walsh St., Bethesda, MD. For more information, click here. Like what we do? Click here to support the nonprofit Independent!
The Button Thief of East 14th Street: Scenes from a Life on the Lower East Side 1927-1957
I think I saw you at the Women’s March on Washington on January 21st, the first full day of this dark, but hopefully brief, era of the Trump presidency. If it wasn’t you, it was someone who looked like you, or someone who was related to you, or someone who…
January 2017 Exemplars: Poetry Reviews by Grace Cavalieri
Best of the New Year 2017 BEST POETRY The Last Shift by Philip Levine. Alfred A. Knopf. 77 pages. Point Blank by Alan King. Silver Birch Press. 96 pages. Bluewords Greening by Christine Stewart-Nuñez. Terrapin Books. 83 pages. Our Lady of the Orgasm by Nin Andrews. Plume Editions/MadHat Press. 41…
In his third book, Avlon, editor-in-chief of the Daily Beast and a CNN contributor, talks about the enduring importance of President George Washington's farewell address to the nation, and its special resonance today. At Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave., NW, Washington, DC. Click here for info. Like what we…
A surprising number of U.S. presidents have written books. Some of these are ghostwritten, and a few are merely a compilation of speeches. Yet several commanders-in-chief have produced works which either influenced policy or contributed to our understanding of American history or culture. While any ranking of presidential authors is…
William Egginton's The Man Who Evented Fiction chronicles the life and work of author Miguel de Cervantes, whose most famous novel, Don Quixote, helped usher in a new style of writing. Egginton is a professor at Johns Hopkins University and lives in both Baltimore and Vienna, Austria. At the Ivy…
The Harsh Lessons of “Frankenstein”
“I was expecting this reception,” is all Monster can say after being verbally accosted by his creator, Victor Frankenstein. The two have met on Montanvert. Both have a score to settle. It’s been two years since Victor has laid eyes on the being he created. Victor feels nothing but rage,…
A Review of “Hitler: Ascent, 1889-1939” and “Hitler: Biographie”
No one knows how many biographies about Hitler exist, but John Lukacs claims in his book The Hitler of History that, at the end of the last century, there were already more than a hundred. We’re not talking about monographs like “Hitler as a vegetarian,” “Hitler and architecture,” “Hitler as…
Monday: In her monthly column, Considering the Classics, Dorothy Reno contemplates Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Tuesday: A review of Eight Flavors: The Untold Story of American Cuisine by Sarah Lohman. Wednesday: “Presidents as Authors,” by Joseph A. Esposito. Thursday: A new installment of Alice Stephens’ monthly blog, Alice in Wordland. Friday:…
Turn Your Armchair into a Magic Carpet
Trieste, an old port parked in a forgotten corner of Italy on the rim of the Adriatic Sea, is not on many tourist itineraries. It has none of the cathedrals or art that draw visitors to Florence or Rome and lacks the charm of a well-preserved medieval city like Venice…
8 Books President Trump Should Read
Our incoming commander-in-chief has said he doesn’t have time to read books. On the off-chance his schedule frees up, we suggest he check out these titles. Night by Elie Wiesel. It would hopefully wake the incoming president up to where quashing dissent and registering the “other” can lead. ~Tara Campbell…
Kazin, author of War against War: The American Fight for Peace 1914-1918, discusses why we entered World War I, and the forces at home that tried mightily to stop us. At Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave., NW, Washington, DC. Click here for more info. Like what we do? Click…
Battle of Wills: Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, and the Last Year of the Civil War
Wendy Thomas Russell: My nightstand is stuffed full of books I’ve never read by writers I admire. Let’s see: There’s Annie Proulx and Joan Didion and James McBride and Chris Offutt and Colum McCann. I could go on and on. There must be 25 books in there, separated into two…
Writing requires solitude. We choose to spend years inside their own heads imagining, questioning, and creating. We may have families, jobs, and pets, but they can’t go into the work of writing with us. Physical and emotional isolation is sometimes required to dig deeper beneath a first draft. Artist residencies…
Spring 2017 brings a veritable conference conundrum to DC-area lit lovers. In addition to Barrelhouse’s Conversations and Connections conference on April 22, and the author-and-agent-studded Washington Writers Conference/Books Alive 2017 on April 28-29, our region will be graced with one additional gathering of writers, educators, presses, lit mags, and books,…
_1.png)
