In his 20th book, Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America, sociologist and public intellectual Michael Eric Dyson issues an urgent, heartfelt, and eloquent message to white America. Expanding on his July 7 New York Times editorial, “Death in Black and White,” written in the wake of the…
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Join Arlington Poet Laureate Katherine Young, along with Gregory Luce, Jacqueline Jules, Holly Karapetkova, Naomi Thiers, Francisco Aragón, Susan Mockler, and other Arlington poets reading in support of democracy, free expression, and inclusion. Time permitting, there will be an open mike. Bring a non-perishable food item to donate to Arlington…
It was half a century ago, so most readers will not know firsthand about the extraordinary moment in history explored in Kitty Kelley’s new book, Martin’s Dream Day. Those of us who were there will recall our experiences, but gifting this colorful book to our grandkids will portray for them…
The Long Life of Short Fiction
Lately I’ve been thinking about short fiction and why people don’t read it. Don’t get me wrong. I read poetry and short stories and novellas (okay, not as much poetry as I should), and plenty of other people I know do, as well. But those “other people” tend to be…
Frank Sesno in Conversation with Chuck Todd
In Ask More: The Power of Questions to Open Doors, Uncover Solutions, and Spark Change, Frank Sesno, an Emmy Award-winning journalist and director of George Washington University's School of Media and Public Affairs, shares the value of asking the right kinds of questions and what you can expect as an…
In the last few weeks, I’ve read three pieces which I think will stick with me for some time. In case you are wondering, “What does it take to impress this guy?” I’ll give you the low-down in one word: resonance. I’ve said recently that I’m careless about the books…
We're saving a seat at the table for you! Join the Curious Iguana the second Tuesday of every-other month for Supper and Stories at Nido's Italian restaurant in downtown Frederick, MD. For $40 per person, you'll receive a paperback copy of that month's book, plus a delicious meal served family-style.…
Washington City Paper Fiction Issue Celebration
Join us for a reading and celebration of the City Paper's Fiction Issue! The reading will feature great writing about the District, plus a conversation with the judge, local author Mary Kay Zuravleff. At Kramerbooks, 1517 Connecticut Ave., NW, Washington, DC. Click here for more info. Like what we do?…
The United Arab Emirates ambassador to Russia as well as the father of two young sons, Ghobash writes as much from a parental as from a diplomatic perspective. His heartfelt book is addressed to the next generation of Islamic leaders, and asks what it means to be a good Muslim…
I got a late Christmas present last week, in the form of a column from Laurie Gough, a “traditionally” published author. I consider it a present because I wracking my brain for an idea for this column. Right off the bat, let me say that Laurie Gough is an accomplished…
5 Most Popular Posts: Dec. 2016
“25 Favorite Books of the Year.” Which books from 2016 stuck with us the most? We’re glad you asked… E.A. Aymar’s review of Crime Plus Music: Twenty Stories of Music-Themed Noir, edited by Jim Fusilli. “It’s rare to come a set of stories so equally strong, particularly when they’re tied…
An Interview with Maria Leonard Olsen
Inspired by her own experiences as a mixed-race child in an overwhelmingly white neighborhood and as the mother of children with skin lighter than hers, local author Maria Leonard Olsen has written Not the Cleaver Family: The New Normal in Modern American Families, a resource to the many permutations of…
Ten Principles: Every New Beginning Storytelling Project
This is the second in a quarterly series of the Ten Principles )'( storytelling project, which was first presented as part of the Capital Fringe Festival in 2014. The theme for this show is “Every New Beginning: Stories about things coming to an end and things just getting started.” At…
Dear 2017, Happy New Year! Well, we made it. It was a close one, but I’m so happy to be here. I don’t know about you, 2017, but for me, 2016 was all about the death of childhood icons. Several of my favorite musicians died; one of my favorite authors…
Working with legendary “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart, Smith, a contributing editor to New York magazine, recounts in The Daily Show (the Book): An Oral History as Told by Jon Stewart, the Correspondents, Staff and Guests some of the many memorable moments, both on-screen and off, from the Comedy Central…
Finally, 2016 drags its sorry ass out the door. But, no matter how bad it gets — and it got really, really bad in 2016 — we’ll always have books. And my year in reading, like every year, was rewarding and enriching. Sure, some books tried my patience and challenged…
5 Reasons to Attend the 2017 Books Alive! Washington Writers Conference
The Washington Independent Review of Books will hold its fifth annual writers conference Friday night and Saturday, April 28-29, 2017, and we hope you’ll join us for what promises to be our best event yet. Here are just a few of the reasons you won’t want to miss it: Agents,…
December 2016 Exemplars: Poetry Reviews by Grace Cavalieri
Professor Harriman’s Steam Air-Ship by Terese Svoboda. Eyewear Publishing, London. 78 pages. The Crafty Poet ll: A Portable Workshop, edited by Diane Lockward. Terrapin books. 306 pages Two Worlds Exist by Yehoshua November. Orison books. 70 pages. Companions, Analogies by Brian Swann. Sheep Meadow Press. 105 pages. Loom by Kevin…
My friend was telling me about her recent date night. She and her husband have only been out together a handful of times since having their 2-year-old daughter, so when her in-laws came to visit, it was a chance for a few hours of alone time. “We went to dinner…
Don’t Give Your Money to Uncle Sam!
The year is closing fast, and it’s your last chance to make a fully tax-deductible donation to the nonprofit Independent, a site run by readers for readers! Every cent we raise helps us continue bringing you insightful critiques of bestsellers, little-known gems, and every title in between. Interviews with today’s…
Acoustic Open Mic — in the Den
The Den’s intimate room and supportive atmosphere distinguishes us as a unique space that appeals to musicians and audiences alike. This popular open mic night is a great opportunity for local musicians to step out and network. Performances are typically packed with some of the area's most talented and most…
I am a Maureen Dowd fan. I open my New York Times on her scheduled days always anticipating a literary indulgence full of punch and personality. She is a smart and cheeky editorialist, and has been for many years. She is rarely flat. Unfortunately, her new collection, The Year of…
“Adventure” is not really, strictly speaking, a literary genre. You won’t find an “Adventure” section in the bookstore, and even Amazon is hit or miss on what it assigns the label to. It is most often shelved under “Mysteries & Thrillers,” because, after all, adventure tales must have something thrilling…
Open to Debate: How William F. Buckley Put Liberal America on the Firing Line
An Interview with Derek Palacio
Derek Palacio's new novel, The Mortifications, is the piercing, astounding chronology of a family that flees Cuba in hopes of a better life. The story follows a young mother, Soledad, as she takes her two children against the will of her husband, Uxbal, a revolutionary opposed to the regime, and…
A Man, an Island, and the Endurance of the Self
What’s your desert-island book? Unlike most clichés with their built-in mechanism for dodging intimacy, the desert-island query calls for interpersonal courage of the deepest sort. After all, the question isn’t: What’s your favorite story? But, most fundamentally, on which story does your very survival depend? The cutest answer, of course,…
Looking for a place to toddle? Play with toys? Meet other little ones? Look no further! Join us in the Children’s Room of the Northeast Library every Thursday afternoon 1-3 p.m. Play with toys that encourage early literacy and motor skill development. Learn early literacy tips from Children’s Librarians. Relax,…
Camila Domonoske: My current nighttime reading stack is heavy on the hefty tomes. There's something about cold weather that just makes me want to curl up with a doorstopper. And when it comes to doorstoppers, you don't get much bigger than: The Familiar by Mark Danielewski. I just started Volume…
Youth-focused and youth-led, Youth Open Mic is a monthly series that features student poets, singers, musicians and actors from the DC/Maryland/Virginia area. Middle school and high school students are encouraged to come share their art in our supportive, progressive, artistic atmosphere. Busboys and Poets, 1025 5th St., NW, Washington, DC.…
9 Picture-Perfect Picture Books
Animals By Ingela P. Arrhenius Recommended for ages 3-7 Oversized and overflowing with big, bold illustrations and simply labeled pages (“boar,” “grasshopper,” “toucan,” etc.), this is one to sit back and admire with your child. Gorgeous. Under Water/Under Earth By Aleksandra Mizielińska and Daniel Mizieliński Recommended for ages 7-9 Originally…
5 Gifts for the Bookworm in Your Life
A lot of people consider the holidays a time of love, peace, and sharing. Those people are communists. The holidays are a time to make sure your house is so lit that it plays some role in global warming, and to ensure that your elitist tastes are reflected in your…
It was a year of literary riches, so how do you know which book to choose for the pickiest of sisters, aunts, husbands, and friends? Well, the nine titles here offer a little something for everyone, with topics as varied as Mother Russia, mortality, life in the big city, family…
Nancy Isenberg in Conversation with Andrew Burstein
The decisive role of the white working class in this year’s elections took many by surprise, but as Isenberg, T. Harry Williams Professor in American History at Louisiana State University shows in her groundbreaking history of poor whites in America, this group has been an important factor in shaping the…
The Problem with Me: And Other Essays about Making Trouble in China Today
Do you know that tingling of wonder you feel when you encounter by a book written decades ago that could just as well have been written today? That’s what I felt when my American University literature course introduced me to Black No More by George S. Schuyler. This bold social…
Thirty area authors will be on hand for this popular annual event, which takes place at Roscoe’s Pizzeria, 7040 Carroll Ave., Takoma Park, MD, from 2:30-5PM. Click here for more info. Like what we do? Click here to support the nonprofit Independent!
When Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize last month, I flew into an instant rage. How could the most important prize for contemporary literature have gone to someone who writes songs? Yes, the choice of Svetlana Alexeivich, a writer of oral histories, the year before was unconventional. Yes, Rabindranath…
The New York Times just landed in my driveway in its distinctive blue wrapper, which, in my Florida neighborhood, where even the alligators voted for Trump, is like having a big red “A” — or an “L” — on my chest. I wish it was hidden in a brown paper…
At the Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being, and Apricot Cocktails by Sarah Bakewell (Other Press). “While there’s no substitute for reading the existentialists in their own words, Bakewell’s account is tremendously moving and interwoven, an intellectual project that’s wide enough in scope to make readers think differently about the entire 20th…
“Unprecedented: The Election That Changed Everything.” In this past year we have witnessed a change in the way campaigns and elections are run in America. With two very polarizing candidates and countless scandals, the electorate struggled to find ease with a decision of vital importance to the direction of the…
5 Most Popular Posts: Nov. 2016
“7 Ways to Survive this Year’s Thanksgiving.” Readers worried about Turkey Day devolving into a politics-fueled bloodbath turned to columnist Art Taylor for tips on staying sane all the way through dessert. “8 Books to Comfort and Console You.” A lot of people feel rudderless these days (see “politics-fueled bloodbath,”…
I’m mostly random with the books I read. I don’t have a list I want to get to. I just pick up books that come my way and read them — except in this, I make it a point to always be reading or looking to read a “classic.” In…
In Moonglow, his tenth work of fiction, Chabon, best-known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, draws on his own family history as he imagines the murky origins and murkier fate of Chabon Scientific Company, a mail-order novelty business. This expansive narrative unfolds as an old…
How ANY Donation Helps the Nonprofit Independent
How do we publish original reviews, interviews, and features seven days a week, 365 days a year? Through the generous support of our readers! Every donation — no matter how small — helps us continue our mission to be an intelligent, unbiased voice in the literary community. Donating is simple…
I sure am going to miss a president who reads. Like many of his predecessors, Barack Obama read more than policy papers, national-security reports, and his own press clippings. But his leisure reading went beyond the usual political histories, presidential biographies, and examinations of important events in American history popular…
Cross-Examining History: A Lawyer Gets Answers from the Experts about Our Presidents
How $100 Helps the Nonprofit Independent
A Benjamin allows us to boost a couple Facebook posts or tweets so that more readers can get to know us! Donating is simple — and tax-deductible! Here’s how: Make a one-time donation via PayPal or credit card. Set up a recurring monthly contribution — for any amount — via…
Meet George J. Mitchell and Alon Sachar
In his memoir, Mitchell, the longtime Maine senator and Senate majority leader from 1989 to 1995, characterized himself as The Negotiator. But while his work on the 1998 Good Friday Agreement for peace in Northern Ireland was successful, his efforts as U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East peace from 2009…
How $50 Helps the Nonprofit Independent
Fifty dollars may not be a ton of money, but it sure pays for a ton of the mailers we use to send books to our reviewers! Donating is simple — and tax-deductible! Here’s how: Make a one-time donation via PayPal or credit card. Set up a recurring monthly contribution…
November 2016 Exemplars: Poetry Reviews by Grace Cavalieri
NOVEMBER 2016 EXEMPLARS By Grace Cavalieri Four Reincarnations Milkweed Editions. 76 pages. Mandatory Evacuation by Peter Makuck. Boa Editions. 95 pages. The Persistence of Longing by Lynne Knight. Terrapin Books. 84 pages. Johnny Cash, Forever Words: the unknown poems The Good Dark by Annie Guthrie. Tupelo Press. 53 pages. Commotion…
How $25 Helps the Nonprofit Independent
Our contributors are worth a million bucks. Alas, we only pay them $25, but you can help make it happen! Donating is simple — and tax-deductible! Here’s how: Make a one-time donation via PayPal or credit card. Set up a recurring monthly contribution — for any amount — via PayPal…
Bornstein speaks here on the occasion of the publication of a revised and updated edition of Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us. Admission: 1 ticket: $14; 1 ticket + 1 book: $20; 2 tickets + 1 book: $30. At Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, 600 I…
It’s Cyber Monday, so you’ll probably be doing lots of holiday shopping on Amazon at work today (we're not judging). Why not support the Independent at the same time? Just enter Amazon via the “buy now” button at the bottom of any of our book reviews (you do not need…
No, Officer, I Swear I’m Not a Serial Killer
I recently completed the citizens’ police academy in my town. It was amazing. Even if you aren’t interested in writing crime fiction, I highly recommend the experience. Not only will you learn the basics of what your police department actually does, but you’ll get a much better sense of how…
The Tunnels: Escapes Under the Berlin Wall and the Historic Films the JFK White House Tried to Kill
How $10 Helps the Nonprofit Independent
Why blow that 10-spot on another trip to McDonald’s (mmm…McDonald’s) when you could donate it to the Independent instead? It’ll cover the cost of mailing three books to reviewers! Donating is simple — and tax-deductible! Here’s how: Make a one-time donation via PayPal or credit card. Set up a recurring…
The three-time recipient of the Pulitzer Prize exposes the tectonic movements reshaping the world and offers a blueprint for how to think about our times in Thank You for Being Late. Admission: 1 ticket: $18; 1 ticket + 1 book: $30; 2 tickets + 1 book: $45. At Sixth &…
Indelible Ink: The Trials of John Peter Zenger and the Birth of America’s Free Press
Get Ready for Cyber Monday & Giving Tuesday
Want to do some holiday shopping on Amazon this coming Cyber Monday and help the Independent at the same time? Enter the online behemoth through our website! Just go to any of our reviews and click “buy on Amazon.com” at the bottom. You’ll be taken to that book’s page, but…
Philosophy: What’s Love Got to Do with It?
It is rare that I will read a review in the New York Times Book Review and feel compelled to immediately get that book. It is even rarer that I will be interested in a memoir. Trendy as they are, they generally hold little appeal for me. But the Nov.…
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…
7 Ways to Survive This Year’s Thanksgiving
I’m not sure who originally decided to put Election Day so close to Thanksgiving, but this year the whole thing seems like a bad idea. On the heels of historically divisive campaigning and voting, the thought of “a house divided” will likely take on literal meaning at family gatherings around…
Sunday Shorts with Ellen Prentiss Campbell
In this collection of 11 short stories, Ellen Prentiss Campbell explores loss and yearning, hope and fear, and the tension between imagination, memory, and reality. She takes her characters — young, middle-aged, and elderly — to moments where the border between past and present crumbles. Campbell uncovers dramas and mysteries…
8 Books to Comfort and Console You
I had a shaky feeling in my stomach the night before my first day of high school. I was a shy kid and had only been in Arizona for a year. I didn't have siblings and really didn’t have any friends. I was lonely, and high school seemed dangerous. I…
Zadie Smith in Conversation with Michele Norris
Moving from Northwest London to West Africa, Swing Time is a deeply human story about friendship and music and stubborn roots, about how we are shaped by these things and how we can survive them. Admission: 1 ticket + 1 book: $30. At the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, 600…
An Interview with Jane Alexander
Whether it’s as an actress portraying a frightened Republican staffer in “All the President’s Men” or her real-life presidency of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), Jane Alexander is a person who takes her roles seriously. The two-time Oscar winner has also appeared in “The Great White Hope,” “Kramer…
Reading classics can be a strain, it’s true. We might blame the ever-changing nature of language, or our own impatient eyes which are spoiled and half-closed to writing styles of the past (the likes of which, inspired in part by a system that paid by the word, often feature ultra-formal…
Yudhijit Bhattacharjee will be speaking about his new real-life spy thriller, The Spy Who Couldn't Spell: A Dyslexic Traitor, an Unbreakable Code, and the FBI’s Hunt for America’s Stolen Secrets (NAL). At Kramerbooks, 1517 Connecticut Ave., NW, Washington, DC. Click here for more info. Like what we do? Click here…
This column was written before, but will appear after, the election on Nov. 8th, so I don’t know how many people will read it. After all, I fully expect half the U.S. population has taken hemlock. But for the survivors, I thought I’d write about the books that I have…
Two New Books Offer Differing Perspectives on the Arab-Israeli Conflict
In the aftermath of World War I, as Allied leaders were deciding the fate of Arab lands freed after centuries of rule by the Ottoman Turks, President Woodrow Wilson sent a delegation known as the King-Crane Commission to the Middle East to review the situation and make recommendations. In its…
The Most Famous Writer Who Ever Lived: A True Story of My Family
The 11th Hour Poetry Slam offers an opportunity for poetry lovers to enjoy the competitive art of late-night performance poetry! Enjoy two rounds of high intensity poetry, with the audience choosing a winner. At Busboys and Poets, 2021 14th St., NW, Washington, DC. Click here for info. Like what we…
9 Dystopian Novels to Take Your Mind off the Election
The Circle by Dave Eggers. This brilliant novel veers from post-apocalyptic thriller to satire to parody as Eggers takes the tenets driving social networking and Silicon Valley megalomania to their logical conclusion in the tale of a young ingénue, Mae Holland, who goes to work at the Circle — a…
5 Most Popular Posts: Oct. 2016
“Hemingway and JFK.” Whether it’s because Cuba is no longer verboten for Americans, or that we all love Papa and Kennedy, Joseph A. Esposito’s essay really resonated. “5 Haunting Story Collections You Need to Read this Halloween.” Tara Laskowski cared deeply that readers have the crap scared out of them…
8 Books Presidents Should Read Before Entering Office
Have you ever wondered why presidents build libraries after they leave office? Maybe candidates should build one — stocked with titles chosen by the American people — before they even get close to the White House. Candidates would have to spend years in the “Potential President’s Library,” reading widely and…
James Rebanks in Conversation with Linda Lear
First son of a shepherd who was also the first son of a shepherd, Rebanks inherited not just a family-owned farm in England’s Lake District, but a way of life so traditional that it seems exotic. He chronicled the seasonal rhythms of a typical year in his evocative The Shepherd’s…
I have a campaign-porn problem. As any writer knows, the internet is both a blessing and a curse. The trick is reaping the World Wide Web’s many rewards without becoming ensnared in its sticky threads. Some writers employ special internet-blocking software; others use a computer that cannot access the internet.…
Mary Astor’s Purple Diary: The Great American Sex Scandal of 1936
A fun yet serious romp, Semple’s Where’d You Go, Bernadette? featured a smart, talented woman so beleaguered by life that she fled rather than participate in a family trip. In her equally humorous and insightful third novel, Semple, a former TV producer and writer for shows including “Arrested Development,” showcases…
An Interview with Catherine Fletcher
Alessandro de’ Medici’s rise and fall is nothing short of amazing. In a power struggle between his first cousin, uncles, and other distant relations, the bastard son of Lorenzo II de’ Medici became the Duke of Florence. He reigned for six years until his murder in 1537. Hunter, lover, son-in-law…
A few years ago, meaning many years along this process I’m about to detail, I worked briefly with a member of the writing community here in DC. She wrote to me after an event we’d collaborated on and expressed curiosity about my writing. Specifically, she asked, “Why did you choose…
Caroline Leavitt in Conversation with Bethanne Patrick
Caroline Leavitt is at her mesmerizing best in Cruel Beautiful World, a haunting, nuanced portrait of love, sisters, and the impossible legacy of family. Ms. Leavitt will be in conversation with author and critic Bethanne Patrick. At Kramerbooks, 1517 Connecticut Ave., NW, Washington, DC. Click here for more info. Like…
Elizabeth MacBride: I was buzzing down Highway 6 in Israel, heading back from an interview in Nazareth to our temporary apartment in Jerusalem. I was listening to the impossibly schmaltzy Israeli radio: “To All the Girls I've Loved Before” had been on earlier, and now we were listening to “Girls…
Play Anything: The Pleasure of Limits, the Uses of Boredom, and the Secret of Games
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…
5 Fun Fall Books for Middle-Grade Readers
Judy Moody and Friends: Mrs. Moody in the Birthday Jinx Written by Megan McDonald, illustrated by Erwin Madrid Recommended for ages 4-7 This year, Judy is positive her mother’s birthday won’t be jinxed. She’s in charge of the festivities and is determined that everything will go smoothly. But can the…
Robert Goddard’s latest book won’t be getting any book-club buzz or come out in a reader’s guide edition with questions and answers for group discussion. The British novelist is an old-fashioned writer for old-fashioned readers, and his plot-driven thrillers can probably be classified as whatever is the opposite of chick…
An Interview with Kenneth D. Ackerman
In his new book, Trotsky in New York 1917: A Radical on the Eve of Revolution, author Kenneth D. Ackerman returns to old New York City, the site of his critically acclaimed biography Boss Tweed: The Corrupt Pol Who Conceived the Soul of Modern New York. This time, it is…
In an age fraught with terrorism, United States Secret Service canine teams risk their lives to safeguard the president, vice president, their families, visiting heads of state, and a host of others. Unprecedented access to these heroic dog teams has allowed a fascinating first-time-ever look at a very special breed…
5 Haunting Story Collections You Need to Read this Halloween
October is the best month. Fall weather, sweaters and scarves, football, hot chocolate — and Halloween. Ghostly story collections are a must this time of year — things hunting in the woods, fingernails scraping against an attic window, blurs of movement in a supposedly empty house. Do you have shiver…
George Washington’s Secret Spy War: The Making of America’s First Spymaster
Sunday Shorts with Paula Whyman
Miranda Weber is a hot mess. In Paula Whyman’s debut collection of stories, You May See a Stranger, we find her hoarding duct tape to ward off terrorists, stumbling into a drug run with a crackhead, and – frequently – enduring the bad behavior of men. A drivers’ education class…
October 2016 Exemplars: Poetry Reviews by Grace Cavalieri
Mean Numbers by Ian Ganassi. China Grove Press. 110 pages. Scriptorium by Melissa Range. Beacon Press. 67 pages. What Blooms in Winter by Maria Mazziotti Gillan. NYQ books. 116 pages. There Now by Eamon Grennan. Graywolf Press. 64 pages. Bugs Us All. Poems by Scot Slaby, drawings by Walter Garbo.…
A Field Guide to Lies: Critical Thinking in the Information Age
A couple of weeks ago, East City Bookshop had an event celebrating Banned Books Week. I was one of the authors invited to discuss a banned book that influenced me, or had some importance to my writing. I picked American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis, which is easily the most…
Alameddine’s haunted and haunting fifth novel combines the prodigious storytelling ability of The Hawakati with the insightful portraiture showcased in An Unnecessary Woman to trace the life of a Lebanese-Yemeni poet who fears he’s losing his mind. The narrative unfolds over the course of a few hours in the waiting…
10 Takes on Nobel Laureate Bob Dylan
The selection of legendary folk singer/songwriter Bob Dylan as this year's Nobel Laureate in Literature inspired as many raised eyebrows as it did high-fives. Here, writers and lit lovers weigh in on the unconventional choice. “Awarding Bob Dylan the prize seems like an attempt at being radical in the safest…
Consumer advocate and political activist Ralph Nader has become oddly bipartisan. Mention his name to a dyed-in-the-wool conservative and they’re liable to slam him for strangling free enterprise with too much red tape and slapping Adam Smith’s invisible hand. Mention him to progressives and they’re likely to snarl that he’s…
Fidelity is a gripping debut novel from the FBI's “First Lady,” Jan Fedarcyk, featuring a brilliant young Special Agent named Kay Malloy, whose assignment to the Counterintelligence Program in New York City has devastating consequences both personal and professional. At Kramerbooks, 1517 Connecticut Ave., NW, Washington, DC. Click here for…
Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks
Like most old dogs, I have tried-and-true writing tricks that work for me. If I’m lucky, I will even sometimes get a treat at the end. Usually in the form of a Moscow Mule. But I’m not picky. However, just because I’ve been writing for a while doesn’t mean that…
Long before the Nazis rose to power, Barkan reminds us, Berlin had a thriving community of assimilated Jews, leaders in business and the arts who were essential to building and shaping the city’s rich culture. In this sparkling tour of a city he loves, Barkan, who teaches in Princeton’s Department…
I almost fell off my barstool when I read the New York Times' lead story on the Donald Trump tapes. The Times actually printed the words he used! Seeing “f—k” and “p—-y” without the dashes on the front page of the Gray Lady made her seem somehow less, well, ladylike.…
A Life Everlasting: The Extraordinary Story of One Boy’s Gift to Medical Science
A literary friend bans the mere mention of career and the two-fingered clasp of that must-carry calling card. A self-proclaimed “New Yorker in exile,” she hosted a dinner party for artists in Washington, DC. She abhors the city’s drabness and its dark-suit-wearing crowd of lawyers who represent a place in…
Tim Krepp Reads DC Ghost Stories
Get ready for Halloween with an evening of local ghost stories presented by Tim Krepp, author of Capitol Hill Haunts and Ghosts of Georgetown. Learn about the spooky stories of haunted houses, spectral senators, and political poltergeists, then pick up Tim's books to take yourself on your own local ghost…
These sentences (which begin simply enough, with a name — Sutpen, perhaps, or Quentin, or Miss Rosa — or a pronoun, or a carriage rattling down a hot dusty Southern road, or the smell of wisteria and cigars and the white hand of Quentin’s father resting by a letter —…
Publicize Your Book Like a Pro!
Indie authors and the traditionally published alike do almost all of their own publicity. So how do you get your book noticed? What works? What should be done pre- and post-publication? What’s a “virtual book tour”? You’ll learn all this and more, plus leave with a list of great ideas…
In The Shooting, Clayton Kabede is a regular New York City kid, the son of immigrant parents living in the basement unit of an upscale apartment building where his father works as the superintendent. Lee Fisher lives in the penthouse of that same building wealthy, paranoid, and armed. One night…
Meet the (Small) Press: Belle Lutte Press
The name of fledgling Austin, TX- based publisher Belle Lutte Press can translate from the French as either “good fight” or “beautiful struggle.” For founding editor B. Lance Person, the moniker represents the essence of the press’ mission. “Belle Lutte Press was birthed from a deep love for literature,” Person…
5 Most Popular Posts: Sept. 2016
“13 Top Titles in Honor of National Read a Book Day.” We know what you’re thinking: “Isn’t every day read-a-book day?” “5 Things I’ve Learned from Teaching Novel-Writing Classes.” Mary Kay Zuravleff knows a lot about charting the murky waters of publishing, and readers wanted to hear it. Paul D.…
The Unbearable Whiteness of Being Lionel Shriver
Boldly asserting her right to wear a small sombrero, author Lionel Shriver addressed the 2016 Brisbane Writer’s Festival in Australia, whose notoriously brutal policy toward some asylum-seekers and now-overturned immigration policy that aimed to keep a “White Australia” may have offered her a perceived safe space in which to vent…
An Exemplars Special: A New Book by Eva Brann
An aphorism, says the dictionary, is “a pithy observation that contains a general truth.” It’s better said (in the book’s footnote about the archaeologist/philosopher Eva Brann) to be “an apt title for the collection might have been potsherds — found fragments, parts of an entirety buried too deep for human…
Publicize Your Book Like a Pro!
Publicize Your Book Like a Pro! “Indie” authors and the traditionally published alike do almost all of their own publicity. So how do you get your book noticed? What works? What should be done pre- and post-publication? What’s a “virtual book tour”? You’ll learn all this and more, plus leave…
An Interview with Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg
Swedish author Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg has written across many genres, including popular science, cartoons, and children’s books, and she was awarded the prestigious Widding Prize for a trilogy of historical novels centered on Viking culture. Her latest novel, The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules, the first in a…
In my composition courses, we practice techniques of critical reading, which has me remonstrating my students to read newspapers and magazines — online, of course. This habit of critical thinking prepares us to hear anybody’s opinion on any subject, and helps us to contextualize whatever our answers might be. But…
Nine Island is an intimate autobiographical novel, told by J, a woman who lives in a glass tower on one of Miami Beach’s lush Venetian Islands. After decades of disaster with men, she is trying to decide whether to withdraw forever from romantic love. At Kramerbooks, 1517 Connecticut Ave., NW,…
“Welcome to the end of the world, already in progress.” This dystopian manifesto is the way John Joseph Adams introduces a new anthology of climate fiction, or “cli-fi,” an emerging literary genre that is trying to bring the reality of climate change home in a way people can understand. “It’s…
September 2016 Exemplars: Poetry Reviews by Grace Cavalieri
The Best Books List +++++++++++++++ Babushka’s Beads: A Geography of Genes: New and Selected Poems by Elisavietta Ritchie. Poet’s Choice Publishing House. 113 pages. Café Select by W.M. Rivera. Poet’s Choice Publishing House. 123 pages. By My Precise Haircut by Cheryl Clark. The Word Works. 74 pages. Archeophonics by Peter…
Mark Lilla in Conversation with Andrew Sullivan
Expanding on the essays he’s published in the New York Review of Books and the New Republic, Lilla’s seventh book, The Shipwrecked Mind: On Political Reaction, is a rich history of political conservatism. Focusing on the often defining role of reactionaries, Lilla works through the legacy of Hegel and Heidegger…
Ann Garvin: Recently someone asked me what I thought was the best thing about being an author. I wish I could answer in a way that makes me sound erudite and awesome. But, at the risk of sounding hopelessly uncool, I’d have to say it’s meeting other authors, reading their…
An Interview with Raymond Lambert
All Jokes Aside: Standup Comedy Is a Phunny Business — a follow-up to the 2012 Showtime documentary “Phunny Business” — is the story of Raymond Lambert’s unlikely career transition from six-figure investment banker to owner of one of the country’s most successful African-American comedy clubs (Chicago’s All Jokes Aside), which…
Another of the Independent’s columnists, my friend E.A. Aymar, has already shared some of the highlights of Bouchercon, the world mystery conference that he and I and more than 1,800 of our friends recently attended in New Orleans — and I couldn’t agree more with his take on the conversations…
Looking for another way to get your daily book fix? Follow the Independent on Pinterest! We’re filling our boards with the best reviews, interviews, features, and fun stuff we can find, and you won’t want to miss it. Besides, has there ever been a better way to stave off boredom…
With The Summer of 1787, Impeached, and American Emperor, Stewart, a former lawyer (and president of the Washington Independent Review of Books), established himself as a historian. Later, with The Lincoln Deception and The Wilson Deception, he took up historical fiction, spinning credible “what if” plots out of known facts…
The Black Prince of Florence: The Spectacular Life and Treacherous World of Alessandro de’ Medici
5 Reasons to Go to Fall for the Book
Fall for the Book has reached its 18th year in style, with nearly 200 authors coming to George Mason University’s Fairfax Campus and the surrounding DC Metro region from September 25-30, 2016. With so many great writers descending on the area for this FREE event, I wanted to pull out…
It’s hard not to write about Bouchercon when you get home. The annual conference attracts a variety of crime fiction writers and fans for days of panels and camaraderie. After it ends, Facebook feeds are filled with writers getting sentimental over the time they spent with their friends, and excitedly…
Join the Library of Congress for the National Book Festival, a fantastic daylong celebration of all things bookish! The all-star roster of participating authors includes Salman Rushdie, Stephen King, James McBride, Joyce Carol Oates, Lauren Groff, and too many others to name! Other draws include kids' activities, book signings, a…
Visit Us at Politics and Prose this Friday!
Why should you come to Politics and Prose, one of DC’s best indie bookstores, this Friday, Sept. 23rd? Because the Independent will be there, and 20% of your purchase will go to support us! After you’re done shopping — don’t pretend you aren’t going to buy anything — just tell…
Wolf Boys: Two American Teenagers and Mexico’s Most Dangerous Drug Cartel
Poetry Workshop with Grace Cavalieri
The Annapolis chapter of the Maryland Writers' Association is proud to host poetry legend Grace Cavalieri for a poetry-writing workshop. Please join us on Wednesday, Sept. 21, from 6:30-8PM in Room 308 at the Maryland Hall for the Performing Arts, 801 Chase Street, Annapolis, MD. Bring your favorite writing implement…
First-time novelists need thick skin and nerves of steel. Once the book is published, the real stress begins. Will it be reviewed? Will I want to read those reviews? Why do I keep having this dream about my teeth falling out in a bookstore? Luckily for Imbolo Mbue, her new…
I grew up in the generation that said you could — and should — have it all. That sounds fantastic in theory. But in practice, not so much. I learned this the hard way. A few years ago I took my daughter to Kenya for three months on a project…
Welcome to the Goddamn Ice Cube: Chasing Fear and Finding Home in the Great White North
2 Informative Books about Writing
The subject of creation — in this case, writing — is one of endless interest. Most writers know the lessons of Strunk and White, William Zinsser, Anne Lamott, and others who have analyzed the writing process. Two recent books offer interesting additions. How to Write Like Tolstoy: A Journey Into…
Deductions, My Dear Watson. Deductions.
This election season (is forever a season?) has created a lot of conversation about tax returns. Should presidential candidates release them? Who has? Who hasn’t? What would they tell us about someone running for office? Personally, I don’t know why we don’t trust our candidates. After all, what could they…
Jeff Chang in Conversation with Ruth Tam
Jeff Chang, author of We Gon' Be Alright: Notes on Race and Resegregation, in conversation with Ruth Tam, producer at the Kojo Nnamdi Show. In these provocative, powerful essays, acclaimed writer/journalist Jeff Chang (Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, Who We Be) takes an incisive and wide-ranging look at the recent tragedies…
5 Things I’ve Learned from Teaching Novel-Writing Classes
Writing a novel has not gotten easier for me, but helping other people with their novels has. For the last three years, I’ve been leading groups of novelists in week-long and year-long sessions. These classes have been a teaching laboratory, and it has been a joy to watch so many…
While doing research on the April 1962 dinner that President John F. Kennedy and Mrs. Kennedy hosted for Nobel Prize winners and other American intellectuals, I have been drawn to the relationship between JFK and Ernest Hemingway and their engagement with Cuba. Hemingway died 55 years ago this past July,…
An Interview with Deborah Levy
Deborah Levy’s latest novel, Hot Milk, was just shortlisted for this year’s Man Booker Prize. She is also an accomplished playwright and poet, and an earlier novel, Swimming Home, was shortlisted for the Booker in 2012. The central character in Hot Milk, Sofia, is a young anthropologist visiting Spain, trying…
Documenting the Salon: Paris Salon Catalogs, 1673-1945
Beginning in 1673, once a year or so, lucky Parisians would tramp into the Louvre to feast their eyes upon the art world’s latest offerings. New paintings lined the walls, sometimes as high as the ceilings, sculptures dotted the floor, and, in later years, other objects d’art filled the sweaty…
I just started an MFA program, despite my squirminess over the fact that it will be three years full time, and I’ll be closing in on 50 years old by the time I finish. But no, that wasn’t the accidental part of this journey. When I found out over the…
Journalist Larry Tye will discuss and sign his new biography, Bobby Kennedy: The Making of a Liberal Icon. A Center for the Book “Books & Beyond” program. In the Montpelier Room, Madison Building, Library of Congress. Contact 202-707-5221 or [email protected] for info. 101 Independence Ave., SE, Washington, DC. Click here…
5 Most Popular Posts: Aug. 2016
August’s Poetry Exemplars by Grace Cavalieri. We get it. Grace rules. But could you throw us a bone and read something else once in a while? Just. Put. The. Poetry. Down. “To Fangirl or Not to Fangirl” by Meg Opperman. She swore she’d never get all dopey-eyed around a celebrity,…
Learn How to Promote Your Book!
Due to the overwhelming popularity of our annual Washington Writers Conference, the Independent is pleased to announce an upcoming mini-session in October. Publicize Your Book Like a Pro! “Indie” authors and the traditionally published alike do almost all of their own publicity. So how do you get your book noticed?…
Michelle Brafman follows her rich and insightful first novel about family and tradition, Washing the Dead, with this compelling profile of a suburban Washington, DC, neighborhood. Moving chronologically from 1993 to 2007, Bertrand Court follows the diverse residents of the eponymous cul-de-sac, tracking their daily routines, their secrets, and their…
My early childhood was spent in a magical land far, far away, where there were no skyscrapers, no traffic lights, and no television. To fill the yawning void of time that otherwise would be spent gawping at the boob tube, we did things like play outdoors, climb trees, and use…
The Glamour of Strangeness: Artists and the Last Age of the Exotic
13 Top Titles in Honor of National Read a Book Day
Let’s say there are some non-readers in your life. (Let’s. Just. Say.) Is there anything you can do to turn things around? Yes! Give them something from this baker’s dozen list of great reads, and who knows? You may score a new member for your book club. The Shipping News…
An Interview with Jen Michalski
It seems like everyone in the DC Metro area knows Jen Michalski, whether it’s from her award-winning fiction, the outstanding literary journal she founded, the reading series she runs, or any number of glowing accolades from people who’ve read her or publications who’ve honored her. Over the past two months,…
My artist friend James Prochnik recently listed “10 books that stayed with him.” He offered up some great books, none of which I've read — yet. Then he challenged me to come up with my own list. I didn't have to think about it for long, but I did have…
Grace Cavalieri is a dynamo — poet, playwright, reviewer, essayist, anthologist, publisher, interviewer, broadcaster (“The Poet and the Poem,” from the Library of Congress), and more — the “more” includes memoirist with the publication, in 2015, of Life Upon the Wicked Stage. The dynamo doesn’t slow down. “Work is My…
Meet Meg Little Reilly and Jennifer Close
Meg Little Reilly's We Are Unprepared is a novel about the superstorm that threatens to destroy a marriage, a town, and the entire Eastern seaboard. But the destruction begins early, when fear infects people's lives and spreads like the plague. Jennifer Close's The Hopefuls is a brilliantly funny novel about…
It is fitting that an art form perfected in Hollywood should showcase American literary classics, sometimes succeeding spectacularly in translating books into film. The Library of America, which churns out handsome hardbound collections of these classics, pays homage to that skill in a regular feature on its website called “The…
Blending science and history, Browning shows that gender is both cultural and biological. While neuroscience can define male and female biology, the categories are often slippery: the early stages of parenthood change parents’ very brains, and responses to aging are determined more by life habits than by gender. His forays…
The Book: A Cover-to-Cover Exploration of the Most Powerful Object of Our Time
An Interview with Irene Pollin
If you’ve lived in the Washington, DC, area for a while, you probably think you know who Irene Pollin is: half of the team, with her late husband, Abe, who built the Capital Centre in Landover, Maryland, and the Verizon Center in DC, and brought three pro sports teams to…
I've always liked the number three. One is too few, two is too match-y, and once you get to five, you've got too much going on. Three is just right. As the amazing “Schoolhouse Rock” always said, three is, indeed, a magic number. When we're talking books, trilogies have a…
Trump first announced that he was available to run for president back in 1987. While most people may have not have taken the news seriously, Garry Trudeau sensed the significance of the moment. He also knew a character with comedic potential when he saw one, and he incorporated Trump into…
Summer vacation is when I depart from the heavy stuff that is my professional special interest — the Supreme Court, the Constitution, biographies of legal stars and villains — and turn to my favorite reads for pure enjoyment. Recently, this practice has included Daniel Silva, Alan Furst, and Michael Connelly…
Brower, a former CBS News staffer and Fox News producer, covered the Obama White House for four years. Her first book, The Residence, was a fascinating behind-the-scenes introduction to the many professionals who make daily life go smoothly for the first family. In her follow-up, First Women: The Grace and…
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