On the final weekend of this month, as April tips into May, Bethesda will once again host Malice Domestic, one the top conventions in the country for writers and readers of mystery fiction — specifically, traditional mysteries as epitomized by the work of Agatha Christie. The festival opens on Thursday…
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Domnica Radulescu in Conversation with Barbara Mujica
Barbara Mujica is joining Domnica Radulescu to celebrate the release of Domnica’s newest novel, Country of Red Azaleas, a poignant testament to both the power of friendship and our ability to find meaning and beauty in the face of devastation. Radulescu is a Fulbright scholar and distinguished professor at Washington…
The Power of Negative Thinking
And I can tell when you’re mad at your past, Because you tend to take them curves just a little too fast, And I can tell by how you push your foot on the gas, That you already knew you were gonna finish last. — Atmosphere, “Get Fly” I realized…
No family trip to Washington, DC, would be complete without reading Corkey Hay DeSimone's Cherry Blossom Friends. It not only tells the history of the cherry trees gifted from Japan, but also focuses on the history of the monuments and buildings in the nation's capital. Children from 4-12 years of…
The Washington Writers Conference Presents Jen Michalski
Jen Michalski is author of (among other things) the novels The Summer She Was Under Water and The Tide King, a couplet of novellas, and two collections of fiction. She is also host of the reading series Starts Here! and editor of the journal jmww. See what Jen can tell…
Crush: Writers Reflect on Love, Longing, and the Lasting Power of Their First Celebrity Crush
“As an editor you can get up in the morning and change the world with the books that you publish.” — Robert Weil (2011) He is one of the very best in the publishing business. And yet, it is more than a business to him — it is a literary…
In Monica Hesse's new YA novel, Girl in the Blue Coat, Hanneke is mourning the loss of her one true love, Bas, while trying to survive in Amsterdam under Nazi rule. She procures extra food for her family by working in the black market, bringing illicit supplies to those who…
5 Most Popular Posts: March 2016
The Washington Writers Conference. Does everybody have dreams of literary fame? Apparently, judging by the number of readers again descending on our conference-related pages. (What are you waiting for? Click here to register before the not-so-early-bird rates end!) A review by Bob Duffy of Barney Hoskyns’ Small Town Talk: Bob…
I’ve spent the last several days at the Sisters in Crime, Hollywood Conference, where attendees were afforded the amazing opportunity to pitch their books to film agents. Naturally, I began dwelling on the myriad details to consider when getting ready to pitch at a writer’s conference. I went to panels,…
The Mechanical Horse: How the Bicycle Reshaped American Life
It wasn’t until 6 a.m. that I returned from my job at the FBI, exhausted from weeks of around-the-clock work trying to solve the battle over Apple's embargo of what we believed was critical encrypted evidence of terrorism. More fallout from Mr. Snowden's recent caper. My wife greeted me, solicitous…
Frederick Reads Presents Erik Larson
On stage at the Weinberg, Erik Larson will discuss his most recent book, Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania, as well as his other award-winning works, including In the Garden of the Beasts: Love, Terror and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin and Edgar Award-winner and National Book…
I’ve been collecting stories and articles for a rainy day, which here in Southwest Florida has been rare of late. That’s a problem for a writer. Why? Because unless I shut my blinds or retreat to a bathtub to write, I am constantly distracted by people walking by my windows…
The Washington Writers Conference Presents Neely Tucker
A longtime journalist at the Washington Post, Neely Tucker is also a highly regarded author. His 2004 memoir, Love in the Driest Season, was named a Best Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly, and his novels Murder, D.C. and The Ways of the Dead continue to garner praise. Find…
March 2016 Exemplars: Poetry Reviews by Grace Cavalieri
MARCH 2016 EXEMPLARS Poetry Reviews by Grace Cavalieri === Ripened Wheat by Hai Zi, translated from the Chinese and introduced by Ye Chun. Bitter Oleander Press. 191 pages. XX: Poems for the 20th Century by Campbell McGrath. Ecco/HarperCollins. 119 pages. Poems: New& Selected by Ron Rash. Ecco/HarperCollins. 192 pages. Window…
Music historian Barney Hoskyns shares from and signs his new book, Small Town Talk: Bob Dylan, The Band, Van Morrison, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Friends in the Wild Years of Woodstock. At One More Page Books, 2200 N. Westmoreland St., Arlington, VA. Click here for more info.
Kathryn Aalto: Over this last fall and winter, I spent three months in the U.S. giving lectures and promoting my latest book, The Natural World of Winnie-the-Pooh: A Walk Through the Forest that Inspired the Hundred Acre Wood. You can probably imagine how moving from hotel to hotel, flying out…
An Interview with Paolo Giordano
Author of The Human Body and the international bestseller The Solitude of Prime Numbers, Paolo Giordano, in his new novel, Like Family, tells the story of Signora A., who moves in with a family and creates a lasting effect. She brings with her the paradigms of her day and time,…
Are you stuck in a writing rut? Is your creative muse on the lam? Well, you could just sit in front of your computer and wait for inspiration. But I have another suggestion. Get your creative mojo flowing again by going out into the community and doing something new. I’m…
The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture is a witty, intelligent cultural history from NPR book critic Glen Weldon; it explains Batman’s rises and falls throughout the ages — and what his story tells us about ourselves. At Kramerbooks, 1517 Connecticut Ave., NW, Washington, DC. Click here…
Singles Dinner/Book Talk with Ruben Castaneda
We will be in a private room at Del Frisco's Grille on Pennsylvania Avenue near 12th Street, NW. Our featured guest will be Ruben Castaneda. His book, S Street Rising: Crack, Murder & Redemption in D.C., is about his experiences in the early 1990s from the perspective of a Washington…
Writing the first draft of a novel can be exhilarating. Characters are fleshed out, literally: a mole here, a dimple there, dirty fingernails, nice teeth, a purse of flesh under the chin, toothpick legs sticking out of a potato body. They are given a favorite song to hum, a skipping…
An Interview with Janice Y.K. Lee
Janice Y.K. Lee’s The Expatriates tells the story of three American women living in Hong Kong: Mercy, a young Korean-American; Hilary, a wealthy housewife; and Margaret, a wife and mother. All three grapple with their own unique abyss complicated by displacement in a foreign land. Ultimately, though, they end up…
3 Washington Writers Conference Success Stories
What sets the Washington Writers Conference apart from other literary gatherings? Its results! Here are three authors who landed agents (and book contracts) thanks to the conference’s one-on-one pitch sessions. Let them tell you about it in their own words. “The 2014 Washington Writers Conference provided me with everything I…
Jim Lehrer Comes to the Writer’s Center
Legendary broadcaster and honorary Writer’s Center board member Jim Lehrer comes to the center Thursday, March 24th, from 7:30-9:30 p.m., to receive a lifetime achievement award in journalism. The author of 20 novels, two memoirs, three plays, and a nonfiction work, Lehrer — best known as the longtime host of…
One of the four outcomes (what a word!) of English 101 is teaching students to do proper, reliable, trustworthy research. First they have to discern garbage from serious analysis. Then they have to identify the most appropriate parts. Finally, they must apply that to their analysis or argument. There is…
Farai Chideya in Conversation with Marc Steiner
Farai Chideya uses her years of experience as a journalist, TV correspondent, and popular NPR host to explore the frontlines of today's economic upheaval in The Episodic Career. The book provides 1) practical advice coupled with the tools you need to find the job that's right for you; 2) a…
It’s estimated that nearly a million new English-language titles are issued each year, including about 100,000 works of fiction. We don’t have a breakdown on how many are historical novels, but finding the ones we’d like to read is harder than ever. And the proliferation of categories within historical fiction…
Book publishing traditionally has been a haphazard affair, ruled more than anything else by the instincts and prejudices of editors, which frustrates authors whose work is rejected but which also creates an environment favorable to serendipity. An article entitled “Moneyball for Book Publishers: A Detailed Look at How We Read”…
Ross Howell Jr. shares from Forsaken, a historical-fiction novel based on the true story of a young African-American girl convicted for murdering her white employer in Virginia. At 2200 N. Westmoreland St., Arlington, VA. Click here for more info.
Kathleen Parker’s recent column in the Washington Post quotes some Pat Conroy passages that show how he combined the best of commercial and literary fiction in his writings, especially the scents and rhythms of South Carolina, as he did in The Water Is Wide. Parker was, as I was, enthralled…
The Washington Writers Conference Presents Barry Svrluga
A longtime reporter for the Washington Post, Barry Svrluga is also author of National Pastime: Sports, Politics, and the Return of Baseball to Washington, D.C. and The Grind: Inside Baseball's Endless Season. Hear what he has to say about the art of sports writing during this year’s Washington Writers Conference…
A Conversation with Kristopher Jansma
Kirkus and Time Out NY compared Kristopher Jansma’s 2013 debut novel, The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards, to the work of Fitzgerald and Salinger. In his new release, Why We Came to the City, five college friends shape their future against the high stakes of Manhattan, relationships, love, and ill fate.…
Our World: Revolutionary Voices of Latin America – Part 2
This four-book discussion series features fiction and nonfiction books that raise previously marginalized voices to the forefront as they challenge varying political obstacles. Latin American scholar-enthusiast Leslie Flanagan leads each discussion at Curious Iguana on third Wednesdays at 7 p.m. Come to one session or all; free, no registration required.…
Recently, in some old boxes, I found an array of stories, poems, and “books” that I wrote in grade school and high school. They were a range of terrifically bad to horrifically bad (from a Mother's Day poem to a 50-page, single-spaced typewritten “novel” detailing my entire fifth-grade trip to…
Legendary broadcaster and honorary Writer’s Center board member Jim Lehrer comes to the center Thursday, March 24th, from 7:30-9:30 p.m., to receive a lifetime achievement award in journalism. The author of 20 novels, two memoirs, three plays, and a nonfiction work, Lehrer — best known as the longtime host of…
Howard Jacobson is reading from his novel Shylock is My Name as part of the Hogarth Shakespeare Series. His novel is a modern-day retelling of The Merchant of Venice. Tickets: $15. At the Folger Shakespeare Library, 201 E Capitol St., SE, Washington, DC. Click here for more info.
4 Ways to Find Critique Partners
I was recently asked to write a column about finding “beta readers,” which is another term for peer reviewers, or friends who read your stories or novels before you send them out to be savaged by the Internet. My Independent cohort Meg Opperman — just nominated for a Derringer! —…
Life Reimagined: The Science, Art and Opportunity of Midlife
The Washington Writers Conference Presents Donna Britt
A distinguished journalist/columnist for such publications as the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, and the Root, Donna Britt has devoted her career to exploring diverse topics like race relations, politics, and pop culture. Her book Brothers (& Me): A Memoir of Loving and Giving continues to resonate with readers…
An Interview with Billie Livingston
Ben wakes up in a psychiatric hospital, suffering from a gunshot wound he can’t explain. Even worse, he’s not sure who — or what — he is. His estranged wife, Maggie, is struggling to put the pieces of her life back together after leaving Ben due to mutual trauma that…
Sweet as Sin: The Unwrapped Story of How Candy Became America’s Favorite Pleasure
Learn about writing YA from the experts! This month, moderator Jon Skovron will talk to Kate Hattemer, author of The Vigilante Poets of Selwyn Academy, and Carmen Rodrigues, author of 34 Pieces of You, about writing dynamic character relationships. At the Arlington Library, 1015 N. Quincy St., Arlington, VA. Click…
I recently received suggested edits on a manuscript from my publisher and was given a few days to make changes. I felt pretty stoked. I knew the story was polished and I suspected I wouldn’t have a lot to fix. And, in theory, I didn’t. Except my editor mentioned that…
Contemporary Fiction Reading Series: A. Igoni Barrett
Politics and Prose and the PEN/Faulkner Foundation are building on their successful partnership, curating a second season of the Contemporary Fiction Reading Series. The series will be hosted at P&P’s Busboys and Poets locations throughout the city this spring and will feature some of the most exciting voices in American…
5 Most Popular Posts: February 2016
The Washington Writers Conference. Yet again, whether searching for info on panelists, agents, or breakout sessions, readers flocked to our conference pages. (What are you waiting for? Click here to register now!) “8 Long Reads for Even Longer Winter Nights.” Until global warming gets its act in gear, we’re doomed…
I, like many people, was fascinated by the controversy surrounding this year’s Academy Awards. For anyone who may have been trapped with Matt Damon on Mars and missed the Oscar coverage because, ahem, the potatoes needed more fertilizer, let me recap: The nominations for all the major Academy Awards went…
The Washington Writers Conference Presents Dina Gold
In Stolen Legacy: Nazi Theft and the Quest for Justice at Krausenstrasse 17/18, Berlin, author Dina Gold uses tenacity and skill to unearth the wrongs done to her family and to millions of other Jews during WWII. Learn more about Dina — and the art of writing historical nonfiction —…
Kurt Vonnegut: An Appreciation
My 20-year-old alternate-universe doppelganger grabbed me excitedly by the shoulders recently. “You’ve got to read this guy Kurt Vonnegut. He sees through all the b.s., he’s funny and angry and sad.” Young Me was really breathing heavily now. “Read him. Please read him. Start with Cat’s Cradle. It’s kind of…
Author of the groundbreaking Big Girls Don’t Cry, an acclaimed look at women’s roles in the 2008 elections, Traister has focused on women in the media, politics, and entertainment for a wide range of publications, including the Nation, the New Republic, the Washington Post, and others; she’s also a writer…
All Written Up and No Place to Go
You, silent writer. I’m talking to you. You hole up in front of your computer, putting the final touches on that story that still makes you smile after the hundredth read. Or you circle your room like a slow-motion dervish, mouthing the lines of the poem you can’t believe you…
Judge Kiesel will discuss her book, She Can Bring Us Home, which tells the extraordinary story of Dr. Dorothy Ferebee, civil rights and public health leader. During the Great Depression and at a time when blacks faced Jim Crow segregation, Ferebee was the media darling of the then-thriving African American…
Bedtime Stories: February 2016
Dr. Jen Golbeck: My house has piles of books on every surface, but the nightstand books tend to have specific qualities. I'm usually very tired by the time I go to bed, so a lot of what moves through that stack are books that can be read in small pieces…
The Fever of 1721: The Epidemic that Revolutionized Medicine and American Politics
Let us now praise Alice. That is, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, that masterpiece of English literature written by Lewis Carroll (the pseudonym of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), first published in 1865. To mark the sesquicentennial, the University of Maryland at College Park’s Hornbake Library is hosting an exhibition, “Alice 150 Years…
And Then All Hell Broke Loose: Two Decades in the Middle East
February 2016 Exemplars: Poetry Reviews by Grace Cavalieri
Charles Bukowski: On Love edited by Abel Debritto. Ecco/Harper Collins. 206 pages. Vivas To Those Who Have Failed by Martin Espada. W.W. Norton. 69 pages. St. Francis and the Flies by Brian Swann. Autumn House. 73 pages. (Winner of the 2015 Autumn House Poetry Prize.) In Defense of Puppets by…
At the Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being, and Apricot Cocktails
Just as seismologists talk about the Big One, epidemiologists are alert for signs of a major pathogen — Ebola? SARS? — that could sicken as many as a billion people sometime in the next two generations. In her new book, Pandemic: Tracking Contagions, From Cholera to Ebola and Beyond, Shah,…
Meet the (Small) Press: February 2016
Northern Virginia-based Stillhouse Press, which was founded in 2014, aims to be true to its namesake, approaching publishing and literature like a craft distillery. According to Meghan McNamara, who is a founding editor along with Marcos L. Martinez, this means “taking time to source the best content from the very…
The Washington Writers Conference Presents Nora Pouillon
A champion of all things organic long before “farm to table” was a thing, Nora Pouillon has helmed the eponymous Restaurant Nora in Washington, DC, since 1979. In her recent memoir, My Organic Life: How a Pioneering Chef Helped Shape the Way We Eat Today, the celebrated restaurateur chronicles her…
I came to Siddhartha through Sterne, Nietzsche, and Foucault. Between 1999-2001, I’d studied the writings of these great thinkers and communicators. My mind was fresh with the bittersweet ironies of everyday life, the struggle to claim and enact an identity in the normalizing pressure-cooker of society. Existential questions and debates,…
In United: Thoughts on Finding Common Ground and Advancing the Common Good, Cory Booker draws on personal experience to issue a stirring call to reorient our nation and our politics around the principles of compassion and solidarity. He speaks of rising above despair to engage with hope, pursuing our shared…
There’s always a lot of talk about writer’s block, but I think there is such a thing as reader’s block, too. Especially in an era of smartphones, streaming media, and ubiquitous Wi-Fi, our information-overloaded brains can freeze up and refuse to take in any more. The result is we can…
“Writing and Publishing Crime Fiction” Panel
Thriller writer (and Independent columnist) E.A. Aymar moderates an all-star panel of the Mid-Atlantic's experts on writing and publishing crime fiction (including Independent columnist Art Taylor). Free; RSVP to [email protected] or 410-377-2966. 6080 Falls Road, Baltimore, MD. Click here for info.
An Interview with Sarah Weinman
With a missionary’s zeal, editor Sarah Weinman has reintroduced us to a gang of strong, underappreciated female crime writers in a beautiful new edition from the Library of America, Women Crime Writers: Eight Suspense Novels of the 1940s and 50s. These eight dames sure ain’t a bunch of shrinking violets.…
Our World: Revolutionary Voices of Latin America, Part I
This four-book discussion series features fiction and nonfiction works that raise previously marginalized voices to the forefront as they challenge varying political obstacles. Latin American scholar-enthusiast Leslie Flanagan leads each discussion at Curious Iguana on third Wednesdays at 7 p.m. Come to one session or all; free, no registration required.…
As I’m finishing up this column, the meteorologist I follow (Eileen Whelan at WJLA/ABC7) has promised that “an arctic front will dive in from the north this evening and will usher in frigid and windy conditions for the weekend.” All week I’ve been watching those high temperatures on the forecast…
Forty-Seven Days: How Pershing’s Warriors Came of Age to Defeat the German Army in World War I
Authors on Audio: A Chat with Carrie Brown
Carrie Brown is the author of seven novels, including, most recently, The Stargazer’s Sister. Called “a novelist who understands that the forest is in the leaf” by the Christian Science Monitor, Brown is known for her poetic style and masterful attention to detail. She recently spoke with Susan Storer Clark…
Meet Joanne Cronrath Bamberger
Bamberger will be in conversation with Emily Zanotti of the American Spectator and Mary C. Curtis of the Washington Post and the Root. In this timely collection, Bamberger provides the narrative framework through which to view the history that's led us to this moment in time—the moment when voters must…
As longtime Independent readers know, every Valentine's Day week, I answer your questions about love and lust as they relate to writing. One of my favorite hobbies is giving out advice even though I'm dramatically unqualified — but I'm a dad, so it's what I do. What's the best way…
The Washington Writers Conference Presents Bob Woodward
Legendary reporter/author Bob Woodward has been a fixture at the Washington Post since 1971. He’s also a longtime fixture on the bestseller list with titles like Plan of Attack, State of Denial, Bush at War, and, of course, All the President’s Men (written with Carl Bernstein). This year, Woodward will…
Contemporary Fiction Reading Series: Alexander Chee
Politics and Prose and the PEN/Faulkner Foundation are building on their successful partnership, curating a second season of the Contemporary Fiction Reading Series, following a well-received launch in fall 2015. The Reading Series will be hosted at Busboys and Poets locations throughout the city this spring and will feature some…
8 Long Reads for Even Longer Winter Nights
Looking for a perfect tale to tuck into on an endless winter evening? Try one of these titles, all of which would’ve made their authors rich if books were sold by the pound… Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. For sheer narrative power and character development, nothing touches this…
Okay, let me say up front that the second heading for this column is misleading. When you have more than two feet of snow on the ground, and young children at home, there is no way to keep the word count intact. Not happening. Nope. Not on your life. Just.…
Join us on the second Tuesday of every other month at 7PM for Supper & Stories at Nido’s Italian restaurant in Downtown Frederick. For $35 per person, you receive a paperback copy of the featured title and a delicious meal, served family-style and flavored with engaging conversation about the book.…
In The Improbability of Love, author Hannah Rothschild introduces us to a fake painting by the real artist Jean-Antoine Watteau. As her novel reveals, the art world may not be the nicest place to work, what with its scheming dealers and patrons who will go to interesting lengths to get…
In a recent Facebook post, David Stewart, the head honcho of the Washington Independent Review of Books, commented on the sad state of print journalism. Not the quality of said journalism, which is open to debate, but its reach, which is shrinking faster than the length of my golf drives.…
Currently a distinguished visiting fellow at Johns Hopkins University, Ross served for four years as senior advisor for innovation to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and earned the State Department’s Distinguished Honor Award. A frequent advisor to investors, corporations, and government leaders, Ross combines economic analysis with observations from his…
5 Most Popular Posts: January 2016
The Washington Writers Conference. Whether it was info on the panelists, participating agents, or breakout sessions, the pages devoted to our upcoming annual conference drew an enormous amount of traffic. (Ready to register? Click here.) “The 18 Best Books of (or about) Poetry.” If Grace Cavalieri keeps landing in the…
Incarceration Nations: A Journey to Justice in Prisons around the World
6 Book-Pitching Tips to Keep in Mind
Let’s face it, writers: Finding a literary agent often feels like an impossible quest. Whether in a pitch room or on the other end of an email, agents can seem like Zeus glaring down from Olympus, eager to zap mere mortal authors with bolts of rejection. But now it’s a…
A “Books and Beyond” discussion about Sonja D. Williams' new biography, Word Warrior: Richard Durham, Radio, and Freedom. In the Madison Building, sixth floor. Free and open to the public. 101 Independence Ave., SE, Washington, DC. Click here for more info.
Gretchen Rubin published The Happiness Project in 2009 when she was a not-unhappy wife, mother of two, and successful writer. The book documented her serious — and often humorous — effort to become happier; an updated version, with an interview and new lessons drawn from both old wisdom and recent…
My career as a writer started on aerogrammes, those delicate sheets of paper that ingeniously fold up to become both letter and envelope in one. Lightweight for international travel, the aerogramme provides a finite space in which to convey your news, so every word counts. Much of my childhood was…
Alyscia Cunningham: The one most important book that always sits within arm’s reach is my journal. I keep it there because I often wake up with ideas, particularly in the wee hours of the morning. Through my journal, I bring my ideas to life. Along with it are a few…
Baby Boomers married for 30 years dare more than the ordinary. They unload the house, sell the cars, quit their jobs, and say goodbye to the U.S. to travel Europe for a year. Marianne C. Bohr is a writer, editor, and French teacher. She married her high-school sweetheart and travel…
I had a student once who really thought he was someone special. He took it upon himself to identify mistakes I made in lecture or on handouts, and to correct them. Basically, he took to heckling me in my own class. Another grotesquerie in the classroom is the encroachment of…
January 2016 Exemplars: Poetry Reviews by Grace Cavalieri
Exemplars SPECIAL JANUARY 2016 THE LAST EXEMPLARS OF 2015 BEFORE WE RING IN A NEW YEAR OF READING The Academy of Hay by Julia Shipley. Bona Fide Books. 73 pages. Longevity by Laurel Blossom. Four Way Books. 53 pages. The Open Eye by Lenard Moore. Mountains & Rivers Press. 61…
Ugly as sin, the ugly duckling — or maybe you fell out of the ugly tree? Let’s face it, we’ve all used the word “ugly” to describe someone we’ve seen — hopefully just in our private thoughts — but have we ever considered how slippery the term can be, indicating…
Frankenstein won’t die. It is somehow a fitting destiny for the classic tale of man giving or restoring life to inanimate bodies. If anything, Frankenstein is enjoying something of a renaissance. Two current television series — “Second Chance” and “Penny Dreadful” — feature variations on the monster and his creator.…
You’re a wealthy executive who loses all your money in one day. You’re a desperate widow whose suffering is only relieved by more suffering. You are brothers clawing at a better chance in life, and you know if you can just make it to the interview, college will save you.…
Thursday Night Open Mic Hosted by Rebecca Dupas
A Busboys and Poetry event! For two hours, audiences can expect a diverse chorus of voices and a vast array of professional spoken-word performers, open-mic rookies, musicians, and a different host every week. 5331 Baltimore Ave., Hyattsville, MD. Click here for more info.
I have a confession to make — I'm a cheater. I've been in a long-term relationship with my novel manuscript for many years, but lately I've been seeing a couple of other short stories on the side. Don't tell the novel; it would hurt its feelings. This is new for…
Join Mike Bevel for a book discussion on the third Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. January's book is The Makioka Sisters by Jun’ichirō Tanizaki. This group is free and open to the public. Click here to join a related group, Classics in Context, on Facebook. At the Bethesda…
An Interview with Sir Noel Malcolm
Sir Noel Malcolm is an historian and leading expert on the Balkans, as well as an authority on the ideas of the early modern period. He’s written 11 books of histories, biographies, and essays. Malcolm holds a senior research fellowship at the University of Oxford, and he was knighted by…
Elizabeth Strout in Conversation with Tayla Burney
Acclaimed from the very beginning, Strout won the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction with Amy and Isabelle and the Pulitzer for her third novel, Olive Kitteridge. With her fifth novel, My Name Is Lucy Barton, she has created a dynamic, engaging storyteller in the eponymous Lucy,…
I’ve never written a book that requires as much research as the one I’m currently writing, and that research has taken me into a study of human trafficking. This is an odd thing to write, but the world of human trafficking is much worse than I thought. Until recently, I’d…
Are undergraduate and graduate writing programs primarily developing readers rather than authors? I know it sounds like a cynical question, but I consider the cultivation of readers a perfectly laudable goal, though one which members of the Association of Writing Programs (AWP) would never advertise. Few professions put people through…
From the New York Times bestselling author of Midwives and The Sandcastle Girls comes The Guest Room, the spellbinding tale of a party gone horribly wrong: Two men lie dead in a suburban living room, two women are on the run from police, and a marriage is ripping apart at…
Washington Writers Conference 2016
Want to engage with some of the most successful authors, editors, and agents around? Even better, want to learn how to get published? Then register for this year’s Washington Writers Conference, which takes place April 29-30 in Bethesda, MD! Saturday’s lineup includes keynote speaker Bob Woodward, plus Michael Dirda, Ron…
18 Best Books of (or about) Poetry
No Confession, No Mass by Jennifer Perrine. University of Nebraska Press. 71 pp. Flowering Fires/Fuegos Florales by Alicia Partnoy, translated by Gail Wronsky. Settlement House. 59 pp. Lines of Defense by Stephen Dunn. W.W. Norton & Co. 95 pp. The Beauty by Jane Hirshfield. Alfred A. Knopf. 112 pp. The…
Ah, January. A new year. All that untapped potential. A blank slate. Er, well, sort of. Actually, I’m trying to finish the last chapters of a novel that I swore to myself I’d finish before New Year’s Day. Darn blood oath didn’t work. Of course, that was before I got…
Stories in Carole Burns' The Missing Woman circle around women who are either literally missing – a mother in rehab, a daughter never born – or who are missing some metaphorical piece of themselves. A father tries to convince his uncompromising, anorexic daughter to want to live, a single woman…
Inspiration for a novel comes from many places and many different aspects of life, or so I’ve found. And inspiration, to me, has two parts: there’s the initial spark of an idea that gets the novel started, that makes you sit down and write in the first place; and then…
An Interview with Justin Sayre
Husky is the debut middle-grade novel by writer/comic-performer Justin Sayre. The story follows the last weeks of summer for Davis (also known embarrassingly as “Ducks”), a 12-year-old boy growing up in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Middle school starts soon, and with its complex social hierarchies, everything is changing around him. His…
The third installment of the popular P&P anthology of original work by writers and artists about DC and the surrounding metropolitan area is testament to the region’s diverse social and cultural range; as we know, there’s much more than politics going on here. Featuring both written and visual arts, from…
Meet the (Small) Press: January 2016
Not many publishers can say that its name was inspired by an obscure kitchen implement, but that’s the case with Washington, DC-based Bacon Press Books, according to publisher Michele Orwin. “My husband collects old kitchen gadgets to use as bookends,” Orwin says. “One day, when we were in an antique…
5 Most Popular Posts: December 2015
“The 13 Best Novels of the Year.” How many people clicked, liked, and/or tweeted this list? We can’t even count that high. Do you really care about our opinions that much, or are you just messing with us? Poetry Exemplars. Once again, Grace Cavalieri proves she’s a couplet-fueled force to…
In Tom Glenn's new novel, The Trion Syndrome, German professor Dave Bell is haunted by a half-remembered clandestine mission in Vietnam and the myth of Trion, the Greek demigod. Dave discovers an unpublished novella by Thomas Mann based on the Trion myth and believes he sees himself. Friendless, Dave is…
Before writing one word of that novel that’s been percolating in your head, get to work on its synopsis. Just as the query letter and final draft of your manuscript need to be perfect, your synopsis has to be spotless as well, because you want editors and agents to take…
Taking his title, How's Your Faith?, from an inquiry addressed to him by President George W. Bush, Gregory, a former NBC reporter and moderator of Meet the Press, chronicles the spiritual quest that ensued as he tried to work out his beliefs. Putting his own spirituality into the context of…
Oh, hello there. I didn’t see you moping in the corner. What’s wrong? You say you’re struggling with your New Year’s resolutions? Let me take a look. Hmm, I see the problem. This year, what about making New Year’s resolutions that can be kept? Ditch the unrealistic promises to fit…
As a parent, I engaged in no deceptions about Santa Claus. My kids probably realized there is no Santa the same time I did; that is, at about 8 years old. A parent doesn’t have to actively deceive their child. A child is capable of wonder without lies. But think…
George Washington’s Journey: The President Forges a New Nation
A storytime, countdown, and party for those who cannot stay up until midnight. For all ages. At the Lovettsville Library, 12 N. Light St., Lovettsville, VA. Click here for more info.
In an unsettled time riven by tensions between East and West, Muslim and Christian, there is one classic novel that can provide insight into our current situation even though it offers no solutions. Quite the contrary, for Ali and Nino by Kurban Said is a thrilling love story that has…
“So what was it like to be writer-in-residence at the Hemingway Birthplace Home? What did you do?” I still get this question even though my year at the Hemingway House wrapped up in July. There is this vision of the writer quietly working away. With a charming private studio like…
Busboys Book Club in Hyattsville
The Busboys and Poets Book Club in Hyattsville meets on the last Saturday of every month from 9AM-11AM in the Zinn Room. 5331 Baltimore Ave., Hyattsville, MD. Click here for more info.
An Interview with Rebecca Scherm
In Rebecca Scherm's Unbecoming, Grace, from small-town Tennessee, is reared by distracted parents who favor her younger siblings. As a teen, she finds solace with her boyfriend Riley’s family, well-to-do stand-in parents for Grace and others. As she becomes an adult, her feelings for Riley’s best friend, Alls, become stronger.…
The Thanksgiving turkey. The Christmas goose or ham. A toast of bubbly on New Year’s Eve, and then black-eyed peas and collards on New Year’s Day. That last one is a regional tradition, of course, but one that I’ve long followed — and one that my wife, Tara, from Pennsylvania,…
Lion of the Senate: When Ted Kennedy Rallied the Democrats in a GOP Congress
Bring the whole family for an evening of storytime fun. We'll read, move, and rhyme with a different theme each week. Nurture a love of reading through books, music, activities, and Science, Technology, Engineering & Math (STEM) elements. Almost bedtime? Feel free to wear your pajamas! At the Urbana Branch…
Rafael Alvarez continues to chronicle life in his native Baltimore with his tenth book, Crabtown, USA, which hits bookstores in time for the holiday season. A follow-up to his nonfiction anthologies Hometown Boy and Storyteller, Crabtown chronicles the author's continued fascination with the everyday eccentrics who make Charm City compelling,…
December Exemplars: Poetry Reviews by Grace Cavalieri
It’s About Time by Stanley Moss. Hopewell Press.163 pages. Olympic Butter Gold by Jonathan Moody. Northwestern University Press. 90 pages. FAUXHAWK by Ben Doller. Wesleyan Univ. Press. 80 pages, The Anchor’s Long Chain by Yves Bonnefoy. Translated from French by Beverley Bie Brahic. Seagull Books.112 pages Beautiful Zero by Jennifer…
Bedtime Stories: December 2015
Domenica Marchetti: I suppose I should start by saying that there is always a pile of New Yorkers on my nightstand. Is it hopeless to imagine that I will one day be caught up? On to the books: The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante. Like many others,…
This Gulf of Fire: The Destruction of Lisbon, or Apocalypse in the Age of Science and Reason
Okay, chill. We get it. Every day, you grammar nerds post memes on Facebook or Twitter explaining how you absolutely loathe people who mistake “they're” and “their,” decry those who don't use an oxford comma properly, or share lists detailing your top 10 grammar peeves. Social media is a writer’s…
Lady Bird and Lyndon: The Hidden Story of a Marriage that Made a President
Our favorite thing about the holidays is sifting through the literary treasures released over the last 12 months to find the most authentic and interesting stories. A new Filipino voice in fiction, essays, memoirs, and an imaginative picture book were among this year’s best. Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter by…
Spend your lunch break at the Iguana! It’s BYOBB (Bring Your Own Brown Bag) for this new book club, which meets on the third Thursday of each month at 12 Noon. We’ll supply the table, chairs, and plenty of books. Participants will choose from advance (pre-publication) copies of fiction and…
5 Ways Not to Panic that the End Is Nigh
Is it really December? *Gulps, tries not to hyperventilate* Yeah, sure, I like the holidays as much as anyone — family, friends, goodwill, and all that crap — but it also means it’s time to put my writing year in perspective. Did I write enough? Was it good enough? Those…
Levin, a former Hollywood producer and talent agent turned holistic psychologist, established herself as an author with the 2009 memoir, God, The Universe and Where I Fit In, which charted her spiritual growth while sharing the lifestyle habits that guided her. Part-journal, part-meditation guide, Levin’s latest establishes routine reflections for…
During Chanukah, join us for the 7th annual night of funny, poignant, powerful, and peculiar autobiographical stories about all things Jewish, not-so-Jewish, and wannabe Jewish. Admission: $20 in advance; $25 day of show. At the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, 600 I St., NW, Washington, DC. Click here for more…
The Psychology of Thriller-Writing
“Even paranoids have enemies” is a quote usually ascribed to Henry Kissinger, although some people claim Golda Meir said it to him when he accused the Israeli prime minister of being paranoid about her Arab neighbors. Personally, I like to think Henry stole it from Golda. I’ve always thought he…
And West Is West by Ron Childress. This winner of the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction is a smart, satisfying work about real people navigating the uneasy compromises of today’s world. With sharp writing and likeable characters, Childress has woven a very human story out of the tangle of…
Tom Gjelten in Conversation with Del. Mark Keam
LCNV presents a conversation and book signing with author and NPR correspondent Tom Gjelten. Delegate Mark Keam will interview Gjelten about his new book, A Nation of Nations: A Great American Immigration Story, which describes the dramatic and compelling story of the transformation of America during the last 50 years,…
For those of us with day jobs, finding the time to write can be difficult. On our busiest days, we’re lucky if we get a few sentences down. Still, that’s better than not producing any work at all. But the question is: How does one write when faced with a…
An Interview with Alaa Al-Aswany
In Alaa Al-Aswany’s The Automobile Club of Egypt, many of those working in the titular club face a terrible choice: Do they continue to live safely with a boot on their neck, or do they risk what little they have for the right to live freely without fear? Whatever their…
Shapiro, author of The Art Forger, has something for both art enthusiasts and mystery-lovers with her seventh novel, The Muralist, which spotlights the transformative early years of American abstract expressionism while telling a gripping story of two unforgettable women. Shapiro entwines historical with fictional figures, charting the 1940s New York…
Cast of Characters: Wolcott Gibbs, E.B. White, James Thurber, and the Golden Age of the New Yorker
10 Books to Pry Open Your Eyes
In a review I wrote for The Making of Zombie Wars, I speculated that today’s Great American Novel was being written by immigrants. An immigrant myself, I have been appalled and deeply offended by the shrill, hateful anti-immigrant rhetoric in American politics, and this list of the top 10 books…
Given since 1988 in honor of the late Bernard Malamud, this award recognizes a body of work demonstrating excellence in the art of short fiction. This year, we will honor Deborah Eisenberg, making her the fourth writer to have won both the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and the PEN/Malamud Award…
5 Most Popular Posts: November 2015
A review of Brief Candle in the Dark by Richard Dawkins. Josh Trapani’s critique of the media-savvy evolutionary biologist’s latest work garnered an astonishing number of hits. We suspect the fact that Dawkins tweeted it to his 1.3M Twitter followers had something to do with it… A review of Capital:…
An Interview with Deborah Eisenberg
Despite a relatively late start — she was 30 when she began writing and nearly 40 before being published — Deborah Eisenberg wasted no time in amassing accolades. This Friday, the Columbia University professor and author of such collections as All Around Atlantis and Twilight of the Superheroes comes to…
The University Club’s Annual Meet the Author Night and Book Fair
Don’t miss this opportunity to get up close and personal with over 60 authors and select gifts for book lovers of all ages at the University Club of Washington, DC. Come and get a jump on your holiday gift-giving and chat up the authors as they sign a copy of…
M Train by Patti Smith. Iconic rocker Smith follows up Just Kids with a stream-of-consciousness look at the performer turned author’s inner writing life, and the spare surroundings she has treasured for decades. It occurred to me, as the heavy curtains were opened and the morning light flooded the small…
I like to think, on my best days, that I’m like a hitter on a long batting streak, long enough to start getting the attention of the non-sporting world, 30 games in a row! On the other hand, during the long, bad days, I’ve been demoted to the minors, forgotten,…
It’s getting to be gift-giving season, but giving gifts has gotten to be more complicated, and especially so with books. In the age of Amazon and its ubiquitous Wish List, it is hard to surprise someone with a book you think they might like. Certainly in my extended family, I’ve…
Young Orson: The Years of Luck and Genius on the Path to Citizen Kane
The War on Alcohol: Prohibition and the Rise of the American State
A stand-up comic and actor, Friedlander appeared in “American Splendor” and is best known for his work in “30 Rock.” But he’s not just a multi-talented performer — Friedlander has written the karate primer, How to Beat Up Anybody, and he’s been drawing since he was a child. His new…
Here in this week of giving thanks, most of us are hopefully feeling gratitude toward some type of good fortune, whether that be close family or friends or good health or any of a variety of ways of considering what constitutes success. From a writer’s standpoint, I’ve always stressed my…
Pritchard’s Gaining Ground told the spirited story of how he took over his family’s struggling farm. Now a full-time organic farmer, Pritchard regularly speaks, writes, and blogs on “I Support Farmers’ Markets,” about running Smith Meadows, one of the nation’s first sustainable, free-range enterprises. His new book travels throughout the…
An Interview with Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Dolen Perkins-Valdez set her latest novel, Balm, in post-Civil War Chicago. The three main characters (two black, one white) have moved to the city in search of new lives, peeling away the cruelties of their respective pasts for a chance at renewal. Their journeys move them through the aftermath of…
The Legendary Detective: The Private Eye in Fact and Fiction
November 2015 Exemplars: Poetry Reviews by Grace Cavalieri
Empty Chairs by Liu Xia. Graywolf. 118 pages. Translated from the Chinese by Ming Di and Jennifer Stern. With an introduction by Liao Yiwu and a foreword by Herta Muller. When The Next Big War Blows Down the Valley: Selected and New Poems by Terese Svoboda. Anhinga Press. 244 pages.…
Nafisi’s Reading Lolita in Tehran showed how essential literature is to life in a repressive culture. Does fiction play a similar role in a free society? Arguing passionately in The Republic of Imagination that it does, Nafisi, a past visiting fellow at Hopkins' SAIS and the author of Things I’ve…
Nothing says “I don't love you” like giving someone a bad gift. So I decided to compile a list of gifts that writers should give, and receive, this holiday season. Gifts You Should Give Your Writer The Cartel by Don Winslow. Easily one of the best books I've read in…
If given the choice between savory or sweet treats, I’ll generally pick the savory. Cheese, bread, crackers, chips — I love them all. In fact, I joke that I could exist on brie and baguettes alone. Sometimes, though, I get a craving that only a sugary something will fix. Cookies,…
Body by Darwin: How Evolution Shapes Our Health and Transforms Medicine
Written by Don Knotts’ brother-in-law and featuring extensive unpublished interviews with those closest to both men, Andy & Don (Simon & Schuster, 11/3/15) is the definitive literary work on the legacy of “The Andy Griffith Show” and a provocative and entertaining read about two of America’s most enduring stars. Daniel…
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