It seems reports of the imminent death of print books was premature. Readers, in fact, appear to be rediscovering the aesthetic pleasure of bound volumes. Indie-bookstore sales are up, and legacy publishers are increasingly optimistic. Physical books — that combination of cover art, typography, trimmed or deckle-edge paper, heft —…
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My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me: A Black Woman Discovers Her Family’s Nazi Past
6 New Historical Novels We Can’t Wait to Get Our Geeky Hands On
Historical fiction is having a major moment. These days, it's cool to flaunt your love of the head-rolling Tudors or the sword-swinging Samurais by toting your favorite novel around. As the genre's devotees know, mixing a killer narrative with an exacting love of historical detail is the only real time-travel…
In Reagan: The Life, by the prolific and bestselling historian H.W. Brands, the author seeks to establish Ronald Reagan as one of the two great presidents of the 20th century. I recently spoke with Brands about his newest work. Why Reagan? Reagan changed the course of American politics, certainly American…
Have you noticed there are lots of editors out there telling you how to quickly get rejected by their publication? While it’s certainly helpful to note some rookie mistakes or bad etiquette that makes you stick out like a Polish gal at a sunbathing competition, too many rules can make…
Regular readers of this column know about my annual Valentine’s Day mailbag, in which I answer questions from readers concerning writer-related romance. And although I pretty much know everything about love and women, my day job is in marketing, so I figured I should do a marketing mailbag as well.…
An Interview with Ronald Goldfarb
A lot of would-be novelists have a work-in-progress languishing in a desk drawer. It took about a decade, but attorney Ronald Goldfarb was recently able to free his from confinement and publish, under a pseudonym, Courtship: A Novel of Law, Love and Life as the first book from a new…
The Chesapeake Writers’ Conference
Ready to up your authoring game? Consider attending the Chesapeake Writers’ Conference in southern Maryland! Located on the grounds of St. Mary’s College, the weeklong event includes lectures, intense-but-positive workshops, panel discussions, and readings. It also promises to be an excellent time. “I think what sets us apart is essentially…
5 Most Popular Posts: May 2015
A review of The Death of Caesar: The Story of History’s Most Famous Assassination by Barry Strauss. Not only was this review by G. Matthew Adkins the month’s top draw, it got thousands more hits than any other piece. Did you people just now get word of the emperor’s passing?…
How Many Is Too Many? The Progressive Argument for Reducing Immigration into the United States
Dale Bailey’s recent collection, The End of the End of Everything (Arche Press/Resurrection House) is comprised of nine elegiac horror and science fiction stories that recall the work of Ray Bradbury. “The Blue Hole” is a Bradbury-esque tale of boyhood innocence lost, while “A Rumor of Angels,” a magical realist…
Accepting and Giving Critiques
A well-thought-out critique can take my work to the next level. A critique that feels like someone is asking me to catch a live grenade is not so helpful. Learning how to give constructive feedback and also how to graciously — or as graciously as I can manage — accept…
Walt Whitman in Washington, D.C.: The Civil War and America’s Great Poet
An Interview with Wanjiku wa Ngugi
Wanjiku wa Ngugi is a political analyst and past director of the Helsinki African Film Festival. She is also the daughter of Kenya's most celebrated novelist, Ngugi wa Thiong'o. In The Fall of Saints, her first novel, Ngugi introduces us to protagonist Mugure and her Eastern European husband, Zack, who…
I write thrillers and mysteries published as e-books on Amazon. And readers, a surprising number of whom aren’t relatives, friends, or people who owe me money, subsequently post reviews. The reviews range from one to five stars. In order of “star-iness,” the ranking are: I hate it I didn’t like…
The Shepherd’s Life: Modern Dispatches from an Ancient Landscape
The National Press Club will be site of the Sixth Annual Biographers International Conference on June 6, 2015, with such headliners as Evan Thomas, Douglas Brinkley, Kitty Kelley, Betty Boyd Caroli, Linda Leavell, David Maraniss, and Hampton Sides. The keynote address will be presented during the luncheon by Taylor Branch…
Hello end of spring! These days, the weather is more warm than not, my container herb gardens are taking off, and the vegetable plots are about to do the same! It’s the time of year where being prepared with a dozen different ways to cook zucchini can be a lifesaver.…
Writing can be such a lonely career. So much of our time is spent in front of a computer or poring over notes. In between, we are either submitting manuscripts or preparing them for submission. After an endless round of performing such tasks, it’s no surprise we find ourselves wondering…
“The fact is, it's easy to recognize an evil man when you see him: he looks just like you or me,” says an increasingly world-weary Bernie Gunther, a detective struggling to define justice while living in Hitler’s Germany before, during, and after World War II. As brought to life by…
3 Valuable Lists for Wannabe Writers
“5 Ways to Make Your Fiction Come Alive.” Novelist and poet Mike Maggio offers pointers on helping your prose spring from the page. “10 Things to Know about Your Out-of-Print Book.” Longtime newspaperman and author Eugene L. Meyer’s hard work paid off when an older title of his was successfully…
Fiction writers rarely put in an eight-hour workday. The physical act of writing is a grueling and lonely experience that does not benefit from putting in overtime for overtime’s sake. Authors like Anthony Trollope and Ernest Hemingway rose early to write, leaving the rest of the day to work a…
I’m beginning to believe that I belong to a cult. And for me, there are two bad words in that sentence: belong and cult. I’m not a joiner, no red-hatted women’s groups, no same-aged, same anything. I’ve never engaged in hazing, bottle-raising, or any other feats of stupefaction for membership…
3 Great Books for #IReadYA Week
It’s time to celebrate all things young-adult! The brainchild of Scholastic, #IReadYA Week (May 18-22, 2015) is designed to get fans to share their love of the genre on social media (which is what the hashtag is all about). If you’re looking for your next terrific YA read, check out…
May 2015 Exemplars: Poetry Reviews by Grace Cavalieri
Heliopause by Heather Christle. Wesleyan Univ. Press. 91 pages. Christle is stunning and we could learn a few lessons in philosophy from her perceptions and speculations. She sees an ordinary moment, a fruit fly following her through the room, then she masterfully finds a tipping point in the observation -…
Western idealism, local reality, and a fugitive elephant blend seamlessly in The Tusk that Did the Damage, Tania James’ novel about an old village meeting the new world. In it, protagonists Emma and Teddy have come to the forest wielding cameras and naiveté, hoping for a story. They end up…
Endless Repetition, Infinite Variation
Oh, my goodness, I love Gertrude Stein — as a thinker, a writer, and an American. And I want to make a claim on her. I want to say that the only thing she would find more abhorrent than complete obscurity would be the kind of off-handed ignorant cliché of…
Seventeen-hundred grams of genius. That’s what Vladimir Mayakovsky’s brain weighed after his death in 1930 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His brain weighed 360 grams more than Lenin’s, “a bit of a headache for the ideologues of the Brain Institute.” There’s no other chronicle of a Russian-born poet so richly…
Luther’s Fortress: Martin Luther and His Reformation under Siege
Ruben Castaneda: I’ve gone through periods where I read nothing but fiction, and at other times I’ve devoured a specific genre of books — such as memoirs or works about Mexican drug cartels — for professional reasons. Right now, I’m reading several nonfiction books which tackle some of the most…
Now that the BBC’s much-heralded “Wolf Hall” miniseries is on PBS, there has been a new flurry of controversy about the historical accuracy of the show, based on two award-winning novels by Hilary Mantel. The main debate is about Mantel’s revisionism in portraying Thomas More, revered as a saint and…
Authors on Audio: A Chat with John Boyne
When we featured John Boyne’s latest novel, A History of Loneliness, our reviewer said that, in it, the author “displays real affection for the newly elected Pope John Paul I, whose willingness to question Vatican finances and other apparent church corruption made him dangerous.” Boyne recently spoke with Susan Storer…
The Death of Caesar: The Story of History’s Most Famous Assassination
Are you an outgoing bookworm? Do you live in the Washington, DC, metro area? Then you’re in luck! Arlington, VA, indie One More Page Books boasts no fewer than eight book clubs each month, ranging from Holistic Health & Wellness and Daytime groups to Mystery/Detective and Spiritual/Philosophical groups. Bonus: The…
The Secret History of Kindness: Learning from How Dogs Learn
This year’s Gaithersburg Book Festival has plenty of wordy goodness lined up for the little ones! Among the draws: A Children’s Village. Here, kids can meet some of their favorite authors, including Jorge Aguirre, Kwame Alexander, Tracey Baptiste, Gareth Hinds, Michelle Knudsen, and many, many more. Children’s Workshops. During these…
An Interview with Monica Byrne
A snake bite opens The Girl in the Road, Monica Byrne's Tiptree Award-winning novel that seems to have all of the hallmarks of a thriller. The book is set in the near-future, a time where the West’s power has waned and India and Ethiopia have become dominant. Technological wonders, such…
Two weekends ago in Bethesda, Maryland, at the Malice Domestic convention — one of the most important events of the year for mystery writers and readers — I found myself struck more than ever by the important role that anthologies play in the crime-writing community: their prevalence and popularity both…
An Interview with Erika Johansen
Explaining the inspiration for The Queen of the Tearling, you said, “One evening, I had that rare sort of dream that you remember perfectly upon waking: a single image in my head of a group of people in boats, leaving a broken land and disappearing over the horizon toward an…
Most of my fiction is based in Baltimore. I’ve written this before, but I discovered the city through dates and, consequently, have always seen it romantically. It was a happy coincidence that this occurred when I started taking my writing seriously. I spent weekends in the late 90s (that seems…
5 Most Popular Posts: April 2015
“7 Reasons You Should Marry a Fellow Writer.” Tara Laskowski’s inaugural blog drew record numbers. Who knew so many people want to know if they should wed an author? A review of The Dovekeepers: A Novel by Alice Hoffman. It’s not that we aren’t glad you enjoyed Rhoda Trooboff’s review…
An Interview with Laura van den Berg
In Find Me, Laura van den Berg’s debut novel, the protagonist, Joy, has always been on the edge of survival. Abandoned as a baby, she grew up in a series of foster homes. Now a young woman, she works at a grocery store and lives in a windowless basement apartment.…
What Are Workshop Rules, and Why Do We Need Them?
Writers need rules. Whether it’s learning the rules of a particular genre, the rules of grammar, or how to be a good critique partner, rules are just part of the package. That doesn’t mean we can’t ever bend or break them, but it’s important to know what they are before…
Slice, dice, and categorize. We can’t help ourselves. As a species, we are doomed to try to find patterns and make generalizations where there is neither pattern nor basis for generalization. If you read enough books, you develop categories for what you read: authors and genres you like and those…
The 2015 Gaithersburg Book Festival
What are you doing Saturday, May 16th? That’s a rhetorical question. What you’re doing is heading to the 6th annual Gaithersburg Book Festival in Gaithersburg, MD! Held rain or shine in the heart of Olde Towne Gaithersburg, the free event is a daylong celebration of books, authors, illustrators, and all…
Nothing is more dangerous than the attempt to describe in lasting terms the times we live in, but there are periods so acutely gifted that even the witnesses to it understand that they are living through something extraordinary. Feminist poetry is so transcendent that it's created a renaissance that’s dominating…
Thriller writers make terrible patients. I’m proof of that. Since I’m constantly looking for ways to kill or maim my characters, I do a lot of research into weird diseases, poisons, and the like. As a result, there is hardly a symptom that I haven’t experienced, at least psychosomatically. I…
The Immersive Genius of “Ten Windows”
In Ten Windows: How Great Poems Transform the World, author Jane Hirshfield asks, “What do these words want of me?” What does this book want of the reader? The book tells us to see clearly with 10 essays that are “windows.” Many of the truths come from Hirshfield’s blood memory;…
You Should’ve Been at Books Alive!
“Good advice for aspiring writers.” “Great networking with great people!” “A valuable experience, and I got some very good leads. I met a lot of interesting writers.” “You brought a lot of agents together! I can't wait to share with my writer's group, as the conference provides good experience on…
4 Much-Anticipated Summer Reads
Let Me Tell You: New Stories, Essays, and Other Writings by Shirley Jackson (Random House). The masterful author of such classic tales as “The Lottery” is back — albeit posthumously — with this collection of previously unreleased and/or uncollected works. The Festival of Insignificance by Milan Kundera (Harper). Set in…
Maybe you read the recent VIDA Count (or columnist Alice Stephens’ take on it). Maybe you follow literary issues in the paper or online. Or maybe you’ve just noticed how lily-white most “recommended books” lists tend to be. Whatever the reason, you know there’s a serious diversity deficit in the…
Imagine it: You've landed your first author interview and, as luck would have it, your subject is someone you've always admired. An immense feeling of joy sweeps over you as you think of how envious your colleagues will be when they find out you’ve scored a one-on-one with such a…
As a foodie with an entire bookshelf devoted to cookbooks, I appreciate thumbing through recipe-filled pages with drool-worthy food photography as much as I love sinking my teeth into an epic novel. This month’s diverse roundup of cookbooks doesn’t disappoint! There’s everything from a refreshed take on classic German cuisine,…
It’s that time of year again. The results of the 2014 VIDA Count are in. In its fifth year now, the count tracks improvements and stagnation in the number of female writers appearing in “well-respected” literary journals and periodicals. (While the Independent was not included in the survey, according to…
The Future of Violence: Robots and Germs, Hackers and Drones — Confronting A New Age of Threat
You're primarily known for your mystery novels, but you have written other types of fiction, as well. If you had to choose a genre, which would you prefer writing? For most of my writing career, the books I’ve written were assigned by publishers, which exposed me to a wide variety…
I'm involved with the lovely group of people putting together the Washington Writers Conference: Books Alive 2015. It's a wonderful event, and I enjoy the challenge, but one thing I've noticed is that there is a wide, gaping space between the prose and poetry community of writers. There are those…
An Interview with Robert Scheer
Robert Scheer, a widely respected investigative journalist and editor-in-chief at truthdig.com, is doing his best to make us stop absently “liking” pictures of our friend's new Eileen Fisher dress or declaring an online allegiance to Nutella. Instead, he begs us to think about what we're giving away. His new book,…
35th Annual PEN/Faulkner Award Ceremony & Dinner
Attention, bookworms! Join PEN/Faulkner in celebrating author Atticus Lish, winner of its 2015 Award for Fiction, at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, on May 2nd at 7 p.m. Hosted by actor/writer B.J. Novak, the event also honors this year’s other finalists: Jeffery Renard Allen, Jennifer Clement, Emily St.…
Essayist Kim Korson's new book, I Don't Have a Happy Place: Cheerful Stories of Despondency and Gloom, is a roadmap of sorts. Looking for the quickest route to clear and present sadness? She's got you covered. Here's an eyes-wide-open self-assessment: “I am exhausting and draining and something to be managed,…
When I took Chaucer in college, my teacher was a gifted Irish-American who relished the sound of the Middle English and read the opening of The Canterbury Tales to us with great gusto: Whan that aprill with his shoures soote The droghte of march hath perced to the roote, And…
April 2015 Exemplars: National Poetry Month’s Best Picks
APRIL POETRY EXEMPLARS National Poetry Month's Best Picks: 14 Choice Books Reviewed by Grace Cavalieri The Beauty by Jane Hirshfield. Alfred.A. Knopf. 112 pages. The White Spider in My Hand by Sonja James. New Academia/Scarith Press. 76 pages. Paradise Drive by Rebecca Foust, winner 2015 Press 53 Award for Poetry.…
The Washington Writers Conference Presents Kirstin Downey
An award-winning longtime reporter for the Washington Post (where she shared in a Pulitzer Prize), Kirstin Downey is also author of the acclaimed Isabella: The Warrior Queen, a biography of the storied Spanish monarch. Find out what Downey can teach you about writing your stories during this year’s Washington Writers…
Paying with Their Bodies: American War and the Problem of the Disabled Veteran
45 Minutes with Kazuo Ishiguro
Kazuo Ishiguro is the prizewinning author of seven novels, including The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go, both of which sold more than a million copies and were adapted into highly acclaimed films. Here, he discusses his most recent work, The Buried Giant. In the spring 2008…
Louis Bayard: It’s actually pretty terrifying, the ziggurat of books on my nightstand. Should it ever choose to fall on me, there’s no telling what I’ll look like when the rubble is cleared. Some of the books I will almost certainly never read (e.g., Guns, Germs and Steel, Daniel Kahneman’s…
7 Reasons You Should Marry a Fellow Writer
My husband, Art Taylor, and I talk about a lot of things. Most are along the lines of “What’s for dinner?” or “Need to clean up the cat vomit.” However, when we're not navigating the day-to-day chores of life, we talk about short fiction. And that's why we're here. To…
If there's a fifth dimension, T.C. Boyle got there first. His voluminous body of work dances between satirical, laugh-out-loud funny, somber, and thought-provoking…and sometimes just plain weird (in a good way!). As a novelist, he's looked at Alfred Kinsey, Joseph Kellogg, and Frank Lloyd Wright, along with fictional characters of…
So don't matter how much I say I like to preach with the Panthers Or tell Georgia State “Marcus Garvey got all the answers” Or try to celebrate February like it's my B-Day Or eat watermelon, chicken, and Kool-Aid on weekdays Or jump high enough to get Michael Jordan endorsements…
The Washington Writers Conference Presents Ruben Castaneda
A former Washington Post reporter and author of the riveting memoir S Street Rising: Crack, Murder, and Redemption in D.C., Ruben Castaneda will share what he’s learned along the way during this year’s Washington Writers Conference on April 25th in Bethesda, MD. Click here to register!
An Exemplars Special for April
The story in The Language of Paradise takes place in 1830s New England, where Sophy Hedge, daughter of a Calvinist minister, falls in love with her father’s student, Gideon Birdsall. Gideon is a man obsessed with finding the origins of pure language — the quest to find the primary/first language…
What’s a Writing Group Good for, Anyway?
I have the best writing group on the planet. It’s a fact of nature. The only way it could possibly get better is if Margaret Atwood, J.K. Rowling, and, say, Stephen King decided to join. But barring that unlikely circumstance, mine’s the best. Group. On. The. Planet. Seriously. So I…
Ed Tufte — Yale professor, design and statistics master, sculptor, visual artist — embodies the truism that nerds will inherit the earth. A self-proclaimed expert in “data visualization,” Tufte crusades against “chartjunk,” denouncing complex designs and flashy graphics. Let the content control the presentation, he pleads. To find a presentation…
An Interview with Forrest Aguirre
World Fantasy Award-winning author Forrest Aguirre’s second novel, Heraclix and Pomp: A Novel of the Fabricated and the Fey, is a cross-genre romp. It is part historical, part horror, and part road-buddy novel. The eponymous characters travel from Vienna to Prague to Istanbul, as well as to Hell and the…
This is a column about generations. As in missing them, or being caught between them. It is, of course, a situation not unique to my writing life. For example, I was too young for Grace Kelly, and now I’m too old for Amy Adams. Don’t think that doesn’t bug me…
5 Most Popular Posts: March 2015
The Washington Writers Conference. Judging by how many readers perused the agent list, we’re guessing there are quite a few budding novelists out there eager to pitch their ideas! (If you haven’t registered for the April 25th conference yet, click here now. Time’s running out!) A review of The Age…
The Washington Writers Conference Presents Michael Isikoff
Investigative reporter and bestselling author Michael Isikoff has spent his career covering hard-hitting stories for such media outlets as Yahoo News, Newsweek, the NBC Nightly News, and the Huffington Post. See what he can tell you about launching your career during this year’s Washington Writers Conference on April 25th in…
When you see a movie, what sticks with you most: the characters or the plot? Probably the characters. And that’s true for books, too. The reason is we like to live vicariously through others. We like to see — and feel — what happens to the characters we come to…
An Interview with Matthew Olshan
“Early on, he kept a journal…” So begins Marshlands, the story of Gus, an aging prisoner suddenly released into a bustling city. Here, author Matthew Olshan — whose other works include the young-adult titles Finn and The Mighty Lalouche — talks about his latest book, the power of words, and…
So it seems I've been a dupe of the sugar industry all these years. And I have the cavities to prove it. Anytime I leave the dentist's office without another filling is a major life triumph. I've already had two root canals, and my teeth are now more gold, silver…
The Washington Writers Conference Presents Monica Bhide
Engineer-turned-author Monica Bhide, a frequent guest on NPR and contributor to such publications as Food & Wine, the New York Times, Health, SELF, Saveur, and many others, just published her first short-story collection, The Devil in Us. See what advice she has for getting your work published during this year’s…
The Age of Acquiescence: The Life and Death of American Resistance to Organized Wealth and Power
March 2015 Exemplars: Poetry Reviews by Grace Cavalieri
WINTER’S HARVEST: 18 Books Lines Of Defense by Stephen Dunn. New Paperback Edition. W.W. Norton & Co. 95 pages. When this book was in hardback I read it with affection, and, now, another chance, because, let’s be honest, timing is everything in what we read; even the good ones sit…
One of the key objectives in my ENGL101 classes is to teach the basics of research. In organizing this semester's courses, I chose to recapitulate my experience as a scholar of Thomas Jefferson, to share with the students the path they can take to gain knowledge, no matter the result.…
An Interview with Charles Todd
In A Fine Summer’s Day, the 17th Ian Rutledge mystery, by Charles Todd, war is coming to Britain, and young Rutledge must decide whether to join up with the rest of his compatriots or stay and handle his duties at Scotland Yard. It’s a difficult decision made even more so…
When readers take a trip, books are an important accessory. And I don’t mean just travel guides or phrase books. For people who enjoy reading, a novel or history set in the destination is a great way to enrich the experience. Some neighbors of mine, for instance, are setting off…
The Washington Writers Conference Presents Grace Cavalieri
Acclaimed poet Grace Cavalieri is author of more than a dozen books and chapbooks, including The Man Who Got Away and The Mandate of Heaven. She is in her 39th year of hosting the radio show “The Poet and the Poem,” recorded at the Library of Congress. Hear her in…
9 Great Irish Writers Who Aren’t James Joyce
Colm Tóibín. His novel The Master, a gorgeous study of writer Henry James, is an astonishing book that leaves you wondering why anyone else even tries. ~ Carrie Callaghan Robert McLiam Wilson. His Eureka Street is a lively human fairytale of a Belfast in which “the Troubles” are easing, but…
Hi! I’m Meg, and I actually enjoy academic writing. True story. I also enjoy a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor. You’ve been warned. Several years ago, I decided to shift my focus from academic to fiction writing. I’m an avid reader of fiction and I got the crazy idea that I…
Poet Quan Barry’s debut novel, She Weeps Each Time You’re Born, tells the story of Rabbit, a baby girl born at the peak of the war in Vietnam, along the Song Ma River on the night of a full moon. Rabbit has strange powers and an amazing intuition. Through her,…
Robin Black: I think my night table, actually a small bookcase, is a little peculiar — or, anyway, it’s on a funny timetable. I always have tons of galleys, and then, in part because I read a lot of galleys, I’m often behind the curve on books that everyone else…
Who Freed The Slaves? The Fight Over the Thirteenth Amendment
I remember watching this soldier, who was a couple of months back from Iraq, addressing a group of high-school freshmen; the boys in the class were especially excited to hear him speak. The soldier talked a little about what he did in the military, why he had been in Iraq,…
The Washington Writers Conference Presents Linda Lear
Award-winning writer and historian Linda Lear, Ph.D., is author of the acclaimed Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature and Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature. Her papers on Carson and Potter are held at her alma mater, Connecticut College, in the Linda Lear Center for Special Collections and Archives. Discover what…
5 Most Popular Posts: February 2015
“13 Upcoming Biographies to Watch For.” James McGrath Morris’ rundown drew more readers than any other piece last month. Huzzah for nonfiction! The Washington Writers Conference. We get the sense lots of scribes out there are excited for this annual event. (If you haven’t registered yet, click here. Early-bird rates…
Rejection. The word itself can create a lingering sense of uncertainly in a writer's conscience. If you've experienced this feeling of dread, and you most likely have at some point in your literary career, you’re not alone. All writers, beginning and established, receive rejection letters. It’s unavoidable. Feeling angry and…
The American People, Vol. I: Search for My Heart by Larry Kramer. Kirkus calls this sweeping, satirical look at the U.S. “breathtakingly well-written.” The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro. A bewitching tale of love, human nature, and the power of memory. [Click here to read the Independent’s review.] God Help…
5 Ways to Make Your Fiction Come Alive
Paint a Memorable Picture. Writers are artists, using words in place of paint to create visuals for their readers. So instead of simply writing: “The man walked into the hotel lobby” (a perfectly legitimate sentence), transform it into something like this: “The elderly gentleman, dressed in a beige seersucker suit…
The Longest Afternoon: The 400 Men Who Decided the Battle of Waterloo
As not enough of the world knows, I write thrillers and mysteries, 12 to date. I love doing it, and have gathered some great reviews from people I don’t even owe money to. But I’m only human, and can’t help being a wee bit envious of more financially successful authors.…
The Washington Writers Conference Presents Michel Martin
Although a print journalist for newspapers and TV correspondent for “Nightline” earlier in her career, Michel Martin is best known for her insightful, informative work at National Public Radio. From “Tell Me More” to “Talk of the Nation,” she’s lent her voice to some of NPR’s most distinctive programs. Hear…
When he was in the United States Senate, Harry Truman conducted hearings into waste and fraud in wartime WWII and became a national figure at the time and, later, of course, president. When Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) held hearings about whistleblowing and fraud among contractors carrying out our country's failed…
10 Things to Know about Your Out-of-Print Book
Out-of-print books can have a second, sometimes even a third life. My first book, Maryland Lost and Found: People and Places from Chesapeake to Appalachia, was published in 1986 by Johns Hopkins University Press. It has since had two different paperback editions, from two different publishers. My second book, Chesapeake…
I teach ENG101 at a local university, composition for academic study, how to write a research paper. I enjoy it. I like to see the kind of leaping progress young minds can make when solid connections are made in the classroom. I can teach any kind of English class, actually:…
I have no idea where the copy of Richard Price’s 1992 novel, Clockers, came from. I found it, dusty with yellowed pages, around the house. I have read a couple of Price’s novels in the last year — one good, one okay — so I took a taste. The book…
Small Press Profile: Meet Gival Press
Robert Giron, editor-in-chief of Gival Press, first had the idea for starting an independent press after trying to sell a translation of Mexican writer Jesus Gardea's poetry. “Now deceased, the late Gardea was a well-known fiction writer in Mexico, and he shared his only poetry collection with me around 1979,”…
To My Literary Executor: In light of the recent furor over the publication of a second Harper Lee novel, the tidal swell of snark greeting the announcement of posthumous publications by Dr. Seuss, and taking into consideration the sad mediocrities that were Islands in the Stream and The Last Tycoon,…
The Washington Writers Conference Presents James McGrath Morris
Award-winning biographer James McGrath Morris has made a career of chronicling people’s lives in works like Pulitzer: A Life in Politics, Print, and Power and The Rose Man of Sing Sing: A True Tale of Life, Murder, and Redemption in the Age of Yellow Journalism. His newest book, Eye on…
An Interview with Louisa Treger
The heroine of your book is Dorothy Richardson, a real-life English writer from the first part of the 20th century. Can you summarize her most important work? Dorothy Richardson (1873-1957) was a fascinating figure. In her lifetime, she was considered Virginia Woolf’s peer, and she forged a new style of…
February 2015 Exemplars: Poetry Reviews by Grace Cavalieri
Out From The Pleiades by Leslie McGrath. Jaded Ibis Productions. 73 pages. The Richard Peabody Reader by Richard Peabody, edited by Lucinda Ebersole. Introduction by Michael Dirda. Alan Squire Publishing. 420 pages. Really Happy by Jim Reese. NYQ Books. 76 pages. Stonewalls by Gil Fagiani. Bordighera Press. 106 pages. Streaming…
13 Upcoming Biographies to Watch For
It was nearly impossible to select just a baker’s dozen for this list. The collection is so rich that merely taking a stab at those books most likely to garner attention is fraught with risk. So while these are our picks, keep in mind that next to each of these…
The Nuns of Sant’Ambrogio: The True Story of a Convent in Scandal
I didn't read the book for the December meeting of the Memoir Workshop I teach at StoryStudio Chicago. If the instructor doesn't read the assigned book, that's pretty bad, right? Of course I felt guilty; I'm usually conscientious about reading the books for my workshops and the books I review…
The Tumbleweed Society: Working and Caring in an Age of Insecurity
With book publishing in an existential struggle in the wake of the digital revolution, marketing has only gained in importance. I’m not talking just about mastering social media or search engine optimization, but sometimes just plain old savvy in understanding how the market works. Case in point: A good friend,…
Meet Me in Venice: A Chinese Immigrant’s Journey from the Far East to the Faraway West
Bedtime Stories: February 2015
Sarah Pekkanen: Teetering on my nightstand is a tall stack of soon-to-be published novels; one of the perks of my job is getting a sneak peek at upcoming books and the chance to offer a blurb for the cover jacket. Recently, I tore through The Sweetheart Deal by Polly Dugan…
An Interview with Alexandra Fuller
Currently ranked 10th on the New York Times bestseller list, Leaving Before the Rains Come is Alexandra Fuller’s third memoir. In it, she recounts both the demise of her marriage and the familial characteristics that make the Fullers so extraordinarily distinct and unassailably complex — living through wars, death, and…
An Interview with Alice Simpson
Alice Simpson’s debut novel, Ballroom, braids together the lives of six people, most of them strangers, who frequent a Manhattan ballroom in the 1990s, just before it closes forever. Twice-divorced Sarah is convinced she will finally find true romance; debonair Gabriel is a dazzling dancer but a troubled human being;…
The cover of Before My Eyes hasn’t changed, but the feel of it has. Grittier. I expect it to smell like cigarettes. It doesn’t. I flip to the back first, as if the ending may somehow have changed. It hasn’t. On the last page is an advertisement for another novel,…
Eye on the Struggle: Ethel Payne, the First Lady of the Black Press
Even if you’re not done with the bookish bounty brought forth under your Christmas tree, 2015 promises a whole new trove of literary treasures. So don’t worry that the groundhog says there’s six more weeks of winter. These five terrific titles will keep you happily reading in front of a…
The Washington Writers Conference Presents John Feinstein
Among the 25+ books penned by John Feinstein, two — A Good Walk Spoiled and A Season on the Brink — hold the title of all-time bestselling nonfiction sports books. The author of works both for adults and kids, Feinstein is also a regular contributor to the Washington Post, as…
Longtime readers of my 11-month-old column know about my annual Valentine’s week tradition of answering love-related questions from readers. People want romantic advice, and when you want romantic advice, who better to turn to than a noir-light writer? Exactly. John M. from Fairfax asks: Should I read a poem, penned…
4 Ways to Make Your Memoir Compelling
Remember that your life is really not all that interesting. It's your take on it that’s compelling. The more specific you can be, the more universal your writing becomes. Don't make your memoir about you, make it about us. Sharpen your focus on a series of events that are interconnected…
Denise Levertov: A Poet’s Life
Denise Levertov is remembered as a political poet who believed that poets should be active in the world. She lived this. She was a game-changer when few other women poets were writing about American foreign policy and our country’s internal combustions. She was among the most prominent voices throughout the…
Your Club in Lights: The Maryland-Based “We Don’t Have a Name” Book Club
Your club’s name: We don't have a name. Should we make one up? Location: The Bradley Hills area of Bethesda, MD, and Georgetown. How long you’ve been around: We just had our 10th anniversary dinner. How many members: We have nine members. We are co-ed, too. Book you’re currently reading:…
An Interview with Lalita Tademy
In her latest novel, Citizens Creek, Lalita Tademy examines an often overlooked part of our history: the fact that many people of color were held in bondage by Native American tribes before the Civil War. Her story is set in the sweet spot of a turbulent period in American history…
4 Cookbooks Full of Veggie-Sneaking Recipes
Greek: A Collection of Over 100 Essential Recipes by Paragon Books Ltd. Greek food abounds with delicious vegetables, and this book has plenty of delicious (and often simple) recipes. Yes, there's meat, too — all the better to conceal the vegetarian awesome. Vegetarian Classics: 300 Essential and Easy Recipes for…
The Washington Writers Conference Presents Kitty Kelley
Internationally acclaimed author and investigative biographer Kitty Kelley has chronicled some of the most iconic figures from the past half century, among them Frank Sinatra, Nancy Reagan, Elizabeth Taylor, and the Bush family. Her last five biographies — including, most recently, Oprah: A Biography — have all been number one…
I just finished a marvelous book: The World of Raymond Chandler (In His Own Words), edited by Barry Day. As a thriller writer myself, I didn’t think I had so much in common with Chandler, the acknowledged master of the genre. We both like cats and cocktails. What? You expected…
5 Most Popular Posts: January 2015
Washington Writers Conference. Whether checking the schedule of events, perusing the list of 20+ participating literary agents, or scoping out the panelists, readers flocked to the pages related to our popular annual conference. (What do you mean you haven’t registered yet? Click here to take advantage of the early-bird rate!)…
An Interview with Davar Ardalan
What compelled you to write The Persian Square? Was it a particular event, or had the idea been percolating for a while? In February of 2010, when I read that the city of Los Angeles named a square in honor of the Iranian-American community, I was inspired. The intersection of…
So, we’re about to find out if the fifth time is the charm. My fifth book — Madison’s Gift: Five Partnerships that Built America — will go on sale February 10th. This raises the recurring question that has bedeviled the publishing industry since Gutenberg brought out his line of Bibles:…
We live somewhere in the un-zoned sprawl of concrete and glass that is Houston, nestled near the Museum District and Rice University,” says Brazos Bookstore’s events coordinator, Benjamin Rybeck. “We’re across the street from Beyoncé’s mom’s hair salon and next to a business that promises to pamper your pets.” Keeping…
15 of the Past Year’s Best Poetry Books
Best Book of Poems Medic Against Bomb: A Doctor’s Poetry of War by Frederick Foote (Grayson Books) Best New Novel Alena by Rachel Pastan (Riverhead) Best Chapbook Congregation: Poems by Natasha Trethewey (William Meredith Foundation/Dryad Press) Best Mixed-Media (watercolor/poetry) The Girls in the Chartreuse Jackets by Maria Mazziotti Gillan (Cat…
Sympathy for the Devil: Four Decades of Friendship with Gore Vidal
Cognitive scientist Jim Davies uses evolutionary psychology, anthropology, and neuroscience to present a unified theory of compellingness. That is, what holds our attention, why we love and hate, and how we evolved to believe in religion. I was thrilled when I heard about Riveted. I thought you had decoded art…
I've always been told that my birthday is July 27, and it is on that day I celebrate. But as an adoptee of American and Korean parentage, I sometimes wonder if I really was born on the very same date of the signing of the armistice agreement between North and…
8 Books We’re Embarrassed Not to Have Read
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. As it mounted the top of bestseller lists, this book became an obsession. Then, miraculously, I found it for a dollar at a church sale, and it has sat, untouched, ever since. Possession can kill desire. ~Harriet Dwinell Lord of the Flies by William Golding.…
An Interview with Craig Laurance Gidney
Skin Deep Magic is a collection of stories that at first seems un-themed, but later feels as if they share a common thread, albeit a thin one. The idea of transformation, and resistance to it, comes up again and again. There are struggles against identity, against ideas of essential nature,…
The murderous attack on cartoonists and their colleagues at the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo has prompted a debate on free speech, its limits, the role of satire, and a number of related topics important to our society. For most of us, the question at this moment is not whether…
An Interview with Sarah Janssen
How is editing The World Almanac different from editing other kinds of books? Does it require a special skill set? In contrast with most book editors, who may be handling dozens of new titles at one time, editors of The World Almanac are focused on one title for most of…
An Interview with Caroline Moorehead
Chambon quickly became an important symbol to the French. In their eyes, it celebrated their resistance and heroism relative to how other French in Vichy and elsewhere quickly capitulated and helped the Nazis persecute Jews. You demonstrate that Chambon's record of resistance was, in fact, a bit more opaque. What…
January Exemplars: Books for the Turn of the Year
JANUARY EXEMPLARS 2015: Books for the Turn of the Year *** Repast by D.A. Powell. Graywolf Press. 206 pages. A Woman Without A Country by Eavan Boland. WW Norton. 79 pages. Calling Home: Praise Songs and Incantations by Naomi Ayala. Bilingual Press. 76 pages. WMD: A Memoir by Richard Harteis.…
Robin Antalek: I have a pile of old and new friends on my nightstand to get me through the winter. I just finished We Are Not Ourselves by Matthew Thomas and was blown away. I couldn’t wait for bed each night, and I admit it was getting earlier and earlier…
The Great New Orleans Kidnapping Case: Race, Law, and Justice in the Reconstruction Era
I really thought the band Toto had something. When I was a kid, I remember hearing the song “Africa” and thinking its beauty was haunting. And I couldn’t have been the only one. Right? But despite its massive popularity and artistic significance, you might be surprised to learn that “Africa”…
An Interview with Hannah Pittard
In Hannah Pittard’s latest novel, Reunion, Kate Pulaski is facing the end of her marriage when she gets the news that her estranged father, Stan, has committed suicide. She returns to her hometown for the funeral and reunites with her brother and sister, as well as her many half siblings…
5 Fun Reads for Middle-Grade Bookworms
Ask Amy Green: Wedding Belles By Sarah Webb Candlewick Recommended for ages 12 and up In this final book in the Ask Amy Green series, the title character finds herself dealing with more drama than ever before. Not only is her mom getting married — and Amy’s partly in charge…
4 Springtime Releases from Award-Winning Authors
God Help the Child by Toni Morrison (Knopf). The Nobel laureate’s tale of childhood trauma and its lasting effects may be the most buzzed-about book hitting the shelves this spring. The Green Road by Anne Enright (W.W. Norton). The Man Booker Prize-winning Irish author is back with this sweeping story…
Outbreak in Washington, D.C.: The 1857 Mystery of the National Hotel Disease
Star-Spangled Banner: The Unlikely Story of America’s National Anthem
January Exemplars: Books for the Turn of the Year
JANUARY EXEMPLARS 2015: Books for the Turn of the Year Poetry Reviews by Grace Cavalieri *** Repast by D. A. Powell Graywolf Press. 206 pages A Woman Without A Country by Eavan Boland. WW Norton. 79 pages. Calling Home: Praise Songs and Incantations by Naomi Ayala. Bilingual Press. 76 pages.…
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