Friday, October 30, 2015

Spotlight on Literary Events: October 30-November 5



The Poetry of Ezra Pound
Friday, October 30th from 12 pm to 1 pm
Library of Congress
Thomas Jefferson Building (Whittall Pavilion – Ground Floor)
101 Independence Ave SE
Washington, D.C. 20540

Poets Elizabeth Arnold and Charles Bernstein will celebrate the birthday of poet Ezra Pound by reading selections from his work and discussing his influence on their own writing. This event is free and open to the public and will feature a display from the Library’s collections. Free admission.

Paula Hawkins – The Girl on the Train
Friday, October 30th at 7 pm
Politics & Prose Bookstore and Coffeehouse
5015 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20008

In her debut novel, Hawkins uses three different narrators to explore how little any of us really know about the lives of others. This rich psychological thriller centers on Rachel, who, in brief glimpses from a daily commuter train, finds what looks to her like an ideal marriage. She herself is still reeling from a nasty divorce, drinking way too much, and in fact commutes to a job she only pretends still to have. Then the woman she’s envied goes missing, and Rachel is implicated in the disappearance by her ex-husband, who claims Rachel was drunk and out of control near where the woman was last seen—but Rachel remembers nothing. Hawkins is the former deputy personal finance editor of the Times of London. She will be in conversation with journalist, author, and Book Maven Bethanne Patrick. Free admission. 

ASL Open Mic Night
Friday, October 30th from 11 pm to 1 am
Busboys and Poets (5th and K location)
1025 5th St NW
Washington, D.C. 20001

On this night, American Sign Language users are invited to recite a poem, song, short skit, or jokes. Come out and enjoy the wonderful environment while you eat, drink, and socialize. Great for those learning American Sign Language. Hosted by NatPlu. $5 cover.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - Mycroft Holmes
Saturday, October 31st at 11 am
Politics & Prose Bookstore and Coffeehouse
5015 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20008

In his first novel for adults, the NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar focuses on Sherlock’s older, smarter but, according to Arthur Conan Doyle, less industrious, brother. In 1870, Mycroft is working hard at the War Office in London and already showing a distinct knack for international diplomacy. When news of strange deaths in Trinidad sends him overseas to investigate, he’s drawn into a puzzle that may involve supernatural beings. Abdul-Jabbar is the author of On the Shoulders of Giants and, not-incidentally, a long-time fan of the Holmes mysteries, Note: this is a signing only. The line for this signing will form outside the bookstore beginning at 10 am. No posed photos will be allowed, but customers may take photos as they move through the signing line. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar will be signing books only, no memorabilia.

Kate Gavino - Last Night's Reading: Illustrated Encounters with Extraordinary Authors
Saturday, October 31st at 1 pm
Politics & Prose Bookstore and Coffeehouse
5015 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20008

For recent readings in and around New York City, Kate Gavino’s colorful collection of Tumblr postings is surely the next-best thing to being there. The Brooklyn-based writer and illustrator captures the liveliest quotes, presented as beautiful, hand-lettered characters along with an equally vivid drawing of the author. Ranging from major venues with major writers to ambient-rich holes-in-the-wall, these unique reports on the literary scene show us why we love going to readings. Free admission.

Alex Mar - Witches Of America
Saturday, October 31st at 3.30 pm
Politics & Prose Bookstore and Coffeehouse
5015 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20008

Alex Mar’s commentaries have appeared in journals including Slate, Elle, and Oxford American; in her documentary film, American Mystic, the journalist revealed herself as a skeptic fascinated by believers. Her first book continues her film’s exploration of contemporary paganism, chronicling both intimate rituals and mass-gatherings of witches. Following her subject into the deep dark woods as well as into the urban headquarters of organized societies, Mar works to elucidate the role of spirituality—and of Wicca practices in particular—in a secular world. Free admission.

Tom Gjelten - A Nation of Nations: A Great American Immigration Story
Saturday, October 31st at 6 pm
Politics & Prose Bookstore and Coffeehouse
5015 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20008

Published to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Immigration and Nationality Act—a period during which the foreign-born population of the U.S. has tripled—Tom Gjelten’s third book tells the national story through the microcosm of Fairfax County, Virginia. He follows families from Korea, Bolivia, and Libya as they face cultural and racial stereotyping, economic challenges, and other obstacles. A long-time NPR correspondent, regular panelist on “Washington Week” and the author of Bacardi and The Long Fight for Cuba, Gjelten has won awards for his work on both overseas events and domestic issues. Free admission.

Steven Hill - Raw Deal: How the "Uber Economy" And Runaway Capitalism Are Screwing American Workers
Sunday, November 1st at 1 pm
Politics & Prose Bookstore and Coffeehouse
5015 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20008

The author of Europe’s Promise takes a hard look at new businesses like Uber, Airbnb, and TaskRabbit—and finds them wanting. Arguing against the sharing economy as a model, Steven Hill shows how this libertarian economic model is unfair to workers who are less likely to find full-time employment and more likely to work as contractors at low compensation. Hill suggests an economic model focused on the individual, not the workplace, is a fairer deal for America’s labor force, which also faces displacement from robots and automation. Currently a senior fellow with New America, Hill is a long-time journalist and commentator. His work has been featured in The Washington Post, The Guardian, the BBC, and C-Span. Free admission.

Raoul Wientzen - The Assembler of Parts
Sunday, November 1st from 2 pm to 4 pm
The Writer's Center
4508 Walsh Street
Bethesda, MD 20815

"In this astonishing first novel, 7-year-old, physically disabled Jess reviews her brief, tumultuous life from heaven via films provided by The Assembler, a supreme being who, for mysterious reasons, declined to give her thumbs, several bones, a whole heart and the gift of hearing." —Kirkus Review. Raoul Wientzen reads from The Assembler of Parts, winner of the McLaughlin Esstman Stearns First Novel Prize. The reading will be followed by a reception and book signing. Free admission.

Linda Pastan - Insomnia: Poems
Sunday, November 1st at 5 pm
Politics & Prose Bookstore and Coffeehouse
5015 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20008

In her new work, Linda Pastan visits the dark/remorseless/ stations of the night, doing so with her signature lucidity and grace. Maryland’s Poet Laureate from 1991 to 1995, is one of contemporary poetry’s most honored figures. Her list of accolades includes a Pushcart Prize, a Dylan Thomas Award, the Di Castagnola Award, and the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. Two of her collections, Carnival Evening and PM/AM, were finalists for the National Book Award. Free admission.

Upshur Street Books Turns One!
Sunday, November 1st from 6 pm to 8 pm
827 Upshur St NW
Washington, D.C. 20011

One year ago on November 1st, Upshur Street Books became a part of the D.C. literary community. Since then, many people have contributed to make the bookstore a success. A new independent, community bookstore is an achievement to be proud of. Help celebrate! The party will be held on the third floor of the forthcoming Slim’s Diner. There will be music by Paperhaus and Sean Barna, food, drinks, special discounts, and delightful bookish conversation. The bookstore will be open from 10 am to 9 pm. Free admission.

Rebecca Goldfield, Matt Dembicki, Mike Short, and Evan Keeling - Captive Of Friendly Cove: Based on the Secret Journals Of John Jewitt
Sunday, November 1st at 6:30 pm
Busboys and Poets (Brookland location)
625 Monroe St. NE
Washington, D.C. 20017

In this new work, based on real life events as recorded by British sailor John Jewitt, the creative team of Rebecca Goldfield, Matt Dembicki, Mike Short, and Evan Keeling pairs early 19th-century adventure with 21st-century graphic tale-telling. Jewitt spent three years as a captive of the Mowachaht First Nation of Nootka Sound. The book chronicles his capture and the fraught years spent oscillating between assimilating to survive and keeping hope of an eventual escape. Goldfield is an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose work has appeared on PBS and National Geographic. Her previous collaboration with Keeling, founding member of the D.C. Conspiracy, and the graphic artist Dembicki, resulted in District Comics, which was one of The Washington Post’s Best Books of 2012. Free admission.

*SPARKLE* Queer Open Mic
Sunday, November 1st from 8 pm to 10 pm
Busboys and Poets (14th & V location)
2021 14th St, NW
Washington, D.C. 20009

*SPARKLE* open mic poetry is a queer-friendly and focused reading series that has featured an array of LGBT-dedicated poets. Hosted by Regie Cabico and Danielle Evennou. $5 cover.

Lenore Myka - King of the Gypsies & Virginia Pye - Dreams of the Red Phoenix
Monday, November 2nd at 6:30 pm
Busboys and Poets (Takoma location)
235 Carroll St. NW
Washington, D.C. 20012

Winner of the G. S. Sharat Chandra Prize for Short Fiction, Lenore Myka’s first book focuses on life in post-communist Romania, which she experienced in the mid-1990s as a Peace Corps volunteer teaching English. Together, this collection of stories tracks the impact of recent political and economic changes through several strata of Romanian society, especially the disenfranchised, traumatized, and, in side trips to America, émigrés. Virginia Pye, author of River of Dust, draws on her family’s past for her second novel, set in 1937 China. As the Japanese invade, Shirley, a recently widowed American missionary, has to decide where her loyalties lie. Torn between wanting to see her son safely out of the fray, yet drawn to the idealism of the Chinese (and of one Red Army soldier in particular) she first offers her home as a clinic and nurses the wounded, then, as her son faces increasing ostracism as a “foreign devil,” decides to flee while she still can.

Ru Freeman and Contributors - Extraordinary Rendition
Monday, November 2nd at 6:30 pm
Busboys and Poets (14th & V location)
2021 14th St, NW
Washington, D.C. 20009

This anthology of work by 65 American writers seeks to counter the dehumanizing aspects of mainstream reporting on Palestine with work that reflects the complexities and immediate reality of the situation. Ru Freeman will discuss the role of anthologies in political change with Ashley Dawson, editor of Against Apartheid: The Case for Boycotting Israeli Universities. Freeman is a Sri Lankan and American activist, Huffington Post blogger, and prize-winning author of several novels, including On Sal Mal Lane. Readers: Nate Brown, a widely published fiction writer and web editor for American Short Fiction, and Susan Muaddi Darraj, a widely anthologized short-story writer and winner of the 2014 AWP Grace Paley Award for her forthcoming collection of short fiction, A Curious Land: Stories from Home.

Play Reading: After the Blood
Monday, November 2nd from 6:30 pm to 9 pm
Busboys and Poets (5th and K location)
1025 5th St NW
Washington, D.C. 20001

Enjoy a stage reading of the play After the Blood. Directed by Eleanor Holdridge, the story follows two D.C. activists protesting the bombing of Gaza as they share secrets and cultivate a romance while painting banners late into the night. But one of the women is keeping a big secret to herself. Free and open to all!

Alison Bass – Getting Screwed
Monday, November 2nd at 6:30 pm
Kramerbooks
1517 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20036

Alison Bass weaves the true stories of sex workers with the latest research on prostitution into a gripping journalistic account of how women (and some men) navigate a culture that routinely accepts the implicit exchange of sex for money, status, or even a good meal, but imposes heavy penalties on those who make such bargains explicit. Along the way, Bass examines why an increasing number of middle-class white women choose to become sex workers and explores how prostitution has become a thriving industry in the twenty-first-century global economy. Situating her book in American history more broadly, she also discusses the impact of the sexual revolution, the rise of the Nevada brothels, and the growing war on sex trafficking after 9/11. Free admission.

T. J. Stiles - Custer's Trials: A Life on the Frontier of a New America
Monday, November 2nd at 7 pm
Politics & Prose Bookstore and Coffeehouse
5015 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20008

T. J. Stiles won multiple awards for his debut biography on Jesse James. With his next work, The First Tycoon, a life of Cornelius Vanderbilt, he earned both the Pulitzer and the National Book Award. Now, in his eagerly awaited third book, Stiles reveals new facets of General George Armstrong Custer. Looking at Custer’s experience both as a public figure and as the husband of a highly educated woman, Stiles presents a complex man whose strengths and weaknesses often conflicted. Vanderbilt is both iconic of the Wild West and at odds with the larger socio-cultural changes going on around him. Free admission.

Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor - Welcome To Night Vale
Monday, November 2nd at 7 pm
Sixth and I Historic Synagogue
600 I St NW
Washington, D.C. 20001

Carrying on the tradition of The Twilight Zone and Twin Peaks, Night Vale brought the American Gothic to poD.C.asts in 2012 and became a #1 iTunes Comedy poD.C.ast. With Welcome to Night Vale, co-writers Joseph Fink, who created the series, and Jeffrey Cranor, a playwright, give their indelibly creepy town a book-length treatment. Bringing out facets of the place and its characters other formats can’t, this written episode revolves around the cryptic “King City,” an unexplained phrase that somehow holds the key to Diana’s shape-shifting. Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor will be in conversation with Linda Holmes, host of NPR's entertainment and pop-culture blog, Monkey See and NPR poD.C.ast Pop Culture Happy Hour. 1 Ticket: $15; 1 Book and 1 Ticket: $25; $23 for P & P members; 1 Book and 2 Tickets: $35; $33 for P & P members.

Monday Night Open Mic Poetry hosted by KaNikki J
Monday, November 2nd at 2015 from 8 pm to 10 pm
Busboys and Poets (Shirlington location)
4251 South Campbell Avenue
Arlington, VA 22206

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. $5 cover.

Monday Night Open Mic hosted by E-Baby
Monday, November 2nd from 9 pm to 11 pm
Busboys and Poets (Takoma location)
235 Carroll St. NW
Washington, D.C. 20012

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. $5 cover.

Kennedy Odede and Jessica Posner - Find Me Unafraid: Love, Loss, and Hope in an African Slum
Tuesday, November 3rd at 6:30 pm
Busboys and Poets (Brookland location)
625 Monroe St. NE
Washington, D.C. 20017

Kennedy Odede and Jessica Posner take turns narrating this story of their efforts to improve conditions in one of Kenya’s worst slums. Odede founded the nonprofit Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO) when he was still a teenager, and Posner joined him in 2007—the first white person to live in Kibera. The two met when Posner was a Wesleyan undergraduate on a semester abroad in Kenya, where Odede had grown up. Later, they married, Odede completed his formal education in the U.S., and the couple founded a much-needed school for girls. The school now has an enrollment of 140. SHOFCO has continued to grow and includes a women’s health clinic, an AIDS information center, a library, and other services, with a similar project scheduled to open in Mathare. Free admission.

Sara Benincasa – D.C. Trip
Tuesday, November 3rd at 6;30 pm
Busboys and Poets (14th & V location)
2021 14th St, NW
Washington, D.C. 20009
An award-winning comedian, Sara Benincasa made her literary debut with Agorafabulous, a memoir relating her struggle with agoraphobia that was at once illuminating about a disabling malady and very funny. She moved into fiction with Great, and now her second novel takes on the classic high school class trip to the nation’s capital. Follow an inexperienced teacher trying to manage both her students and her love life, and a pair of sophomores eager to try anything. Benincasa will be in conversation with Dave Zirin, The Nation’s sports editor and the author of several books, including A People’s History of Sports and Brazil’s Dance With the Devil. Free admission.

Mehrsa Baradaran – How the Other Half Banks
Tuesday, November 3rd at 6:30 pm
Kramerbooks
1517 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20036

The United States has two separate banking systems today—one serving the well-to-do and another exploiting everyone else. How the Other Half Banks contributes to the growing conversation on American inequality by highlighting one of its prime causes: unequal credit. Mehrsa Baradaran examines how a significant portion of the population, deserted by banks, is forced to wander through a wild west of payday lenders and check-cashing services to cover emergency expenses and pay for necessities all thanks to deregulation that began in the 1970s and continues decades later. Free admission.

Julie Checkoway - The Three-Year Swim Club: The Untold Story of Maui's Sugar Ditch Kids and Their Quest for Olympic Glory
Tuesday, November 3rd at 7 pm
Politics & Prose Bookstore and Coffeehouse
5015 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20008

A documentary filmmaker with an extensive creative writing background, Julie Checkoway devotes her first book to the story of one of the world’s most unlikely sports triumphs. In 1937 a visionary schoolteacher on Maui turned his impoverished, malnourished students into amateur swimmers—and coached them into true athletes. By 1940, when this Japanese-American swim-team struggled against racism as well as physical privations, they not only persevered, but triumphed. Free admission.

Tuesday Night Open Mic hosted by Twain Dooley
Tuesday, November 3rd from 9 pm to 11 pm
Busboys and Poets (14th & V location)
2021 14th St, NW
Washington, D.C. 20009
http://www.busboysandpoets.com/events/event/tuesday-night-open-mic-hosted-by-twain-dooley7342 

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. $5 cover.

Tuesday Night Open Mic hosted by Rebecca Dupas
Tuesday, November 3rd from 9 pm to 11 pm
Busboys and Poets (Takoma location)
235 Carroll St. NW
Washington, D.C. 20012
http://www.busboysandpoets.com/events/event/tuesday-night-open-mic-hosted-by-rebecca-dupas5378

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. $5 cover.

Fred Bowen - Out Of Bounds
Wednesday, November 4th at 10:30 am
Politics & Prose Bookstore and Coffeehouse
(Children’s and Teens’ Dept)
5015 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20008

Nate’s soccer team, the Strikers, lost out last year to archrivals The Monarchs. This time around, the boys are determined for things to be different. When it comes down to a split-second decision between making a goal and being a good sportsman, Nate disappoints his teammates—but can he still help the Strikers make it to playoffs? Ages 8–11. Free admission.

Mark Weisbrot - Failed: What the Experts Got Wrong About the Global Economy
Wednesday, November 4th from 5:30 pm to 8 pm
Busboys and Poets (5th and K location)
1025 5th St NW
Washington, D.C. 20001

Mark Weisbrot is Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C. Failed analyzes why important economic developments of recent years have been widely misunderstood, and in some cases, almost completely ignored. First, in the Eurozone, Weisbrot argues that the European authorities' political agenda played a very important role in prolonging the Eurozone's financial crisis and pushing it into years of recession and mass unemployment. The second central theme of Failed explores practical alternatives to prolonged economic failure. Drawing on the history of other financial crises, recessions, and recoveries, Weisbrot argues regardless of initial conditions, there have been and remain economically feasible choices for governments of the Eurozone to greatly reduce unemployment, including the hardest hit, crisis-ridden country of Greece. Free admission.

Stefanie Haeffele-Balch - Community Revival in the Wake of Disaster: Lessons In Local Entrepreneurship
Wednesday, November 4th at 6:30 pm
Busboys and Poets (Takoma location)
235 Carroll St. NW
Washington, D.C. 20012

Along with her co-authors, Stefanie Haeffele-Balch shows how entrepreneurship of a particular kind is key to restoring strong and viable communities hit by natural disasters. Using examples from Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, the authors link entrepreneurs’ abilities to rebuild social networks, provide essential goods and services, and foster hope in a brighter future with the implementation of social changes that can promote greater stability than what many communities experienced before the disaster. Free admission.

Roy Scranton – Learning to Die in the Anthropocene
Wednesday, November 4th at 6:30 pm
Kramerbooks
1517 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20036

Coming home from the war in Iraq, U.S. Army private Roy Scranton thought he'd left the world of strife behind. Then he watched as new calamities struck America, heralding a threat far more dangerous than ISIS or Al Qaeda: Hurricane Katrina, Superstorm Sandy, megadrought, the shock and awe of global warming. Rising seas, spiking temperatures, and extreme weather imperil global infrastructure, crops, and water supplies. Conflict, famine, plagues, and riots menace from every quarter. From war-stricken Baghdad to the melting Arctic, human-caused climate change poses a danger not only to political and economic stability, but also to civilization itself, and to what it means to be human. Scranton will be in conversation with Jonathan Wilson, environmental reporter for WAMU. Free admission.

Charlie Savage - Power Wars: Inside Obama's Post-9/11 Presidency
Wednesday, November 4th at 7 pm
Politics & Prose Bookstore and Coffeehouse
5015 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20008

In Takeover Savage built on his extensive coverage of post-9/11 legal policy issues to chronicle the Bush administration’s efforts to expand presidential power. In his second book, the Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times Washington correspondent focuses on the gap between Obama’s promises to curb the war on terror and the reality of the increase in drone warfare, detentions, and surveillance that have been implemented on his watch. Along with his deep research into current policy-making, Savage provides an overview of the key decisions and events of the last several decades that have led to today’s national security state. Free admission.

Wednesday Open Mic Poetry
Wednesday, November 4th from 9 pm to 11 pm
Busboys and Poets (5th and K location)
1025 5th St NW
Washington, D.C. 20001

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. $5 cover.

Meg Medina - Mango, Abuela Y Yo (En Español)
Thursday, November 5th at 10:30 am
Politics & Prose Bookstore and Coffeehouse
(Children’s and Teens’ Department)
5015 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20008

Cuando Abuela viene a vivir en los Estados Unidos con Mia y sus padres, es difícil comunicarse: su abuela no habla inglés muy bien y Mia tampoco sabe mucho español. Al principio pasan casi todo el tiempo en silencio, pero después Mia y su madre compran un loro llamado Mango.  Él, Abuela, y Mia aprenden nuevas palabras juntos y aprenden a quererse también. Edades 4–7. Gratuito.

Flora Fraser - The Washingtons: George and Martha, "Join'd by Friendship, Crown'd by Love"
Thursday, November 6th at 7 pm
Politics & Prose Bookstore and Coffeehouse
5015 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20008

In her sixth biography, Flora Fraser chronicles a domestic partnership that helped set the tone for a nation. Giving equal treatment to both of this country’s founding parents, Fraser traces the mutually supportive George and Martha Washington from their courtship and life at Mount Vernon through the war years, and on to their creation of the roles of President and First Lady. Fraser will be in conversation with Diana Walker, long-time White House photographer whose most recent book is Hillary: The Photographs of Diana Walker. Free admission.

Thursday Night Open Mic hosted by E-baby
Thursday, November 5th from 9 pm to 11 pm
Busboys and Poets (Hyattsville location)
5331 Baltimore Ave
Hyattsville, MD 20781

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. $5 cover.

1 comment:

  1. I would like to recommend reading The Girl on the Train: A Novel.
    I finished reading it today, and I think its a very good book.

    I ordered mine off Amazon and they delivered it in only 2 days.
    Here is the link for the book on Amazon:
    The Girl on the Train: A Novel

    ReplyDelete