February 4 through February 13, Thursday-Saturday at 7:30 PM
Saturday
and Sunday matinees through February 14 at 2:00 PM
WSC
Avant Bard
2700
South Lang Street
Arlington,
VA 22206
Kicking
off 2016, Avant Bard presents a wholly new take on “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
Director Randy Baker, renowned for his visually stunning work with Rorschach
Theatre, will reimagine Shakespeare’s dream using Indonesian-inspired shadow
puppets accompanied by an actor-generated percussion orchestra. This is one
thrilling theatrical experience you’ll have to see and hear to believe. Ticket
prices vary from “Pay as You Will” (minimum $10) to up to $35; check the schedule for
details.
Thursday, February
4 from 6:45 PM to 8:45 PM
Smithsonian Associates
Smithsonian
National Museum of the American Indian
Misitam Café
4th
St & Independence Ave SW
Washington,
DC 20560
There’s no better way to celebrate young Ernest Hemingway’s
Paris than a little music, some great literature, evocative images, and of
course…cocktails! Robert Wheeler, professor of English at Southern New
Hampshire University, highlights the city that the writer loved most, and
Hemingway enthusiast and cocktail connoisseur Philip Greene offers
a taste of the drinks that he enjoyed there. $50 to $60 cover.
Thursday,
February 5 at 7:00 PM
DC
Public Library
Watha T.
Daniel/Shaw Neighborhood Library
Washington,
DC 20001
Larissa Tracy challenges preconceived ideas about the prevalence of torture and judicial brutality in medieval society by arguing that their portrayal in literature is not mimetic. Instead, she argues that the depictions of torture and brutality represent satire, critique and dissent; they have didactic and political functions in opposing the status quo. Free admission.
Sunday,
February 7 from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM
The
Writer’s Center
4508
Walsh Street
Bethesda,
MD 20815
Visiting poet
Terese Svoboda reads from When the Next
Big War Blows Down the Valley: Selected and New Poems, and Anything That Burns You: A Portrait of Lola
Bridge, Radical Poet. She is joined by novelist Morowa Yejide, who reads
from Time of the Locust. The reading
will be followed by a reception and book signing. The reading will be followed
by a reception and book signing. Free admission.
Monday, February 8 at 7:00 PM
Upshur Street Books
827 Upshur Street NW
Washington, DC
20011
Slipform is a
6-week poetry workshop that uses form poetry as a tool to discuss themes of
gender and sexuality. The
workshop will be led by Danielle Evennou, co-host of Sparkle, DC's long-running
queer open mic and winner of the Larry Neal Award for poetry. The deadline to register is January 26th. Registration
fee is $100. For those unable to pay the full registration fee, a
limited amount of financial assistance may be available. Please inquire by
emailing dmevennou@gmail.com.
Monday,
February 8 at 7:30 PM
Folger
Shakespeare Library
201 East
Capitol Street, SE
Washington, DC 20003
Washington, DC 20003
Introduction and moderated
conversation by poet Joseph Ross.
$15 cover.
Valentine's with The Punany Poets in Washington
Thursday, February 11 at 7:30 PM & 10:30 PM
Anacostia Arts Center
1231 Good Hope Road, SE
Washington, DC 20020
Thursday, February 11 at 7:30 PM & 10:30 PM
Anacostia Arts Center
1231 Good Hope Road, SE
Washington, DC 20020
Washington, DC lovers converge on the perfect date night,
putting their inhibitions aside to abide in a sex positive space where an
erotic tango of risqué rhymes, flawless flesh, and taboo thought keeps imaginations
dancing to the rhythm of love this Valentine Season. Performance includes
elements of poetry, prose, exotic dance, comedy, and audience interaction.
Adults only. Please arrive no later than 7:00 PM or 10:00 PM for seating.
$40 cover.
A.O. Scott—Better Living Through Criticism: How to Think About Art, Pleasure, Beauty, and Truth
Thursday, February 11 at 7:00 PM
Politics & Prose
5015 Connecticut Ave NW
Washington, District of Columbia 20008
Thursday, February 11 at 7:00 PM
Politics & Prose
5015 Connecticut Ave NW
Washington, District of Columbia 20008
The former book critic for Newsday, Scott has
been The New York Times film critic since 2000, and his
contributions to publications including Lingua Franca and The
New York Times Magazine have examined a wide range of cultural
artifacts. His first book builds on this familiarity with myriad forms of
expression to examine criticism in the widest sense, and as Scott moves from
the ancients to post-modern thinkers, he shows that criticism is not only one
of the most creative ways to think, but that without it, creativity in the
forms of literature, the visual arts, and even social and personal
relationships, would cease to thrive. Free admission.
Victoria Aveyard—Glass Sword
Friday, February 12 at 7:00 PM
Barnes & Noble Booksellers - Fairfax
12193 Fair Lakes Promenade Drive
Fairfax, Virginia 22033
Friday, February 12 at 7:00 PM
Barnes & Noble Booksellers - Fairfax
12193 Fair Lakes Promenade Drive
Fairfax, Virginia 22033
Victoria Aveyard will
read from Glass Sword. The Barnes
& Noble special edition includes a beautiful full-color guide to the elite
Silver houses of the Red Queen world, as well as an exclusive alternate Red
Queen ending and Glass Sword opening chapter! Free
admission.
Yann Martel—The High Mountains ofPortugal in Washington
Friday, February 12 at 7:00 PM
Politics & Prose
5015 Connecticut Ave NW
Washington, DC 20008
Friday, February 12 at 7:00 PM
Politics & Prose
5015 Connecticut Ave NW
Washington, DC 20008
Martel
won the 2002 Man Booker Prize for Life
of Pi, a novel that was at once an iconic seafaring adventure, a moving
portrait of human-animal bonding, and an enactment of spiritual questions. In
his fifth novel, the author of Beatrice and Virgil and The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios takes another
magical plotline—the search for a lost treasure—and gives it a philosophical
underpinning. Tomas, living in Lisbon in 1904, finds a journal that sets him on
a quest. His actions come to bear decades later on a Portuguese doctor
investigating Agatha Christie and, still later, on a Canadian senator who’s
come to Portugal to mourn his wife’s death. Free admission.
Saturday,
February 13 at 5:30 PM
The
Lincoln Theater
1215 U
St NW
Washington,
District of Columbia 20009
Story District
presents the annual Valentine’s love-fest of stories about the pleasures and
perils of romance. Whether
you’re with your sweetie or single, Story District’s Sucker for Love
storytelling show is a unique and unforgettable way to spend Valentine’s Day—listening
to heartfelt and hilarious true stories about loves found, lost, and
imagined. As always, Story District promises storytelling at its best with
a cast of talented tellers including: Amanda Sapir, Annie Lipsitz, Cait Reilly,
Keith Mellnick, Laura Feiveson, Michael Cotter, Morgan Givens, Nupur Mehta, and
Sarah Weber. Directed by Stephanie Garibaldi and Mike Baireuther, who will also
be our fearless host for the night. Doors close at 5:30. Buy in person at the Box Office—located at the 9:30
Club—to save $$ on fees. $25 cover.
Rod Nordland—The Lovers:Afghanistan's Romeo and Juliet, the True Story of How They Defied TheirFamilies and Escaped an Honor Killing in Washington
Sunday, February 14 at 1:00 PM
Politics & Prose
5015 Connecticut Ave NW
Washington, District of Columbia 20008
Sunday, February 14 at 1:00 PM
Politics & Prose
5015 Connecticut Ave NW
Washington, District of Columbia 20008
Ali and
Zakia grew up on neighboring farms in central Afghanistan, but since they were
of different Muslim sects, the two were worlds apart. The pair fell in love
anyway and married in 2013—without their parents’ consent. As their families
vowed revenge, the couple went into hiding to save their lives. Nordland, whose
reporting has won a Pulitzer and several George Polk and Overseas Press Club
awards, was The New York Times Kabul bureau chief when Ali and
Zakia were condemned, and his account is a vivid look at Afghanistan’s
sectarian divisions and the constraints that fall especially heavily on women;
the story recalls the assessment of the former Afghan minister for women’s
affairs who called the country “the worst place in the world to be a woman.”
Free admission.
Tuesday, February 16 at 7:00 PM
Upshur Street Books
827 Upshur Street NW
Washington, District of Columbia
20011
Join us at Upshur Street Books for an evening with poet Craig Czury! His new
collection, Thumb Notes Almanac:
Hitchhiking the Marcellus Shale, is made up of “docu-poems” created from a
collage of voices gathered while hitchhiking Route 29 in Susquehanna and
Wyoming Counties during the height of the Marcellus Shale gas drilling in the
region. The result is a fascinating, multi-voice snap-shot album, or almanac,
of people and their varied thoughts while living through a dramatic energy
play. Free admission.
Wednesday, February 17 at 7:00 PM
Politics & Prose
5015 Connecticut Ave NW
A former New York Times reporter, Bererson was honored with
the Edgar Award for best first novel in 2007.The Faithful Spy launched
Berenson’s career as a novelist as well as his hero’s exciting series of
adventures. Now appearing in his tenth thriller, John Wells finds himself
caught between the conflicting interests of the CIA, the White House, and
various powerful nations as he struggles to keep tense Iranian-American
relations from escalating into war. Free admission.
Books & Bars "Redefining the Book Club"
Wednesday, February 17 at 7:00 PM
Gordon Biersch Restaurant
900 F Street Northwest
Washington, DC 20004
Wednesday, February 17 at 7:00 PM
Gordon Biersch Restaurant
900 F Street Northwest
Washington, DC 20004
Join
DC Public Library librarians on the third Wednesday of each
month at Gordon Biersch Brewery for a modern-day book
club. Books & Bars is “reinventing the book club” with promises of
great food, drinks, comfortable atmosphere, and great discussion on today’s
most intriguing books. This month we will discuss the Black History Month Book Selection, God Help the Child by Toni
Morrison. RSVP encouraged to ensure enough seating. For further
information, please contact Kari Mitchell (kari.mitchell@dc.gov), Turner
Freeman (sheldon.freeman@dc.gov), or David Gillette (david.gillette@dc.gov).
Free admission.
Thursday, February 18 at 6:30 PM
The Writer’s Center
4508 Walsh Street
Bethesda, MD 20814
Spend an evening enjoying great art
and poetry during a free wine reception. In collaboration with the Corcoran
School of Art/GW, The Writer's Center presents Ekphrasis,
an exhibition of artwork by advanced painters paired up with advanced poets and
instructors from the Center. Ekphrasis describes a poem inspired by a work of
art (or vice versa). Meet the artists and writers, see the resulting paintings
and poems, and stay for a reading. The show will be on view from January 25
through April 30. Free admission.
Thursday, February 18 at 7:00 PM
4200 9th Street NW, Third
Floor
Washington, DC 20011
An
expert panel of translators, of a variety of languages and genres, will discuss
the process of translating in all its aspects. Come prepared with questions for
discussion! Nancy Carlson: French. Calazaza's Delicious Dereliction. Keith
Cohen: French. A History of Virility. Roman
Kostovski: Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Macedonian, Russian, Serbian, and Slovak. The Ratcatcher. Carol
Volk: French. Katherine E Young: Russian. Day of the Border Guards. Free admission.
Thursday, February 18 at 7:00 PM
Politics & Prose
5015 Connecticut Ave NW
Washington,
DC 20008
Jansma’s
striking first novel, The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards, won the Sherwood Anderson
fiction award. Now a writing teacher at SUNY New Paltz and a graduate lecturer
at Sarah Lawrence, Jansma centers his second work of fiction on a group of
college friends. Five years after graduation, the circle includes an astronomer,
a blog editor, an art dealer, a would-be poet, and an investment banker. As
Jansma traces the twists and turns of his characters’ various relationships, he
conveys rich psychological and group dynamics, complicated and tested by
romance and serious illness. Free admission.
Carole Boston Weatherford—Freedomin Congo Square
Friday, February 19 at 10:30 AM
Politics & Prose
5015 Connecticut Ave NW
Washington, DC 20008
Friday, February 19 at 10:30 AM
Politics & Prose
5015 Connecticut Ave NW
Washington, DC 20008
Weatherford’s simple yet powerful poem, movingly illustrated by fellow
Coretta Scott King honoree R. Gregory Christie, tells the story of Congo
Square. Located in New Orleans, it was the sole place where slaves were
permitted to gather on their one free afternoon every Sunday from 1817 until
the abolition of slavery in 1865. There, both enslaved and free black people
expressed themselves and communicated with each other through dance and song,
tasting the freedom that was so cruelly denied to so many for so long. Ages
7–10. Free admission.
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Reading from O-Dark-Thirty Women Veterans’ Themed Issue
Friday, February 19, 6:30 PM
The Writer’s Center
4508 Walsh Street
Bethesda, MD 20814
|
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Women
veterans who contributed to the Winter 2016 issue of O-Dark-Thirty,
the literary journal of the Veterans Writing Project, will read from their
works of short fiction, memoir, and poetry. The Veterans Writing Project is a
501(c)(3) non-profit based in Washington, DC. They provide no-cost writing
seminars and workshops for veterans, active and reserve service members, and
military family members, and publish their work in a quarterly print journal
and online. The February 2016 print and online issues of O-Dark-Thirty
mark the first time a literary journal has published an issue of nonfiction,
fiction, and poetry written exclusively by women veterans. Free admission.
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Other Worlds, Other Stories
Through Saturday, February 20
Washington Project for the Arts (WPA)
Washington Project for the Arts (WPA)
2124 8th Street NW
Washington, District of Columbia 20001
Washington, District of Columbia 20001
Curated by Jeffrey Cudlin. Other Worlds, Other
Stories features
the work of ten contemporary artists from the District and elsewhere who use
the trope of space exploration as though it was a funhouse mirror—casting unfamiliar
reflections on American dreams of escape, conquest, and adventure. The artworks
range from traditional painted images of distant worlds; to works of historical
fiction illustrated with digital photography and collage; to interactive live
performances in a test kitchen for astronauts. Together, they open a
conversation about the heady intermingling of fantasy, art, and science that
kicked off the space race in the twentieth century and still defines the U.S.
space program today. Free admission.
Saturday, February 20 at 6:00 PM
Politics & Prose
5015 Connecticut Ave NW
Washington,
DC 20008
Canin is an
award-winning writer who earned a medical degree—in case the fiction didn’t pan
out. Now the author of seven works of fiction, including the story collection, Emperor of the Air, and the novels America
America and For Kings and Planets, as well as a writing teacher at Iowa,
Canin focuses his latest novel on Milo Andret, an unassuming young mathematical
genius. Milo can construct dazzlingly intricate formulas in his mind, but fails
at even the most basic relationships. Alienated and depressed, despite his
phenomenal career, Milo eventually bottoms out—but bequeaths the dual legacy of
genius and embitterment to his son. Free admission.
Sunday,
February 21 from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM
The
Writer’s Center
4508
Walsh Street
Bethesda,
MD 20815
Don't be shy! Sign-up for readers begins at 1:30
and the reading starts at 2:00. We'll have a reception following the reading.
Free admission.
Sunday, February 21 from 5:00 PM to
7:00 PM
2021 14th St NW
Washington, DC
20009
Poets reading in Sunday Kind of Love in January, February, and March are brought to us as part of Al Mutanabbi Street StartsHere DC 2016, a festival in solidarity with the people of Iraq and standing for free expression everywhere. Now more than ever, voices from Arab America and the Arab and Muslim worlds are essential. This Festival is made possible thanks to a grant from the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art! Cosponsored by Busboys and Poets and Split This Rock. For questions or more information, please email info@splitthisrock.org. $5 cover.
@Busboys and Poets Takoma: Hanya
Yanagihara—A Little Life
Sunday, February 21 at 6:30 PM
Busboys and Poets Takoma
235
Carroll Street NW
Washington, District of Columbia 20012
Yanagihara’s
first novel, The People in the Trees, drew on the timeless quest for
immortality—and its always devastating consequences. In her second work of
fiction, now available in paperback, the National Book Award finalist starts
with an equally familiar premise—the course of four friends from college to
middle age—and takes it in new and stunning directions. Jules is the core of
the ambitious group of young men that leaves Massachusetts for New York, but
his success as a lawyer is undercut by the life-long effects of childhood abuse
and trauma. Yanagihara’s narrative is an insightful portrait of the extremes of
endurance and the consolations of friendship. This event is part of the
Politics & Prose and the PEN/Faulkner Foundation Contemporary Fiction
Reading Series at Busboys and Poets. Free admission.
Monday, February 22 at 6:30 PM
Kramerbooks & Afterwords
1517 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Kramerbooks & Afterwords
1517 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Told with warmth
and intelligence, Piece of
Mind introduces one of the most endearing and heroic characters in
contemporary fiction. At twenty-seven, Lucy knows everything about coffee,
comic books, and Gus (the polar bear at the Central Park Zoo), and she
possesses a rare gift for drawing. But since she suffered a traumatic brain
injury at the age of three, she has had trouble relating to most people. She’s
also uncommonly messy, woefully disorganized, and incapable of holding down a
regular job. When unexpected circumstances force her out of the comfortable and
protective Jewish home where she was raised and into a cramped studio apartment
in New York City with her college-age younger brother, she must adapt to an
entirely different life - one with no safety net. Over the course of a
challenging summer, Lucy is forced to discover that she has more strengths than
she herself knew. Free admission.
Not Waving but Drowning: An Evening With Celeste Ng and John Wray
Tuesday, February 23 at 7:30 PM
Folger Shakespeare Library
201 East Capitol Street, SE
Washington, DC 20003
Tuesday, February 23 at 7:30 PM
Folger Shakespeare Library
201 East Capitol Street, SE
Washington, DC 20003
Dark family secrets, adolescent angst and intense ambition are
all core themes that authors Celeste Ng and John Wray daringly explore. After
writing four different drafts within six years, Ng's debut novel Everything
I Never Told You has become a New York Times bestseller
and has also won Amazon's No.1 Best Book of 2014. In Ng's exquisite literary
thriller, the seemingly perfect daughter of a Chinese-American family goes
missing. Set in small-town Ohio during the 1970's, the disappearance triggers
an unraveling of structures within the family and community. A novelist and
regular contributor to The New York Times, John Wray's Lowboy follows
a teenage paranoid schizophrenic who runs away from a mental institution and
escapes into the gritty Manhattan underground. Not Waving But Drowning brings
these two authors together for an exclusive book reading, discussion and
signing at D.C.'s Folger Theatre. Cover is $15.
Thursday,
February 25 from 3:30 PM to 4:45 PM
University of
Maryland College Park, 2115 Tawes Hall
College Park, Maryland 20742-1625
College Park, Maryland 20742-1625
Students will
work alongside actors from the Filter Theatre Company in a practical, hands-on
workshop, to discover how text plays a central role in the way actors envision
their characters. Join us for this informal conversation between actors from
Filter and UMD students about the company’s process, including plenty of time
for questions. Co-sponsored by the Center
for Literary & Comparative Studies, the Department of English,
the School for Theatre,
Dance, and Performance Studies, the University
Libraries, the Friends
of the Library, with support from the College of Arts and Humanities,
as part of a University-wide celebration of Shakespeare on the 400th
anniversary of his death. Register by writing to engage.theclarice@umd.edu. Free admission.
Wednesday, February 24 at 6:30 PM
Kramerbooks & Afterwords
1517 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Kramerbooks & Afterwords
1517 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036
In the weird and
wonderful tradition of Kelly Link and Karen Russell, Amber Sparks’s dazzling
new collection bursts forth with stories that render the apocalyptic and
otherworldly hauntingly familiar. In “The Cemetery for Lost Faces,” two orphans
translate their grief into taxidermy, artfully arresting the passage of time.
The anchoring novella, “The Unfinished World,” unfurls a surprising love story
between a free and adventurous young woman and a dashing filmmaker burdened by
a mysterious family. Sparks’s stories―populated with sculptors, librarians,
astronauts, and warriors―form a veritable cabinet of curiosities. Mythical,
bizarre, and deeply moving, The
Unfinished World and Other Stories heralds the arrival of a major writer
and illuminates the search for a brief encounter with the extraordinary. Free
admission.
Olga Grushin—Forty Rooms
Sunday, February 28 at 1:00 PM
Politics & Prose
5015 Connecticut Ave NW
Washington, DC 20008
Sunday, February 28 at 1:00 PM
Politics & Prose
5015 Connecticut Ave NW
Washington, DC 20008
Grushin won the
New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award for her first book, The Dream Life of Sukhanov, a masterful blend of hypnotic fugue
states and surreal Soviet reality. In her third novel this subtly experimental
writer traces the life of an aspiring poet through the forty rooms that have
framed her experience. Named only as Mrs. Caldwell, the protagonist grows up in
Moscow, goes to the American South for college, and stays in the U.S. after
graduation. As she struggles to write, Grushin’s character is visited
periodically by a kind of imaginary critic/mentor, an admonitory figure calling
her to account for a life spent increasingly on the mundane business of
marriage, children, and entertaining, and less and less on art. Free admission.
Sunday,
February 28 from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM
The
Writer’s Center
4508
Walsh Street
Bethesda,
Maryland 20815
Karen Branan reads
from The Family Tree: A Lynching in
Georgia, a Legacy of Secrets, and My Search for the Truth. She is joined by
poet Susan Tichy, who reads from Trafficke.
The reading will be followed by a reception and book signing. Free admission.
