Spotlight on Literary Events July 2017

*SPARKLE* Queer Open Mic

Sunday, July 2 at 8 p.m.

Busboys and Poets 14th & V  

2021 14th St NW Washington, DC, 20009

A Busboys and Poetry event! *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. *SPARKLE* is held on the 1st Sunday of every month. $5 Cover. On the day of the event, tickets can be purchased online starting at midnight and in the restaurant starting at 10 a.m. at the bookstore store (cash only). No refunds. Ticket purchase limit of 4 per person. Tickets will be sold at the door if available. Guests must have their wristbands (tickets) on upon entering the event.

Frederick Douglass: The Meaning of July 4th for the Negro

Monday, July 3 at 1 p.m.

William G. McGowan Theater, Washington, DC

700 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20408

In a July 5, 1852, speech to a group of abolitionists, Frederick Douglass reminded them that for slaves and former slaves, the Declaration of Independence represented the unfulfilled promise of liberty for all. Phil Darius Wallace will give a dramatic reading of excerpts from the speech, followed by a discussion with Nathan Johnson, Supervisory Park Ranger at the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site, and History Professor Robert S. Levine, author of The Lives of Frederick Douglass.

Alexandra Fuller - Quiet Until the Thaw

Wednesday, July 5 at 7 p.m.

Politics and Prose

5015 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC 20008

Starting with Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight and continuing with Cocktail Hour under the Tree of Forgetfulness, Fuller has kept readers riveted with stories of her unconventional family and early years in Africa. With her first novel, the accomplished memoirist draws on the history of her adopted home, the American West, to focus on the lives of two Native American men. Cousins, the pair grows up on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, but then their paths diverge. While one rebels against the unjust treatment of Native Americans and ends up in prison, the other lives quietly on the Reservation, teaching his sons Lakota ways. Thirty years later, the two men meet again, with explosive results.

The “Write” Stuff: Literacy, Writing, and Research Festival

Friday, July 7, at 10:30 a.m.

Boeing Learning Center, Washington, DC

700 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20408

Do you love reading, learning new things, and writing? Do you want to learn more about what it is like to do research and write stories? Join the National Archives and some of your favorite authors and illustrators for a free summer writing festival!

Dorothy Seyler and David Stewart

Sunday, July 9 at 2 p.m.

The Writer's Center

4508 Walsh St, Bethesda, Maryland 20815

Dorothy Seyler will read from and discuss The Obelisk and the Englishman: The Pioneering Discoveries of Egyptologist William Bankes, her nonfiction account of the life of William John Bankes, a 19^th-century pioneer in the field of Egyptology. Bankes, a gay man, faced persecution during his life, but traveled extensively and made major contributions to the understanding of Egyptian history and early civilization. Seyler will be joined by David Stewart, who reads from The Babe Ruth Deception, his recent mystery novel blending fact and fiction in an era when the national pastime was rocked by scandal.

Allegra Goodman - The Chalk Artist

Tuesday, July 11 at 7 p.m.

Politics and Prose

5015 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC 20008

Goodman’s eighth novel is a deft interweaving of different worlds, realities, and quests. At the heart of the book is Nina, a young high school teacher struggling to connect with her students, especially the talented but distracted Aidan. An avid virtual reality game player, Aidan is easily manipulated by the forces of a new game called Arkadia and crosses several lines. Can Nina, the daughter of Arkadia’s founder, bring him back to the ordinary reality of high school? Meanwhile, she falls in love with an artist and introduces him to her father, who hires him to draw for the game. As she did in The Cookbook Collector and Intuition, Goodman vividly conveys the dynamics of specific workplaces and shows how identity is deeply bound up with the work people do.

Rafael Alvarez

Tue, July 11 at 7 p.m.

 DC Arts Center,

2438 18th St NW, Washington, DC 20009

The author and writer for “The Wire” reads from his new short story collection, Basilio Boullosa Stars in the Fountain of Highlandtown, followed by a Q&A. Presented by Molotov Theatre Group.

Paul Butler - Chokehold: Policing Black Men — in conversation with Kojo Nnamdi

Wednesday, July 12 at 6:30 p.m.

Busboys and Poets 14th & V  

2021 14th St NW Washington, DC, 20009

Butler is a law professor at Georgetown University, a legal analyst for CNN and MSNBC, and frequent writer and speaker about issues related to racism and criminal justice. As a former federal prosecutor, he has special insight into these matters, understanding not only how the system works, but also how it can most effectively be challenged. Butler’s bold call-to-action starts with the need to abolish the principle known as The Chokehold, which is the popular assumption that all black men are dangerous, and must therefore be subject to rigorous policing. Butler has radical ideas for changing this and other racial biases, and he also looks at how black communities can use their own strengths to keep their neighborhoods safe rather than bringing in more police. Butler will be in conversation with Kojo Nnamdi.

The Power of Meaning by Emily Esfahani Smith

Tuesday, July 18th 6:30p.m.

Kramerbooks & Afterwords Bookstore

1517 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20036

Americans have a lot to be happy about. Entertainment is always at the tip of our fingers. Companies tempt employees with junk food and video games. We have apps that enable us to order pizza or have our laundry picked up with the tap of a button. In short, our culture is obsessed with the good life. Yet, we’re more dissatisfied than ever. In The Power of Meaning, Emily Esfahani Smith argues that we’ve been chasing the wrong thing. It’s not happiness that makes life worth living—it’s meaning. Drawing on the latest cognitive science research, as well as insights from literature and philosophy, and her own prodigious reporting, Smith shows that by developing a “meaning mind-set,” we can all achieve a deeper satisfaction.

Angela J. Davis - Policing the Black Man: Arrest, Prosecution, and Imprisonment

Thursday, July 20 at 7 p.m.

Politics and Prose

5015 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC 20008

This timely and important collection of essays by writers including Bryan Stevenson, Sherrilyn Ifill, and Jeremy Travis, examines the role of racism in the country’s criminal justice system and reports on the recent killings of black men and boys by police. Edited by Angela J. Davis, a long-time civil rights activist, advocate for prison inmates, professor of law at American University’s Washington College of Law, and author of Arbitrary Justice, the book discusses issues such as racial profiling, implicit bias, the disproportionate imprisonment of black men, mass incarceration, and the failure of the Supreme Court and other official bodies to reform the system.

Goethe Book Club: Alina Bronsky's Broken Glass Park

Tuesday, July 25 at 6:30 p.m.

Goethe-Institute

1990 K St NW #03, Washington, DC 20006

Broken Glass Park centers on a teenage girl living under extraordinary circumstances—her family migrates to Germany, where a pattern of violence ends with the murder of her mother at the hands of her stepfather. The novel, which follows 17-year-old Sascha Naimann as she defines her independence and relationship with men in this coming-of-age story, questions major aspects of society such as the role of the media and the replication of violence.

Asian American Literary Festival

Saturday, July 29, 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Kluge Center, 01 floor, TJB - Thomas Jefferson Building

101 Independence Ave SE, Washington, DC 20540

The Asian American Literary Festival is part of a three-day public festival celebrating Asian American poets and fiction writers at the Library of Congress, George Washington University, and various Smithsonian Institution locations.

David Goodrich and Aaron Hamburger

Sunday, July 30 at 2 p.m.

The Writer's Center

4508 Walsh St, Bethesda, Maryland 20815

Writer’s Center workshop participant David Goodrich reads from A Hole in the Wind: A Climate Scientist’s Bicycle Journey across the United States. The book took shape in workshops at the Center. A submission was published in The Potomac Review, and eventually his manuscript was accepted for publication.  The travel theme for the afternoon will include a reading by novelist and workshop leader Aaron Hamburger, author of Faith for Beginners, a novel in which an American family visits Israel.

Women Writers on the Publishing Journey

Join us this Saturday, June 10, at 2 p.m. for a free panel discussion with six successful writers who met in our classrooms and have continued to support each other in life and work over the last 15 years.

By Kathy Ramsperger

In 2002, I was an aspiring novelist, taking a workshop at The Writer’s Center. Today, I’m the published author of The Shores of Our Souls, which then had another title, characters with no names, and a few chapters that didn’t know where they were leading. A love story with a social justice slant, my soon-to-be-published novel (August 2017, Touchpoint Press) is my answer to the discord and frequent tragedy of a world in conflict. 

I couldn’t have done it alone.

Formed by several women I met in classrooms at The Writer’s Center, my critique group has lasted more than a decade. 

“We met every Thursday for about four years, submitting articles and book chapters for critique, forming enduring friendships. We encouraged each other to keep writing and trying to publish,” says Anne McNulty. “With group encouragement, I wrote a book and then began to write for local magazines, where I found my niche. Without my first critique group, I never would have found the courage to begin my writing career. Thanks to these wonderful women, I can now say ‘I'm a writer.’”

At the beginning, all group members were in transition. Donna Anderson was a former flight attendant. Tami Lewis Brown and Alice Covington were attorneys. Cynthia Campbell was starting her own educational and editing business. Anne was teaching. I was writing and marketing for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent. All of us were straddling the divide of home, work, and creativity. Together, we forged a bridge, then a path to diverse, successful lives full of words.

The Writer’s Center resources offered us much more than support. “I took a creative writing class with Howard Norman (National Book Award nominee) at the University of Maryland,” Donna remembers. “My novel-in-progress Residuum got his attention. I asked for advice, and he told me that his class and others at UM were not sufficient for my level of writing. He suggested I go to The Writer's Center. That was quite the compliment for our old stomping grounds.”

Today, we are far flung, but we still meet to celebrate success in life and writing. Tami, with an M.F.A. from Vermont College, is an award winning children's author with a new contract with Disney. Cynthia went on to edit an award-winning nonfiction book that sparked the interest of three publishers, earned her PhD. and now has a career in adult literacy. When I want inspiration, I think of Donna. She was the adhesive in our group—she's a born storyteller, I know Residuum will someday be on my book shelf. 

Anne is a regional magazine journalist. Alice received her M.F.A and publishes her stories nationally and internationally. Her most recent story was published in The Louisville Review.

Me? I’m a creativity coach, publish nonfiction, and am revising my second novel. 

The Writer’s Center workshops, readings, and critique groups led me and my fiction to where we are today. This special critique group stands out for me; I’ve never found that kind of synergy again.

Cynthia sums it up, “Being part of this writing group contributed greatly to my writing and my confidence. I learned a lot from a great group of writers and friends. They are all my heroes.”

If you’d like to hear more about our journey, we’ll be panelists on June 10 at The Writer’s Center. Come with your questions; we’re thrilled to answer them and to support you.

  

Finding Inspiration for Your Writing

 ~ By Laura Oliver

Laura Oliver, M.F.A., is the author of The Story Within: NewInsights and Inspiration for Writers. Her essays and short stories appear in numerous regional and national periodicals such as The Washington Post, Country Living, and Glimmer Train. She has taught Creative Writing at the University of Maryland and currently teaches writing at St. John’s College. Nominated for a Pushcart Prize, her work has won numerous distinctions, including a Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award in Fiction. Her M.F.A. is from Bennington College.

As a long-time teacher of creative writing, and the author of The Story Within, New Insights and Inspiration for Writers (Penguin/Random House), I am often asked how writers can maintain their momentum when a workshop ends, or when the going gets slow on a long-term project like a memoir or novel. Writing is like exercise in that it’s difficult to make yourself begin, but you are never sorry that you invested the time in the end; you just feel better. And as with exercise, I have found that there are tools that can be used to make getting started or maintaining a writing practice easier. Think about it this way: if you’re going for a run, you crank up your playlist. Well, if you’re sitting down to write, you swap the idea of “discipline” for “inspiration.” 

How do you find what inspires you? A good starting point is finding a unique and safe place to write in which you surround yourself with tokens of past successes. Your inspiration doesn’t have to come from a framed acceptance letter or book jacket poster—the red ribbon you won in third grade for the standing broad jump will work just as well.  Reminders of previous success, like feelings of gratitude, put the writer in receiving mode. Additionally, rereading your best work activates your creative-right-brain by connecting you to your most authentic voice. Likewise, reading works from authors who you love can also be inspiring, as can using a book of prompts, or even going for a walk. I also suggest giving yourself a time limit for writing. Thinking, “I’m going to write with abandon for just 10 minutes”—mutes the internal critic and makes the task feel manageable. You’ll say to yourself: “Ten minutes? I can do anything for ten minutes.” Then, ten minutes often magically extends to 20, and then 40.  Additionally, joining an informal writing group can be motivating because it ensures that your work is read. 

Some of the most lasting sources of inspiration for writers are writing conferences, which are usually one-day events that offer a variety of lectures, workshops, and opportunities to learn from other well-published and critically-acclaimed writers. Attending a writer’s conference is like reading an anthology because you are simultaneously exposed to many experts and topics in just one day. You also have the advantage of meeting and socializing with other writers who can provide you with a wealth of information—the techniques they use to write, the places they’ve published where you might like to submit as well, their recommendations on great books on craft, and their knowledge of ongoing writing groups. You’ll see firsthand that writers are not depressed recluses but mothers and fathers, professionals from all walks of life, and totally ordinary people who observe life with a keen eye, are acutely self-aware, and who long to connect with others. Writers write not because they want to escape the world, but because they love it. 

To provide Capitol area writers with more tips to add to their toolkits, my colleague at St. John's College, Lynn Schwartz, and I are hosting our third annual Writing Intensive Workshop on June 3 from 9:15 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on the historic St. John’s College Campus in Annapolis, Maryland. The program will feature Pulitzer-Prize winning instructors, as well as a variety of workshops. Breakfast, lunch, afternoon coffee, and a networking wine reception are included. Click the following link to register and to learn more. Instruction and inspiration await!  

https://www.sjc.edu/annapolis/programs/spring-writing-intensive

Jenny Browne: Sixth of Six Interviews with Poet Lore Pushcart Nominee

Interview conducted by Ellie Tipton, managing editor at Poet Lore. 

JENNY BROWNE’s most recent collection of poetry is Dear Stranger (University of Tampa Press, 2013). New work has appeared in At Length, Boston Review, and the Oxford American. Among her honors are the Cecil Hemley Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America, the emerging writer award from The Writer’s Center in Bethesda, Maryland, and an NEA fellowship. A former James Michener Fellow at the University of Texas in Austin, she is a professor of English at Trinity University and the 2016-18 Poet Laureate of the City of San Antonio.








THOUGHTS ON THE PAST IN GUADALUPE COUNTY


I was only trying to buy a gently used kayak
from a man named Skunk & his toothless
brother who explained in great detail
how yesterday’s bass catch weighed more
than his common-law wife. The knots
they tied to my roof rack weaseled free
before I even reached the old state road.
Was it then the mesquite started screaming
they were so thirsty? For years now
my friend has collected the saddest songs
he can find. He does this instead of painting
the old gate from rust back to blue
or penning the bull that eats his grandmother’s
parsley to the bone. We all have our reasons
for driving farther into the dark than we
ever intended.  That spring back on Brazos St.,
a woman yelled Santiago! at the exact same time
every single night, and Santiago never came.
Or “Santiago” was the chorus of an old song
half in Spanish, half in gone. Dear placenta
we buried not quite deep enough beneath
the rose bush. Dear good dog that dug it up
& swallowed a soft piece of me whole.
Our daughter has grown a freckle on her lip
without speaking a word of it. You can’t tell
a forest fire to tie her shoes. Dear every late
night we sat too close to the speakers
& didn’t hear a thing. The wisdom teacher
on the CD I am trying to listen to
for the seventh time suggests that wisdom
begins with knowing you know nothing.
This may or may not apply to the river
I just saw turning back on itself, sharp
as a dirty trombone. Dear Skunk,
if the handle of your grandfather’s ax
has been replaced twice since he last held it,
is it still your grandfather’s ax? Dear Skunk,
I once read Ahkmatova for three days
on a train and was never the same.

ET: Can you describe a bit about your process for writing this poem?

JB: I think this poem began as several poems. (Maybe it still is?  Or maybe all poems are? At least, maybe the ones are that build energy by interrogating their own intentions?) That said, it literally did start exactly where it starts: with a journey to buy my husband a kayak that ended up being more exciting and strange than I expected.  Some time later, I found a note in my journal about it, which evoked the larger questions: What was I doing there?  What are we doing here?  Doesn’t everything seem to happen at once? I tried to draft into those questions rather than into the particular memory, and the poem grew branches and some roots from there.

ET: The shadow of an argument seems to underpin this poem. The poem itself seems at once to make a conceit and resist it at the same time. And, in that space there seems to be an acknowledgement of connection among all things: the natural world and the humans there, but at the same time an astute understanding that “You can’t tell / a forest fire to tie her shoes.” Repeatedly, throughout the poem, the nudge of violence or pain or struggle seems omnipresent. And yet, the poem itself resists that lyrical tradition to name it and end on that formula of emotional resonance – I find that quite refreshing. The haunting actions and voices that permeate the poem are much more telling, I think.

Did you find that writing the poem through these questions inherently took you to this “shadow-structure”, or did you intentionally uncover it and use it as a pressure point for meaning?

JB: Your question seems so much smarter than the poem!  I would like to say it was formally intentional. And, yes, as I did eventually revise against the urge toward epiphany or even resolution in part because I actually had a sort of Creeley-esque “the darkness sur/ -rounds us, what/ can we do against it...” feeling that night. And, that felt like the truth of the poem­­-- that sense of what is going to happen is already happening which is both exhilarating and terrifying. I just tried to write into that momentum. 

ET: Can you talk a little about your book Dear Stranger?  How did the book happen? What are its major concerns? 

JB: Some years back I was given an “assignment” by the San Antonio, TX art collective Refarm Spectacle to quite literally write a love letter to a stranger for a project on which they were working.  I found the exercise both fun and challenging. So, I gave myself the assignment of writing a bunch more of them while also intentionally trying to push deeper into my own definition of what makes some one/place/thing a stranger and how I might somehow address them with love. I wrote to past versions of myself that I have trouble feeling love for, to my recently deceased father, to countries I’ve never visited, and even to objects that scare me.  I didn’t use them all in the book, but by the end, this felt like a line through which I might organize the manuscript as well as a working definition of a poem. At least, for me, at least, for now, it was a vehicle for trying to speak intimately and with love to that which we don’t understand. 

ET: That sounds beautiful. Thank you so much for your time and for your work. This has been a really fascinating conversation.

Purchase the issue where Jenny’s poem appears here.

Subscribe to Poet Lore here. 

Marita Golden on The Wide Circumference of Love

By Maeve Ballantine

Marita Golden will speak at The Writer's Center on May 21 at 2 p.m. followed by a reception and book signing. For more information about this event, see our Facebook event. 

“Recognize that your story doesn't have to be validated by the larger society for it to be a valid story,” Marita Golden, the award winning novelist and teacher, said. “Many stories have value, and I think it’s important for writers of color to write and to recognize that it is important work that they are doing." As co-founder of the Hurston/Wright Foundation, Golden helps pave the road to success for emerging writers of color. "For the last 27 years, the foundation has been providing a community where black writers can get support and do their writing in an environment that recognizes the legitimacy of their writing,” she said. “It is very satisfying to see them go on and get their work published and [win] awards. It's very gratifying to have that kind of impact."

Golden's latest novel, The Wide Circumference of Love introduces us to the Tate family as they struggle with the effect that Alzheimer’s disease has on their patriarch, Gregory. His wife is forced to make tough decisions while holding the family together. A particularly moving aspect of the story is son Sean’s efforts to fix his relationship with his father as Gregory slowly begins to lose more of his sense and memories.

Despite the fact that Golden had no prior experience with the disease, nor had she thought of writing about it, she felt inspired to do so after dropping another novel. "I was working on another book but I had to stop because I couldn't go further, it wasn't my story to write." She said. "Then I woke up one day and wrote about a family dealing with Alzheimer's. It was an unexpected inspiration."

"For several months before writing, I read everything I could about Alzheimer's. I also was lucky to find a woman who lives in Maryland who works with people who have someone in their family with dementia and Alzheimer's,” Golden said. “She helps with caregiving and assisted living and all of that. She was my guide through the world of Alzheimer's." Golden also interviewed families who had loved ones with Alzheimer's and spoke to doctors.

During her research, Golden learned African Americans are twice as likely to develop Alzheimer's as Caucasians. “I found this to be a very startling statistic,” she said. “So I tried to write about Alzheimer's in an imaginative and creative way. . . .You get tapped on the shoulder by the universe, and it tells you what to do,” she added. “It's the purest kind of inspiration.”

The Wide Circumference of Love is a touching story about a very real and common disease that over 5 million American citizens and their families face every year. It is both a moving tribute to those people and an engaging story about a family who tries to face this struggle together with patience and of course, love.