The Writer’s Center Announces 35th Anniversary Reading Series

Includes slam poetry featuring Taylor Mali; “the Latino poet of his generation,” Martín Espada; and Kurt Vonnegut’s biographer, Charles J. Shields

The Writer’s Center is pleased to announce the fall line-up for its 35^th Anniversary Reading Series. The list of authors represents the diversity of The Writer’s Center community, which has nurtured a wide variety of writers—and readers—throughout its long history in the DC area. Featured readers include “the Latino poet of his generation,” Martín Espada; renowned slam poet Taylor Mali; and the author of the first-ever biography of Kurt Vonnegut, Charles J. Shields—also the prize-winning biographer of Harper Lee.

Longtime TWC workshop leader and novelist Robert Bausch and his former TWC student Allison Leotta prove how successful workshop leaders inspire success in workshop participants, and the two will come together for a joint reading. Additional 35^th Anniversary events are planned for the winter/spring, and will include Stanley Plumly/Josh Weiner, Clark Blaise/Bahrati Mukhurjee, and BookTalk: Double Indemnity featuring novelist Con Lehane, NPR critic Maureen Corrigan, novelist Megan Abbott, and Round House Theatre’s Blake Robison in an event moderated by fiction writer and critic Art Taylor. This event is co-sponsored by Round House Theatre, which is staging the theatrical adaptation of Double Indemnity in May/June 2012.

All 35^th Anniversary Reading Series events are at The Writer’s Center.

Tickets for all fall events are $10 for members of The Writer’s Center; $15 for nonmembers. Except for Taylor Mali: members/students with a valid ID $5; nonmembers $10. To purchase a season ticket to attend each of these events, the cost is $30 for members; $45 for nonmembers. For additional information, or to purchase tickets, visit the 35^th Anniversary Reading Series page at Writer.org or e-mail post.master@writer.org.

The Events:

Saturday, September 10, 7:30 P.M. Martin Espada: The Trouble Ball

Known as the “Latino poet of his generation,” visiting writer Martín Espada is the author of 10 collections of critically-acclaimed poetry, including the recent The Trouble Ball. A poet, editor, translator, and attorney, Espada’s powerful poetry explores the social conditions affecting immigrants and Latinos. He is also leading a one-day workshop, “The Barbaric Yawp.”

Purchase individual tickets.

Friday, September 30, 7:30 P.M. Robert Bausch & Allison Leotta

Robert Bausch was educated at George Mason University, and he says he has been a writer all his life. Since 1975, Bausch has been a college professor, teaching creative writing, American literature, world literature, humanities, philosophy, and expository writing. In 2009 he was awarded the John Dos Passos Prize in Literature.

Allison Leotta served as a federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C. for 12 years. Her first novel, Law of Attraction, was named one of the best books of the year by Suspense Magazine, and The City Paper called her "one of the most notable new faces to debut in 2010." Leotta also blogs about what TV crime shows get right and wrong, from her perspective as a real-life sex-crimes prosecutor. 
Purchase individual tickets. 

Tuesday, October 11, 7:30 P.M. Taylor Mali: Slam Poetry Competition

Taylor Mali is one of the most well-known poets to have emerged from the poetry slam movement. At this one-of-a-kind event, the finalists of TWC’s poetry slam competition will get to show their stuff. A performance by Mali follows. If you are a slam poet and would like to participate, visit us at www.writer.org/slampoetry for details. We will ask our community to vote for their favorites, and winners will be invited to the finals.

Taylor Mali is the author of two books of poetry, The Last Time As We Are and What Learning Leaves, and four CDs of spoken word. He received a New York Foundation for the Arts Grant in 2001 to develop Teacher! Teacher!, a one-man show about poetry, teaching, and math which won the jury prize for best solo performance at the 2001 Comedy Arts Festival. Purchase individual tickets.

Saturday, November 12, 7:30 P.M. Charles J. Shields: Portrait of a Biographer

Charles J. Shields spent five years researching and writing And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut, A Life. He is also the author of Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee—a New York Times best seller. Two years ago, he co-founded the 400-member Biographers International Organization (BIO), and is currently associate director of the Great Lives program, which features presentations by 20 famous biographers each year at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg. Purchase individual tickets.

How Did You Get Your Agent?

By Allison Leotta, member of The Writer's Center and author of Law of Attraction (published in October 2010) 

When I got engaged to the man who’s now my husband, the first question friends asked was: "How did he propose?" Now that I have a book in bookstores, the first question folks ask is: "How did you get your agent?" My story is one of incredible good luck and unexpected tragedy.

The most important thing I did was refine my manuscript until it was in the best possible shape I could manage. That took a while. I’m a federal sex-crime prosecutor in D.C., so my day job is pretty intense. I wrote in the mornings before work. I took a night class at The Writer's Center, where my book got better and better as I bounced ideas off of other aspiring writers and a very talented instructor. After two years of writing (and re-writing), I was satisfied that my novel, Law of Attraction, was a compelling story of love and violence in the nation’s capital.

At that point, I knew I needed an agent. One how-to book suggested contacting everyone in the publishing industry with whom you have the slightest connection. I understood I’d probably send out 1000 query letters and get 999 rejections. I prepared. I bought reams of paper. I created a spreadsheet for rejections. I had several bottles of booze ready.

Then I thought about any personal connections and networks I had. I knew some folks in theater and children’s books; I sought their advice. I made a mental list of people I didn’t actually know, but with whom I had something in common. In that vein, I’d recently read a charming novel called The Opposite of Love, by Julie Buxbaum. Julie had graduated from Harvard Law School a few years after I did, although we’d never met. I shot her an email, and she ended up calling me. Julie was kind and generous with her time. She said her agent might be interested in Law of Attraction.

Julie’s agent, Elaine Koster, was something of a legend in the publishing industry, credited with "discovering" Stephen King and pulling The Kite Runner out of a slush pile. I sent Elaine my manuscript, glad that it was truly ready to be judged. A week later, Elaine called. She said she loved Law of Attraction and wanted to represent me. It was one of the happiest moments of my life.

Elaine and her colleague, Stephanie Lehmann, suggested some changes to Law of Attraction. It was amazing to have professional hands help craft the story. Then Elaine sold my book to Simon & Schuster. I was over the moon.

That was one of the last deals Elaine ever made. She died this summer, after a decade’s-long, secret battle with breast cancer.

I was devastated. Elaine was an advocate, teacher, and friend. After her memorial service, I went home and cracked open one of the bottles of booze I hadn’t needed to use for rejection letters, and used it, instead, to give a solitary toast to the agent who launched my career but didn’t get to see my novel hit the bookshelves.
 

After Elaine died, I was at sea. I called an author whose novels I’d loved since I was in college. Earlier that year, Barbara Delinsky had given me some heartfelt advice about balancing writing, mommying and working. Now I asked her what to do in this situation. Barbara offered to put me in touch with her agent, Amy Berkower, the renowned president of Writers House. When Amy eventually offered to represent me, I felt like someone who’d been paddling in a life raft, suddenly pulled aboard the Queen Elizabeth and handed a winning lottery ticket.


Law of Attraction was published this October. So far, so good! I’ve been gratified to receive many wonderful reviews. In December, The Washington Post featured me and my book. I’ve also had a great time on my blog, where I critique what Law & Order: SVU gets right and wrong, from my perspective as a real-life sex-crime prosecutor. And, last month, I signed a deal with Simon & Schuster to write two sequels to Law of Attraction.

I hope that in some cozy, book-lined office in the sky, Elaine Koster is smiling approvingly at the numbers  on BookScan.

Allison Leotta is a federal sex-crimes prosecutor in Washington, D.C.   She has been a federal prosecutor for ten years.  Like her heroine in Law of Attraction, Allison started out in the U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuting misdemeanor domestic violence cases.  She now handles the most serious sex crimes in D.C.  Allison is a graduate of Michigan State University and Harvard Law School.  She lives with her husband (who is also a federal prosecutor) and their two sons in Takoma Park, Maryland.