Seinfeld writer Peter Mehlman’s will launch his debut novel at Kramer Books & Afterwords in D.C. on September 23, 6:30 pm in K Street Magazine. Known for most memorableSeinfeld-isms like “Yada Yada”, “sponge-worthy” and “double-dipping”, he is a graduate of the University of Maryland and wrote for theWashington Post before his engagement on Seinfeld throughout which he continued to write for top publications, including New York TimesMagazine, Huffington Post, Los Angeles Times, Esquire as well as contributing to NPR’s “Day to Day” and “All Things Considered”.
It Won’t Always Be This Great is a literary debut that perfectly captures Peter’s satirical genius in a uniquely conceived crime story, set in East Coast suburbia, that offers timely social commentary about religion, marriage, and the politics of life. Distinguished advance praise includes:
“Anyone who writes for television gets frustrated that they can’t write like Peter Mehlman. Now he’s going to make novelists mad too. Mehlman’s writing style is completely unique, and creates an intimate bond between the narrator and the reader. You finish the book feeling as though you’ve made a new friend.” ––Academy award winning writer Aaron Sorkin (A Few Good Men, The Social Network)
“Peter Mehlman wrote a brilliantly funny, effortlessly insightful and unexpectedly moving book.” ––Academy award winning writer/directorSteven Soderbergh (Ocean’s Eleven, Erin Brockovich, Traffic)
“Peter has an uncanny knack for pin-pointing the absurdities of our petty bourgeoisie. Funny and astute and disarmingly humane.” ―Madeleine Brand, American broadcast journalist and radio personality
For more on Peter Mehlman, please visit: www.pmehlman.com.
Tuesday, September 23 at 7:00 pm
In Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future, the co-founder of PayPal draws on his experience investing in hundreds of start-ups and shares what he has learned about how to build companies that create new things.
with Politics & Prose
David Sedaris has leveraged his sardonic wit and incisive social critiques to become one of America’s preeminent humor writers. Beginning with his wildly popular “Santaland Diaries,” the great skill with which Sedaris slices through cultural euphemisms and political correctness proves that he is a master of satire and one of the most observant writers addressing the human condition. He visits his D.C. “home away from home,” the Music Center at Strathmore, on Friday, October 17, 2014 at 8 p.m. Says the San Francisco Chronicle: “Sedaris belongs on any list of people writing in English at the moment who are revising our ideas about what’s funny.” For more information or to purchase tickets, call (301) 581-5100 or visit www.strathmore.org.
In addition to “Barrel Fever,” Sedaris is the author of “Holidays on Ice,” as well as collections of personal essays, “Naked,” “Me Talk Pretty One Day,” “Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim,” “When You Are Engulfed in Flames,” and his most recent book, “Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls,” each of which became an immediate bestseller. The audio version of “Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls” was a 56th Annual Grammy nominee for Best Spoken Word Album. He is the author of the New York Times bestselling collection of fables entitled “Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary.”
Sedaris’s pieces appear regularly in The New Yorker and have twice been included in “The Best American Essays.” There are a total of seven million copies of his books in print and they have been translated into 25 languages.
He and his sister Amy Sedaris have collaborated under the name “The Talent Family” and have written half-a-dozen plays which have been produced at La Mama, Lincoln Center, and The Drama Department in New York City. These plays include “Stump the Host,” “Stitches,” “One Woman Shoe,” which received an Obie Award, “Incident at Cobbler’s Knob,” and “The Book of Liz,” which was published in book form by Dramatists Play Service.
David Sedaris’s original radio pieces can often be heard on This American Life. David Sedaris has been nominated for three Grammy awards for Best Spoken Word and Best Comedy Album. His most recent audio recording of new stories (recorded live) is “David Sedaris: Live for Your Listening Pleasure.”
A feature film adaptation of his story “C.O.G.” was released after a premier at the Sundance Film Festival (2013).
Life has been an endless series of adventures for Neil Patrick Harris. He has enthralled fans for nearly three decades in more than 100 wildly varied roles, ranging from the iconic Doogie Howser, M.D., and Barney Stinson to Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible and his recent, Tony Award-winning turn as Hedwig in Hedwig and the Angry Inch.Never one to limit himself, Harris is also a two-time Emmy host, four-time Tony host, an accomplished amateur magician, and a licensed taxidermist (one of those is not true). Exhausted yet? Neil’s not!
In addition to his busy work life, Neil is also raising very energetic twin three-year-olds with his husband, David Burtka. But how did an aspiring child actor from a tiny mountain town in New Mexico turn into an award-winning, jet-setting, A-list performer who is also the most prominent example of gay family life in America? By chance or by choice? Not only will NEIL PATRICK HARRIS: CHOOSE YOUR OWN AUTOBIOGRAPHY (Crown Archetype; On Sale October 14, 2014) tell readers the whole story, Neil invites them to step into his shoes and roll the dice for him at decisive turning points throughout his life. In this affectionate homage to the Choose Your Own Adventure books he loved as a kid, he offers dozens of paths to choose from, some of which lead to the NPH we know and love, and others that end in the type of tragic demise that will be very familiar to fans of the original series. Neil Patrick Harris reinvents the celebrity memoir with an autobiography that puts YOU in charge of his life.
WHO: Neil Patrick Harris
WHAT: Book signing
WHEN: 7:30 PM
WHERE: Sixth & I
600 I Street Northwest
Join CQ Roll Call and Hooks Book Events as they host John Bicknell for a book-signing event Wednesday, November 12th.
6 p.m. EST
LOCATION: Hill Center at the Old Naval Hospital
Food & beverages will be served.
Complimentary copies of the book will be distributed on a first come first served basis.
America 1844: Religious Fervor, Westward Expansion, and the Presidential Election That Transformed the Nation
About the book:
The presidential election of 1844 was one of the two or three most momentous elections in American history. Had Henry Clay won instead of James K. Polk, we’d be living in a very different country today. Polk’s victory cemented the westward expansion that brought Texas, California, and Oregon into the union. It also took place amid religious turmoil that included anti-Mormon and anti-Catholic violence, and the “Great Disappointment,” in which thousands of followers of an obscure preacher named William Miller believed Christ would return to earth in October 1844.
Author and journalist John Bicknell details even more compelling, interwoven events that occurred during this momentous year: the murder of Joseph Smith, the religious fermentation of the Second Great Awakening, John C. Frémont’s exploration of the West, Charles Goodyear’s patenting of vulcanized rubber, the near-death of President John Tyler in a freak naval explosion, and much more. All of these elements illustrate the competing visions of the American future—Democrats versus Whigs, Mormons versus Millerites, nativists versus Catholics, those who risked the venture westward versus those who stayed safely behind—and how Polk’s election cemented the vision of a continental nation.
About the author:
John Bicknell is the Executive Editor of @FCWnow in lives in Haymarket, VA. Follow on Twitter: @JohnBick1960
On Tuesday, November 18, José Andrés and ThinkFoodGroup will host Sean Brock—the James Beard Award-winning Chef of McCrady’s and Husk Restaurants—at America Eats Tavern to celebrate his new cookbook: Heritage. For $60, tickets include a taste from the cookbook courtesy of America Eats Tavern Head Chef Nate Waugaman, local wines from Virginia’s own Trump Winery, and a signed copy of the book.
The reception will take place in the front bar and private dining room in a passed bite/drink format. The restaurant will remain open for business should guests decide to stay for dinner (price not included in ticket).
What: Sean Brock cookbook party at America Eats Tavern
When: Tuesday, Nov 18 from 6:30—8:30pm
Where: America Eats Tavern (1700 Tysons Blvd inside the Ritz Carlton at Tysons Corner; McLean, VA) *By Metro – Silver Line to Tysons Corner
How: To purchase tickets, visit https://nvite.com/BrockatAmericaEats/brockatamericaeats
Ford Evening Book Talk
January 8, 7 p.m.
Mount Vernon welcomes author Turk McCleskey to the Rubenstein Leadership Hall at the Fred W. Smith National Library to discuss his book, “The Road to Black Ned’s Forge: A Story of Race, Sex, and Trade on the Colonial American Frontier,” on January 8. This event is free, however registration is required. Please visit mountvernon.org for more details.
Simon Doonan
Monday, February 9 at 7:00 pm
In The Asylum: True Tales of Madness From a Life in Fashion—an unabashedly hilarious collection of autobiographical essays now out in paperback—Simon Doonan, creative ambassador for Barneys New York, gives us the inside scoop on the kooky, cut-throat—but always fabulous—fashion world.
W Washington DC, the city’s destination for glamour and the closest hotel to the White House, announces the exclusive Washington launch party for Candace Bushnell in honor of her newest novel, Killing Monica. The evening cocktail event and book signing will stage on the hotel’s POV rooftop on Wednesday, July 1 from 7-9pm. The event, a W DC Happening, is free and open to the public with RSVP. While sipping signature cocktails and taking in the stunning views of Washington landmarks on the newly-renovated rooftop, guests can visit a Bliss Spa Beauty Bar featuring mini manicures and treatments, enjoy a Kendra Scott jewelry preview, and get glammed at a Bluemercury Lipstick Bar.
The RSVP to attend the event is http://killingmonica.eventbrite.com. Books will be available onsite for book signing on site for $27.
