Events/Things To Do

Hello! On Friday, January 18 at 7 p.m. Laurie Halse Anderson, author of the critically acclaimed and bestselling young adult novel Speak, will be at 700 Pennsylvania Avenue Southeast celebrating the launch of book’s 20th anniversary edition, which hits shelves on January 15. Laurie will be in-conversation with National Book Award-winning author Elizabeth Acevedo.

#1 bestselling author Alyson Richman will be visiting Washington, D.C. to promote her new release, THE SECRET OF CLOUDS (Berkley Hardcover; February 19, 2019).

Alyson Richman is known for her sweeping, poignant works of historical fiction like The Lost Wife. Now, Richman pens a story of love and loss about a Ukrainian immigrant family living in New York following the 1986 disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear plant.

Saturday, March 9, 2019

In Conversation with Pam Jenoff

3:30 PM

Politics & Prose

5015 Connecticut Ave NW

Washington, D.C. 20008

Free and open to the public

In THE SECRET OF CLOUDS, Katya, a rising ballerina, and Sasha, a graduate student, are young and in love when an unexpected tragedy befalls their native Kiev, Ukraine. Years later, after the couple has safely immigrated to America, the consequences of this incident cause their son, Yuri, to be born with a rare health condition that isolates him from other children. Maggie, a passionate and dedicated teacher, agrees to tutor Yuri at his home, even though she is haunted by her own painful childhood memories. As the two forge a deep and soulful connection, Yuri’s boundless curiosity and unique wisdom inspire Maggie to make difficult changes in her own life.  And she’ll never realize just how strong Yuri has made her—until she needs that strength the most.

O.B. HARDISON POETRY

Vinegar and Char: Verse from the Southern Foodways Alliance

Three poets from this culinary anthology, Sandra Beasley, Sean Hill, and Atsuro Riley, read work that delves into the shaping influence of history, culture, and identity—and celebrates the glory of food itself. This evening is in conjunction with Before ‘Farm to Table’: Early Modern Foodways and Cultures, a Mellon initiative in collaborative research at the Folger. Reception and book-signing to follow the reading.

Hours: 7:30pm

Tickets: $15

Info: www.folger.edu/poetry or (202) 544-7077

Former President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Planned Parenthood Action Fund, daughter of the late Governor Ann Richards, and a “heroine of the resistance” (Vogue), Cecile Richards has spent a lifetime fighting for social justice and women’s rights. After years of advocacy, resistance, and progressive leadership, she shares her story in her New York Times bestselling memoir, MAKE TROUBLE: Stand Up, Speak Out, and Find the Courage to Lead (Gallery; Trade Paperback; March 26, 2019; $16), featuring a *NEW AFTERWORD* in which Richards proposes a Women’s Declaration of Independence and calls for a new movement to transform our politics.

In MAKE TROUBLE, Richards presents a timely and important message: To make change, you have to make trouble. In her book, she illuminates the people and the lessons that have gotten her through good times and bad and the experiences that taught her how to stand up, speak out, and find the courage to lead. In the “powerful and infinitely readable” (Gloria Steinem) MAKE TROUBLE, Richards reflects on the people and lessons that have gotten her through good times and bad, and encourages the rest of us to take risks, make mistakes, and make trouble along the way.

Cecile Richards will be in conversation with Congresswoman Lauren Underwood, the youngest African American woman to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives, on:

Wednesday, March 27

7:00 PM

Sixth & I

600 I Street NW, Washington, DC 20001

For more information, please visit https://www.sixthandi.org/event/cecile-richards-2.

On April 5, the award-winning Hay-Adams, located steps from the White House at 800 16th Street, NW, 20006, will host its next Author Series luncheon honoring David W. Blight to discuss his latest work, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, which published October 16, 2018. The Hay-Adams’ Author Series, where literary crowds honor literary masters, is an on-going event, which hosts outstanding writers in a historic setting, directly overlooking the White House at the Top of The Hay.  One will enjoy exceptional food, drink and lively conversation.  Tickets are priced at $90 per person (all inclusive), which includes a three-course, prix fixe menu with wine pairings: https://www.hayadams.com/author-series/events.  The menu, themed around the book, will be created by Vice President & General Manager Hans Bruland working closely with Executive Chef Nicolas Legret.  

Additionally, Kramerbooks (http://kramers.com) will be on hand so guests will have the opportunity to purchase a copy of Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, which Blight can sign and personalize after the luncheon.  Tickets go on sale March 15 and will be available online at: http://www.hayadams.com/author-series/washington-dc-author-events. For additional information guests can email Kathleen Newman at KNewman@hayadams.com or by calling (202) 638-6000.  Tickets must be purchased by April 1 and will not be available at the door.

WHO:             David W. Blight is a teacher, scholar and public historian. He is Class of 1954 Professor of American History and Director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at Yale University. He is the author or editor of a dozen books, including 

American Oracle: The Civil War in the Civil Rights Era; and Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory; and annotated editions of Douglass’s first two autobiographies. He has worked on Douglass much of his professional life, and been awarded the Bancroft Prize, the Abraham Lincoln Prize, and the Frederick Douglass Prize, among others.

His newest book, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, is the first major biography written in the last quarter century about the most important African American of the nineteenth century. An escaped slave,Douglass became the greatest orator of his day and one of the leading abolitionists and writers of the era. Blight brings new information about Douglass to light in the tome, particularly the last thirty years of his life, thanks to access he gained to a trove of papers and letters in a private collection that no other historian has used in any full-length biography of Douglass. It has been recognized as a New York Times, Wall Street Journal and TimeTop 10 Book of the Year.

David W. Blight was born in Flint, Michigan. After achieving his undergraduate degree, he taught in a public high school in his hometown for seven years. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1985 with a thesis titled “Keeping Faith in Jubilee: Frederick Douglass and the Meaning of the Civil War”. Blight has been a consultant to many documentary films, including, “Death and the Civil War,” (2012), the 1998 PBS series, “Africans in America,” and “The Reconstruction Era” (2004) among others. He is also a frequent book reviewer for the New York Times, Washington Post Book World, the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Boston Globe, Slate.com and other newspapers, and has written many articles on abolitionism, American historical memory, and African American intellectual and cultural history.  

WHEN:          The luncheon will be held at the Top of The Hay on Friday, April 5, 2019, from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. (doors open at 11:30 a.m.).

WHERE:       The Hay-Adams is located at 800 16th Street NW, Washington DC, 20006, across Lafayette Square from the White House. The historic Hay-Adams offers guests Washington’s most prestigious address with views overlooking the White House, Lafayette Square and St. John’s Church, the “Church of the Presidents.”  Consistently recognized as one of the world’s best hotels by Condé Nast Traveler, Travel + Leisure, Fodor’s Travel and U.S. News & World Report, the hotel is just minutes from the Smithsonian Museums, the Washington Monument, the Capitol Building, the Mall, as well as convenient to Metro stations and the convention center. For reservations or more information call (202) 638-6600 or visit their website at www.hayadams.com.

The University of Virginia Club of Washington DC will hold its Final Four Watch party at Mission Navy Yard on Saturday.

Starting at 11 am, the two-level enormous bar and restaurant located across from Nats Stadium will have beverage and food specials for the Virginia Cavaliers/Virginia Hoos fans.

$5.50 16 oz. Bud Light

$25 for a bucket (5) Bud Lights

$5 El Jimador shots

$6 Jack Daniels and Jack Honey

$3 Chorizo Sliders

Mission Navy Yard

1221 Van Street SE (across from the center field entrance to Nats Stadium)

www.MissionNavyYard.com

 Melrose Georgetown Hotel’s Annual Derby Day Viewing Party. Guests are invited to experience the “Greatest Two Minutes in Sports” in Jardenea Lounge on Saturday, May 4, from 3-7 p.m., offering partygoers and racing enthusiasts an authentic Derby Day program including classic Derby cocktails and dining options.

Immerse yourself in all things Derby with a classic Mint Julep or indulgent Bacon Bourbon cocktail. A variety of themed light-bites will be offered during the viewing ranging from Country Ham & Biscuits, Bourbon Pecan Pie and a play on the traditional Kentucky Hot Brown with crisp tater-tots.

WHO:

Jo Giese presents her upcoming memoir, Never Sit If You Can Dance: Lessons from My Mother (She Writes Press/April 23, 2019). Giese is an award-winning radio journalist, author, teacher, community activist, and former TV reporter. As a special correspondent, she was part of the Peabody Award winning team at Marketplace, the popular public radio business show. At Marketplace she won an EMMA (Exceptional Merit in Media Award) for an Exceptional Radio Story from the National Women’s Political Caucus and a Gracie Award from the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation. She has contributed to Ira Glass’s “This American Life” radio show, and is the author of “A Woman’s Path” ( St. Martin’s Press) and “The Good Food Compendium” (Doubleday). Giese has written for scores of publications, including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Vogue, LA Weekly, European Travel & Life, and The Malibu Times.

WHAT:

Giese sits down for an honest conversation with Sally Quinn, author and journalist, to discuss Jo’s new memoir, “Never Sit If You Can Dance: Lessons from My Mother.

Jo Giese’s mother Babe was a 50s trailblazer who celebrated life to its fullest.

This Mother’s Day, her book invites us to remember the lessons we learned from our mothers that we perhaps only came to appreciate later and say “Thank you.” With lessons ranging from “flowers never go out of style’ to ‘don’t be drab’ and ‘we all need someone waiting for us in the parking lot’” Never Sit If You Can Dance is a light-filled and universal tribute to love that will ring true with mothers, daughters, and their families in a time when we all need some old-fashioned civility in our lives.

Talking points:

• The coarsening of our culture and lack of civility

• What would women in the 50s have thought of the #metoo movement?

• Sharing real world connections vs. online social media connections

Public event highlights include:

• Public lecture and book reading

• Conversations with Jo Giese and Sally Quinn

• Books for sale

• Book signing and opportunities to meet the author

• Complimentary cocktails and appetizers

WHEN:

Saturday May 11, 2019

1 PM ET

WHERE:

Politics and Prose Bookstore

5015 Connecticut Ave NW

Washington, DC 20008

Public launch event, book reading, complimentary cocktails and appetizers will be served.

Seating is limited. RSVP to Emanuela@WildboundPR.com or 323.644.2111