D.C.-Area Readings

Despite the losses of numerous important local bookstores in recent years, there are still plenty of opportunities to meet authors in person in the D.C. area. Recommended readings are in bold; listings added in the past week are preceded with an asterisk (*). Many, but not all, events are free. I encourage you to contact the venue regarding ticket charges, or even if the event is happening; I draw information for these listings from the venue Web sites, which may be inaccurate or out of date. Contact info for venues that regularly host events is at the bottom of the page.

These listings of upcoming author readings and signings are by no means complete. If you’re an author coming to town, or if you’re with a bookstore or other venue hosting a reading and you’d like to be considered for inclusion here, please drop me a line. The listings are updated every Saturday.

July 11
Kevin Bales and Ron Soodalter, The Slave Next Door (Politics & Prose)
Julie Kraut, Slept Away (Borders Friendship Heights)

July 12
Melissa Ford, Navigating the Land of If (Politics & Prose)
Maurice Jackson, Let This Voice Be Heard (Politics & Prose)
E. Ethelbert Miller, The Fifth Inning (Busboys & Poets 14th and V)

July 13
Kate Christensen, Trouble (Politics & Prose)

July 14
* Kate Carlisle, Homicide in Hardcover, and John Gilstrap, No Mercy (Barnes & Noble Reston)
Andre DuPont, An American Solution for Reducing Carbon Emissions Averting Global Warming, Creating Green Energy, and Sustainable Employment (Reiter’s)
Fred Kaplan, 1959 (Politics & Prose)
Liza Mundy, Michelle (Borders L Street)

July 15
Brett L. Abrams, Capital Sporting Grounds (National Archives)
Dennis Drabelle, Mile-High Fever Silver Mines, Boom Towns, and High Living on the Comstock Lode (Barnes & Noble Downtown)
Seth G. Jones, In the Graveyard of Empires (Politics & Prose)

July 16
Matthew Aid, The Secret Sentry (Politics & Prose)
Jennifer Weiner, Best Friends Forever (Borders Baileys Crossroads)

July 17
Stephen L. Carter, Jericho’s Fall (Politics & Prose)

July 18
Sasha Abramsky, Breadline USA (Busboys & Poets 5th & K)
Edmund L. Andrews, Busted (Politics & Prose)
Katie McCabe, Justice Older Than the Law (Politics & Prose)
M.W. Moore, An About Face (Lambda Rising)
Sheilah Vance, Journaling Through the Land Mines (Borders Largo)

July 19
Melissa Marr, Fragile Eternity (Borders Baileys Crossroads)
Richard Peabody and contributors, Gravity Dancers (Politics & Prose)

July 20
Paul Butler, Let’s Get Free (Politics & Prose)
* C. M. Mayo, The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire (Library of Congress)
Daniel Meyerson, In the Valley of the Kings: Howard Carter and the Mystery of King Tutankhamun’s Tomb (Corcoran)
Andrea Batista Schlesinger, The Death of “Why?”: The Decline of Questioning and the Future of Democracy (Busboys & Poets 14th & V)

July 21
Jennifer Haigh, The Condition (Politics & Prose)
Victoria Christopher Murray, Lady Jasmine (Borders Largo)
* Marc Anthony Viola, A Spy’s Resume: Confessions of a Maverick Intelligence Professional and Misadventure Capitalist (Reiter’s)

July 22
D.D. Guttenplan, American Radical (Politics & Prose)
Anthony Pitch, They Have Killed Papa Dead! The Road to Ford’s Theater, Abraham Lincoln’s Murder, and the Rage for Vengeance (National Archives)
Karin Slaughter, Undone (Borders Baileys Crossroads)
Congressman Henry Waxman, The Waxman Report (Sixth and I Historic Synagogue)

July 23
Rafael Yglesias, A Happy Marriage (Politics & Prose)

July 24
Richard Ben-Veniste, The Emperor’s New Clothes (Politics & Prose)

July 25
Austin S. Camacho, Russian Roulette (Borders Largo)
Ryan Grim, This Is Your Country on Drugs (Politics & Prose)
Jeff Robertson, The Evil Side of Money (Borders Largo)
Sara Shepard, Pretty Little Liars #6: Killer (Borders Fairfax)

July 26
Elizabeth Hawes, Camus, A Romance (Politics & Prose)
Chris Hedges, Empire of Illusion (Politics & Prose)
Zoe Weil, Most Good, Least Harm: A Simple Principle for a Better World and Meaningful Life (Shirlington Public Library)

July 27
Bradley Graham, By His Own Rules (Politics & Prose)
Zack Lynch, The Neuro Revolution (Borders L Street)

July 28
* Jay Asher, Thirteen Reasons Why (Borders Fairfax)
Chris Mooney, Unscientific America (Politics & Prose)
Marc Anthony Viola, A Spy’s Resume: Confessions of a Maverick Intelligence Professional and Misadventure Capitalist (Reiter’s)

July 29
Sarah Dunant, Sacred Hearts (Politics & Prose)
Sharon Kay Penman, Devil’s Brood
Jim Reed, Storm Chaser: A Photographer’s Journey (Corcoran)

July 30
Howard Dean, Howard Dean’s Prescription for Real Health Care Reform (Busboys & Poets 14th & V)
Patrick Radden Keefe, The Snakehead (Politics & Prose)

July 31
Daniel Silva, The Defector (Barnes &Noble Bethesda)

August 2
Sandy Pugh, We the Peepers (Borders Baileys Crossroads)

August 3
* Frank A. Aukofer, Never a Slow Day (National Press Club)
Sen. Barbara Boxer, Blind Trust (Politics & Prose)

August 4
Matthew B. Crawford, Shop Class as Soulcraft (Politics & Prose)

August 5
* Donna Andrews, Swan for the Money (National Press Club)
Dan Balz and Hayes Johnson, The Battle for America 2008 (Politics & Prose)
* Michael J. Sullivan, Avempartha (Barnes & Noble Arlington)

August 6
Gen. Tony Zinni, Leading the Charge

August 10
R. Dwayne Betts, A Question of Freedom: A Memoir of Learning, Survival and Coming of Age in Prison (Busboys & Poets 14th and V)
Helene Cooper, The House at Sugar Beach (Politics & Prose)

August 11
R. Dwayne Betts, A Question of Freedom: A Memoir of Learning, Survival and Coming of Age in Prison (Borders Largo)
Anthony Flint, Wrestling With Moses (Politics & Prose)

August 12
Joel R. Davidson, Armchair Warriors: Private Citizens, Popular Press, and the Rise of American Power (National Archives)
Brian Herbert, The Winds of Dune (Borders Baileys Crossroads)
Richard Russo, That Old Cape Magic (Politics & Prose)

August 13
Linwood Barclay, Fear the Worst (Barnes & Noble Baileys Crossroads)
Howard Dean, Howard Dean’s Prescription for Real Health Care Reform (Politics & Prose)
Brian Herbert, The Winds of Dune (Barnes & Noble Bethesda)

August 15
* Chris Carlton Brown, Hoppergrass (Barnes & Noble Arlington)

August 17
Christopher A. Preble, The Power Problem: How American Military Dominance Makes Us Less Safe, Less Prosperous, and Less Free (Busboys & Poets 14th & V)
Michael Rosen, What Else But Home (Politics & Prose)

August 18
* Erin Gruwell, Teaching Hope: Stories from the Freedom Writers Teachers (Barnes & Noble Arlington)
Eugenia Kim, The Calligrapher’s Daughter (Politics & Prose)

August 19
James Wood, How Fiction Works (Politics & Prose)

August 20
Joseph Finder, Vanished (Borders Baileys Crossroads)
Alex S. Jones, Losing the News (Politics & Prose)

August 22
* Ray B. Smith, The Child in the Voting Booth: When Grown People Elect Parents Into Political Office (Barnes & Noble Arlington)
Alia Yunis, The Night Counter (Busboys & Poets 14th & V)

August 24
Jessica Hopper, The Girls’ Guide to Rocking (Comet Ping Pong, 5037 Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington D.C.)
David Wessel, In Fed We Trust (Politics & Prose)

August 25
T.R. Reid, The Healing of America (Politics & Prose)

August 26,
John Buntin, L.A. Noir (Politics & Prose)
H.M. Naqvi, The Home Boy (Borders L Street)

August 27
Nick McDonell, An Expensive Education (Politics & Prose)

August 29
Diana Peterfreund, Rampant (Borders Rockville)

September 5
Sarah McCoy, The Time It Snowed in Puerto Rico (Borders Baileys Crossroads)

September 8
* Anthony Pitch, They Have Killed Papa Dead!”: The Road to Ford’s Theater, Abraham Lincoln’s Murder, and the Rage for Vengeance (Barnes & Noble Rockville)
Krysten Sinema, Unite and Conquer (Busboys & Poets 5th & K)

September 9
Richelle Mead, Blood Promise: Vampire Academy Book #4 (Borders Fairfax)
Kathy Reichs, 206 Bones (Smithsonian Associates)

September 10
George Pelecanos, The Way Home (Busboys & Poets 14th & V)

September 13
Elizabeth Rees, Now That We’re Here; Jamie Brown, Conventional Heresies; and Neva Herrington, Her BMW and Other Poems (Writer’s Center)

September 17
Melanie Mitchell, Complexity: A Guided Tour (National Academy of Sciences,
2101 Constitution Avenue, NW)
John Shors, Dragon House (Barnes & Noble Bethesda)

September 18
Suzanne Frischkorn, Lit Windowpane, and Neil Smith, Bang Crunch (Writer’s Center)

September 19
Judy Shepard, The Meaning of Matthew (Borders L Street)

September 20
John Lamb, The Treacherous Teddy (Borders Baileys Crossroads)
Michael Montlack and contributors, My Diva: 65 Gay Men and The Women Who Inspire Them (Writer’s Center)
* Marguerite Rippy, Orson Welles and the Unfinished RKO Projects: A Postmodern Perspective (Busboys & Poets Shirlington)

September 21
Paul Dickson, The Dickson Baseball Dictionary (Arlington Public Library)
Joyce Carol Oates, Little Bird of Heaven (Freer Gallery of Art,
12th & Independence Ave. SW)

September 23
* Robert King, From the Bottom of the Heap: The Autobiography of a Black Panther (Busboys & Poets 14th & V)
Sara Paretsky, Hardball (Barnes & Noble Bethesda)

September 24
Linda Perman Goodman, Susan Shaffer, Too Close for Comfort? Questioning the Intimacy of Today’s New Mother-Daughter Relationship (Barnes & Noble Bethesda)

September 26
* Dan Baum, Nine Lives: Death and Life in New Orleans (Busboys & Poets Shirlington)
National Book Festival (National Mall)
James Ellroy, Blood’s a Rover (Writer’s Center)

September 29
* Diana Gabaldon, The Echo in the Bone (Borders Baileys Crossroads)
Francine Prose, Anne Frank: The Book, the Life, the Afterlife (Smithsonian Associates)

September 30
Thad Carhart, Across the Endless River (Borders Baileys Crossroads)

October 1
James McPherson, Tried by War (Border Baileys Crossroads)

October 2
Alexander Chee, Queen of the Night, and Srikanth Reddy, Facts for Visitors (Writer’s Center)

October 3
* Madeleine Albright, Read My Pins: Stories from a Diplomat’s Jewel Box (Barnes & Noble Bethesda)

October 4
* Madeleine Albright, Read My Pins: Stories from a Diplomat’s Jewel Box (Barnes & Noble Tysons Corner)
Charles Jensen, The First Risk, and Merrill Feitell, Here Beneath Low-Flying Planes (Writer’s Center)

October 6
* Bobby Deen and Jamie Deen, The Deen Bros. Take It Easy Quick and Affordable Meals the Whole Family Will Love (Barnes & Noble Tysons Corner)
* Jen Yates, Cake Wrecks: When Professional Cakes Go Hilariously Wrong (Barnes & Noble Tysons Corner)

October 11
Dennis Sampson, Within the Shadow of a Man; Louie Skipper, It Was the Orange Persimmon of the Sun; and Sheppard Ranbom, King Philip’s War (Writer’s Center)

October 18
Gail Rosen reads from Hilda Stern Cohen, Words that Burn Within Me: Faith, Values, Survival

October 19
Shira Tarrant, Men and Feminism (Busboys & Poets 14th & V)

October 20
Steve Early, Embedded With Organized Labor: Journalistic Reflections on the Class War at Home (Busboys & Poets 14th & V)

October 22
Yvonne Bynoe, Who’s Your Mama? The Unsung Voices of Women and Mothers (Busboys & Poets 14th & V)

October 23
Contributors to Reverso (Writer’s Center)

October 25
William Littlejohn, Calvin, and Jehanne Dubrow, From the Fever-World (Writer’s Center)

October 29
* Audrey Niffenegger, Her Fearful Symmetry, with Scribner editor in chief Nan Graham (Smithsonian Associates)
Terese Svoboda, Weapons Grade and Wendy Mnookin, The Moon Makes Its Own Plea (Writer’s Center)

November 1
David Meltzer and Michael Rothenberg, The Rockpile Journals (Writer’s Center)

November 8
Laura van den Berg, What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us, and William Heath, Blacksnake’s Path (Writer’s Center)

November 15
Gerry LaFemina, Proofreading America and Other Stories, and Michael Salcman, The Clock Made of Confetti (Writer’s Center)

November 17
National Press Club Book Fair & Author’s Night (National Press Club)

November 22
Contributors, The Poet’s Cookbook (Writer’s Center)

December 4
Lisa Selin Davis, Belly; Nancy Krygowski, Velocity; and Aaron Smith, Blue on Blue Ground (Writer’s Center)

December 6
Deborah Ager, Midnight Voices, and Reb Livingston, Your Ten Favorite Words (Writer’s Center)

Venues:

Arlington Public Library
1015 North Quincy Street
Arlington, VA
703-228-5990

Shirlington Public Library
4200 Campbell Avenue
Arlington, VA
703-228-6545

Barnes & Noble Alexandria
3651 Jefferson Davis Hwy
Alexandria, VA
703-299-9124

Barnes & Noble Arlington
2800 Clarendon Blvd. Suite 500
Arlington, VA
703-248-8244

Barnes & Noble Bethesda
4801 Bethesda Avenue
Bethesda, MD
301-986-1761

Barnes & Noble Bowie
15455 Emerald Way
Bowie, MD
301-809-1552

Barnes & Noble Downtown
555 12th St. NW
Washington, D.C.
202-347-0176

Barnes & Noble Fairfax
12193 Fair Lakes Promenade Drive
Fairfax, VA
(703) 278-0300

Barnes & Noble Gaithersburg
21 Grand Corner Ave.
Gaithersburg, MD
(301) 721-0860

Barnes & Noble Georgetown
3040 M Street NW
Washington, D.C.
202-965-9880

Barnes & Noble Reston
1851 Fountain Drive
Reston, VA
703-437-9490

Barnes & Noble Rockville
12089 Rockville Pike
Rockville, MD
301-881-0237

Barnes & Noble Springfield
6646 Loisdale Road
Springfield, VA
703-971-5383

Barnes & Noble Tysons Corner
7851 L. Tysons Corner Center
McLean, VA
703-506-2937

Borders Baileys Crossroads
5871 Crossroads Center Way
Baileys Crossroads, VA
703-998-0404

Borders Bowie
4420 Mitchellville Road
Bowie, MD
(301) 352-5560

Borders Fairfax
11054 Lee Hwy.
Fairfax, VA
703-359-8420

Borders Friendship Heights
5333 Wisconsin Ave. NW
Washington, D.C.
202-686-8270

Borders Largo
931A Capital Centre Blvd.
Largo, MD
301-499-2173

Borders L Street
1801 K St. NW
Washington D.C.
202-466-4999

Borders Rockville
11301 Rockville Pike
Kensington, MD
301-816-1067

Borders Silver Spring
8518 Fenton St.
Silver Spring, MD
301-585-0550

Borders Springfield
6701 Frontier Dr.
Springfield, VA
703-924-4894

Borders Tysons Corner
8027 Leesburg Pike
Vienna, VA
703-556-7766

Busboys & Poets 14th & V (@busboysandpoets)
2021 14th St. NW
Washington, D.C.
202-387-7638

Busboys & Poets 5th & K
1025 5th Street NW
Washington, D.C.
202-789-2227

Busboys & Poets Shirlington
4251 South Campbell Ave
Arlington, VA 22206
703-379-9756

Cato Institute
1000 Massachusetts Ave. NW
Washington, DC
202-789-5229

Corcoran Gallery of Art
500 17th St. NW
Washington, D.C.
(202) 639-1700

Folger Shakespeare Library
201 East Capitol St. SE
Washington, D.C.
202-544-4600

George Mason University
4400 University Drive
Fairfax, VA
703-993-1000

Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington (JCCGW)
6125 Montrose Rd.
Rockville, MD
301-348-3805

Lambda Rising
1625 Connecticut Ave NW
Washington, D.C.
202-462-6969

Library of Congress (@librarycongress)
101 Independence Avenue S.E.
Washington, D.C.
202-707-8000

National Archives (@archives_gov)
700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C.
866-272-6272

National Press Club
529 14th Street NW
Washington, D.C.
202-662-7500

Politics & Prose (@Politics_Prose)
5015 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington, D.C.
202-364-1919

Presse Bookstore
1614 Wisconsin Ave. NW
Washington, D.C.
202-338-1594

Reiter’s Books
1990 K St. NW
Washington, D.C.
202-223-3327

Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
600 I St. NW
Washington, D.C.

Smithsonian Associates
1100 Jefferson Dr. SW
Washington, D.C.
202-633-3030

Washington DCJCC (@16thstreetj)
1529 Sixteenth St. NW
Washington, D.C.
202-518-9400

The Writer’s Center
4508 Walsh Street
Bethesda, MD
301-654-8664