Hill Rag | February 2008 | The Literary Hill 0208

The Literary Hill

A Compendium of Readers, Writers, Books, & Events

by: Karen Lyon

Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

In celebration of Black History Month, we present three African-American writers from DC who will discuss their books on Capitol Hill in February. Give a listen.

Aunt Hagar’s Favorite Sons
On Feb. 29, the PEN/Faulkner Reading Series at the Folger Shakespeare Library presents “Washington Writers: Beyond the Capitol” with Edward P. Jones and Dinaw Mengestu. Jones’s most recent book of short stories, “All Aunt Hagar’s Children,” was named one of the Washington Post’s 10 Best Books of 2006 and inspired critic Jonathan Yardley to declare, “Now there can be no doubt about it: Edward P. Jones belongs in the first rank of American letters.” The understated brilliance of the stories, about the lives of ordinary people who live and work in the nation’s capital, earned Jones a spot as a finalist for the 2007 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. He is also the author of “The Known World,” a bestselling novel about slavery that won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize, and “Lost in the City,” a short-story collection that won the PEN/Hemingway Award and was short-listed for the National Book Award.

Dinaw Mengestu burst onto the literary scene in 2007 with his debut novel, “The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears,” about an Ethiopian émigré who owns a convenience store in Logan Circle. Reviewers were quick to note the “barely suppressed despair and black wit [that] infuse this beautifully observed debut,” which describes the wrenching experience of being uprooted and forced to make a new life in another culture. Mengestu knows whereof he speaks. His father fled Ethiopia in 1977 during the Red Terror; he and his mother and sister immigrated to the US a few years later. They settled in Peoria, Illinois, and he later joined relatives in Washington to attend Georgetown University. After graduation, he earned a Master of Fine Arts from Columbia University’s fiction program, interned at The New Yorker, and returned to DC to become a visiting writer at his alma mater. In addition to his highly-acclaimed novel, Mengestu has written a moving firsthand account of the situation in Darfur for RollingStone.

For tickets and information, call 202-544-7077 or visit www.folger.edu/pen.cfm.

From the Ground Up
Jesse J. Holland will discuss his new book, “Black Men Built the Capitol: Discovering African-American History In and Around Washington, DC” at the Southeast Neighborhood Library on Feb. 26 at 7:30 p.m. A political reporter for The Associated Press, Holland has logged many hours at the US Capitol and other sites rich in American history. But he felt that part of the story was missing. “There’s a history here,” he writes. “There has to be.” So he set about researching and writing it.

“Black Men Built the Capitol” is organized, writes Holland, “as if I were putting you in the back of my SUV, driving you around the District of Columbia, and explaining the African-American contributions to the city’s greatest buildings and monuments.” Every neighborhood is well represented, as are Maryland and Virginia. Holland concludes the tour with a virtual look at African-American monuments, memorials and museums being planned in the area. The book is packed with photos, historic drawings and biographical sidebars, and the writing is conversational, as if you really were in the backseat with a very knowledgeable and engaging tour guide in charge. So sit back and enjoy this fresh look at the city you thought you knew.

Copies of the book will be available for signing. For information, call the Southeast Neighborhood Library at 202-698-3377.

In Memoriam
Capitol Hill has lost one of its most able political writers with the death of Richard G. (Rick) Zimmerman last month. The former DC bureau chief for the Cleveland Plain Dealer began his career as a political cartoonist in Ohio. He soon turned to reporting and covered not only state politics but the impact of Ohio’s coal-burning power plants on acid rain and the state assembly’s ties to lobbyists. Zimmerman came to Washington in 1971, where he became Ohio’s source for information on the national political scene, most notably covering the Watergate hearings. The newspaperman retired in 1985, but remained on the Hill to write several books that were featured in the Hill Rag: “Call Me Mike” (2003), the biography of former Ohio governor Michael V. DiSalle, and a memoir, “Plain Dealing” (2006). He was collaborating with co-author Thomas Diemer on a biography of another former Ohio governor, James A. Rhodes, at the time of his death. Zimmerman was 73.

BOOK DATES

DC PUBLIC LIBRARIES
www.dclibrary.org
Northeast Neighborhood Library
330 Seventh St. NE, 202-698-3320
Capitol Hill Mystery Book Club: second Wednesday, 6:30 p.m.
Story Time (infant-4): Tuesdays, 10:15 and 11:15 a.m., Thursdays, 11:15 a.m.
For children’s programs, contact Judy Oliver or Karen Towles at 202-698-3299.

Southeast Neighborhood Library
403 Seventh St. SE, 202-698-3377
Toddler/Infant Time: Thursdays, 11 a.m.
Preschool Story Time: Wednesdays, 11 a.m.
Nonfiction Book Discussion (adults): third Tuesday, 6:30 p.m.
Fiction Book Club (adults): Jan. 31, 7 p.m.
Southeast Sister Circle: Wednesdays, 10 a.m. and Saturdays, 2 p.m.
Author Talk: “Black Men Built the Capitol” by Jesse J. Holland, Feb. 26, 7:30 p.m.

FOLGER SHAKESPEARE LIBRARY
201 East Capitol St., SE
www.folger.edu, 202-544-4600
Box Office: 202-544-7077
Folger Poetry
Gerald Stern and Ross Gay
Feb. 11, 7:30 p.m.
PEN/Faulkner Readings
Imagination as Subversion: The Role of Imagination in Memoir and Nonfiction
Azar Nafisi, Daniel Mendelsohn and Samantha Power
Feb. 8, 8 p.m.
Washington Writers: Beyond the Capitol
Edward P. Jones and Dinaw Mengestu
Feb. 29, 8 p.m.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
www.loc.gov, 202-707-0911
Book Talks
“Power and Fantasy: America in the Middle East, 1776 to the Present”
Michael B. Oren
Feb. 7, noon
“The Democratic ‘Catch’: Free Speech and Its Limits”
Rafael Cohen-Almagor
Feb. 12, noon
Poetry Readings
Li-Young Lee and David Kirby
Feb. 7, 6:45 p.m.
Love Poems
Ethelbert Miller, Sally Bliumis-Dunn and Ben Morris
Feb. 12, noon

CAPITOL HILL BOOKS
657 C St. SE
www.capitolhillbooks-dc.com, 202-544-1621
Second Saturday: discounts on books; wine & cheese 4-7 p.m.
Extra 20 percent off on the Dead Author of the Month (February is Charles Bukowski)

RIVERBY BOOKS
417 East Capitol St. SE
www.riverby.com, 202-543-4342
‘A Space Inside’ Reading Series
Fourth Wednesday, 7 p.m.


<--previous Page	Print This Page
The Literary Hill
A Compendium of Readers, Writers, Books, & Events
by: Karen Lyon
Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In celebration of Black History Month, we present three African-American writers from DC who will discuss their books on Capitol Hill in February. Give a listen. Aunt Hagar’s Favorite Sons On Feb. 29, the PEN/Faulkner Reading Series at the Folger Shakespeare Library presents “Washington Writers: Beyond the Capitol” with Edward P. Jones and Dinaw Mengestu. Jones’s most recent book of short stories, “All Aunt Hagar’s Children,” was named one of the Washington Post’s 10 Best Books of 2006 and inspired critic Jonathan Yardley to declare, “Now there can be no doubt about it: Edward P. Jones belongs in the first rank of American letters.” The understated brilliance of the stories, about the lives of ordinary people who live and work in the nation’s capital, earned Jones a spot as a finalist for the 2007 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. He is also the author of “The Known World,” a bestselling novel about slavery that won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize, and “Lost in the City,” a short-story collection that won the PEN/Hemingway Award and was short-listed for the National Book Award. Dinaw Mengestu burst onto the literary scene in 2007 with his debut novel, “The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears,” about an Ethiopian émigré who owns a convenience store in Logan Circle. Reviewers were quick to note the “barely suppressed despair and black wit [that] infuse this beautifully observed debut,” which describes the wrenching experience of being uprooted and forced to make a new life in another culture. Mengestu knows whereof he speaks. His father fled Ethiopia in 1977 during the Red Terror; he and his mother and sister immigrated to the US a few years later. They settled in Peoria, Illinois, and he later joined relatives in Washington to attend Georgetown University. After graduation, he earned a Master of Fine Arts from Columbia University’s fiction program, interned at The New Yorker, and returned to DC to become a visiting writer at his alma mater. In addition to his highly-acclaimed novel, Mengestu has written a moving firsthand account of the situation in Darfur for RollingStone. For tickets and information, call 202-544-7077 or visit www.folger.edu/pen.cfm. From the Ground Up Jesse J. Holland will discuss his new book, “Black Men Built the Capitol: Discovering African-American History In and Around Washington, DC” at the Southeast Neighborhood Library on Feb. 26 at 7:30 p.m. A political reporter for The Associated Press, Holland has logged many hours at the US Capitol and other sites rich in American history. But he felt that part of the story was missing. “There’s a history here,” he writes. “There has to be.” So he set about researching and writing it. “Black Men Built the Capitol” is organized, writes Holland, “as if I were putting you in the back of my SUV, driving you around the District of Columbia, and explaining the African-American contributions to the city’s greatest buildings and monuments.” Every neighborhood is well represented, as are Maryland and Virginia. Holland concludes the tour with a virtual look at African-American monuments, memorials and museums being planned in the area. The book is packed with photos, historic drawings and biographical sidebars, and the writing is conversational, as if you really were in the backseat with a very knowledgeable and engaging tour guide in charge. So sit back and enjoy this fresh look at the city you thought you knew. Copies of the book will be available for signing. For information, call the Southeast Neighborhood Library at 202-698-3377. In Memoriam Capitol Hill has lost one of its most able political writers with the death of Richard G. (Rick) Zimmerman last month. The former DC bureau chief for the Cleveland Plain Dealer began his career as a political cartoonist in Ohio. He soon turned to reporting and covered not only state politics but the impact of Ohio’s coal-burning power plants on acid rain and the state assembly’s ties to lobbyists. Zimmerman came to Washington in 1971, where he became Ohio’s source for information on the national political scene, most notably covering the Watergate hearings. The newspaperman retired in 1985, but remained on the Hill to write several books that were featured in the Hill Rag: “Call Me Mike” (2003), the biography of former Ohio governor Michael V. DiSalle, and a memoir, “Plain Dealing” (2006). He was collaborating with co-author Thomas Diemer on a biography of another former Ohio governor, James A. Rhodes, at the time of his death. Zimmerman was 73. BOOK DATES DC PUBLIC LIBRARIES www.dclibrary.org Northeast Neighborhood Library 330 Seventh St. NE, 202-698-3320 Capitol Hill Mystery Book Club: second Wednesday, 6:30 p.m. Story Time (infant-4): Tuesdays, 10:15 and 11:15 a.m., Thursdays, 11:15 a.m. For children’s programs, contact Judy Oliver or Karen Towles at 202-698-3299. Southeast Neighborhood Library 403 Seventh St. SE, 202-698-3377 Toddler/Infant Time: Thursdays, 11 a.m. Preschool Story Time: Wednesdays, 11 a.m. Nonfiction Book Discussion (adults): third Tuesday, 6:30 p.m. Fiction Book Club (adults): Jan. 31, 7 p.m. Southeast Sister Circle: Wednesdays, 10 a.m. and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Author Talk: “Black Men Built the Capitol” by Jesse J. Holland, Feb. 26, 7:30 p.m. FOLGER SHAKESPEARE LIBRARY 201 East Capitol St., SE www.folger.edu, 202-544-4600 Box Office: 202-544-7077 Folger Poetry Gerald Stern and Ross Gay Feb. 11, 7:30 p.m. PEN/Faulkner Readings Imagination as Subversion: The Role of Imagination in Memoir and Nonfiction Azar Nafisi, Daniel Mendelsohn and Samantha Power Feb. 8, 8 p.m. Washington Writers: Beyond the Capitol Edward P. Jones and Dinaw Mengestu Feb. 29, 8 p.m. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS www.loc.gov, 202-707-0911 Book Talks “Power and Fantasy: America in the Middle East, 1776 to the Present” Michael B. Oren Feb. 7, noon “The Democratic ‘Catch’: Free Speech and Its Limits” Rafael Cohen-Almagor Feb. 12, noon Poetry Readings Li-Young Lee and David Kirby Feb. 7, 6:45 p.m. Love Poems Ethelbert Miller, Sally Bliumis-Dunn and Ben Morris Feb. 12, noon CAPITOL HILL BOOKS 657 C St. SE www.capitolhillbooks-dc.com, 202-544-1621 Second Saturday: discounts on books; wine & cheese 4-7 p.m. Extra 20 percent off on the Dead Author of the Month (February is Charles Bukowski) RIVERBY BOOKS 417 East Capitol St. SE www.riverby.com, 202-543-4342 ‘A Space Inside’ Reading Series Fourth Wednesday, 7 p.m.