We are excited to announce that our first Literary Conversation of 2020, Wired, will be held on Thursday, February 27. Tickets can be purchased here. According to the NIMH, almost twenty percent of American adults live with a mental illness. From social anxiety and...
Literary Events Pre-2018
Get Your Tickets to Unincarcerated!
Don't miss our next Literary Conversation on Thursday, November 21 at 7pm! Featuring authors Reginald Dwayne Betts, Dr. DaMaris B. Hill, Luis Rodriguez, and Tony Lewis Jr., and presented in partnership with Impact/Justice and MahoganyBooks! Tickets on sale now:...
Don’t Miss Our First Literary Conversation of the Season!
PEN/Faulkner's first Literary Conversation will focus on the role of graphic novels and comics in today's world of visual media. Tickets on sale now! What happens when the visual arts meet the literary arts? For years, comic books and cartoons have dominated the realm...
4/30 | Literature On Screen: The Hate U Give
Don't miss our final Literary Conversation of the season on Tuesday, April 30th at AFI Silver Theater and Cultural Center! Get your tickets now! Join us in welcoming author Angie Thomas and actor Russell Hornsby to DC as they discuss the translation of the bestselling...
3/10: Don’t Miss Fantastic Women at the National Museum of Women in the Arts
In celebration of Women’s History Month, the PEN/Faulkner Foundation & the National Museum of Women in the Arts present "Fantastic Women." Tickets on sale now! Join us in celebrating the work of Lesley Nneka Arimah, Kelly Link, and Carmen Maria Machado, women...
Tickets to Beyond La Frontera On Sale Now!
Don't miss out on this especially timely conversation featuring award-winning Mexican American writers Jennifer Clement and Luis Alberto Urrea. On January 14th, we will hear from these prolific writers as they discuss relevant issues such as immigrant narratives, the...
Get tickets now for Finding Home!
The PEN/Faulkner Foundation & GWU’s Institute for Middle East Studies invite you to delve into the intricacies of Arab American identity through the individual experiences of some of today’s most celebrated literary voices. Join notable Buzzfeed reporter Hannah...
Announcing PEN/Faulkner’s Fall Season of Literary Conversations and Events!
Literary Conversations are PEN/Faulkner’s regular public programming events, which are designed to capture the most significant literary and societal conversations of the moment. Unlike other reading events, Literary Conversations are moderated discussions embedded...
Call Me By Your Name: An Evening with André Aciman
Join us for this exciting evening with André Aciman, author of Call Me By Your Name, as he discusses his critically acclaimed novel, particularly in the context of the Oscar-winning movie adaptation! André will be joined by Spencer Kornhaber, culture critic at The...
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Named 2nd Annual Eudora Welty Lecturer
Award-winning author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie will deliver the second annual Eudora Welty Lecture on Wednesday, November 8, 2017 at the historic Lincoln Theatre in Washington, D.C. Inspired by Eudora Welty’s lectures on One Writer’s Beginnings, the Eudora Welty...
April 7: The Displaced: An Evening with Laila Lalami, Shobha Rao and Luis Urrea
The Displaced: An Evening with Laila Lalami, Shobha Rao, and Luis Urrea Moderator: Sarah Stillman Friday, April 7th, 2017 | 7:30 PM Purchase a single ticket for $15 Folger Shakespeare Library 201 East Capitol St., SE Washington, DC 20003 (map) Four Moroccans cross...
March 28th: World War One and America
World War One and America Featuring: Elliot Ackerman, Maurice Decaul, Nicole Rizzuto, and Kayla Williams Tuesday, March 28th, 2017 | 7:00 - 9:00 PM RESERVE YOUR FREE TICKETS HERE Hill Center @ the Old Naval Hospital 921 Pennsylvania Ave, SE Washington, DC...
March 6th: Class in the Black Community: Margo Jefferson, Angela Flournoy, and Marcus Guillory
Class in the Black Community: Margo Jefferson, Angela Flournoy, and Marcus Guillory Monday, March 6th, 2017 | 7:30 PM Purchase a single ticket for $15 Folger Shakespeare Library 201 East Capitol St., SE Washington, DC 20003 (map) Margo Jefferson’s...
February 21st: Cli-Fi: Nathaniel Rich and Kate Walbert
Cli-Fi: Nathaniel Rich and Kate Walbert Tuesday, February 21st, 2017 | 7:30 PM Purchase a single ticket for $15 Folger Shakespeare Library 201 East Capitol St., SE Washington, DC 20003 (map) The latest novels of Nathaniel Rich (Odds Against Tomorrow) and Kate...
January 10th: Urgently Human: Roxane Gay and Morgan Parker in Conversation
Urgently Human: Morgan Parker and Roxane Gay in Conversation Tuesday, January 10th, 2017 | 7:30 PM Purchase a single ticket for $15 Lutheran Church of the Reformation (across the street from the Folger Shakespeare Library) 212 East Capitol St., NE Washington, DC...
October 20th: The Inaugural Eudora Welty Lecture: Salman Rushdie
One Writer's Beginnings: The Inaugural Eudora Welty Lecture with Salman Rushdie Introduction by: Natasha Trethewey Co-sponsored by the Eudora Welty Foundation in collaboration with the Folger Shakespeare Library Thursday, October 20th, 2016 | 7:30 PM Purchase a...
Geraldine Brooks in conversation with Sally Quinn
Geraldine Brooks in conversation with Sally Quinn A Collaboration with the Scottish Rite Masons Tuesday, June 7th at 7:00 PM Scottish Rite Center 2800 16th St. NW Washington, DC 20009 [Map] Free | Email rsvp@penfaulkner.org for tickets Pulitzer Prize winning novelist...
April 27th – Free Minds Book Club
We Can Be the Change: Voices of Incarcerated Youth Free Minds Poetry Reading & Community Dialogue Wednesday, April 27th at 7 p.m. Hill Center 921 Pennsylvania Ave SE Washington, DC 20003 [Map] Reserve Your Free Tickets Here Read about Writers in Schools and Free...
Cocktails with Mitchell S. Jackson and Leslie Jamison
Join PEN/Faulkner to welcome Mitchell Jackson and Leslie Jamison to D.C. with cocktails, conversation, and Union Kitchen catering at Compass Coffee! Doors open at 6:30 PM on Sunday, March 20th. Tickets are $75 here or at 202-898-9063. Student tickets are here....
The First Annual Eudora Welty Lecture in Washington, D.C.
Salman Rushdie to Give the Inaugural Eudora Welty Lecture in Washington, D.C. A new endowed lecture to be presented by the PEN/Faulkner Foundation and the Eudora Welty Foundation Tickets $24 The PEN/Faulkner Foundation and the Eudora Welty Foundation announce...
PEN/Faulkner and the Folger Theatre Present: Louise Erdrich
Louise Erdrich May 10th, 2016 | 7:30 PM In Collaboration with the Library of Congress Folger Shakespeare Library 201 East Capitol Street, SE Washington, DC 20003 (map) Tickets $15 online or at 202-544-7077 "Book by book, over the past three decades, Louise Erdrich...
April 21st: Helen Oyeyemi
Helen Oyeyemi | What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours 6:30 PM at Politics & Prose @ Busboys and Poets Takoma, in conversation with The New Yorker's Margaret Talbot The last Spring 2016 PEN/Faulkner and Politics & Prose reading will be Helen Oyeyemi, who is the...
March 7th: A. Igoni Barrett
A. Igoni Barrett | Blackass 6:30 PM at Politics & Prose @ Busboys and Poets 14th & V PEN/Faulkner and Politics & Prose present A. Igoni Barrett, author of Blackass and Love Is Power, or Something Like That. He is a winner of the 2005 BBC World Service...
Feb. 21st: Hanya Yanagihara
Hanya Yanagihara | A Little Life In Conversation with Mic's Madhulikka Sikka 6:30 PM at Politics & Prose @ Busboys and Poets Takoma PEN/Faulkner and Politics & Prose present Hanya Yanagihara, Man Booker- and National Book Award-shortlisted author of A Little...
Feb. 11th: Alexander Chee
Alexander Chee | The Queen of the Night In Conversation with Hache Carrillo 6:30 PM at Politics & Prose @ Busboys and Poets Brookland The Politics & Prose and PEN/Faulkner Reading Series returns with Alexander Chee, 2015 PEN/Faulkner Award Judge and author...
PEN/Faulkner Presents: Edna O’Brien
Edna O'Brien April 3rd, 2016 | 6:00 PM Sixth & I Historic Synagogue 600 I Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 (map) Tickets $20 online or at 877-987-6487 Edna O’Brien has been hailed as the doyenne of Irish literature. Her first novel in a decade, The Little...
Feb. 23rd: Celeste Ng and John Wray
Not Waving but Drowning: An Evening with Celeste Ng and John Wray Moderated by Katy Waldman Tuesday, February 23rd, 2016 | 7:30 PM Purchase a single ticket for $15 Folger Shakespeare Library – Elizabethan Theatre 201 East Capitol Street SE Washington, DC...
January 21st: Kseniya Melnik at Hill Center
Hill Center & PEN/Faulkner Present: Kseniya Melnik in Conversation with Lisa Page Thursday, January 21st, 2016 at 7 p.m. Free (reserve tickets here) Hill Center at the Old Naval Hospital 921 Pennsylvania Ave., SE Washington, DC 20003 The next event of the...
November 17th: Jeff Richards at Hill Center
Hill Center & PEN/Faulkner Present: Jeff Richards in conversation with Scott Berg Tuesday, November 17th at 7 p.m. Free Hill Center at the Old Naval Hospital 921 Pennsylvania Ave., SE Washington, DC 20003 Reserve Your Seat The second 2015-2016 event of the...
Sept. 2nd: John Darnielle
John Darnielle September 2nd, 2015 at 6:30 PM Politics & Prose @ Busboys and Poets Brookland In his first novel, Darnielle tells an intricate and powerful story about identity, roles, and a game that can have disastrous implications if taken too far. Now in...
Oct. 19th: David Bezmozgis, Boris Fishman, and Lara Vapnyar
Replacement Lives: An Evening with David Bezmozgis, Boris Fishman, and Lara Vapnyar In Partnership with the DCJCC Literary Festival Monday, October 19th, 2015 | 7:30 PM Purchase a single ticket for $15 Folger Shakespeare Library – Elizabethan Theatre 201 East...
March 21st: Mitchell S. Jackson and Leslie Jamison
I Feel Your Pain: An Evening with Mitchell S. Jackson and Leslie Jamison Moderated by Richard McCann Monday, March 21st, 2016 | 7:30 PM Purchase a single ticket for $15 Folger Shakespeare Library – Elizabethan Theatre 201 East Capitol Street SE Washington, DC...
Nov. 6th: Jane Smiley
Heartlands: An Evening with Jane Smiley Moderated by Linda Holmes Friday, November 6th, 2015 | 7:30 PM Purchase a single ticket for $15 Folger Shakespeare Library 201 East Capitol Street SE Washington, DC 20003 Jane Smiley is one of America’s foremost...
May 2nd: A Tribute to Robert Stone
A Tribute to Robert Stone Featuring Madison Smartt Bell, Stephen Goodwin, Lauren Groff, and Tim O'Brien Monday, May 2nd, 2016 | 7:30 PM Purchase a single ticket for $15 Folger Shakespeare Library – Elizabethan Theatre 201 East Capitol Street SE Washington, DC...
Nov. 23: Julianna Baggott and Laura Kasischke
The PEN/Faulkner Reading Series and the O.B. Hardison Poetry Series Present Chapter and Verse: An Evening with Julianna Baggott and Laura Kasischke Monday, November 23rd, 2015 | 7:30 PM Purchase a single ticket for $15 Folger Shakespeare Library – Elizabethan...
Sept. 11th – Padgett Powell at Hill Center
The first 2015-2016 event of the Hill Center & PEN/Faulkner Literary Reading Series features Padgett Powell in conversation with Katherine Heiny.
Writers in Schools Panel at the Scottish Rite Center
On June 2nd, the Scottish Rite Masons, in collaboration with the PEN/Faulkner Foundation, proudly present Rachel Broudy, Richard McCann, Frazier O’Leary, George Pelecanos, and Morowa Yejidé with moderator Susan Eisenhower for an evening devoted to discussing PEN/Faulkner’s Writers in Schools Program.
DC – 2016 PEN/Faulkner Foundation Summer Supper & Book Club
Summer is almost here (it's true!), and while the school year is coming to a close, our Writers in Schools programming is not! Join us for the 2016 PEN/Faulkner Foundation Summer Supper & Book Club and spend your summer reading great books, eating pizza and having...
April 20 – On the Same Page: Voices of Incarcerated Youth
Please join us for an evening of poetry and community dialogue brought to you by Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop and PEN/Faulkner’s Writers in Schools program.
Mar. 9th: Brando Skyhorse in Conversation with Lisa Page
The next installment of the Hill Center & PEN/Faulkner Literary Reading Series features Brando Skyhorse, author of The Madonnas of Echo Park and Take This Man, in conversation with Lisa Page, Acting Director of Creative Writing, The George Washington University.
Feb. 25th: Voices Beyond Bondage at Hill Center
The next installment of the Hill Center & PEN/Faulkner Literary Reading Series features Erika DeSimone and Fidel Louis, editors of Voices Beyond Bondage: An Anthology of Verse by African Americans of the 19th Century, in conversation with Lisa Page, Acting Director of Creative Writing, The George Washington University.
Nov. 11th, 2014: Maureen Corrigan & Jackson Bryer at Hill Center
Hill Center & PEN/Faulkner Present: Maureen Corrigan in conversation with Jackson Bryer Tuesday, Nov. 11th at 7 p.m. Free (Please register for your free tickets here) The next installment of the Hill Center & PEN/Faulkner Literary Reading Series...
Timothy Denevi & Judith Warner at Hill Center
The PEN/Faulkner & Hill Center Literary Reading Series returns with an event featuring authors Timothy Denevi & Judith Warner, who will read from their work and discuss ongoing research, trends, and attitudes related to the diagnosis and treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).
Apr. 7th: Allan Gurganus & Elizabeth Strout
Where We Are From: Place and Personhood in Fiction
Mar. 27th: T.C. Boyle
All Things Animate, Beating in Unison: An Evening with T.C. Boyle
Feb. 9th: Ruth Ozeki & Claire Vaye Watkins
The Imaginary Real: Weaving Fact into Fiction – A reading and conversation with Ruth Ozeki & Claire Vaye Watkins
Jan. 12th: James Carroll & Marilynne Robinson
In the Beginning Was the Word: An Evening with James Carroll & Marilynne Robinson
Nov. 24th: Okey Ndibe, Chinelo Okparanta, and Taiye Selasi
In This Way Comes Morning: New Writing of the West African Diaspora November 24, 2014 at 7:30 PM | $15 (buy) Folger Shakespeare Library - Elizabethan Theatre 201 East Capitol Street SE Washington, DC 20003 (map) The past few years have been a particularly...
Ann Beattie & Emerging VQR Writers
A Storied Future: Ann Beattie in conversation with emerging writers from the Virginia Quarterly Review, Tope Folarin, Onyinhe Ihezukwu, Greg Jackson, and Brendan McKennedy
March 31: On the Same Page: Voices of Incarcerated Youth – Free Minds Poetry Reading & Community Dialogue
On Monday, March 31st at 7 p.m., Free Minds Book Club & Writing Workshop, in collaboration with the PEN/Faulkner Foundation, will host its second annual community poetry reading and dialogue at Hill Center.
Jan. 29, 2014: Molly McCloskey & Lisa Page at Hill Center
On Wednesday, Jan. 29th, at 7 p.m., Hill Center and PEN/Faulkner will present author Molly McCloskey in conversation with writer Lisa Page. This reading and conversation is free and open to the public and will be followed by a book signing.
Feb. 4, 2014: Whose Life Is it Anyway? The Literary Biographer’s Craft
Whose Life Is it, Anyway: The Literary Biographer’s Craft. On Tuesday, Feb. 4th, Blake Bailey, Ruth Franklin, and D.T. Max will take to the Folger stage to engage in a reading and conversation with author and New Yorker staff writer Margaret Talbot.
Feb. 24, 2014: Survival Instincts: First-time Novelists on the Ties That Bind
Survival Instincts: First-time Novelists on the Ties That Bind. On Monday, Feb. 24th novelists Ayana Mathis and Justin Torres will read at the Folger Shakespeare Library and engage in conversation moderated by novelist Elliott Holt.
Mar. 14, 2014: Phil Klay in Conversation with Jennifer Vanderbes at Hill Center
On Mar. 14, at 7 p.m., Hill Center and PEN/Faulkner will present Phil Klay, who will read from and discuss his acclaimed debut story collection, Redeployment. This event will be held at Hill Center, and is free and open to the public.
April 10, 2014: The Heart of Things Human: An Evening with Richard Ford, in conversation with Ron Charles
The Heart of Things Human: An evening with Richard Ford, in conversation with Ron Charles. On Thursday, April 10, acclaimed author Richard Ford will read and engage in conversation with the Washington Post‘s Ron Charles.
NEW DATE: April 16, 2014
Amy Tan & Deborah Tannen in Conversation
PLEASE NOTE: Our reading series event Two Lives in Language: Amy Tan & Deborah Tannen in Conversation has been rescheduled for Wed., April 16th at 7:30 p.m. at the Lutheran Church of the Reformation.
April 25, 2014: Rebecca Mead in Conversation with Hanna Rosin & Margaret Talbot at Hill Center
On April 25, at 7 p.m., Hill Center and PEN/Faulkner will present author Rebecca Mead in conversation with journalist and author Hanna Rosin. Mead will read from her acclaimed work of narrative nonfiction My Life in Middlemarch.
The Jewish Literary Festival Presents E.L. Doctorow
The Hyman S. & Freda Bernstein Jewish Literary Festival presents E.L. Doctorow Sunday, Oct. 6, 20137:00 - 8:30 PMMontgomery College Cultural Arts Center7995 Georgia AvenueSilver Spring, MD 20910 [Map] E.L. Doctorow Andrew's Brain: A Novel | Opening...
Hill Center + PEN/Faulkner Literary Reading Series: MK Asante in Conversation with Lisa Page
The next installment of the Hill Center/ PEN/Faulkner Literary Reading Series features award-winning writer, filmmaker, and hip-hop artist MK Asante who will read from and discuss his new book, BUCK: A Memoir. Asante will be joined in conversation by writer Lisa Page,...
Who’s Afraid of Poetry? Derrick Weston Brown Visits the Summer Supper & Book Club
Last night, the Summer Supper and Book Club talked about A Tribe Called Quest and bar brawls in Adams Morgan—all for the sake of poetry week and our discussion of Derrick Weston Brown’s Wisdom Teeth, of course. We started by talking about the music and musicians who...
PEN/Faulkner’s Summer Supper & Book Club Talks Beats, Books, and Baltimore with Felicia Pride
Last night, we kicked off our session with a warm-up exercise in which Summer Supper & Book Club participants were asked to imagine that they were in a band and that they had to pick their favorite characters from literature and film as their bandmates. Book Club...
David A. Taylor, the WPA Writers’ Project, and the Trouble of Writing a History of a Cultural History Project
Last night, PEN/Faulkner’s Summer Supper and Book Club looked at the happier side of the Depression as the group discussed Soul of a People: The WPA Writers’ Project Uncovers Depression America by David A. Taylor. Sharing their own associations of the Depression,...
What do John Cheever, Zora Neale Hurston, Richard Wright, & Nelson Algren have in common?
No, it’s not a strange version of literary “six degrees of separation”, but it is among the many questions David Taylor, sets out to answer in Soul of a People: The WPA Writers’ Project Uncovers Depression America. The answer, then, to the riddle is that all three...
Danielle Evans visits the Summer Supper & Book Club
Last Tuesday over pizza and safe from the heavy humidity, we had a chance to meet Danielle Evans, author of the critically acclaimed short story collection, Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self. We discussed “King of a Vast Empire,” a story, which revolves around...
Summer Supper and Book Club: Susan Richards Shreve’s “Plum and Jaggers”
Last night, the Summer Supper and Book Club welcomed four new members from Banneker, Richard Wright, and even Mississippi. We did a speed-read of the first chapter of Plum and Jaggers to catch up, stopping to discuss Susan Richard Shreve’s nonlinear narrative and the...
June 7th at Hill Center: Join us for a film screening & conversation with Margaret Talbot & Nell Minow
On June 7th at 7 p.m. at Hill Center, join New Yorker staff writer Margaret Talbot and movie critic Nell Minow for a screening of Three on a Match (1932), a quintessentially racy, hard-boiled movie from pre-Code Hollywood, the era when movie censorship was not yet...
May 23rd at Hill Center: Emma Brockes in Conversation with Michel Martin
She Left Me the Gun: My Mother's Life Before MeAuthor Conversation and Book Signing with Emma Brockes & Michel Martin On Thursday, May 23rd, at 7 p.m., join Hill Center for a conversation with The Guardian writer Emma Brockes about her new book She Left...
May 17th at The Folger: Spray Paint – An evening with Adam Mansbach, Joseph Ross, and Clint Smith
On Friday, May 17th at 6 p.m., join our friends at the Folger Shakespeare Library for a free reading featuring Adam Mansbach and poets Joseph Ross and Clint Smith. This event brings together prose and poetry that explores themes of graffiti—including poems on...
Two Opportunities to See Terry McMillan! Cocktail Reception on April 19th & A Reading on April 20th
This month, PEN/Faulkner brings the bestselling author of Waiting to Exhale, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, The Interruption of Everything, and Getting to Happy to Washington, DC for a cocktail reception on April 19th and a special reading at Sixth & I Historic...
On the Same Page: Voices of Incarcerated Youth – April 2, 2013 at Hill Center
ON THE SAME PAGE: Voices of Incarcerated Youth Tuesday, April 2, 2013 7—9 p.m.FREE Hill Center 921 Pennsylvania Ave. SE Washington, DC 20003 {Map} Join PEN/Faulkner and Hill Center for an evening of poetry and community dialogue brought to you by Free Minds Book...
Geraldine Brooks, Julie Otsuka, & Dolen Perkins-Valdez Read March 28th
On Thursday, March 28th at 7:30 p.m., join us as Geraldine Brooks, Julie Otsuka, and Dolen Perkins-Valdez take the stage at the Folger Shakespeare Library in a reading we're calling Living History: Reclaiming female voices from the threat of historical...
Hill Center / PEN/Faulkner Literary Reading Series: Susan Richards Shreve & Nicole Idar
Hill Center / PEN/Faulkner Literary Reading Series:Susan Richards Shreve & Nicole Idar Sunday, March 3, 20134 p.m. — 6 p.m.Hill Center About the Series: For years, the PEN/Faulkner Foundation has hosted an acclaimed reading series featuring nationally known...
PEN/Faulkner & Hill Center Collaborate on New Reading Series
PEN/Faulkner Presents @ Hill Center Alan Cheuse & Alyson Foster Dec. 2, 2012, 7:00 p.m. The PEN/Faulkner Foundation is proud to announce a new venture that will present established local authors alongside emerging voices. The Hill Center Reading Series is...
Ann Patchett at Washington National Cathedral
May 18, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. at Washington National Cathedral Join Ann Patchett, recently named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by TIME magazine, as she reads from her most recent novel State of Wonder. Patchett is the author of six novels, including...
The 2011-12 PEN/Faulkner Reading Series
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