But first - I’ve received a number of emails at the Storyclubwithgeorge@gmail.com address, with fixes and additions to the master story list we’ve compiled. I’ll get a revised version out here over the next few weeks. Just wanted to let you know that… I’m on it.
So, Friday night, there was a reception at the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress, and here are some photos from that.
Afterwards, I walked back to the Hay-Adams hotel along the Mall, hitting all the monuments, a walk I always find moving and inspiring, partly because my wife, Paula, and I came to D.C. the first summer after we were married and heard Roberta Flack on the Mall on (of course) the Fourth of July…
Next morning, I went to hear the amazing Jesmyn Ward give her talk on “Why Fiction Matters” at the Festival. It was a wonderment and was greeted with a standing ovation. The gist of it, beautifully rendered, was that telling someone’s story is an act of love, and that the love comes in the form of the small details that otherwise would be lost to time - she used the beautiful example of her grandmother as the centerpiece of the lecture. I very much hope she publishes it somewhere. As happens whenever I hear a beautiful talk by a writer, it made me proud to be a writer myself, and made me want to rush back home and get started again.
On the way home, I stumbled on a bit of Lincoln history I didn’t know about - he attended the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church and this is the post (yes, the exact post) to which he used to tie his horses. Seriously.
That evening was my event - during which Dr. Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress - a wonderful and gracious and gifted person indeed - presented me with the Library of Congress Fiction Prize for 2023 and I was interviewed by Clay Smith, the Literary Director of the Library of Congress.
On Sunday, I got a tour of Oak Hill Cemetery, where Lincoln in the Bardo was set, from the wonderful and generous Laura Thoms, the Project Archivist for Oak Hill. We were joined by Bob Attardi, the Director of Programs at Politics and Prose, his wife, Dierdre Attardi, and Andrea Seiger, a tour guide and the author of 111 Places in Washington That You Must Not Miss, who leads the tours. Here’s their description of the tour:
“... Join Andréa Seiger , author of guidebook, 111 Places in Washington That You Must Not Miss, for a walk in this elegant and peaceful cemetery. We will step back to February 1862, when 11-year-old Willie Lincoln succumbed to typhoid fever, and to the stories from the White House and around the city from that time. The novel’s fictitious characters will be woven in as we visit, with actual residents of the cemetery who preceded Willie Lincoln in death, and who may have been there to welcome his arrival among them.”
The tours are schedule periodically throughout the year and tend to sell out. Contact Politics and Prose Bookstore for more information, or sign up here to get on their information list.
A heartfelt thanks to everyone who helped make this such a special and memorable trip, especially Dr. Carla Hayden, Clay Smith, and the Library of Congress, Erin Engle, Laura Thoms, Andrea Seiger, and Bob Attardi — whose generous gift of a Politics and Prose baseball cap saved me from some serious sunburn on the long walk back to the hotel.
Which, by the way: thanks to the beautiful Hay-Adams Hotel, where every single person I dealt with was a joy.
Sunday - we’ll get back to work on something (TBD).
Wonderful to see the places we've "seen" in Bardo.
Glad you're home George, and most sincere Congratulations on such Eminent Recognition.
It feels such a privilege to be in your company at "Story Club." Thank you for all you do.