French and American Women During the Revolution

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In honor of International Women’s Day, the Villa Albertine at La Maison Française at the French Embassy, which throughout the year presents a vast range of programs aimed at making French language and culture accessible (check it out!), this spring hosted a panel discussion on the role of women of both countries in the American Revolution. Participants were historian/author Samantha Snyder and history professor/author Lauren Duval, moderated by scholar and lecturer Faya Causey. The conversation was fresh, lively, and informative, and I came away with the intention to seek out their respective books.

National Snail Day

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Today is National Snail Day, a festival of which I was until recently unaware, that celebrates these little critters and their sometimes unappreciated role in the ecosystem. Snails have been around for about 500 million years, so they have been managing far better than human beings are currently doing. Maybe we need to cultivate our silvery trails.
Below is an image from a book of children’s stories I recently illustrated (Dancing Stories, by Wendalyn von Meyenfeldt, about which more later).

Emma’s Postcard Album

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It seems fitting to celebrate the MLKing holiday with a new book by author and medical anthropologist Faith Mitchell, Emma’s Postcard Album. The book features a collection of postcards sent and received by a young African-American woman between 1906 and 1910, set within their larger context, along with newspaper clippings and other archival material—an unusual multiple-focus approach (visual/written; intimate/panoramic; memoir/history) that will interest all ages. I include a link to the University Press of Mississippi website; it is also available from many online booksellers as well as our beloved local DC bookstore Politics and Prose.

Nikole Hannah-Jones

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Nikole Hannah-Jones spoke to a full house at the Embassy of France on The 1619 Project. She was fascinating and eloquent despite an interviewer who had never heard of Ida B. Wells and who interrupted her repeatedly (which she handled imperturbably, with grace). I was sitting waaay in the back so my sketch is rather, well, sketchy.

Run Stacey Run!

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Went to hear the multi-talented Stacey Abrams talk about her new book, Lead from the Outside: How to Build Your Future and Make Real Change. I’d thought of her strictly as a politician and had had no idea of the range of her accomplishments (lawyer, business founder, romance novelist!). I’m hoping she’ll set those temporarily aside in favor of a race for the Senate…or beyond…

Nancy

What Every Girl Should Know

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If there is a YA child, neighbor, or friend in your life, here is a book for their gift list. At Politics and Prose Bookstore, author J. Albert Mann spoke with author Mary Quattlebaum about What Every Girl Should Know, Mann’s new historical novel featuring the adolescent Margaret Sanger (reminder: Sanger was an early advocate of birth control and women’s rights). Young Margaret sounds as spunky, tenacious, and funny as the author did herself during the discussion.

Greg

 

 

Yet Another Book About This Craziness

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Where I spent the morning of October 3rd: listening to a discussion of the research that led to the creation of this book (one to add to the growing stack at my bedside) — The Apprentice: Trump, Russia and the Subversion of American Democracy. Here is a link to an interview with author Greg Miller on Fresh Air.