Join Politics & Prose for an Evening of Powerful Social Drama

Join Bradley Graham, co-owner of Politics & Prose, for a performance of David Lindsay-Abaire’s acclaimed Good People, hailed by the New York Times as “Very fine … one of the more subtly surprising treats of this theater season.” The price of $100 includes a reserved seat at Washington D.C.’s Arena Stage on Friday, February 8, 2013, and a three-course prix-fixe meal with the P&P group at the theater’s Catwalk Café. Our group will meet at the Arena Stage concession stand at 6:15 p.m.

Click here to register.

For more information, contact Susan Coll (scoll@politics-prose.com)
or Mike Ravenscroft (mravenscroft@politics-prose.com).

Classes Beginning in January 2013

For a complete listing, visit the Politics & Prose website.

The World of Downton Abbey
Virginia Newmyer & Susan Willens
Dates

(The Tuesday and Wednesday sessions are now fully enrolled. To reserve a spot on the waitlist, please email mravenscroft@politics-prose.com.)

Register now for this class.

The popular television series “Downton Abbey” dramatizes events in early 20th-century British history, from the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 through the First World War and the post-war years. In this course presented by historian Virginia Newmyer and literature professor Susan Willens, participants will read fiction about the period, hear lectures about the events and personalities that shaped and reacted to The World of Downton Abbey, and discuss their responses to it. The five-meeting course will meet once a month from January-May.

Writing Picture Books for Young Children
Lori Steel
Five Tuesdays: January 22, January 29, February 5, February 12, and February 19,
9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Register now for this class.

This five-week workshop is designed for those interested in learning to write picture books for young children. We will examine structure, character, voice and plot as we delve into this special form of children’s literature. Fiction, narrative non-fiction and poetry genres will be discussed along with the collaborative element in all picture books. Each class will consist of writing exercises, analyzing exemplary texts and writing workshops where students will have an opportunity to share their work with the group and receive constructive feedback from the class and instructor.

Moby-Dick
Joseph Fruscione
Five Thursdays (every other week): January 24, February 7, February 21, March 7, March 21,
1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Register now for this class.

“Call me Ishmael”–perhaps the most famous opening line in American literature. For this winter 2013 course, we’ll read the rich, powerful, and complex novel that follows this memorable opening line. We’ll learn what Ahab means when he says “I’d strike the sun if it insulted me,” or why the cook Fleece “preaches” to sharks, or why Ishmael catalogs the different types of whales so thoroughly (and obsessively). Over our five class sessions, we’ll discuss the many layers and nuances of Melville’s novel: Ahab’s revenge quest, Ishmael’s geographical and metaphysical journey, the scientific and technical material about whales and whaling, the darker elements of Ahab’s sense of self, and much more. We’ll also learn the how and why of Melville’s wonderfully named characters: Starbuck, Stubb, Flask, Queequeg, Daggoo, Tashtego, Pip, Fedallah, Father Mapple, Captains Peleg and Bildad, and others.

This Green City
Melanie Choukas Bradley
Evening Session: Politics & Prose, Friday, May 17, 6-8 pm
Tree Tour of the Capitol grounds, Saturday, May 18, 10:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m. 
Register now for this class.

An evening discussion of D.C.’s arboreal history, followed by a Saturday morning tree walk on the Capitol grounds. Learn a secret side of political Washington: the love of trees that goes back to founding fathers George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and has endured through the ages. Melanie Choukas-Bradley will also teach the basics of tree identification using specimens of leaves and fruit, and she will give guidance for identifying Washington’s hundreds of native and international tree species. On Saturday,May 18, meet in front of the United States Botanic Garden at 10:30 a.m. for a 2 ½ hour tour of the historic trees of the Capitol grounds. We will explore the historic groves of the Capitol, admiring and learning about the trees that grace the grounds, including species from around the United States and the world. Many trees will be in peak spring bloom.

Knit Lit
Linda Greider
Four Wednesdays: Jan. 16, Jan. 23, Jan. 30, Feb. 6
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Register now for this class.

Sunflowers and snail shells? Turtles’ backs and sand dollars? Nature’s designs show up again and again in all kinds of places, including the most pleasing knitting patterns. One hour of each two-hour class will be devoted to pattern study and development, and the other to instruction and discussion of knitting techniques. We’ll emphasize short rows, picking up stitches, increasing and decreasing and two-color Fair Isle knitting. For the latter, we’ll be joined by an expert who will instruct us on techniques of this ancient art. This course is suitable for all knitting levels, including beginner.

Right Brain Writing: Guided Prompts
Leslie Pietrzyk
Date: January 28
1:00 – 3:30 p.m.
Register now for this class
Explore your creative side during this afternoon of guided writing exercises designed to get your subconscious flowing. No writing experience necessary! This is a great class for beginners and also for those fiction writers and/or memoirists with more experience who might be stuck in their current projects, looking for a jolt of inspiration. The goal is to have fun in a supportive, nurturing environment and to go home with several promising pieces to work on further. We will be using as our inspiration work from Speed Enforced by Aircraft, a book of poetry by local author Richard Peabody.

Ladies Detective Fiction 2.0
Hannah Oliver Depp
Four Mondays (every other week): April 8, April 22, May 6, May 20
1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Register now for this class
Since Anna Katherine Greene, Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers and their peers put pen to paper to become bestselling authors, hundreds of women have made their living writing detective stories. In this class we will examine the tropes of the detective genre and how women authors bend such traditions to address the issues of the modern and postmodern age. Looking at 20th century women’s history and the theoretical works of PD James, Peter Brooks & James Guetti, we’ll examine how detective fiction both entertains us and causes us to question our cultural assumptions.

Reading South Asia
Alexandra Viets
Date: Friday, March 22
1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Register now for this class
This class explores the intertwined and overlapping personal and literary worlds of writer Anita Desai and daughter, Kirin Desai, winner of the 2006 Man Booker prize for her novel, Inheritance of Loss. Exploring India’s vanished pasts and landscapes of dispossession against the force of modernization, the class will examine themes of language, cultural identity and the persistence of memory in the fates of those characters that leave India and those that remain behind.

Comics Jam & Scribbler’s Cabal
Dave Burbank
Four Fridays: January 11-February 22
1:00 – 3:00 p.m.

Register now for this class

Comics Jam & Scribbler’s Cabal is a read-aloud session and drawing free-for-all for ages 8 and up. Like a book club for comic fans, but more heavy on the fun than on the analysis. Kids can bring in their own drawings to share.  It’s less of a How to Draw class than a Why to Draw and How to Keep Enjoying it class. We’ll read comics, draw comics, discuss each other’s work, make up our own characters, draw each other’s characters, and have a blast.

Dungeons and Dragons
Dave Burbank
Four Fridays: April 12, 19, 26, May 3
6:30 – 8:00 p.m.
Register now for this class

Old school gaming is back for kids ages 10 and up!  D&D was the original classic swords and sorcery story-telling adventure game created in the 1970′s. One player narrates the framework of an adventure, the other players control the actions of characters within the story. Dice rolls determine the outcome of certain actions requiring all players to improvise as they go. Creativity, imagination and communication hold sway as characters must cooperate to survive and bring the story to a conclusion.  Our games are heavy on the story-telling, but kids of all ages find ways to enjoy the “verbal video game” aspect of game play as well.