Thank you for those who came to our Empresses of China tour and meeting! We hope you are enjoying your summer so far and doing some fun summer reads!

The National Book Festival will be at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center on Saturday, August 31st, and who better to go with than your fellow DC Book Club members? There are some amazing authors speaking, including Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Jose Andres, Circe author Madeline Miller (from our March read!), and more so come check out the festival with us. 

Our August read is special because the author will be having a conversation on stage and a book signing at the National Book Festival. Details about our August book are below:

Book: Deaf Republic: Poems 

Author: Ilya Kaminsky

Synopsis: Deaf Republic opens in an occupied country in a time of political unrest. When soldiers breaking up a protest kill a deaf boy, Petya, the gunshot becomes the last thing the citizens hear―they all have gone deaf, and their dissent becomes coordinated by sign language. The story follows the private lives of townspeople encircled by public violence. Described as a parable in poems, Deaf Republic describes deafness as a form of dissent against tyranny and violence. 

Why we picked the read: Kaminsky has a fascinating background. He is a hard-of-hearing poet born in the former Soviet Union city of Odessa. He was granted political asylum by the U.S. in 1993 and settled in Rochester, where he began writing poems in English. He chose English because no one in his family or friends knew it and writing poetry in English became an "insanely beautiful freedom" for him. He co-founded Poets for peace, which sponsors poetry readings across the globe to support relief work. Kaminsky will be having a conversation and book signing at the National Book Festival!

Available on Amazon   

Meeting Time/Place: Saturday, August 31st at Walter E. Washington Convention Center. Ilya Kaminsky is signing from 5:30pm-6:30pm More details to come!

RSVP: Please RSVP here. Feel free to join us even if you do not finish the book!