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Past Events

Selected Past Events

  • October 30, 2024 – FDR Library and Museum hosts a conversation on The People’s Recorder. Watch the recording on the FDR Library’s youtube channel here.
  • September 17, 2024 – New Deal Arts and California Stories. Featuring The People’s Recorder, this conversation centered on the experiences of California artist Miné Okubo and her family in the Japanese American community during World War II, when they were forcibly incarcerated in internment camps, how they survived, and how Okubo used her art to bear witness in her visual memoir Citizen 13660. With historian Greg Robinson and Okubo’s nieces, Seiko Buckingham and Jeanie Tanaka. Watch the recording on the L.A. Public Library’s youtube channel here.
  • June 11, 2024 – Whose Stories? Exploring the Federal Writers’ Project Legacy. Featuring The People’s Recorder, a conversation with Susan Rubinstein DeMasi, New Deal historian, featuring stories of American life in the 1930s from interviews and recordings made by the Federal Writers’ Project. This webinar hosted by the Living New Deal Project intertwines those voices with contemporary stories, examining their legacy—what it achieved, where it fell short, and what it means today. Watch the recording: https://bit.ly/whose-stories-webinar

  • May 1, 2024 – The Legacy of the Federal Writers’ Project in Virginia. Featuring The People’s Recorder, a conversation about the WPA writers who uncovered Virginia history in the 1930s and what their work tells us now. Watch the recorded conversation with Julian Hayter, historian at the University of Richmond; Kiki Petrosino, director of creative writing at the University of Virginia and the author of White Blood: A Lyric of Virginia; and historian Gregg Kimball, of the Library of Virginia: https://youtu.be/PmUyIWlZWds?feature=shared
  • June 16, 2023 – Rewriting America: Reconsidering the Federal Writers’ Project 80 Years Later. The Library of Congress hosted a one-day symposium bringing together contemporary perspectives of public scholars, documentary producers and curators on the legacy of the Federal Writers’ Project. The free, public event focused on how archival collections continue to inspire outreach and  scholarship in fields ranging from oral history to journalism to ethnic studies. Watch video of the panel on Creative Culture and Media here.
  • February 9, 2023 – Narratives of Formerly Enslaved Virginians – David joined Library of Congress reference specialists Dr. Sibyl Moses and Angela McMillian to discuss the life narrative interviews conducted by Federal Writers’ Project, its legacy and resources documenting the voices of enslaved African Americans. Watch the recording:
  • December 17, 2022 – The International Animation Festival in Los Angeles featured online screenings of leading animated films. Enemy Alien: Italian-American in Baltimore garnered an Honorable Mention.
  • November 3, 2022 – Personal Narratives in Portraying Maryland Life. A partnership with Ivy Bookshop and the Baltimore Museum of Industry, this conversation encompassed oral histories of The Baltimore Book to multimedia portraits exhibited in the Enoch Pratt Library. We talked about documenting people’s lives in Maryland in various forms, and why those stories matter. Related to the paperback release of Soul of a People.
  • September 29, 2022 – Story Collider, storytelling event – Four storytellers share tales of finding and forming our own version of family through science. Learn more about Story Collider here.
  • December 22, 2021 – Discussion of the Federal Writers’ Project and the WPA guides, with clips from Soul of a People: Writing America’s Story, hosted by Paul Sparrow and the FDR Library and Museum.
  • September 7, 2021 – Virtual screening and discussion of Soul of a People: Writing America’s Story, hosted by the Los Angeles Public Library, with authors David Kipen and Scott Borchert, and Congressman Ted Lieu. WATCH a recording of the evening’s discussion here.
  • November 21, 2020 – Community Stories Film Festival, hosted by Docs In Progress, included the Shorts Block featuring Enemy Alien: Italian-American in Baltimore, a CORK WARS short about teenage Frank and what it meant when his family and community came under government suspicion, produced with Cerebral Lounge.  WATCH the Q&A panel discussion with the filmmakers in that block here.
  • September 14, 2020 – Documentary Roundtable: Trailer Night, hosted by Docs In Progress and Women in Film and Video-DC. The evening featured a CORK WARS short with Melchor Marsa’s story, produced with Flow State Films.
  • June 30, 2020 – Creativity in Dark Times: Artists and Writers of the New Deal, an online event with Smithsonian Associates, Washington, DC. Listen to the related podcast episode of Not Old Better, with Paul Vogelzang.
  • April 22, 2020 – Virtual Museum – Cork Wars: Intrigue and Industry in World War II, a Facebook Live event with the National Museum of Industrial History, Bethlehem, PA.
  • March 5, 2020 – Cork Wars with the Spy Museum, an evening of wine-tasting and spy stories at Cork Wine Bar, Washington, DC.
  • November 1, 2019 – “When Trees Are National Security” – about a national tree-planting campaign in World War II, Society of American Foresters Convention, Louisville, KY.
  • October 10, 2019 – Cork Wars Talk and Book Signing, Cleveland Park library, Washington, DC.
  • September 6, 2019 – Osher Lifelong Learning at JHU fall event, Johns Hopkins University, Gaithersburg, MD.
  • July 18, 2019 – Friends of the National World War II Memorial’s 2019 Teachers Conference: Intrigue and Industry During World War II.
  • May 30, 2019 – BookStory online book club discussion of Cork Wars: Livestream talk about the story and intrigue of Cork Wars, and its historical context.
  • May 16, 2019 – Cork Wars Reading and Book Signing, FDR Presidential Library and Museum, Hyde Park, NY.
  • May 14, 2019 – New York Immigrant Families and Their Inter-generational Narratives, at the 92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Ave., New York, NY. With Yukie Ohta of the Soho Memory Project.
  • March 27, 2019 – Book talk, Baltimore Museum of Industry, Baltimore, MD.
  • March 21, 2019 – Virginia Festival of the Book, Charlottesville, VA.
  • February 24, 2019 – Reston Reading Series, Reston, VA.
  • February 19, 2019 – Fountain Bookstore, Richmond, VA.
  • January 31, 2019 – Book Signing, Baltimore Library, Baltimore, MD. Listen to the event podcast.
  • January 24, 2019 – Film shorts screening and talk, Baltimore Creative Alliance, Baltimore, MD.
  • January 19, 2019 – Book Signing, Politics and Prose, Washington, DC.
  • December 12, 2018 – Book Signing, Pikesville Library, Pikesville, MD.
  • October 24, 2018 – 9th International Oak Society Conference, “Oaks, Espionage and National Security” – Davis, CA.
  • February 24, 2018 – TEDx JHU talk about Creative Storytelling through Teamwork at Johns Hopkins University, Washington, DC.
  • December 12, 2017 – Screening of Soul of a People: Writing America’s Story, at the Hill Center DC, Washington, DC. In conjunction with the PEN/Faulkner Foundation.
  • February 10, 2017 – Reception and reading with the Johns Hopkins MA in Writing, Science Writing, Washington DC. With the AWP conference.
  • October 27, 2015 – Discussion of Soul of a People at the Center for Inspired Teaching, Cardozo Senior High School, DC Public Schools – sponsored by PEN/Faulkner Writers in Schools.
  • July 19, 2015 Writing the Southern Appalachians: Authors Speak About Writing, Publishing, and the History and Mountains That Inspired Them. Panel at Appalachian Trail Conservancy Biennial conference, with Sue Eisenfeld, Katrina Powell and T.J. Forrester. Shenandoah University, Winchester, VA.
  • May 28, 2015 – Margaret Walker Centenary panel at the Poetry By The Sea Conference, Madison, CT.
  • May 5, 2015 – Success: Stories ebook launch with other Washington Writers’ Publishing House award winners. Busboys & Poets – Brookland, Washington, DC.
  • September 26, 2014 – U.S. Botanic Garden talk: True Tales from the Ginseng Trade. Ginseng is a plant of legend and fact. Popular interest in American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) has soared with several popular reality TV series where a few mountaineers steal ginseng from their neighbors, and others poach plants on government land. This talk set the record straight with true tales from the research behind Ginseng, the Divine Root. U.S. Botanic Garden, Washington, DC.
  • May 15, 2014 – Books & Beyond program at the Library of Congress, celebrating the 75th anniversary of the publication of These Are Our Lives, the 1939 book of life histories gathered by the Federal Writers’ Project. Hosted by the Center for the Book, in the Pickford Theater, Madison Building, Washington, DC. Watch a webcast of this event:
  • May 2, 2014 – Theatre Lab’s Intergenerational Life Stories Project, at Theatre J. The Theatre Lab presents its Life Stories Intergenerational Project, featuring stories of area seniors told through the voices and actions of local middle school students. The students will dramatize stories told to them by the seniors about their own adolescence. Sponsored by the Humanities Council of Washington, this program includes a post-show discussion with David Taylor, who will explore the role of storytelling in understanding adolescence through the generations. Washington, DC.
  • January 30-31, 2014 – Discussion of Soul of a People and the WPA writers, at Benjamin Banneker Academic High School, DC Public Schools – sponsored by PEN/Faulkner Writers in Schools.
  • October 19, 2013 – Putting the Pieces Together: Researching and Writing Local History. 1-session workshop. Sandy Spring Museum, in association with The Writer’s Center, Sandy Spring, MD.
  • September 25, 2013 – Putting the Pieces Together: Researching and Writing Local History. 1-session workshop. The Hill Center DC, in association with The Writer’s Center. Washington, DC.
  • September 18, 2013 – Montpelier Mansion Fall History Lecture – The War of 1812. Montpelier Mansion/Historic Site, Laurel, MD.
  • July 16, 2013 – PEN/Faulkner’s Summer Supper & Book Club with DC Public Schools, The Hill Center DC, Washington, DC.
  • April 27, 2013 – War of 1812 Heritage Talks, Fort La Présentation, Ogdensburg, NY.
  • April 13, 2013 – “Does Size Matter? Big Presses and Small Presses” panel at Conversations & Connections – Johns Hopkins University, Washington, DC.
  • March 23, 2013 – Virginia Festival of the Book, Charlottesville, VA,
  • February 20, 2013 – The War of 1812 and the Rise of the U.S. Navy, talk at the University of Missouri, Columbia, MO.
  • January 9, 2013 – My People, stage reading in the WGA Screenplay Reading Series, performed by at the Players Club, directed by Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo, Gramercy Park, New York, NY.
  • January 5, 2013 – The War of 1812 and the Rise of the U.S. Navy, gallery talk and book signing at the National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC.
  • October 27, 2012 – The War of 1812 and the Rise of the U.S. Navy, discussion and book signing at the Louisiana Book Festival, Baton Rouge, LA. Also screening selections from Soul of a People: Writing America’s Story
  • October 25, 2012 – Screening of Soul of a People: Writing America’s Story at the Lakeshore Library, Metairie, LA.
  • October 6, 2012 – The War of 1812 and the Rise of the U.S. Navy, talk at the Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, MD.
  • September 27, 2012 – Success: Stories and reflections on the craft of short stories, a panel with David Ebenbach and Andrew Wingfield titled “Washington Writers’ Publishing House Short Story Winners,” at Fall for the Book, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA.
  • June 17, 2012 – Freedom’s Journey: George W. Crawford and his Legacy. Part of the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, New Haven, CT.
  • June 12, 2012 – The War of 1812 and the Rise of the U.S. Navy, discussion at the Enoch Pratt Library, Baltimore, MD. Listen to the podcast here.