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Upcoming Events 
Creative Time as Self-Care: The Artist's Way Book Club
Wednesday April 01 @ 12:00PM - Thursday April 30 @ 01:00PM
You will be emailed to collect shipping info upon registration. We aim to get the group their kits by mid-April and begin as soon as everyone has their materials. We will meet to discuss progress twice over the course of the club, and we will also be sending email updates + reminders to help keep your creative journey going! About the book: Since its first publication, The Artist's Way phenomena has inspired the genius of Elizabeth Gilbert, Tim Ferriss, and millions of readers to embark on a creative journey and find a deeper connection to process and purpose. Julia Cameron's novel approach guides readers in uncovering problems areas and pressure points that may be restricting their creative flow and offers techniques to free up any areas where they might be stuck, opening up opportunities for self-growth and self-discovery. The program begins with Cameron’s most vital tools for creative recovery – The Morning Pages, a daily writing ritual of three pages of stream-of-conscious, and The Artist Date, a dedicated block of time to nurture your inner artist. From there, she shares hundreds of exercises, activities, and prompts to help readers thoroughly explore each chapter. She also offers guidance on starting a “Creative Cluster” of fellow artists who will support you in your creative endeavors. A revolutionary program for personal renewal, The Artist's Way will help get you back on track, rediscover your passions, and take the steps you need to change your life. RSVP + Purchase Kit Here. 
Old Town Book(s) Virtual Book Club: Real Life by Brandon Taylor
Saturday April 04 | 10:00AM - 11:00AM
About the Event: Old Town Book(s) Club is free and open to the public; RSVP is appreciated. While buying the book, Real Life, at OTB is not required to attend, we greatly appreciate it - it helps keep our free literary programming sustainable.
About the Book: A novel of startling intimacy, violence, and mercy among friends in a Midwestern university town, from an electric new voice. Almost everything about Wallace is at odds with the Midwestern university town where he is working uneasily toward a biochem degree. An introverted young man from Alabama, black and queer, he has left behind his family without escaping the long shadows of his childhood. For reasons of self-preservation, Wallace has enforced a wary distance even within his own circle of friends—some dating each other, some dating women, some feigning straightness. But over the course of a late-summer weekend, a series of confrontations with colleagues, and an unexpected encounter with an ostensibly straight, white classmate, conspire to fracture his defenses while exposing long-hidden currents of hostility and desire within their community. Real Life is a novel of profound and lacerating power, a story that asks if it’s ever really possible to overcome our private wounds, and at what cost.
About the Author:
Brandon Taylor is the senior editor of Electric Literature’s Recommended Reading and a staff writer at Lit Hub. His writing has earned him fellowships from Lambda Literary Foundation, Kimbilio Fiction, and the Tin House Summer Writer’s Workshop. He holds graduate degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Iowa, where he was an Iowa Arts Fellow at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop in fiction. Free RSVP here 
Bring Your Own Book Club #1 (BYOBC)
Wednesday April 08 | 6:00PM - 7:00PM
About this event: We miss seeing you in the shop and talking with you all about books! Sign up for one of our Bring Your Own Book Club events to talk with booksellers and each other about what you're currently reading, and all things bookish. We can't wait to see you all soon. Format: Event will take place on zoom and participants will be emailed the zoom link the day before. We are caping this event at 15 participants each, but will be having them once a week throughout April. Need New Books? If you hear about a book that you think might be your next read during BYOBC, please consider buying from us at www.oldtownbooks.com. Choose $1 shipping for books, or free curbside pick up every day from 12-3PM. 
Susan Choi - Writing Q+A and Book Discussion
Friday April 10 | 12:00PM - 1:00PM
Help keep Old Town Books open by taking one of our new, pay-what-you-can virtual writing classes!Suggested donation for this Q+A with author Susan Choi is $20. Pre-order your copy of the paperback edition of Trust Exercise here (ships May 5th) and take advantage of $1 shipping. Plus, get a special thank you gift for your support! Hint: The special thank you gift is an Old Town Books sticker :) About the instructor: We really couldn't dream of a better first guest instructor for our online classes! Susan Choi is always in our staff picks section. We read Trust Exercise for book club last year and got our biggest turn out yet! We're huge fans of her work and can't wait to hear all your questions for her about the writing life. Susan Choi’s first novel, The Foreign Student, won the Asian-American Literary Award for fiction. Her second novel, American Woman, was a finalist for the 2004 Pulitzer Prize. Her third novel, A Person of Interest, was a finalist for the 2009 PEN/Faulkner Award. In 2010 she was named the inaugural recipient of the PEN/W.G. Sebald Award. Her fourth novel, My Education, received a 2014 Lammy Award. Her fifth novel, Trust Exercise, won the 2019 National Book Award for Fiction. Her first book for children, Camp Tiger, was also published in 2019. A recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation, she teaches fiction writing at Yale and lives in Brooklyn. About the class format: Join us from the comfort of your home for the chance to talk with acclaimed novelist Susan Choi about her books, writing process, editing, and her journey as a writer. This "ask me anything" style conversation will be moderated by an Old Town Books bookseller. Your donation is helping us keep our tiny bookstore open, thank you! Zoom meeting information will be sent to participants via email one day prior to the scheduled event date. RSVP + Donate here. 
Virtual Author Event: Mira Jacob in Conversation with Lupita Aquino
Sunday April 12 | 6:30PM - 7:30PM
About the Event: Join us for the literary love match of the year! If you follow DC area #bookstagram, you know that Mira Jacob, author of the graphic memoir Good Talk, has a #1 fan: our very own local literary star Lupita Aquino (better know as @LupitaReads)! This special virtual event will feature an interview and interactive audience Q+A. Your ticket also comes with a signed copy of the new paperback edition of Good Talk! A Zoom meeting invite will be sent to registrants a day before the event. See you there! About the Book: A bold, wry, and intimate graphic memoir about American identity, interracial family, and the realities that divide us, from the acclaimed author of The Sleepwalker’s Guide to Dancing." Mira Jacob’s half-Jewish, half-Indian son, Z, has questions about everything. At first they are innocuous enough, but as tensions from the 2016 election spread from the country into his own family, they become much, much more complicated. Trying to answer him honestly, Mira has to think back to where she’s gotten her own answers—her most formative conversations about race, color, sexuality, and of course, love. Written with humor and vulnerability, this deeply relatable graphic memoir is a love letter to the art of conversation—and to the hope that hovers in our most difficult questions.
About the Author: Mira Jacob is the author of the critically acclaimed novel The Sleepwalker’s Guide to Dancing, which was shortlisted for India’s Tata First Literature Award, honored by the Asian Pacific American Library Association, and named one of the best books of the year by The Boston Globe, Kirkus Reviews, Bustle, and The Millions. Her recent work has appeared in The New York Times Book Review, Vogue, Guernica, BuzzFeed, The Telegraph, Bookanista, and The Scofield. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and son. 
Jessica Lahey - Q&A and Discussion with Parenting/Education Expert
Monday April 13 | 12:00PM - 1:00PM
Help keep Old Town Books open by taking one of our new, pay-what-you-can virtual writing classes!About this Event Suggested donation for this Q+A with author Jessica Lahey is $20. Join us in conversation with Jessica Lahey on her book, her best parenting tips for helping your children thrive while learning from home, and more! Order your copy of The Gift of Failure: How the Best Parents Learn to Let Go So Their Children Can Succeed on our website and take advantage of $1 shipping. Plus, get a special thank you gift for your support! Hint: The special thank you gift is an Old Town Books sticker :) About the instructor: Over her twenty years as a middle and high school teacher, Lahey began to suspect that the way we parent children has a direct impact on their motivation, learning, resilience, and the development of obsessive perfectionism and performance anxiety. A deep dive into the research bore this hypothesis out, and resulted in the New York Times bestselling book, The Gift of Failure: How the Best Parents Learn to Let Go So Their Children Can Succeed and over five years helping students, teachers, and parents understand that directive parenting and teaching undermines kids' motivation, makes them more likely to give up when tasks get difficult, and ultimately, renders them less able to learn and become more intelligent. About the class format: Join us from the comfort of your home for the chance to talk with Jessica Lahey about her book, writing process, and her experience as an educator and parenting expert. This "ask me anything" style conversation will be moderated by an Old Town Books bookseller. Your donation is helping us keep our tiny bookstore open, thank you! Zoom meeting information will be sent to participants via email one day prior to the scheduled event date. 
Bring Your Own Book Club #2 (BYOBC)
Wednesday April 15 | 6:00PM - 7:00PM
About this event: We miss seeing you in the shop and talking with you all about books! Sign up for one of our Bring Your Own Book Club events to talk with booksellers and each other about what you're currently reading, and all things bookish. We can't wait to see you all soon. Format: Event will take place on zoom and participants will be emailed the zoom link the day before. We are caping this event at 15 participants each, but will be having them once a week throughout April. Need New Books? If you hear about a book that you think might be your next read during BYOBC, please consider buying from us at www.oldtownbooks.com. Choose $1 shipping for books, or free curbside pick up every day from 12-3PM. 
Jenny Offil - Writing Erasure Poetry + Flash Fiction
Thursday April 16 | 12:00PM - 1:00PM
Help keep Old Town Books open by taking a writing classes with our favorite authors!Suggested donation for this generative poetry and flash fiction writing class with author Jenny Offill is $20. Purchase your copy of Offill's latest novel, Weather, on oldtownbooks.com. About the class: Open to all levels! This one hour online class will inspire writers to create erasure poems and flash fiction. Take part in writing exercises, discussion, and ask author Jenny Offill questions about writing, editing, and your own work! About the instructor: Jenny Offill is the author of the novels Last Things (a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and a finalist for the L.A. Times First Book Award), and Dept. of Speculation, which was shortlisted for the Folio Prize, the Pen Faulkner Award and the International Dublin Award. She lives in upstate New York and teaches at Syracuse University and in the low residency program at Queens University. Zoom meeting information will be emailed to participants one day prior to the scheduled event date. 
Bad Romance Book Club: If I Never Met You
Friday April 17 | 7:00PM - 8:00PM
Join our romance book club in reading Mhairi McFarlane's If I Never Met You. Ticket price for this virtual book club meeting includes the book and shipping to your house!
RSVP + Purchase Tickets Here About the event: If faking love is this easy... how do you know when it’s real? When her partner of over a decade suddenly ends things, Laurie is left reeling—not only because they work at the same law firm and she has to see him every day. Her once perfect life is in shambles and the thought of dating again in the age of Tinder is nothing short of horrifying. When news of her ex’s pregnant girlfriend hits the office grapevine, taking the humiliation lying down is not an option. Then a chance encounter in a broken-down elevator with the office playboy opens up a new possibility. Jamie Carter doesn’t believe in love, but he needs a respectable, steady girlfriend to impress their bosses. Laurie wants a hot new man to give the rumor mill something else to talk about. It’s the perfect proposition: a fauxmance played out on social media, with strategically staged photographs and a specific end date in mind. With the plan hatched, Laurie and Jamie begin to flaunt their new couple status, to the astonishment—and jealousy—of their friends and colleagues. But there’s a fine line between pretending to be in love and actually falling for your charming, handsome fake boyfriend... About the author: Sunday Times bestselling author Mhairi McFarlane was born in Scotland and her unnecessarily confusing name is pronounced Vah-Ree. After some efforts at journalism, she started writing novels and her first book, You Had Me At Hello, was an instant success. She’s now written six books and she lives in Nottingham with a man and a cat. 
April Writer's Cafe Online
Sunday April 19 | 7:00PM - 8:30PM
Writers Cafe is a monthly mini writing retreat for writers of any genre. We usually meet above the bookstore in our new Literary Loft for a 30 minute group check in and goal sharing session, followed by an hour of silent writing. But since the store is closed we will be meeting online for a writing check in and silent writing session. Writers Cafe is FREE during the COVID 19 outbreak.
Bring Your Own Book Club #3 (BYOBC)
Wednesday April 22 | 6:00PM - 7:00PM
Bring your own book! Join OTB staff in talking about whatever it is you're reading right now.
About this event: We miss seeing you in the shop and talking with you all about books! Sign up for one of our Bring Your Own Book Club events to talk with booksellers and each other about what you're currently reading, and all things bookish. We can't wait to see you all soon. Format: Event will take place on zoom and participants will be emailed the zoom link the day before. We are caping this event at 15 participants each, but will be having them twice a week throughout April. Need New Books? If you hear about a book that you think might be your next read during BYOBC, please consider buying from us at www.oldtownbooks.com. We are shipping books for $1 and curbside pick up every day from 12-3PM. 
Nicole Chung - Memoir Writing and Publishing Q+A
Thursday April 23 | 12:00PM - 1:00PM
Help keep Old Town Books open by taking one of our new, pay-what-you-can virtual writing classes!Suggested donation for this virtual writing workshop led by nationally bestselling memoirist and editor Nicole Chung is $20. We ask that you consider purchasing the author's books at oldtownbooks.com, and take advantage of our $1 shipping! About the class format: Join us from the comfort of your home for a writing workshop taught by Nicole Chung. The workshop will focus on memoir and nonfiction writing prompts and craft tips, followed by a publishing life Q+A session. Zoom meeting information will be emailed to participants one day prior to the scheduled event date. About the instructor: Nicole Chung was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest. Her nationally bestselling debut memoir All You Can Ever Know was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography, longlisted for the PEN Open Book Award, and named a Best Book of the Year by The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, NPR, TIME, Newsday, Library Journal, BuzzFeed, Real Simple, Goodreads, Chicago Public Library, and Seattle Public Library, among many others. Nicole has written for numerous publications, including The New York Times, GQ, The Guardian, TIME, Longreads, The Cut, Vulture, Slate, and Hazlitt, and has taught writing workshops for Kundiman, Catapult, and PEN/Faulkner’s Writers in Schools program. She is the editor in chief of Catapult magazine, co-editor of the anthology A Map Is Only One Story, and the former managing editor of The Toast. Her next book is forthcoming from Ecco Books/HarperCollins. Find her on Twitter: @nicolesjchung
Your donation is helping us keep our tiny bookstore open, thank you! 
Sci-Fi/Fantasy Virtual Book Club: The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
Friday April 24 | 7:00PM - 8:00PM
About the Event: Old Town Sci-Fi/Fantasy Book Club is free and open to the public, but RSVP is appreciated. Purchasing the book at our store is not required to attend, but it is much appreciated - it sustains our free literary arts programming. About the Book: A magical island. A dangerous task. A burning secret. Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages. When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he's given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not they’re likely to bring about the end of days. But the children aren’t the only secret the island keeps. Their caretaker is the charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, who will do anything to keep his wards safe. As Arthur and Linus grow closer, long-held secrets are exposed, and Linus must make a choice: destroy a home or watch the world burn. An enchanting story, masterfully told, The House in the Cerulean Sea is about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place—and realizing that family is yours.
TJ Klune is a Lambda Literary Award-winning author and an ex-claims examiner for an insurance company. Being queer himself, TJ believes it’s important—now more than ever—to have accurate, positive, queer representation in stories.
Alex Marzano-Lesnevich - Writing Creative Nonfiction
Tuesday April 28 | 6:00PM - 7:00PM
Join us for a virtual writing workshop led by Lambda Literary Award Winner, Alex Marzano-Lesnevich!
Suggested donation is $20 and we ask that you consider purchasing the author's book at oldtownbooks.com. About the class format: Join us from the comfort of your home for a writing workshop taught by Alex Marzano-Lesnevich. The workshop will focus on writing creative nonfiction prompts and craft tips, followed by a Q+A session. Zoom meeting information will be emailed to participants one day prior to the scheduled event date. About the instructor: Alex Marzano-Lesnevich is the author of THE FACT OF A BODY: A Murder and a Memoir, which received a Lambda Literary Award, the Chautauqua Prize, the Grand Prix des Lectrices ELLE, and the Prix France Inter-JDD, an award for one book of any genre in the world. Named one of the best books of the year by Entertainment Weekly, Audible.com, Bustle, Book Riot, The Times of London, The Guardian, and The Sydney Press Herald, it was an Indie Next Pick and a Junior Library Guild selection, long-listed for the Gordon Burn Prize, short-listed for the CWA Gold Dagger, a finalist for a New England Book Award and a Goodreads Choice Award, and has been translated into nine languages. The recipient of fellowships from The National Endowment for the Arts, MacDowell, Yaddo, and the Bread Loaf Writers Conference, as well as a Rona Jaffe Award, Marzano-Lesnevich has written for The New York Times, The New York Times Sunday Magazine, The Boston Globe, Oxford American, Harpers, and many other publications. They earned their BA at Columbia University, their JD at Harvard Law School, and their MFA at Emerson College. They are now an assistant professor at Bowdoin College and live in Portland, Maine, with an enormous puppy.
Your donation is helping us keep our tiny bookstore open, thank you! 
Bring Your Own Book Club #4 (BYOBC)
Wednesday April 29 | 6:00PM - 7:00PM
Bring your own book! Join OTB staff in talking about whatever it is you're reading right now.
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