We fall in love, we fall out of love and we deal with everything in between. Most only deal with these trials in their own relationships, but Mandy Len Catron and Ada Calhoun spend their time thinking about everyone else’s too.
Readers first got to know Catron in 2015 when she wrote her essay “To Fall in Love With Anyone, Do This” for the New York Times’ “Modern Love.” Calhoun went viral with her “Modern Love” contribution, “Wedding Toasts I’ll Never Give.” Both have now turned their hit essays into books, and soon they’ll be live in DC offering up all their knowledge on relationships found and lost.
On June 29 Catron and Calhoun will join “Modern Love” editor Dan Jones for a conversation at Sixth & I. While Catron’s book deals with how to make good choices when starting and ending a relationship, Calhoun’s focuses more on what it means to stay married. Catron says the two pair well, and the result should be an “in-depth investigation both of how you find love and how you keep it.”
“The thing I’m most excited for is hanging out with the two of them,” Catron says. “They have so much knowledge of the topic and both come from slightly different points of view than me. I just think it’ll be really fun.”
While Catron and Calhoun haven’t met in person yet, both have read each other’s work and worked with Jones on their respective columns. Together they represent some of the stars of one of NYT’s most popular series. Attendees can expect behind-the-scenes info from Jones as well as the expertise of two women who know how to discuss love
“[Canton]’s said in TED Talks and things that there’s such a big difference between falling in love and sustaining love, so I think we’ll probably discuss the tension there between romance and really sticking it out in the long term,” Calhoun says. “And it seems like people are really interested in the ‘Modern Love’ column in general, so I’m sure we’ll get Dan Jones to talk some about that.”
Regular readers will also have the opportunity to be some of the first to talk to Catron about her newest “Modern Love” column, set to publish the weekend before her appearance at Sixth & I. After two years with the man she fell in love with in her first column, she’s returned to talk about their relationship contract and what it’s done for the couple.
Neither Catron nor Calhoun normally deals in advice, that doesn’t mean they won’t try to help tackle some audience problems. After all, they have plenty of experience.
“I think between us, if we put our heads together, we can solve it,” Calhoun says. “Any romance or marital problem anyone has, we’ll fix you right up.”
See Mandy Len Catron and Ada Calhoun in conversation with Daniel Jones, June 29 at 7 p.m., $15-35, sixthandi.org, 202-408-3100.
Christine Jackson joined Washingtonian as an editorial fellow in summer 2017. She enjoys writing about art, culture, history, news of the weird and, occasionally, hockey. She is originally from St. Louis, Missouri and is an alumna of the Missouri School of Journalism at the University of Missouri, more affectionately known as Mizzou. For now you can find her hanging around Cathedral Heights.
