Senator Cory Booker, progressive activist DeRay Mckesson, and poet Cleo Wade walk into a bar. While it sounds like the start of a very woke joke, it’s actually the lineup for the Eaton DC’s latest project: an ongoing book-talk series called My Friend Wrote This Book.
Each week, a moderator will be joined by one of their friends for a conversation about writing processes, personal experiences, and other subjects. For the first installment (December 12 at 7 PM) moderator Booker will lead a discussion of both Wade’s latest project, Heart Talk: Poetic Wisdom for a Better Life, and Mckesson’s On the Other Side of Freedom: The Case for Hope.
Wednesday’s event is free and first come, first served, and attendees can stay for drinks at the hotel’s rooftop bar, where Antoni Porowski of Queer Eye fame recently prepared brunch for comedy fest Bentzen Ball. Want to ask a question? You can submit queries ahead of time by tagging @EatonWorkshop on Instagram using #MyFriendWroteThisBook. While the discussion will focus mainly on writing and the guests’ books, nothing is off limits, so expect the conversation to hit on news of the day (and, inevitably, Booker’s near-guaranteed run for President in 2020).
The brainchild of Katherine Lo, the daughter of billionaire Hong Kong real estate developer Ka Shui Lo, the Eaton Workshop (as it’s formally known) has been described by Lo as “the manifestation of me ‘following my bliss,’ so others can follow theirs.” Anyone interested in attending My Friend Wrote This Book can see if they’ll find bliss—or at least an artisanal cocktail—each Wednesday at 7 pm, in the hotel’s Beverly Snow Room.
Next up in the series: American Urban Radio Networks White House correspondent April Ryan, author of the recent book Under Fire, along with a moderator who has not yet been announced.
Brittany Shepherd covers the societal and cultural scene in political Washington. Before joining Washingtonian as a staff writer in 2018, Brittany was a White House Correspondent for Independent Journal Review. While she has lived in DC for a number of years now, she still yearns for the fresh Long Island bagels of home. Find her on Twitter, often prattling on about Frasier.
