D.C. Women Writers read from ‘Furious Gravity’ during virtual Book Rap Oct. 6

To commemorate the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote, the National Press Club's Book and Author Group will present a Virtual Book Rap featuring authors reading from Furious Gravity, the ninth volume of the “Grace and Gravity” series of literary journals at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 6.

To receive an invitation to join the event, please email Heather Forsgren Weaver at [email protected].

The Virtual Book Rap is expected to include at least six writers reading selections, followed by a question-and-answer session.

Furious Gravity is an anthology of stories and essays written by women writers in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia. The collection serves as a platform in which women write about the gravitational forces that bind them together or push them apart. 

The anthology includes an essay by Club member and author Naomi Weiss, called "My Mother's Rages," an emotional story of anguish and forgiveness that spans decades. Weiss, who will participate in the Virtual Book Rap, is co-author of the 1990s Business Week bestseller "What The IRS Doesn’t Want You to Know."  She has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show and A & E’s “American Justice.” 

The "Grace and Gravity" series was founded more than 16 years ago by Richard Peabody, a publisher of hundreds of women writers. The series is now edited by Melissa Scholes Young, author and associate professor in the Department of Literature at American University. She was named a Bread Loaf Camargo Fellow and a Quarry Farm Fellow at the Center for Mark Twain Studies. She is the author of the novel Flood. Her second novel, The Hive, is expected to be published in 2021.

Scholes Young searched among writers, students and friends to create the collection, which gathers “these voices in the name of the city ... as a testament to how the area continues to incubate and nurture women,” said Dolen Perkins-Valdez, a New York Times bestselling author.

The Book and Author Group meets the second Tuesday each month to produce events highlighting Club authors.

For more information or to join, please email Joe Motheral at [email protected].