Creator of NYC’s 2003 flash mob movement and senior editor at Harper’s Magazine Bill Wasik will be at Politics and Prose on Monday discussing his new book.
DCist’s guide to lectures and discussions in the D.C. area
The upcoming Independence Day weekend equates with a lag in book talks and lectures around town, but keep in mind that the National Mall is full of the performances and demonstrations of the Folklife Festival, which runs through Sunday.
Wednesday:
>> At 7 p.m., Politics and Prose hosts debut novelist John Pipkin, reading from his book, Woodsburner, an imagined account of a young and reckless Henry David Thoreau, who “inadvertently set fire to a forest near the beautiful town of Concord, Massachusetts.”
Thursday:
>> The S. Dillon Ripley Center hosts a lecture titled Oaxaca: Crossroads of a Continent from 6:45 to 9 p.m. tonight, at which George Scheper will examine the history of the recently designated World Heritage site, from “the ancient to colonial periods in the Oaxaca Valley” to the Zapotecs and the Mixtecs to the contemporary art of today’s Oaxaca. $40.
>> Or, at 6 p.m., check out one of the Portrait Gallery‘s regular Face-to-Face gallery talks. Today’s is on a portrait of George Washington. Meet in the F Street lobby.
Friday:
>> This week’s Friday lunchtime lecture at the Hirshhorn features Curatorial Research Assistant Ryan Hill speaking about highlights of the Hirshhorn’s collection. 12 p.m.
Next Monday:
>> Harper’s editor Bill Wasik claims to be the anonymous originator of the 2003 rush of flash mobs in NYC. In his book And Then There’s This, “Wasik explores the Internet’s power to foster stories that spread fast and fade quickly.” Meet him at Politics and Prose at 7 p.m. and hear this former stand-up comedian explain his experiments with pop culture, viral media and psychology.
>> Or, at 7:30 p.m., head to the Bailey’s Crossroads Borders for a book event with Brad Thor and his novel The Apostle, in which “Homeland Security operative Scot Harvath must find the kidnapped daughter of a politically connected family in the terrorist frontier of Afghanistan.”
