Thursday
October 8
10:30 AM
In her memoir, Elected American: From Red China to Blue Maryland, Maryland State Delegate Lily Qi recounts her experience of immigration, civic engagement, and public service. It chronicles her youth in Communist Shanghai, her solo immigration to America, and her road to the Maryland House of Delegates. Qi helped first-time voters embrace the power of their political participation in the face of a system not designed for them. Forward Reviews says “Elected American is a nuanced political memoir about the promise of American opportunity, seen through the lens of Asian American immigration in the post-Cultural Revolution generation.” Andrew Yang say, “Lily Qi’s story is the American Dream come to life, and her fight for democracy is exactly the kind of uplifting story people want to see.”
Location: Fenwick Library, Room 2001, George Mason University
12 PM
In two tales of twists, secrets, and love triangles, we see the damage beneath the beauty. Caroline Bock’s novel The Other Beautiful People walks the streets of post-9/11 New York City, where Amy Greene, the head of marketing and public relations at a cable network, struggles to choose between her husband and boss, all while learning to accept the death of her father. Author Susan Coll says, The Other Beautiful People is an ode to New York City in all its manic grittiness. It is also an ode to work families and nuclear families as well as a testament to the power of a single aching, forbidden, cinematic kiss.” In Lina Patton’s The Lake Club, two women compete for the affection of the male nanny, upsetting the fragile ecosystem of Aldon Lakes Country Club and making secrets float back to the surface. Mary Kay Zuravleff calls it “Cinematic and poignant! In The Other Beautiful People, Caroline Bock unspools the reels that play nonstop in our heads. Home movies and bloopers, auditions and sex scenes, footage of disasters endured and averted. As her main character struggles to love and be loved, Bock captures the challenge—and wonder—of paying attention to our life as we live it.”
Location:Wilkins Plaza Tent, between the Johnson Center & Horizon Hall, George Mason University
1:30 PM
Guilt-ridden and haunted by trauma, the women in both Melanie McCabe’s and Karen Olson’s novels return to crime scenes from their past only to discover the truth has not been buried as they believed. In McCabe’s Road Longer Than Memory, Sara Barlow takes a teaching position at her alma mater, where a classmate was murdered and her sister was killed in a car accident. Art Taylor describes the novel as an “unforgettable debut, showing how past tragedies impact fresh troubles―and exploring how loss and regret might somehow lead toward redemption.” In Olson’s A Defiant Woman, Nan Tudor learns that the daughter she abandoned has been kidnapped, and she is lured back to Martha’s Vineyard where she once left a dead body. Heather Webb describes the thriller as “Compulsively readable [and a] gripping retelling of one of history’s most obsessively researched topics: Henry VIII and the fall of his six wives.” Art Taylor will moderate this event.
Location: Wilkins Plaza Tent, between the Johnson Center and Horizon Hall, George Mason University
1:30 PM
From Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Steven A. Holmes comes a novel set in World War II. Black Messiahs tells the story of three characters: two Black soldiers enlisted in the segregated US Army and a young Jewish boy growing up in Poland. Holmes follows their experiences fighting on the front lines and surviving the Holocaust, telling a story of resilience in the face of insidious adversity. Kirkus Reviews says of Black Messiahs, “What emerges is a plea for tolerance that strikes an impressive contrast with the evils the characters experience on the front lines. Overall, Holmes has done a yeoman’s job of weaving all of these themes into a truly engaging, richly crafted narrative, maintaining a high standard for modern war fiction.” Presented in Partnership with Judaic Studies.
Location: Fenwick Library, Room 2001, George Mason University
2:15 PM
In Fuji Fire: Sifting Ashes of a Forgotten U. S. Marine Corps Tragedy, journalist and decorated Marine veteran Chas Henry brings the story of the largest peacetime disaster into focus. On the slopes of Mount Fuji in October 1979, the most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded propelled 5,500 gallons of gasoline into corrugated steel huts housing U.S. Marines, injuring sixty people and killing thirteen. Author Ralph Peters says this thoroughly-researched book “[portrays] victories of the human spirit, immense sacrifice, inspiring camaraderie, and personal transcendence. Impeccably researched, skillfully written… Henry has written a fine book and created a worthy memorial to the living and the lost.” Presented in Partnership with OLLI Mason.
Location: Online via Zoom.
3 PM
Embracing Middle Eastern and Japanese folklore, two novels look inwards at the monsters hiding beneath our skin. Eman Quotah’s The Night is Not for You, follows seven-year-old Layla after a murder in her neighborhood teaches her that to keep herself safe, she must make herself into something not quite human. Author Jen Julian says it is, “a fierce coming of age novel unlike any I’ve read before. Steeped in dread and a wild, aromatic atmosphere, this story is a shapeshifter—from murder mystery to folktale to family drama and back again.” Kylie Lee Baker’s Japanese Gothic, follows the stories of Lee Turner, who has no memory of killing his college roommate and is forced to flee to his father’s home in Japan; and Sen, a Samurai in exile who is visited by a monster wearing her father’s face. Author Chuck Wendig calls it “An eerie and unrelenting tale of two lives, two time periods, and one singular horror soaked in blood and sorrow.” Claire Edwards will moderate this event.
Location: Wilkins Plaza Tent, between the Johnson Center and Horizon Hall, George Mason University
3 PM
In her poetry chapbook, februaries, Michele Evans pays homage to the achievements of historical figures such as Harriet Tubman, Billie Holiday, and Maya Angelou using the techniques of many D.C. poetic legends. Evans, a fifth-generation Washingtonian, reminds the world to celebrate Black history for more than just twenty-eight days. Rowana Abbensetts-Dobson says, “Written in a voice steeped in the heartbreaking dynamic that is being Black in America, Evans’ one-of-a-kind style sings like a canary in the coal mine, warning us of the dangers of losing our humanity and urging us to see each other with gentleness and grace.” Her 2025 collection Purl was nominated for the Maya Angelou Book Award. Sierra Fisher will moderate this event.
Location: Fenwick Library, Room 2001, George Mason University
4:30 PM
Enjoy the three powerhouse finalists – and celebrate the winner – of the Ninth Annual New American Voices Award for immigrant writers. The finalists will be joined by this year’s judges: Angie Cruz, Donna Hemans, and Weike Wang. The New American Voices Award was created in 2018 by Fall for the Book and the Institute for Immigration Research to recognize recently published works that illuminate the complexity of the human experience as told by immigrants, whose work is historically underrepresented in writing and publishing. Presented in Partnership with the Institute for Immigration Research.
Location: Fenwick Library, Room 2001, George Mason University
6 PM
In Under the Guise of Protection: Eugenics and Wayward Girls in Twentieth-Century Virginia, Erin Bush exposes how over 2,000 adolescent girls in the justice system were treated during Jim Crow, focusing specifically on the story of Carrie Buck, who was sterilized while incarcerated. Buck was only one of thousands who faced the same state-mandated dehumanizing malpractice. Author Pippa Holloway says, “[Bush’s] examination of the development of a system of juvenile reform in service of eugenics makes an original and important contribution to our understanding of twentieth century social policy.”
Location: Fenwick Library, Room 2001, George Mason University
6 PM
Comedy shows such as In Living Color, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and Living Single define ‘90s television culture. In Black Out Loud: The Revolutionary History of Black Comedy from Vaudeville to ‘90s Sitcoms, award-winning journalist and PBS NewsHour co-anchor Geoff Bennett follows the history of Black comedians and performers from 19th-century minstrel shows to the era of sitcoms. He charts the careers of icons such as Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, and Whoopi Goldberg, examining how they and their peers paved the way for Black entertainers in the future. Mark Anthony Neal says, “With Black Out Loud, Geoff Bennett not only celebrates a defining era of comedic expression, but traces a lineage in which generations of Black comedians upheld a code that honored Black humanity in all its complexity – always anchored by a fearless commitment to the funny.” Dr. LaNitra Berger will moderate this conversation. Sponsored by African & African American Studies.
Location: Grand Tier III, Center for the Arts, George Mason University
7:30 PM
In The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, horror icon Stephen Graham Jones unspools an American Indian revenge story told through transcribed interviews of a Blackfeet named Good Stab. His tale unveils a Blackfeet massacre and the haunting, immortal search for justice. Daniel Kraus says, “For me and vampires, there is Stoker, there is Rice, and now there is Jones. It’s harrowing, agonizing, nuanced, and downright philosophical. Very likely Jones’s masterpiece.” Jones is the author of over thirty novels, novellas, comics, and more, including the The Only Good Indian and My Heart is a Chainsaw. His forthcoming novel Off the Reservation returns to the Blackfeet reservation exploring another dark corner of this nation’s history involving the Carlisle Indian Industrial School. Jones is the recipient of numerous honors, including four Bram Stoker awards and three Shirley Jackson awards, and has been named a finalist for the World Fantasy Award. Sponsored by George Mason Friends.
Free tickets are required for this event. Reserve yours starting on September 10 at 7:30 p.m. Max two per person.
Location: Harris Theatre, George Mason University
Finding Events
Finding Events
From the Mason Pond Parking Deck, walk up the plaza, past the statue of George Mason towards the big clock. You’ll see the Wilkins Plaza Tent in the middle of the plaza.
To get the to Fenwick Library Room 2001, enter Fenwick Library, go up the stairs, and take a right. You’ll see the banner at the end of the hallway for room 2001.
Grand Tier III is located in the Center for the Arts, which is right outside the bottom of the Mason Pond Parking Deck.
Harris Theatre is located outside of the 3rd floor of Mason Pond Parking Deck. It will be directly in front of you as you exit.
Parking
For Mason’s Fairfax Campus, located at 4400 University Drive, Fairfax, VA: Rappahannock River and Mason Pond parking decks provide most of the campus’ visitor parking using an entry/exit ticket payment system. Rates can be found here. Mason Pond is the closest parking to most campus events. Access it via Mason Pond Drive or Aquia Creek Lane.
To park in Lot K, use the Roanoke River Road entrance off of Braddock Road, across from University Mall. Lot K is the first left from that entrance. You need to pre-purchase a parking pass online to use this lot.