Four Female DC Authors to Put on Your Summer Reading List

Four Female DC Authors to Put on Your Summer Reading List

Local literary talent abounds in the nation’s capital, and summer is the perfect time to add some great page-turners to your reading resume. Head to your favorite memorial along the Mall and get engrossed in a historical fiction; spend the day in a coffee shop window falling in love with mysterious and layered characters; hit the Potomac (with plenty of snacks and sunscreen) for an afternoon-long float and read. Whatever you do, don’t miss these standout female writers from the DC area.

Michelle Brafman

DC local Michelle Brafman dabbled in arts ranging from coffee making to film making before identifying her literary passion and talent. The witty, yet heartfelt prose writer recognizes her creative and undulating path as essential to crafting the artist she is today and now works to help others find their creative voices as a creative writing teacher, workshop organizer and the founder of “Yeah Write” writing coaching. Her 2014, We Named Them All: Stories, takes an intimate, yet often humorous and always poignant, look into the lives of a couple facing recurring failed pregnancies. Washing the Dead, her recently released novel from Prospect Park Books, is at once spiritual, heartbreaking and illuminating. The novel tells the story of a young woman, Barbara Blumfield, who must uncover painful family secrets in order to forgive and redeem her estranged mother. Put both of these reads on your list and check out Brafman’s website and upcoming speaking and writing events in the DC area.

Trice Hickman

Trice Hickman grew up in North Carolina, but traveled to distant lands on the wings of countless novels and stories. She earned a Master’s Degree from Wake Forest University and worked in education and the corporate world until loosing her job left her daunted, yet ready to take on the literary world that had always inspired her. She published her first novel, Unexpected Interruptions in 2011 and the book went on to top several bestseller lists and raked in a handful of literary awards. She has since published Keeping Secrets and Telling Lies, Playing the Hand You’re Dealt, Breaking All My Rules and Looking For Trouble, and her newest novel Secret Indiscretion is due to release in July, 2015 as the first book in her Dangerous Love Series. Check out Hickman’s website and all of novels from this DC-based fiction powerhouse for a literary escape filled with romance, suspense and drama.

Laura Hillenbrand

DC area born and raised, critically acclaimed author Laura Hillenbrand brings to life the heart wrenching and inspiring stories of individuals facing extreme adversity. Primarily confined to her home by Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) – her experience with CFS is chronicled in her award-winning essay A Sudden Illness – Hillenbrand lives vicariously through her valiant characters. Her first novel, Seabiscuit: An American Legend, spent 42 weeks atop the New York Times Bestseller list and went on to become the basis for the Academy Award nominated major motion picture, Seabiscuit. Her 2010 nonfiction masterpiece, Unbroken, tells the incredible story of WWII veteran Luis Zamperini, an Olympic athlete who survived a devastating plane crash and time as a prisoner of war. The book was named best nonfiction book of the year by TIME Magazine and made into a film released in 2014. See Hillenbrand’s website for more information about her life, her work and how to join local book groups.

Sarah Pekkanen

This DCer got her start on the DC journalism scene, chasing politicians for interviews and enjoying a brief stint as a correspondent for e! Entertainment Network. She transitioned into fiction writing with her breakout novel The Opposite of Me. She has since published Skipping a Beat, These Girls, The Best of Us and Catching Air, which have enjoyed international bestseller status. Her newest novel, Things You Won’t Say, released in May of 2015, chronicles the story of a family in the midst of the aftermath of a tragic shooting and a marriage in crisis. From her first work of fiction – an unpublished masterpiece entitled Miscellaneous Tales and Poems written in 1980 on Ragedy Ann stationary – to her most recent, Pekkanen’s novels are not to be missed. See her website for more information about this colorful author, synopses of all her works and upcoming book events.