Click here for our events calendar and preview upcoming events through May.
 Click here for more complete descriptions and to buy signed copies online.
Members always save 20% on event books. Click here to register!

It is a rare treat to meet and welcome New Yorker contributing writer John McPhee to Politics & Prose for his new collection of essays, SILK PARACHUTE (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, $25) The subject almost doesn't matter when this wide-ranging essayist turns his attention and his prose to the task. As his pen travels around the world to explore geography, photography, and his own memories and reflections, hIs lyrical and thoughtful nature makes it all compelling!

This week a number of authors are visiting whose books address the trauma of war, abuse, and repression through their fiction and non-fiction. Thomas E. Kennedy is rarely published here in the United States and we have been engrossed in his painfully beautiful new novel, IN THE COMPANY OF ANGELS, in which a former political prisoner meets a woman who has survived an abusive relationship. Nancy Sherman takes on the task of sharing the inner lives of soldiers who have been through the traumas of battle, THE UNTOLD WAR, and Roxana Saberi describes her own experience as a political prisoner in Iran in her book BETWEEN TWO WORLDS. We hope you will make time in your calendars to join us for these events.

Yann Martel's new book BEATRICE AND VIRGIL (Spiegel & Grau, $24) also falls into this category. It shares similarities with The Life of Pi in writing style, but defies simplistic classifications as it invokes an even more unusual and philosophical journey. We suspect that his new book is a somewhat personal narrative as the principal character, Henry, is a successful writer who can't find a publisher for his second book. He has a strange encounter with a taxidermist, who himself is working on a play. The play has similarities to Waiting for Godot, as it features two principal characters wandering a bizarre landscape having apparently surreal conversations. Gradually, a deeper and unusual social message and commentary emerges, in both the novel and the play, which explore socially-sanctioned violence and repression - and the elusiveness and persistence of past experiences.

As a side note, it is interesting to know that the Canadian Mr. Martel has embarked on a project to share reflective literary works with Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He has published all of the accompany letters and commentary on his reasons for recommending these books on a website called "What is Stephen Harper reading?" It is an interesting glimpse into the mind of Yann Martel to note what he is suggesting and why. We are sure our evening together will provoke an interesting conversation next Wednesday evening at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue.

Click here for two free author event admission tickets with purchase of the $24 book from P&P or to purchase a single $12 ticket without book purchase.

THE ROCK BOTTOM REMAINDERS

This funk-literary band - comprised of authors Mitch Albom, Dave Barry, Roy Blount, Jr., Greg Iles, James McBride, Ridley Pearson, Amy Tan, and Scott Turow - will be in DC this month for a benefit concert. The mission of the Rock Bottom Remainders is to promote awareness of the importance of literacy and support worthwhile causes. The DC events support World Vision's Haiti relief efforts and high school completion initiatives through America's Promise.  The tour is presented by The Pearson Foundation and its new initiative, We Give Books.  Five books will be donated by Pearson to D.C. Public Schools per ticket sold. Politics & Prose is a sponsor of the Washington leg of the tour.

April 20 at The Harman Center:  The Remainders in conversation with Sam Donaldson about their music, their writing, and current events.
April 21 at the 9:30 Club -- The Remainders in concert with special guest Roger McGuinn, founder of The Byrds.

For more information and to buy tickets, visit rockbottomremainders.com.

THE BIG READ DC

This spring in partnership with The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities and the DC Public Library, venues across Washington are offering events and discussions around the book A LESSON BEFORE DYING by Ernest J. Gaines. We are pleased to host two in-store events here at Politics & Prose. 

Sunday, April 25th, 5 p.m. Faith and Doubt in "A Lesson Before Dying" with GWU English Professor Gayle Wald

Sunday, May 2nd, 5 p.m. The Anatomy of Justice in "A Lesson Before Dying" with GWU English and American Studies Professor James A. Miller

We encourage you all to read the book and join these and other discussions. You can also see more of the events included in this citywide discussion by visiting the DC Public Library website. Anyone who buys A LESSON BEFORE DYING (Vintage, $13) from us will be entitled to a 20% book group discount.

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The author of Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Rick Riordan will present and sign his new book, which begins a new series and introduces his fans to an entirely different pantheon of gods!

Thursday, May 6, 5 p.m.
RICK RIORDAN
The Kane Chronicles, Book One: THE RED PYRAMID (Hyperion, $17.99)
Carter and Sadie Kane are working on a research experiment with their Egyptologist father when the Egyptian god Set is unleashed, banishing Dr. Kane and forcing the children to flee.  As all the gods of Egypt awake, the Kane family is set on a dangerous quest that leads them back to a secret in the time of the pharaohs.  We will close the parking lot to provide plenty of space for a rousing good time to welcome Rick Riordan and the release of this first book in his new series!

Click here for important information about advance book purchase and event details.

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P&P members always save 20% on our top twelve FICTION and NON-FICTION hardcover bestsellers. To purchase these books, click the titles.

FICTION

#1    SOLAR by Ian McEwan (Nan A. Talese, $26.95)
# 2   Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson (Random House, $25)
# 3   The Mapping of Love and Death by Jacqueline Winspear (HarperCollins, $25.99)
# 4   The Three Weissmanns of Westport by Cathleen Schine (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, $25)
# 5   In the Company of Angels by Thomas E. Kennedy (Bloomsbury, $25)
# 6   The Help by Kathryn Stockett (Amy Einhorn, $24.95)
# 7   Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War by Karl Marlantes (Atlantic Monthly Press, $24.95)
# 8   Anthill by E. O. Wilson (W. W. Norton, $24.95)
# 9   Known to Evil by Walter Mosley (Riverhead, $25.95) (signed editions still available!!)
# 10 Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (Holt, $27)
#11  The Ask by Sam Lipsyte (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, $25)
#12  Bite Me: A Love Story by Christopher Moore (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, $23.99)

NONFICTION

#1   THE BIG SHORT by Michael Lewis (W.W. Norton, $27.95)
# 2  13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown by James Kwak and Simon Johnson (Pantheon, $26.95)
# 3   Mrs. Adams in Winter: A Journey in the Last Days of Napoleon by Michael O'Brien (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, $27)
# 4   Supreme Power: Franklin Roosevelt vs. the Supreme Court by Jeff Shesol (W. W. Norton, $27.95)
# 5   The Death and Life of the Great American School System by Diane Ravitch (Basic Books, $26.95)
# 6   Imperfect Endings by Zoe FitzGerald Carter (Simon & Schuster, $25)
# 7   Citizens of London by Lynne Olson (Random House, $28)
# 8   The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (Crown, $26)
# 9   Backing into Forward: A Memoir by Jules Feiffer (Nan A. Talese, $30)
# 10 Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin (HarperCollins, $27.99)
# 11 The History of White People by Nell Irvin Painter (W.W. Norton, $27.95)
# 12 Ill Fares the Land by Tony Judt (Penguin Press, $25.95)

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These two titles were both store favorites when they were in hardcover. Click FICTION or NON-FICTION  to browse a more complete selection of recent paperback releases.

JEFF IN VENICE, DEATH IN VARANASI (Vintage, $15) by Geoff Dyer
Dorothea Brooke swooned in Rome. Stendhal fainted in Florence. Jeffrey Atman, the protagonist of Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi, is sotted and besotted in Venice. The novel is several remarkable things at once. First, it is a rushing tale of carnal serendipity and bacchanalian excess at the Venice Biennale, the ultimate junket for a hack arts reporter. Geoff Dyer describes Jeff's desultory search for a scoop and manic pursuit of Laura - the object of a Bellini-fuelled beatific vision - with shambolic éclat. It is also the story of an inadvertent and unlikely pilgrim in the ancient holy city of Varanasi in northern India. Finally, far stranger than a mere homage to Death in Venice, it is an uncanny recurrence of moods, images and whole phrases from Thomas Mann's novella. - Michael Allen

FALSE ECONOMY  (Riverhead, $15.95) by Alan Beattie

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During National Poetry Month, our bookseller selections will highlight anthologies and books about poetry appreciation. Click here for more of our selections.

THE POEM'S HEARTBEAT: A Manual of Prosody (Copper Canyon, $15)
by Alfred Corn

When I pulled The Poem's Heartbeat from the shelf, I realized how long I had been looking for something exactly like it. The poet Alfred Corn taught prosody, the "art or study of versification," at Columbia. On the evidence of this small, indispensable volume, he was a remarkable teacher. Corn assumes no prior reading or knowledge, only a sincere interest and a willingness to listen to the "inner ear." As he builds from a simple beginning to explore the full richness of poetic practice, he never slights ambiguities or slouches into mystification. His apt examples make it a choice little anthology. As is natural for a guidebook that combines great clarity with great scope, you may find yourself disagreeing with some of his well-turned pronouncements. However, just as a good professor transmutes a student's stammered observation into an insightful question, Corn's manual lends these demurrals clarity, rigor and cogency. The Poem's Heartbeat is an education. - Michael Allen

Click here for more recommended poetry.

 

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ANOTHER SCIENCE FICTION: Advertising the Space Race 1957-1962, signed by Megan Prelinger
(Blast Books, $29.95)
First editions, first printings.
Paperback (illustrated) - April 2010

Megan Prelinger's Another Science Fiction (Blast Books, $29.95) is a time machine taking us on a tour of post-Sputnik America. The space race was heating up, and aerospace industries were crafting ingenious advertisements to promote investment in our bright new future in space.  These ads combine science fictional vistas, excitement about new technologies, and uniquely mid-20th century American sensibilities. They endorsed the idea of launching an American into space and traveling to the Moon (and beyond) as soon as humanly possible.  This fascinating book provides an intriguing reminder of the dawn of the space age; it also allows the reader to see which visions of a future - that fifty years ago seemed just around the corner - have become reality and which remain in the realm of science fiction even today.
- Harri Vanhala, Guest Reviewer

Click here to see more of our signed books.

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We have many fans of the classic Moleskine journals, but here is an innovative new notebook from Sweden, which features light grey paper with white lines. They are designed to be easy on the eyes - and less distracting, both while writing and reading. And when you are done writing, the effect is more like reading a printed book or typewritten page!

Take a look. Give them a try. We think you'll be pleased with the results! Click here to see them and read more. http://www.politics-prose.com/journals/whitelines

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If you can't attend a talk, but would like to reserve a signed copy or a recorded author talk,
click the title links to purchase online. P&P members save 20% on these author event titles.

Thursday April 8

Roxana Saberi - Between Two Worlds
7 p.m. Saberi, an Iranian-American journalist raised in North Dakota, returned to Iran in 2003. In January 2009 she was arrested, interrogated, convicted of espionage, and given an eight-year prison sentence. After an international outcry, she was released. Her account offers an eloquent and insightful portrait of Iranian society, from the hard-line regime to Saberi's fellow prisoners.

Friday April 9

Seth Stevenson - Grounded
7 p.m. A travel columnist for Slate, Stevenson decided to see the world the old-fashioned way. Eschewing airplanes, he circumnavigated the globe by shoe leather, bicycle, rickshaw, bus, railroad, and boat. His charming travelogue evokes the pleasures of slow, ground-level meanderings which let him savor time and distance.

Saturday April 10

Laura Skandera Trombley - Mark Twain's Other Woman
1 p.m. Isabel Van Kleek Lyon was Mark Twain's personal assistant, social secretary, and confidante during the last years of his life. But she was distrusted by Twain's daughters, who called her manipulative and forced their father to fire her. Trombley's account of the Lyon-Twain relationship is the first to draw on the complete archives of Lyon's papers.

Julian Zelizer - Arsenal of Democracy
3:30 p.m. A Princeton professor of history and public affairs, Zelizer shows that partisan fighting has always shaped American foreign policy, while national security has always been part of our domestic conflicts. Rather than a new phenomenon of the Bush/Obama years, U.S. domestic politics and foreign affairs have been intertwined for the last six decades.

Arthur Allen - Ripe
6 p.m. In his chronicle of the tomato, Allen, a former Associated Press correspondent, harvests Florida tomatoes with Mexican migrant workers, investigates the Chinese mastery of the canning tomato, and contrasts traditional Italian growing methods with American industrial means. Do we want flavor, or a product machines can slice efficiently and uniformly?

Sunday April 11

Thomas E. Kennedy - In The Company Of Angels
1 p.m. The first of Kennedy's novels to be published in his native country after a decade of literary success in Europe, this story of trauma and healing is set in Copenhagen. Haunted by the torture he suffered in Pinochet's Chile, Nardo cautiously approaches Michela, herself the survivor of abusive relationships.
Kennedy will be in conversation with André Dubus III, author most recently of The Garden of Last Days.

Wendy Mass - Finally
3 p.m. About to turn 12, Rory Swenson plans to get a cell phone, go to the mall with friends, wear make-up, have her ears pierced. But she doesn't realize that responsibilities come with these new freedoms. A coming-of-age novel by a realistic fiction master.  (Ages 9-12)

Nancy Sherman - The Untold War
5  p.m. Based on interviews with soldiers engaged in the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as with veterans of earlier wars, Sherman's study looks at combat from the inside out. A philosopher, ethicist, and psychoanalyst, she considers the moral and psychological burdens fighters bear, including how they learn to kill, how they leave killing behind, and how they distinguish civilians from combatants. 

Monday April 12

S. Terrell French - Operation Redwood
10:30 a.m. When Julian learns that his uncle's development company plans to cut down the remaining old growth redwoods, Julian and his friends fight to save the trees. An action-packed environmental novel for young people who dream big. Winner of the Green Award.  (Ages 10-13)

John McPhee - Silk Parachute
7 p.m. This collection of ten pieces from the phenomenal New Yorker writer and prolific author ranges across continents, subjects, and times. Among the diverse interests of this warm and engaging essayist are lacrosse, the chalky geography of parts of Europe, photography, and memories of summer-camp experiences with canoes.

Tuesday April 13

Jackie Urbanovic - Sitting Duck
10:30 a.m. Brody's niece is coming to visit and Max the Duck offers to babysit. How could an adorable puppy be any trouble? But trouble does ensue. In one scene Max's falling camera shoots a picture just as the animals are going up on a trampoline. The illustrations' original perspectives add to the laughs.   (Ages 3-6)

Gregory Orfalea - The Man Who Guarded the Bomb
7 p.m.  Orfalea, a Georgetown professor of Arab-American literature, follows his book of essays, Angeleno Days, with a collection of linked stories. Exploring family and other relationships, the fiction chronicles the lives of the Matters, a captivating, tragic, yet ultimately exultant Arab-American family.

Wednesday April 14

Bill McKibben - Eaarth
7 p.m. Since his seminal The End of Nature two decades ago, McKibben has been nearly synonymous with environmental consciousness. In his new book he concedes that human activities have indeed altered the planet. While we can't restore the former climatic stability, we can learn to inhabit this new Earth in lighter, more sustainable ways.

Yann Martel - Beatrice and Virgil @ Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
7 p.m. Martel won the 2002 Man Booker Prize for The Life of Pi, his story of a boy and a tiger adrift at sea. His new novel, featuring a donkey, a howler monkey, and an enigmatic taxidermist, is an equally whimsical and philosophical consideration of truth and deception, responsibility and complicity.
Click here for two free author event admission tickets with purchase of the $24 book from P&P or for click here for a single $12 ticket without book purchase.

Thursday April 15

Jennifer Gilmore - Something Red
7 p.m. Gilmore follows her well-received Golden Country with a book that should have wide appeal in the D.C. area. Set in 1979, the novel focuses on the Goldsteins, a Washington family with left/liberal roots. As the two teenagers struggle to establish independent identities, the adults work to define themselves politically in the shifting landscape of the times.  

Friday April 16

Craig Yoe - The Great Anti-War Cartoons
7 p.m. Yoe, a historian of cartoons, has assembled a vast array of anti-war comics that span the globe and date back to the 1600s.  These comics run the gamut of emotions, from Bill Mauldin's humor to Francisque Poulbot's sorrow.  Yoe's presentation will include source material from Warren Bernard's private collection.

Saturday April 17

Carl Hoffman - The Lunatic Express
1 p.m. Hoffman, a contributing editor at National Geographic Traveler, has written a hair-raising account of his six-month global trek on the world's most dangerous conveyances. He embarks on ferries that kill some 1,000 people a year, takes overcrowded commuter trains in Mumbai, traverses washed-out roads in the Amazon, and goes Greyhound from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., all the while meeting an amazing variety of people.

Aviva Goldfarb - SOS!
6 p.m. The author of The Six O'Clock Scramble offers a year of weekly menus that not only reduce the stress of getting family dinners on the table but offer more healthful and environmentally conscious diets. Goldfarb's advice includes tips on what "organic" means and when it matters; on how to eat seasonally; and on how to shop efficiently and store foods in bulk.

Sunday April 18

Erica Perl - Vintage Veronica
1 p.m. Veronica Walsh has her ideal summer job: she works at a vintage clothing store sorting the dollar-a-pound clothing and looking for heirloom chic. Overweight and socially awkward at 15, she's glad she doesn't have to deal with customers. Then two pushy sales clerks persuade her to spy on the stock boy, and life takes a risky turn.  (Ages 11-15)

Jacqueline Winspear - The Mapping of Love and Death
5 p.m. The seventh installment of the Maisie Dobbs series finds the London psychologist and investigator embroiled in a case of love and murder that leads back to 1914. Hired by the parents of a soldier who died on a French battlefield, Maisie uncovers the cause of his death, the identity of the unnamed woman he loved, and much more, including secrets of her own heart.

To see the complete schedule and to purchase any of the above books, click here.

 

 

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Politics & Prose supplies books to the following book signing events.
Reservations and tickets should be acquired from the hosting organization.
If you can't attend a talk, but would like to purchase a signed book, call
202-364-1919 or 1-800-722-0790 or click the title links below.

Thursday, April 8, 7:30 p.m.

Friendship Heights Village Center
4433 S. Park Ave.
Chevy Chase, MD
STEVEN ROBERTS
FROM EVERY END OF THIS EARTH (HarperCollins, $25.99)
America is a nation of immigrants. But what does it mean to be an immigrant in America today? From Every End of This Earth follows the stories of thirteen immigrant families.
A well-known commentator on many Washington-based TV shows, Mr. Roberts also appears regularly as a political analyst on the ABC radio network and is a substitute host on NPR’s Diane Rehm Show. He and his wife, Cokie Roberts, write a nationally-syndicated newspaper column that was named one of the ten most popular columns in America by Media Matters. Since 1997 he has been the Shapiro Professor of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University, where he has taught for the last 18 years. Please sign up in advance for this FREE event by calling the Village Center at 301-656-2797.

Monday, April 12, 7:30 p.m.

Folger Shakespeare Library
201 East Capitol Street, S.E.
PEN/Faulkner presents
HEIDI JULAVITS
THE USES OF ENCHANTMENT (Anchor, $13.95)
VENDELA VIDA
LET THE NORTHERN LIGHTS ERASE YOUR NAME (Harper Perennial, $13.95)
Founding co-editors of The Believer magazine, published by McSweeney’s, read from their latest works of fiction.  Heidi Julavits has also written The Effect of Living Backwards.  Vendela Vida is also the author of And Now You Can Go, Girls on the Verge, and the forthcoming The Lovers, and co-wrote the screenplay for the 2009 film Away We Go with husband Dave Eggers. More information and $15 tickets are available online or by phone, 202-544-7077.

Wednesday, April 14, 7 p.m.

National Geographic Society
1600 M Street, NW
CHOCOLATE: FROM BEAN TO BAR
CHOCOLATE: A Bittersweet Saga of Dark and Light- Mort Rosenblum (North Point Press, $14)
FOOD JOURNEYS OF A LIFETIME: 500 Extraordinary Places to Eat Around the Globe (National Geographic, $40)
Explore the world of chocolate at this tasting with D.C.'s own chocolate aficionado and owner of Biagio Fine Chocolate (described by the Washington Post as "a chocoholic's shrine"), Biagio Abbatiello, and internationally acclaimed chocolate maker, Steve Devries, who has been labeled "the Einstein of chocolate" for his painstaking research into every aspect of handcrafting fine chocolates. With these experts, you'll savor your way through the history, personalities, and flavors behind this alluring treat that the ancient Maya and Aztecs called "The Elixir of the Gods." You'll learn how chocolates are made step-by-step, beginning with the raising and harvesting of cacao beans, and discover that fine chocolate is truly an agricultural rather than an industrial product. Finally, you'll taste a selection of the world's finest chocolates! Bring your sweet tooth, a loved one, and a sense of culinary adventure to the sweetest event of the National Geographic Live spring season. For more information and $80 tickets (NG Member: $75), click here.

Friday, April 16 - Saturday, April 24

(6 performances)
at Source Theater
1835 14th St. NW
The In Series presents
SEARCHING FOR GABRIELA
SELECTED POEMS OF GABRIELA MISTRAL (Univ. of New Mexico, $34.95)
Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral was the first Latin-American to win the Nobel Prize, and yet her magnificent work is not well known. Director Abel Lopez leads a spellbinding bilingual theatrical journey through her poetry , clothed in passionate words, movement and music. The original English storyline is by D.C. writer Sybil R. Williams.

Information and tickets ($34-16) are available through http://www.inseries.org or by calling the Box Office at 202-204-7763.

 

Tuesday, April 20, 7:30 p.m.

National Geographic Society
1600 M Street, NW
JOEL SARTORE
RARE: Portraits of America’s Endangered Species(National Geographic, $24)
Veteran photographer Joel Sartore offers 80 masterful images of threatened lifeforms, along with an informative review of the history and purpose of the Endangered Species Act. Step behind the camera with him as he shares the stories behind living things that may soon disappear from the world. Joel Sartore will also sign copies of Rare in the NG Headquarters Store at noon on April 20. For more information and $18 Tickets ($15 for NG Members), click here.  

Wednesday, April 21, 7:30 p.m.

National Geographic Society
1600 M Street, NW
DONOVAN WEBSTER
MEETING THE FAMILY: One Man's Journey Through His Human Ancestry (National Geographic, $26)
Using information about his own DNA that he obtained by participating in National Geographic’s Genographic Project, writer Donovan Webster traced his family back to the first human beings. In his new National Geographic book, Meeting the Family: One Man's Journey Through His Human Ancestry, and in this presentation, he recounts his own travels in the footsteps of his ancestors from Tanzania’s Rift Valley through the Middle East and Central Asia, through Europe and to North America. For more information and $18 tickets ($15 for NG members), click here.

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CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE WEEK
(20% off through 04/14/2010)

There are two sides to every story.  MIRROR MIRROR (Dutton, $16.99) cleverly tells both.  Read each familiar fairy tale from top to bottom, then, read it in reverse to discover an entirely different story.  Did you ever wonder how the giant felt about Jack and his escapades?  What about the evil queen’s attitude toward Snow White?  By changing punctuation and capitalization, author Marilyn Singer casts these old favorites in a new light.  Josee Masse’s illustrations are a visual mirror.  Ages 6-10 - Heidi Powell

In April, we’re celebrating Earth Day and National Poetry Month.  Come check out our wide selection of Earth Day poetry books.

Moreover, to complement the sale on travel guides for adults, the Children's Department is offering a 20% discount to Politics & Prose Members on all geography books throughout the month of April. We have created a table display of recommended books. It's the perfect time to indulge an interest in exploring the world!

Read about - and buy - more of our favorite books for children by clicking here.

Lisa Chaplin-Hobbs hosts story time for young children every Monday morning at 10:30 a.m.

For upcoming events and more from the Children and Teens' Department, click here.

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David Byrne & Fatboy Slim, HERE LIES LOVE (Nonesuch, 2 CDs, $18.98, deluxe version, $34.98) – David Byrne’s song cycle about Imelda Marcos and Estrella Cumpas (housekeeper during Imelda’s childhood) is set to “clubby dance music” with a super cast of guest vocalists. Sharon Jones, Cyndi Lauper, Santigol, Steve Earle, Nellie McKay, Natalie Merchant, Tori Amos, and many more, sing the very catchy songs, with beats by Fatboy Slim. The deluxe version is packaged in a hardback book with profuse notes and photos, and an added DVD of four songs set to archival footage.

Angélique Kidjo, OYO (Razor and Tie, $14.98) –Ms Kidjo put on a spectacular show two weeks ago at Lisner Auditorium, and her new album is now out. Her mix of African and world pop is showcased in a wide range of songs: originals and tunes associated with Miriam Makeba, James Brown, Curtis Mayfield, and Aretha Franklin (a duet with Dianne Reeves on “Baby I Love You”).

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, I LEARNED THE HARD WAY (Daptone Records, $14.98) – Sharon Jones has one of the most emotional and powerful voices on the scene today. Taking the grooves of 1960s soul and r&b, Jones and the Dap-Kings (complete with the funkiest of horn sections) write new tunes in an older style which speak to timeless themes of love and overcoming heartbreak. Ms Jones delivers these gems with a voice of a modern soul queen.

Caetano Veloso, ZII E ZIE (Nonesuch, $17.98) – Caetano Veloso, one of the pioneers of the Tropicalia movement, is still producing vital music. He’s now working with a young, stripped-down “samba-rock” band, which he’ll be bringing to Lisner Auditorium this Saturday, April 10.

The very next night, Rokia Traoré, from Mali, will be there. Listen to Rokia on her two most recent albums, TCHAMANTCHÉ and BOWNBOÏ (both on the Nonesuch labels, $17.98).

Click here for more reviews and news. Please call us at 202-364-1919 to order these CDs.