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A culminating panel conversation with DC authors K.T. Nguyen, Dolen Perkins-Valdez, and Nikki Payne.
To culminate DC Reads, join the Library and the PEN/Faulkner Foundation for a final conversation with our three featured authors.
This panel will bring together DC writers K.T. Nguyen, Dolen Perkins-Valdez, and Nikki Payne with moderator Lupita Aquino for a conversation about their books, being a writer in DC, and more. The event will include a Q&A with the audience, and the Library will provide ASL interpretation.
K.T. Nguyen is a former editor at Glamour magazine. Her new psychological thriller received the Agatha Award for Best First Mystery and was named a Lefty Award finalist for Best Debut Mystery. It is currently nominated for an Anthony Award in the category of Best First Novel. When she’s not writing, you’ll find K.T. practicing Krav Maga, watching the Mets, or gardening. A graduate of Brown University, K.T. lives just outside Washington, D.C. with her family and their adopted terrier Alice. K.T. is a proud member of Crime Writers of Color, Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and International Thriller Writers.
Dolen Perkins-Valdez is the New York Times bestselling author of four novels, including Take My Hand (2022) and, most recently, Happy Land (2025) which was named a Most Anticipated Book of 2025 by Harper’s Bazaar, Ms., Real Simple, Woman’s World, People, Reader’s Digest, and elsewhere. Take My Hand was awarded a 2023 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, Silver Gavel Award from the American Bar Association, Fiction Award from Black Caucus of the American Library Association and was longlisted for the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award. A three-time nominee for a United States Artists Fellowship, Dolen is widely considered a pre-eminent chronicler of American historical life. She is Associate Professor in the MFA Program at American University in Washington, DC.
Nikki Payne: By day, Nikki Payne is a civic anthropologist building accessible government services for vulnerable populations, by night, she dreams of ways to subvert Canon literature. Hailed as "incandescent" by the Washington Post, Nikki Payne's debut novel, Pride and Protest, was a Phenomenal Book Club pick and was selected by the Library of Congress to represent the District of Columbia for the National Book Festival. Featured in the New York Times, NPR, Elle, Oprah Daily, and BuzzFeed, Nikki Payne is writing black women into their happily ever after.
Lupita Aquino is the creator of a popular Instagram account – @Lupita.Reads, which has turned into a passionate bookish movement to build literary social media spaces for readers to connect. The @Lupita.Reads spaces are dedicated to building human connections through literature by highlighting the importance of reading and discussing books by authors of different backgrounds, ethnicities, and identities.
DC Reads is a DC Public Library program that promotes citywide conversations focused on a single book. Past titles have included How the Word is Passed by Clint Smith, Good Talk by Mira Jacob, and Heads of the Colored People by Nafissa Thompson-Spires. We are delighted to work with PEN/Faulkner to host three titles this year and focus on writers from right here in the DC community.
The PEN/Faulkner Foundation champions the breadth and power of fiction in America. Their participation in this event is made possible by Shreve Williams Public Relations.
AGE GROUP: | Adults |
EVENT TYPE: | DC Reads | Author Talk |
