This project documents the homes of literary authors who once lived in the greater Washington, DC region. We wanted to honor the widest range of literary authors possible, including authors of different backgrounds, writing styles, and influences. We include novelists, poets, playwrights, and memoirists. We do not include writers who were solely journalists, and, with few exceptions, authors of genre literature. We have tried hard to include authors from a range of time periods, from the city’s founding in 1800 through the present.
Recent Additions
What’s New?
We got a great review in the Washington City Paper in August 2020, calling our project “an online database of more than 300 writers and their D.C. homes [that] offers a glittering who’s who of Washington literary history.”
Our official relaunch celebration took place on November 29, 2018. After a decade of implementing this project independently, co-editors Kim Roberts and Dan Vera were pleased to celebrate the project’s new permanent home. Sponsored by HumanitiesDC, this updated version of the website features a responsive design easily navigable by desktop or smartphone users. They have promised to continue and preserve our research on writers’ homes in perpetuity.
HumanitiesDC is one of 56 state humanities councils and the capital’s local affiliate for the National Endowment for the Humanities.
With our latest additions, we are now documenting the homes of 405 writers who lived and wrote in the greater Washington, DC region!
Featured Author
Hamilton Fish III
Hamilton Fish was a politician from a long family of politicians. He is the author of an autobiography, Hamilton Fish: Memoir of an American Patriot (1991), as well as books of nonfiction, including The Challenge of World Communism (1946), FDR: The Other Side of the Coin (1976), Lafayette in America During and After the Revolutionary War (1976), and Tragic Deception: FDR and America’s Involvement in World War II (1983).
Fish was a white captain of the Harlem Hellfighters, the famed 269th U.S. Infantry Regiment in World War I. The Harlem Hellfighters, a unit of African American soldiers, spent 191 days on the front lines, longer than any American regiment, and was the first Allied troops to reach the Rhine River. Fish was promoted to Major, and was inducted into the French Legion of Honor for his wartime service. As a member of the Officers’ Reserve Corps, he attained the rank of Colonel. Fish advocated for the civil rights of African Americans, particularly in the military, throughout his life.
Fish III was the Republican Congressman from New York from 1920 to 1945, making his reputation as a prominent critic of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal. His great grandfather, Nicholas Fish, served as adjutant general of New York under Governor George Clinton. His grandfather, Hamilton Fish, was Secretary of State under President Ulysses S. Grant. His father, Hamilton Fish II, served in the House of Representatives and was Speaker of the New York State Assembly. His son, Hamilton Fish IV, was a New York representative for 13 terms.
Fish was a college athlete; while an undergraduate at Harvard University, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. He later attended Harvard Law School. He appeared in the documentary film Men of Bronze (1977), about the Harlem Hellfighters, and in Reds (1981), a biopic on the life of journalist Jack Reed.
While in Congress, Fish introduced a resolution for the creation of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. Fish is also remembered, however, for the Fish Committee, established to investigate communist activities in the U.S., which targeted the ACLU, and strengthened deportation laws. Fish also supported Adolph Hitler, claiming that Jewish residents of Germany were responsible for the international spread of communism. Fish distributed anti-semitic literature and was a headline speaker at a pro-Nazi rally held at Madison Square Garden in 1938. He remained unrepentant until the end of his life.
Just some of our many homes...
Shirley Graves Cochrane
127 Seventh Street SE, Washington, DC
Thomas Law
1252 6th St. SW
Mary Roberts Rinehart
2419 Massachusetts Ave. NW
Mary Roberts Rinehart
2660 Woodley Rd., Washington, DC
Clarice Lispector
4421 Ridge St., Chevy Chase, MD
Egla Morales Blouin
1727 Great Falls Street
John Philip Sousa
636 G St SE, Washington, DC
Philander Chase Johnson
1020 Massachusetts Ave. NE
David Brinkley
111 E. Melrose St.
Joseph Alsop
2720 Dumbarton St. NW
William W. Warner
2243 47th St. NW
Anne Truitt
3506 35th St. NW
Louise Bogan
1207 35th St NW
Edith Brown Mirick
3314 Newark St NW, Washington, DC, USA
Edith Brown Mirick
1638 R Street Northwest, Washington, DC, USA
John Hay
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Howard Nemerov
5425 39th St NW, Washington DC
Elinor Wylie
1707 N St. NW, Washington, DC
Elinor Wylie
2153 Florida Ave. NW
Barbara Raskin
1820 Wyoming Ave. NW
Lee Lally
4110 Emery Pl. NW
Owen Meredith
1525 H St. NW
Nora Ephron
2853 Ontario Rd. NW
Randall Jarrell
3916 Jenifer St. NW
Latest from Twitter
A Twitter List by TwitterDevAuthor Birthdays
in November
O.O. Howard (November 8, 1830)
Owen Meredith (November 8, 1831)
Francis Davis Millet (November 3, 1848)
John Philip Sousa (November 6, 1854)
Mabel Loomis Todd (November 10, 1856)
Charles Melville Pepper (November 11, 1859)
John Claggett Proctor (November 15, 1867)
Leonora Speyer (November 7, 1872)
Cissy Patterson (November 7, 1881)
Edith Brown Mirick (November 16, 1883)
Myrtle Cheney Murdock (November 28, 1886)
Willis Richardson (November 5, 1889)
Laurence Stallings (November 25, 1894)
Victor R. Daly (November 22, 1895)
Walter Karig (November 13, 1898)
Allen Tate (November 19, 1899)
Arthur P. Davis (November 21, 1904)
Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. (November 29, 1908)
James Reston (November 3, 1909)
Owen Dodson (November 28, 1914)
Daoma Winston (November 3, 1922)
Carlos Fuentes (November 11, 1928)
Ellis L. Yochelson (November 14, 1928)
R.W. Apple (November 20, 1934)
Jean C. Bower (November 25, 1935)
Liam Rector (November 21, 1949)
Monica Hand (November 24, 1953)
Yoonmee Chang (November 2, 1970)