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.

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

Blanca Varela

Blanca Varela is one of the best-known women poets of Peru. She published nine books of poems, including Ese puerto existe (1959), Luz de día (1963), Camino a Babel (1986), and El falso teclado (2001). In 2001, she was awarded the prestigious Premio Octavio Paz. While living in DC, from 1957 to 1960, Varela wrote journalism and did translations.

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Just some of our many homes...

Fletcher Knebel

4832 Langdrum Lane, Chevy Chase, MD, USA

Fletcher Knebel

1528 Wiscasset Road, Bethesda, MD, USA

Margaret Louisa Sullivan Burke

1602 15th St NW, Washington, DC, USA

Walter Kerr

1003 Varnum St. NE

Hugh J. Parry

4814 Falstone Ave.

Mery Berri Chapman Hansbrough

1100 Alabama Ave SE, Washington, DC, USA

Mildred Cram

1227 S St. NW, Washington DC

Stephen Spender

323 Second Street SE, Washington DC

Josiah Henson

11420 Old Georgetown Rd.

Anna Julia Cooper

201 T Street NW, Washington DC

Mary Stone Hanley

304 Aspen St NW, Washington, DC, USA

Yoonmee Chang

5004 Fulton St NW, Washington, DC, USA

L. Ron Hubbard

1812 19th St NW, Washington DC

Cecilio J. Carneiro

2015 Belmont Street NW

Lee Lally

4110 Emery Pl. NW

Edith Brown Mirick

3314 Newark St NW, Washington, DC, USA

Edith Brown Mirick

1638 R Street Northwest, Washington, DC, USA

Stanley Kunitz

19 2nd St. NE, Washington DC

Thomas Nelson Page

1759 R St. NW, Washington DC

Barbara F. Lefcowitz

4989 Battery Lane, Bethesda, MD, USA

Mary P. Burrill

1716 17th St. NW

Mary P. Burrill

1256 Kearney St. NE

Mary P. Burrill

1758 T St. NW, Washington DC

John Philip Sousa

636 G St SE, Washington, DC

Cyrus Adler

1627 R St NW, Washington DC

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Author Birthdays
in August

Francis Scott Key (August 1, 1779)
Charlotte Forten Grimké (August 17, 1837)
Charles Warren Stoddard (August 7, 1843)
Anna Julia Cooper (August 10, 1858)
Florence Bailey (August 8, 1863)
Edith Hamilton (August 12, 1867)
Mabel Cornish Bond (August 24, 1867)
Paul Claudel (August 6, 1868)
Herbert Hoover (August 10, 1874)
Mary Roberts Rinehart (August 12, 1876)
Mary P. Burrill (August 1, 1881)
Evalyn Walsh McLean (August 1, 1886)
Zenobia Camprubí Aymar (August 31, 1887)
Conrad Aiken (August 5, 1889)
Maria Martins (August 7, 1894)
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (August 8, 1896)
Louise Bogan (August 11, 1897)
Ezra Taft Benson (August 4, 1899)
Courtland Darke Baker (August 23, 1899)
Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit (August 18, 1900)
Myrna Loy (August 2, 1905)
Julia Child (August 15, 1912)
Edward Weismiller (August 3, 1915)
James Tiptree, Jr. (August 24, 1915)
Ben Bradlee (August 26, 1921)
Edwin Palmer Hoyt (August 5, 1923)
Russell Baker (August 14, 1925)
Blanca Varela (August 10, 1926)
Rod Jellema (August 11, 1927)
Ann McLaughlin (August 29, 1928)
Vasily P. Aksyonov (August 20, 1932)
Vernon Jordan (August 15, 1935)
John Phillips (August 30, 1935)
Hugo Black (August 19, 1937)
John Elsberg (August 4, 1945)
Nan Fry (August 6, 1945)
Hilary Tham (August 20, 1946)
Cecilia Cassidy (August 20, 1948)
Tim Dlugos (August 5, 1950)
Chasen Gaver (August 7, 1953)