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
Triloki Nath Kaul
Born in 1913 in Baramulla, Kashmir, and educated at the universities of Punjab, Allahabad and King’s College London, Triloki Nath Kaul joined the Indian Civil Service in 1939 and later the Indian Foreign Service in 1947. He served as Indian Ambassador to the Soviet Union, U.S., and Iran, as well as being Deputy High Commissioner and acting High Commissioner to the UK, and Foreign Secretary to the Indian Ministry of External Affairs. Kaul was also the Vice-Chairman of the Indian unit of the UNESCO and Chairman of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations. Besides his diplomatic career, he lectured widely on international peace and security issues at various universities all over the world.
Kaul was the author of Recollections and Reflections(1978), Life in a Himalayan Hamlet (1982), My Years through Raj and Swaraj (1993), and A Diplomat’s Diary (1947-1999 and 2000). He lived in DC from 1973 to 1976 while serving as Indian Ambassador to the United States.
Just some of our many homes...
Emily Hawthorn
1516 Q Street Northwest, Washington, DC, USA
Emily Hawthorn
1231 W Street Northwest, Washington, DC, USA
Conrad Aiken
323 Second Street SE, Washington DC
Ellen Tarr O’Connor Calder
1015 O St. NW, Washington DC
Josiah Henson
11420 Old Georgetown Rd.
Daoma Winston
3531 Yuma St. NW
Clare Booth Luce
2660 Woodley Rd. NW
Clare Booth Luce
2639 I St. NW, Washington DC
Gabrielle Edgcomb
2039 New Hampshire Ave. NW
Edwin Zimmerman
1824 Phelps Place Northwest, Washington, DC, USA
Myrtle Cheney Murdock
110 Maryland Ave. NE
Myrtle Cheney Murdock
4721 Colorado Ave NW
Hugo Black
212 Quaker Lane N.
Don Marquis
1224 13th St. NW
Catherine Marshall
3100 Cathedral Ave NW
Jeane L. Dixon
1312 19th St. NW, Washington DC
Lee Lally
4110 Emery Pl. NW
John Phillips
3 East Oxford Ave.
John Phillips
917 Potomac Ave., Alexandria, VA
Julia Magruder
1906 Calvert St. NW
Helen Hayes
1909 8th St NW
Helen Hayes
1418 W St NW,, Washington DC
Helen Hayes
1436 W St., NW, Washington DC
Philander Chase Johnson
1020 Massachusetts Ave. NE
Eugene McCarthy
7902 Custer Rd.
Letitia Woods Brown
4311 18th St. NW
Thomas Law
1252 6th St. SW
Paul Laurence Dunbar
1934 4th St. NW, Washington DC
Latest from Twitter
A Twitter List by TwitterDevAuthor Birthdays
in February
Emma Willard (February 23, 1787)
Henry Lytton Bulwer (February 13, 1801)
Harriet Ann Jacobs (February 11, 1813)
Frederick Douglass (February 1818)
Ellen Tarr O’Connor Calder (February 21, 1830)
Margaret Louisa Sullivan Burke (February 1836)
Henry Adams (February 16, 1838)
Jean Jules Jusserand (February 18, 1855)
Cecil Arthur Spring-Rice (February 27, 1859)
Philander Chase Johnson (February 6, 1866)
Zitkala-Sa (February 22, 1876)
Millicent Todd Bingham (February 5, 1880)
Alice Roosevelt Longworth (February 13, 1884)
Sinclair Lewis (February 7, 1885)
Mariano Brull (February 24, 1891)
Lillian Rogers Parks (February 1, 1897)
Luis Muñoz Marín (February 18, 1898)
Langston Hughes (February 1, 1902)
Una Marson (February 6, 1905)
St. Clair McKelway (February 13, 1905)
Dee Brown (February 28, 1908)
Selden Rodman (February 19, 1909)
Stephen Spender (February 28, 1909)
Elizabeth Bishop (February 8, 1911)
Herman Taube (February 2, 1918)
Howard Nemerov (February 29, 1920)
Betty Friedan (February 4, 1921)
Margaret Truman (February 17, 1924)
Roger Mudd (February 9, 1928)
Toni Morrison (February 18, 1931)
Edward Moore “Ted” Kennedy (February 22, 1932)
Roland Flint (February 27, 1934)
Martin Galvin (February 21, 1937)
Siv Cedering Fox (February 5, 1939)
Donald Britton (February 16, 1951)