DIXON, DESCENDING | A Busboys and Poets Books Presentation
Date and Time
Jul 16, 2024 6:00 pm
Location
Takoma
235 Carroll St NW, Washington, District of Columbia, 20012
Jul 16, 2024 6:00 pm
Takoma
Dixon was once an Olympic-level runner. But he missed the team by two-tenths of a second, and ever since, he hasn’t allowed a goal to consume him. But when his charming older brother, Nate, suggests that they attempt to be the first Black American men to summit Mount Everest, Dixon can’t refuse. Dixon interrupts his orderly life as a school psychologist, leaving behind disapproving friends, family, and one particularly fragile student, Marcus. Once on the mountain, met with extreme conditions, Dixon’s world is upended. Dixon returns home and finds that things have shifted: for him and for the students he left behind when he chose Mt. Everest. Ultimately, Dixon must confront the truth of what happened on the mountain and come to terms with who can and cannot be saved.
DIXON, DESCENDING offers us a captivating, shattering portrait of the ways we’re reshaped by our decisions—and what it takes to angle ourselves, once again, toward hope.
Karen Outen is joining Andy Shallal on the Busboys stage to discuss DIXON, DESCENDING and mountaineering. Copies of the book will be available for purchase during and after the event, and Outen will be signing following the program.
This event is free and open to all. Our program begins at 6:00 pm, and will be followed by an audience Q&A. Copies of DIXON, DESCENDING will be available for purchase before and after the event. Please note that this event is IN PERSON and will NOT be livestreamed.
We ask that guests RSVP in order to receive direct updates about the event from Busboys and Poets Books.
Karen Outen’s fiction has appeared in Glimmer Train, The North American Review, Essence, and elsewhere. She is a 2018 recipient of the Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers Award and has been a fellow at both the Institute for the Humanities at the University of Michigan and the Pew Fellowships in the Arts. She received an MFA from the University of Michigan. She lives in Bowie, Maryland.
Andy Shallal is an artist, social entrepreneur and founder/CEO of Busboys and Poets, a restaurant group in the Washington Metropolitan area where art, culture and politics intentionally collide over mindfully sourced food, drinks, books and event programming. With eight locations in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia, Busboys and Poets has become a home for progressives, artists, creatives and intellectuals, including such notables as Harry Belafonte, Danny Glover, Alice Walker, Angela Davis and the late Howard Zinn. As a leader in the sustainable food movement, Busboys has been recognized locally and nationally for its innovative, conscious cuisine. Under Shallal’s leadership, Busboys has received numerous awards including the Mayor’s Arts Award, Employer of the Year from the Employment Justice Center and the Mayor’s Environmental Award.
