PORTRAYING AMERICA
1776-2026
SATURDAY, MARCH 14, 2026
Portraying America 1776 - 2026, a one-day book festival celebrating our nation’s rich history and literary achievements.
Sponsored by Virginia Humanities and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church Alexandria, the event will gather authors and readers to explore the history, art, architecture and literature that are part of the American experience.
Virginia Humanities has delivered public Humanities programs throughout the State for more than 50 years and has presented the Virginia Festival of the Book in Charlottesville for more than 30 years. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church was founded more than 200 years ago.
Designed by architect Benjamin Latrobe, who also worked on the U.S. Capitol, the White House porticos and St. John’s Lafayette Square, St. Paul’s was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. St. Paul’s has a tradition of hosting various music, lecture, art, garden and community events.
Program information and other details of the book festival will be announced in late 2025.
A collaboration of
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church Alexandria and
Virginia Humanities
St. Paul’s is very excited to announce the Alexandria Festival of the Book, a collaboration with Virginia Humanities, the state humanities council headquartered in Charlottesville.
Festival
Alexandria
of the
Book
The first event will take place on September 27 at 7pm and will feature author Bruce Holsinger. Mr. Holsinger is the author of five novels including Culpability, The Displacements, and The Gifted School, as well as many works of nonfiction. His books have been recognized with the Colorado Book Award, the John Hurt Fisher Prize, the Philip Brett Award, the John Nicholas Brown Prize, the Modern Language Association's Prize for a First Book, and others. A Guggenheim Fellow and Fellow of the Medieval Academy of America, he teaches in the Department of English at the University of Virginia and serves as editor of the quarterly journal New Literary History.
Mr. Holsinger will discuss his most recent novel, Culpability, which is widely acclaimed and was chosen as the July Oprah Winfrey Book Club selection. Culpability is described as a “family drama about moral responsibility in the age of artificial intelligence.”
The main event, Portraying America: 1776 to 2026, will be Saturday, March 14. This day-long festival in observance of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and of the American experience will celebrate our nation’s rich history and literary achievements. Authors will explore both the ideas of the founding fathers and the nation as seen through art, architecture, film and literature.
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