Conversion Stories from Fiction and Life: Featuring Linda Chavez and Doritt Carroll
Thursday, November 6, 2025 6:30 PM EST
The Arts Club, 2017 I St. NW, Washington
On November 6, 2025, the Cheuse Center returns to the Arts Club at 2017 I St. NW, Washington DC.
Linda Chavez's ‘The Silver Candlesticks’ is the story of a young woman who learns her family is Jewish just as the Spanish Inquisition grips Sevilla. A new Inquisitor, Padre Ignacio Dominguez, has come to town to ferret out the secret Jews who remain in Spain one hundred years after the Edict of Expulsion forced most to leave or convert. Doritt Carroll’s chapbook, ‘The Convert’, confronts life's profound questions and contradictions with resolute candor. Her poems explore intimate landscapes of marriage, motherhood, childhood, and faith - tracing how we are shaped by social, familial, and religious expectations. The writers will be in conversation with Stewart Moss, former Director of the Writers Center and author of ‘Arrivals and Departures’.
At the heart of the Cheuse Center is writing teacher Alan Cheuse:
Live as much as you can, read as much as you can, and write as much as you can
Alan Cheuse’s hope was for American writers to step out into the world, and to bring the world to America through books. This is one of the main pillars of the Cheuse Center. His former student, Linda Chavez, worked with him on her new novel: The Silver Candlesticks. Linda will be joined by Doritt Carrol. The conversation will be moderated by Stewart Moss.
Arrivals: Doors Open at 6:00; arrive by 6:30 to enjoy pre reading drinks and book sales
Reading: 7pm: Conversation between authors moderated by Cheuse Board Member, Stewart Moss
Food and wine reception & book signing: 8pm
Bookseller & Online sale link: Loyalty Books. Buy the book in advance at this link: https://loyaltybookstores.com/book/9798888454978 and use the discount code: BKCB10 at checkout.
FEATURING:
LINDA CHAVEZ, THE SILVER CANDLESTICKS
Linda Chavez served as director of public liaison in the Reagan White House and as staff director of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. She served on the Sub-commission on Human Rights of the U.N. Human Rights Commission from 1992-1996. She is the author of multiple books, including the memoir An Unlikely Conservative, and numerous articles on public policy, which have appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and Los Angeles Times, among others. Chavez wrote a weekly syndicated column on politics and public policy from 1987-2017. She earned a B.A. from the University of Colorado in 1970 and an M.F.A. from George Mason University in 2012. Her short stories have appeared in Commentary magazine, Red Rock Review and Persimmon Tree. The Secret Candlesticks is her first novel.
The Silver Candlesticks is the story of a young woman who learns her family is Jewish just as the Spanish Inquisition grips Sevilla. A new Inquisitor, Padre Ignacio Dominguez, has come to town to ferret out the secret Jews who remain in Spain one hundred years after the Edict of Expulsion forced most to leave or convert. Guiomar’s mother Benita is dying when she reveals the family’s secret to her daughter, giving her a pair of Sabbath candlesticks that have been in the family for generations. The news is unwelcome, not just because of the inherent danger, but because it means Guiomar will not be allowed to marry José Marcos Herrera, a man as feckless as he is handsome. Instead, her parents have arranged for her to marry into an Old Catholic family they hope will protect her from the Inquisition—but Guiomar does not love Francisco Armijo, a candlemaker who is beneath her status. When Francisco leaves on a mission to Mejico after the birth of their second child, Guiomar finds herself friendless and unprotected from the growing suspicions of Padre Dominguez. She leans on her servant Esperanza and her godfather Don Enrique Gomez as the Inquisitor tightens his hold. At the heart of the novel is a story of budding faith in the shadow of a terrible persecution. It is also a story of love and friendship—Guiomar’s growing love for Francisco and her friendship for Esperanza, a woman whose own tragedies and strength in overcoming them guide Guiomar.
FEATURING:
DORITT CARROLL'S THE CONVERT
Doritt Carroll’s chapbook, The Convert, confronts life's profound questions and contradictions with resolute candor. Her poems explore intimate landscapes of marriage, motherhood, childhood, and faith - tracing how we are shaped by social, familial, and religious expectations.
With radiant imagery and sly wit, Carroll takes the reader on a journey navigating the inherent tensions of love, loss, belief, and the search for meaning. As the imminent death of a mother dredges up life's pivotal moments and transitions, Carroll does not shy away from examining the deepest aspects of the self.
Blending emotional resonance with meticulous craft, The Convert conjures up a powerful voice that casts light on the most beautiful and disquieting aspects of what it means to be human. Carroll's poems linger with us, urging us to confront the world and ourselves in a way that is simultaneously quotidian and wonderous.
MODERATOR:
STEWART MOSS, AUTHOR OF ARRIVALS AND DEPARTURES
Stewart Moss is the author of ‘For Those Whose Lives Have Seen Themselves’, and ‘Arrivals and Departures’. He has also been featured in “The Poet and the Poem” podcasts at The Library of Congress. He was educated at Union College (NY) and Harvard University.
Moss was a former Executive Director of The Writer’s Center in Bethesda, Maryland, one of the largest literary centers in the USA, Stewart Moss helped establish creative writing programs for adult immigrants and members of the military being treated for neurological and psychological trauma. Prior to that, he worked as an educator and fundraiser in educational institutions around the country. He has taught literature and creative writing in both the USA and abroad; Scotland, Greece, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, and Nepal are among the countries in which he has lived and worked. Moss has essays included in Retire the Colors: Veterans & Civilians on Iraq & Afghanistan, ed. Dario DiBattista (Hudson Whitman/Excelsior College Press, 2016) and Plume Literary Journal, and poetry in Plume, Goss183, and Origins Literary Review. A native of Boston, MA he resides in Annapolis, MD.
