In the Writers’ Studio: Writing Lessons from Alan Cheuse
Thursday, December 3, 2026 6:30 PM to 9:00 PM EST
Arts Club of Washington, 2017 I St NW
The Cheuse Center and the Arts Club of Washington have been bringing you evenings in celebration of the craft of writing and the art of living.
On December 3, 2026, the series will be close with writers Alan's students, Lina Patton and Brittany Kerfoot in conversation with Elena Delbanco and Nicholas Delbanco. Focusing on 10 writing lessons from Alan Cheuse the evening will conclude the Center's 10th Year Anniversary celebrations. Alongside Lina and Brittany, Nick and Elena will talk about their life-long association with the writer and teacher in whose honor the Alan Cheuse Center is named.
This fireside chat will include a discussion, and audience participation. Please RSVP for free.
About the Series:
This series is in celebration of the tenth year anniversary of the Cheuse Center. We have created an opportunity for audiences to celebrate and contemplate their own purpose and joy, through special pairings with esteemed writers, celebrating book critic and teacher Alan Cheuse. Throughout his teaching career Cheuse held small dinner workshops and talked about life and craft with students and colleagues. His students Lina Patton and Brittany Kerfoot found them so inspiring, they decided to bring the format to the Arts Club, as fireside chats, celebrating their beloved teacher, Alan Cheuse as friend, writer, critic, and teacher.
About the writers:
Nicholas Delbanco is the author of more than thirty books of fiction and non-fiction. His most recent publications are REPRISE: The Colllected Stories of Nicholas Delbanco (Dalkey Archive Press, 2025), and STILL LIFE AT EIGHTY: A Memoir (Mandel Vilar Press, 2024). Next spring he will publish AFTERWORD, a reminiscence of the nine years he Directed the Bennington Writing Workshops in Vermont--among whose faculty was Alan Cheuse. The closest of colleagues from 1971 until Alan's death, the two men collaborated on a posthumously published volume of uncollected prose from Bernard Malamud, titled TALKING HORSE (Columbia University Press, 1996) , and a three-volume textbook titled LITERATURE: CRAFT & VOICE (McGraw-Hill, 2010) and released thereafter in a single volume of the same name.
Elena Delbanco, Nicholas's wife and Alan's great friend, taught for 27 years at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan. She published a novel, THE SILVER SWAN (Other Press, 2015.) Of that novel, Cheuse wrote "Magnificent...A gorgeous debut that anyone who loves life and art will be thrilled to read."
Lina Patton is a writer, illustrator, and teacher. Originally from Maine, she moved to Minnesota at thirteen, trading the ocean for 10,000 lakes. She holds a BA from Elon University and an MFA from George Mason University. Her work has appeared in ELLE, The Cut, Narrative Magazine, and Driftwood Press, among others. After seven years living abroad, she and her husband currently reside in Washington, DC, where she co-produces the storytelling series Generation Women and teaches at George Washington University. The Lake Club is her first novel.
Brittany Kerfoot received a BA in English and an MFA in Creative Writing from George Mason University. She is a former student of Alan Cheuse and shares his love of voracious reading and, thanks largely to his encouragement during her time in graduate school, a dedicated fiction writer. Brittany is currently the co-producer and host of Generation Women DC, a multigenerational storytelling series in the District, and a writing and literature instructor for Politics and Prose Bookstore. She is at work on her first novel.
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Previous events in this series included:
In the Writers’ Studio: on friendship with former Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky & William Miller
In the Writers’ Studio: the Critic. Featuring Ron Charles, Michael Dirda, Sean Murphy, Holly Smith
