Susan Coll — Word Salad - with Tope Folarin — at Conn Ave
Susan Coll presents *Word Salad*, her comic novel about Matilda, a former economics major whose preference for logic and order is tested when she returns to Washington, D.C., to care for her ill mother and takes a job at her neighborhood bookstore. There, she is paired with Sage, an eccentric and administratively inept new employee whose tiny, constantly urinating dog adds to the disorder. As Matilda reconnects with her neglected creative side, she and Sage are assigned to organize an appearance by the controversial public intellectual Dr. Jordan Rutabaga.
The bookstore event becomes increasingly chaotic as Rutabaga’s alleged misconduct, a lawsuit, an approaching snowstorm, and the complicated history between him and Sage come to light. Coll’s novel is described as a witty, book-centered comedy of manners about a life falling apart before it can come together again.
Coll will discuss the book with Tope Folarin, a Nigerian-American writer based in Washington, D.C. Folarin is director of the Institute for Policy Studies and the Lannan Visiting Lecturer in Creative Writing at Georgetown University. His honors include the Caine Prize for African Writing, the Whiting Award for Fiction, and a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship. He also serves on the boards of the Avalon Theater and the PEN/Faulkner Foundation, sits on Pathfinder’s President’s Council, and is slated to become the inaugural critic-at-large for *The Georgia Review* in 2025.
When: Tuesday, September 15, 2026
Showtime: 7:00 p.m.
Venue: Politics and Prose at 5015 Connecticut Avenue NW, 5015 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC 20008
Format: In-person event with a livestream option listed on the event page.
Tickets: Free admission; seating is first come, first served.
Lineup: Susan Coll in conversation with Tope Folarin
Book: *Word Salad* is available for preorder as an $18.99 paperback, with a publication date of September 15, 2026. ISBN 9781400346684.
Accessibility: To request accommodations or ask about accessibility, email events@politics-prose.com, ideally at least one week before the event. The venue will make efforts to accommodate requests made closer to the event as well.
Run time: Not specified.
Ages: Not specified.