Clifford Thompson — Let Us Go Then, You and I - with David Nicholson

Clifford Thompson discusses his novel *Let Us Go Then, You and I* in conversation with David Nicholson. The story follows Theo Brown, who attends the funeral of his best friend, Charles Maddox, and hears accounts of a dazzling, complicated life he is not sure he truly understood. Seeking answers about Charles, supporting Charles’s grieving sister, and reckoning with his own uneventful thirty-seven years, Theo travels from Washington, D.C., to New York to investigate his friend’s world. Blending psychological realism with the elements of a detective story, the novel considers what it means to live well.

Thompson is also the author of *What It Is: Race, Family, and One Thinking Black Man’s Blues* and *Jazz June: A Self-Portrait in Essays*. His writing has appeared in *Best American Essays* and the *Pushcart Prize Anthology*, and he received a Whiting Writers’ Award for nonfiction. He lives in Brooklyn.

Nicholson, Thompson’s conversation partner, is a former *Washington Post Book World* editor and reviewer and the author of *Flying Home: Seven Stories of the Secret City*. His work has received praise from *The New York Times* and *The Los Angeles Times*, and *Flying Home* was named by *Publishers Weekly* as one of seven essential Washington, D.C., books not focused on politics. Nicholson has worked as a reporter in several U.S. cities and lives in Vienna, Virginia, with his wife and son.

When: Monday, October 5, 2026

Showtime: 7:00 p.m.

Tickets: Free

Seating: First come, first served.

Venue: Politics and Prose at 5015 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008

Format: Clifford Thompson in conversation with David Nicholson.

Featured book: *Let Us Go Then, You and I* by Clifford Thompson, a paperback available for preorder for $21.99. Its publication date is October 5, 2026.

Accessibility: To request accommodations or ask about accessibility, email events@politics-prose.com, ideally at least one week before the event. Requests will be accommodated whenever possible up to the event time.