Elizabeth Alexander — Signals Across Vast Distances: Essays and Tales - with Jonathan Capehart — at MLK Library
Elizabeth Alexander presents *Signals Across Vast Distances: Essays and Tales*, a collection of essays and personal stories about courage, connection, and the sustaining power of poetry, visual art, history, family, community, and love. The program explores Alexander’s reflections on visionary poets and artists, her experiences as a daughter, wife, widow, mother, and aspiring dancer, her appearance at President Barack Obama’s inauguration, and her time in the hospital with her college-age son.
Alexander also examines the history of racial injustice, including the unrealized 1831 effort to establish a Black college in New Haven, and considers how historical memory and memorials can help create a more genuine freedom for everyone. She will discuss the book with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jonathan Capehart.
When: Thursday, September 17, 2026
Showtime: 7:00 p.m.
Venue: Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, 901 G Street NW, Washington, DC 20001
Format: Elizabeth Alexander in conversation with Jonathan Capehart
Tickets: Price not available
Event status: The page identifies the program as partnered, ticketed, and offsite.
Featured author: Elizabeth Alexander is a prize-winning, New York Times bestselling author, poet, educator, scholar, and arts and humanities advocate. Her memoir, *The Light of the World*, was a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. She wrote and performed “Praise Song for the Day” at President Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration and serves as president of the Mellon Foundation, a major funder of arts, culture, and humanities programs. She lives and works in New York City.
Conversation partner: Jonathan Capehart is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, political analyst for PBS NewsHour, and co-host of the morning program *The Weekend* on MS NOW. He is also the author of the New York Times bestselling memoir *Yet Here I Am: Lessons from a Black Man’s Search for Home*. Capehart previously served as an associate editor and opinion writer at *The Washington Post*, deputy editorial page editor of the *New York Daily News*, and a member of that paper’s editorial board. He and his colleagues won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing for their campaign to save the Apollo Theater.
Accessibility: The DC Public Library’s Center for Accessibility provides customers with disabilities equal access to library resources and services. For assistance, contact DCPLaccess@dc.gov or 202-727-2142.
Related book: *Signals Across Vast Distances: Essays and Tales* by Elizabeth Alexander is available for preorder in hardcover for $26.99. It is scheduled for publication on September 15, 2026, and has ISBN 9781324118008.