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A native of Iceland, storyteller and teacher Solveig Eggerz brings us her latest novel, “Sweet Potato”

When: Sunday, November 15, 2026 from 12-3pm

Where: 208 Queen Street, Alexandria, Virginia 22314

The agenda for our brunch event:

Noon: Meet, greet, and order food and drinks from Elaine’s award-winning menu
1 pm: Our 45-minute interview begins, followed by a 15-minute Q&A with the audience to be produced on our popular podcast and video series
2pm: Guests talk with the author, buy her books, and get them signed!

Meet the Author: A storyteller, a teacher, and a writer, Solveig Eggerz has told folk and fairy tales in Alexandria, VA, schools, in DC’s homeless shelters, and in Northern Virginia’s detention centers.

Her writing students have ranged from firefighters at Reagan National Airport to Central Intelligence Agency staff, to civilian and military personnel at the Department of Defense. Currently she teaches personal stories and memoir at the Writer’s Center in Bethesda, MD and in Northern Virginia jails.

She has written for newspapers such as Roll Call, Alexandria Gazette-Packet, and The Washington Daily News. Her essays and stories have appeared in The Delmarva Review, Palo Alto Review, The Christian Century, Midstream: A Monthly Jewish Review, and The Northern Virginia Review.

Having grown up in four countries, she speaks three languages and struggles with Italian. In attaining her PhD from Catholic University in Comparative Literature, she focused on medieval anti-feminist satire.

About her newest novel: Sweet Potato is a searching, darkly funny novel about inheritance, family secrets, and the restless need to know one’s beginnings.

Lorenza is a sharp, restless teenager in Virginia who has grown up feeling both loved and unsettled in her adoptive family. After a rattlesnake bite and a strange, vivid hospital vision of a woman she believes may be her birth mother, Lorenza becomes consumed by the need to uncover where she came from.

At once fierce, funny, and aching, Sweet Potato is a coming-of-age story about a girl determined to claim her own identity while discovering that the people who raise us and the people we long for can shape us in equally powerful ways.

Click here to learn more about Solveig and Sweet Potato: SolveigEggerz.com

Click here to read the first chapter of the book.

About our Elaine’s Literary Salon Host, Jeffrey James Higgins: A retired supervisory special agent who writes thrillers, short stories, creative nonfiction, and essays, Jeff has wrestled a suicide bomber, fought the Taliban in combat, and chased terrorists across five continents. He received the Attorney General’s Award for Exceptional Heroism and the DEA Award of Valor. Jeffrey has been interviewed by CNN, National Geographic, and The New York Times. Learn more: jeffreyjameshiggings.com

Find more of Elaine’s Literary Salon events here. And check back for new episodes of Elaine’s Literary Salon on Inkandescent.tv and listen to all the podcasts on InkandescentRadio.com.

Elaine’s Literary Salon is located at Elaine’s Restaurant, 208 Queen Street, Alexandria VA

About Elaine’s Restaurant: A menu filled with delicious modern Mediterranean cuisine selections is sure to please everyone in your party. The dishes are inspired by exquisite food from Alexandria, Egypt — a blend of Middle Eastern and French, Greek, and Italian influences. Elaine’s is named for the owner’s grandmother and is based on a promise she made at the age of 12, growing up in Cairo. “I promised my grandma I would someday own a restaurant and name it after her,” shares Cynthia, who is also an author. She and her husband, bestselling thriller novelist Jeffrey James Higgins, are proud to share my family’s recipes with new friends and families in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.” Located in an 1880s building, it was the former home of the beloved bistro Bilbo Baggins for 38 years. The newly renovated restaurant is located in the heart of Old Town’s Historic District within sight of the Potomac River and Founders Park, just a few blocks from The Torpedo Factory Art Center, and Old Town Alexandria Waterfront. Make a reservation today: elaines-restaurant.com.

Elaine's Writers Club

THIS WEEK AT ELAINE’S

READERS + WRITERS: Policy expert and political operative Matthew Lavoie brings us his debut thriller novel, Main Street Fringe,” on Sept. 2, 6-9pm.

Here’s the story: After a government vendetta destroys his career, a police detective goes undercover, as himself, infiltrating a world of paranoia and radicalization — with no protection for the ones he loves most.

ESPIONAGE + POLITICS is the topic for our brunch interview on Sunday, Sept. 6: Wolf Bahren is the pen name used by the writer Kristi Bahrenburg Janzen for her fiction. The Secessionist’s Wife is her third thriller.

A lover of spy stories since childhood, she published her first novel, Agents of Suzharia, in 2016, and then Source of Deceit in 2020. She teaches in the University Writing Program at GW, and began her writing career as a financial news journalist for AP-Dow Jones in New York, Germany, and Washington, DC.

ELAINE’S WELCOMES ART IN EVERY SPACE

Alexandria Mayor Alyia Gaskins’ Project brings us this beautiful painting by artist Alfa Tate O’Neill. Read all about it!

ELAINE’S LITERARY SALON IS IN THE NEWS

This week in The Zebra: J.D. Barker Shares Writing Secrets For A Bestseller at Elaine’s Literary Salon, by reporter Lisa-Helene Lawson

Many thanks to reporter Shirley Ruhe for her insightful article about Jeff Higgins’ celebrated career that took him from awarded DEA agent to besellling thriller novelist and restauranteur. She also shined a light on InkandescentKids.com, the project to teach kids to think critically like a reporter — founded by Elaine’s PR director, Hope Katz Gibbs. Check it out in the August 5 issue of the Alexandria Gazette Packet