Carla Cohen, Owner of Washington Bookstore, Dies at 74

[many a good man]

Source: NY Times

Carla Cohen, whose independent bookstore, Politics and Prose, sat at the nexus of Washington’s literary and political scenes and became a requisite stop for authors passing through town, died Monday at her home in Washington. She was 74.

An avid reader and lover of fiction, Mrs. Cohen founded her shop in 1984 in a small storefront on the Maryland-Washington border. She called it Politics and Prose because, she said, she wanted “a Washington-sounding name” that was not pretentious.

At first it was just Mrs. Cohen and her co-owner, Barbara Meade, along with a part-time employee, but the store was a success and expanded to a larger space across the street in 1989.

Politics and Prose became a cornerstone of the community, a humming salon for the wonky and the literary alike and a neighborhood institution for those looking for a cup of coffee, a comfortable chair or just a good book recommendation — often courtesy of Mrs. Cohen herself.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/12/books/12cohen.html

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Politics & Prose is a national treasure - thanks to Carla and Barbara. RIP, Carla!

[Davis_X_Machina]

1. There wouldn't...

...be any CSPAN on the weekends without her shop.

[elleng]

2. Thanks for this. ;-(

Cross-post in DC/MD fora?

[grasswire]

3. what's her brother's name?

I had a very lame date with him once many years ago.

[elleng]

4. Mark or Michael Furstenberg

'Besides her son, Aaron, of New York, and her brother Mark, of Washington, Mrs. Cohen is survived by her husband of 52 years, David Cohen; a daughter, Eve Cohen of San Francisco; her mother, Edith Furstenberg of Baltimore; two other brothers, Michael Furstenberg of Boston and Frank Furstenberg of Philadelphia; two sisters, Anne and Ellen Furstenberg, both of Philadelphia; and two grandchildren.'

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/12/books/12cohen.html?_r=1

[FarPoint]

5. Bless her soul....

I got my email this AM.....Another lost treasure.

[msanthrope]

6. I saw Salman Rushdie there.

Very impromptu. He had just come from the Diane Rheim show. Read something that later became the Moors Last Sigh.

[elleng]

9. He's coming up again. Scroll down.

http://www.politics-prose.com/

[EFerrari]

7. Oh, no.

Sad news.

[elleng]

8. More, fyi:

http://www.politics-prose.com/