June 5 2025
Ep10: Today at Elaine’s Literary Salon, you’ll be amazed by the work of journalist and photographer Glenn Cook, author of “Keep Your Distance: Walking Through the First Year of COVID”
This week at Elaine’s Literary Salon we meet Glenn Cook, an Alexandria, VA-based writer and photojournalist whose work has appeared in national magazines and in newspapers across the U.S. He talks today with our show host Jefferey James Higgins about his book, Keep Your Distance: Walking Through the First Year of COVID.
A photography book that examines events in four cities — Alexandria and Richmond, Va., Washington, D.C., and New York City — the photojournalist walked almost 4,000 miles from March 2020 to March 2021, shooting images of day-to-day life, protests and their aftermath during this historic and tumultuous period in U.S. history.
Buy the book: A limited number of signed hardback copies of the book are available from the author here. Paperback editions can be ordered from Amazon here.
Coming soon: Glenn is revisiting the fifth anniversary of COVID through a series of diary entries that feature writing and photos not included in Keep Your Distance. Those can be found in the “Social Distancing Diary” section of his Substack website: glenncook.substack.com.
About the author: A Texas native whose first job as a reporter started nine days after his high school graduation, Cook attributes his lasting need and desire to chronicle events to his father, a visual artist and history teacher, and his grandmother, who kept a daily diary for almost 70 years. He worked in newspapers for 13 years, school communications for five, and as the editor of an association magazine for 12 before striking out as a freelance writer and photographer in 2013. Glenn’s Substack website, “Our Reality Show,” features writing and photography on a wide variety of topics, including music, education, culture, the performing arts, and parenting. He and his wife, Jill, have four adult children and two grandchildren.
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Elaine’s Literary Salon
About Elaine’s: Elaine’s modern Mediterranean cuisine is based on exquisite food found in Alexandria, Egypt. The unique style is best described as Middle Eastern with French, Greek, and Italian influences. Elaine’s is located at 208 Queen Street, Alexandria, Virginia 22314. The 1880 building, the previous home of Bilbo Baggins for 38 years, has been completely renovated with a new look and feel. The restaurant is located in the heart of Old Town’s Historic District within sight of the Potomac River. Founders Park, The Torpedo Factory Art Center, and Old Town Alexandria Waterfront are only blocks away. Elaine’s is named after the owner’s grandmother. When the owner was twelve years old in Cairo, Egypt, she promised her grandmother that she would someday own a restaurant and name it after her. The owner proudly shares her family’s recipes with the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Make a reservation today: elaines-restaurant.com.
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