Some evenings at Dolan are about more than dinner. On Monday, June 28, 2021, from 6 to 9 pm, Dolan Uyghur Restaurant hosted a community book launch event for The Perfect Police State by Geoffrey Cain in our Cleveland Park dining room. Cain is an American journalist, author and writer specializing in Asia-based reporting. His book, The Perfect Police State, "investigates how a region of China became the site of a nightmare social experiment — the definitive police state — and the global technology giants that made it possible. Using the haunting story of one young woman's attempt to escape the vicious technological dystopia, his own reporting from Xinjiang, and extensive firsthand testimony from exiles, Geoffrey Cain reveals the extraordinary intrusiveness and power of the tech surveillance giants and the chilling implications for all our futures."
Geoffrey Cain connected with Dolan to host the book launch because of the restaurant's authentic Uyghur atmosphere. Together, Dolan and Geoffrey Cain worked to create a meaningful, memorable event for guests from the Washington, DC community. The launch featured poetry readings, a book talk and Q&A with Geoffrey Cain, live Uyghur music, and a delicious buffet of Uyghur cuisine from Dolan. Each attendee received their own hardcover copy of The Perfect Police State with the author's signature.
Our sidewalk tables carried an easel with the book's bright yellow cover that evening, and the photographs from inside show what we hoped for: a room of neighbors, students, writers and members of the Uyghur community talking across tables.
Through this event, Dolan was able to share Uyghur culture with the Washington, DC community and raise awareness about the treatment of the Uyghur people. We hope that every guest left with a deeper understanding of Uyghur culture and a conviction to end the genocide that the Uyghur people still face in Central Asia. That remains the purpose of every event we host — to let food do what headlines cannot.
If you would like to hold a reading, a talk or a cultural evening at any Dolan, our dining rooms range from 60 seats in Arlington to 154 in Falls Church, and our kitchen is happy to build a buffet around it. Plan an event with us.
From Dolan Uyghur Restaurant's account of its community outreach, first published July 23, 2022.
