A Seat at the Table: The Making of Busboys and Poets

A Seat at the Table is the story of the founding of Busboys and Poets, a Washington, D.C.–based restaurant that has become a celebrated hub for political activism. Named in honor of Langston Hughes, who worked as a busboy while writing poetry, the restaurant is the creation of Andy Shallal, an Iraqi American restaurateur, artist, and activist.

In this fast-paced, personal, and often humorous story, we follow Andy from his teenage years on, helping out in his family’s pizza business, changin...