Is Her­ring a for­age fish, a com­put­er pass­word, the finan­cial advi­sor to a Wash­ing­ton lit­er­ary non prof­it, or all of the above? And has a curse (in Yid­dish) been placed on the Exec­u­tive Direc­tor? 

The Literati, a mad­cap com­e­dy of man­ners fea­tur­ing clowns, a talk­ing chick­en, and a help­ing of bank fraud, aims to answer these ques­tions. Young Cle­mi leaves her posi­tion at an inde­pen­dent book­store and steps into her dream job only to find her­self in the bull’s‑eye of a finan­cial, legal, and exis­ten­tial calami­ty. The accounts have been over­drawn, the FBI is ask­ing ques­tions, and she has three days to pull off the annu­al fundrais­ing gala, a glam­orous affair filled with famous writ­ers and local literati. On the upside, Cle­mi will get to meet her all-time favorite writer, who has won the award. But her inter­ac­tions with the author and her eight-year-old son, as well as with the nonprofit’s board mem­bers, leave her won­der­ing whether cer­tain writ­ers are bet­ter on the page than in person.