Dateline BEA: oh, the parties that they threw

By Sarah on May 22, 2006 9:33 AM

For some reason, I didn’t really get fully into the party swing until the last night of BEA. I didn’t attend any Thursday (but did enjoy going to Ceiba, a great Mexican seafood restaurant on 14th and G) and Friday was a mere two: the hopping Litblog Co-Op party at the Big Hunt in Dupont Circle, and A Public Space’s affair across the street at the Gold Room. At the former, I finally got to meet fellow bloggers Kassia Krozser, Wendi Kaufman, Matt Cheney and Gwenda Bond, as well as the infamous Bat Segundo (whom I did at least charm a drink out of, because that’s what one does.) There were also rumors going around that a certain Miss Snark was in attendance, too…

But Saturday night, that was far more happening. Three parties, all different, all fantastic.

First up was perhaps the best party of the evening, and certainly the swankiest: HarperCollins’ bash at the Smithsonian Castle. It would have been great had it just been held indoors; but having the outside garden with an open bar and an utterly fabulous view made it that more special. William Morrow publisher Lisa Gallagher was in full hostess mode, while outside the mood was quite merry – especially when standing with Christopher Moore and playing “spot the celebrity.” It was hard not to notice, or talk about, Anderson Cooper, attired very nattily in a pinstripe suit (and much shorter than I’d expected.) Former White House press secretary Deedee Myers was around too, and as for the guy with the wild, Einstein-ian hair – that turned out to be Ecco president Dan Halpern. I also reverted to fangirl when in the presence of Edward Jones (who was feted for his upcoming short story collection, ALL AUNT HAGAR’S CHILDREN) and gushed overlong about how fabulous THE KNOWN WORLD WAS.

Next up, requiring a taxi trek to Adams Morgan, was Consortium’s party at the much more down-to-earth Madam’s Organ club. Mary Reagan and I only got there close to the end but the party (featuring the distributor’s top independent presses) was still in full swing. There was just enough time to say a quick goodbye to Duane Swierczynski (with his literary agent David Hale Smith and film agent Angela Cheng) notice Otto Penzler sitting at the bar in deep conversation with another publisher, finish my beer and pick up Soho Books publicist Kathy Daneman so we could take another taxi to Maclean Gardens, where Harlequin was throwing their Saturday night affair. There I met up with Ron, just returned from his day at the Pennwriters’ conference and we chatted to Margaret Marbury about our respective goings-on. Later Ron introduced me to Sarah Mlynowski, whom I’d wanted to meet for years as we’re both McGill University alums and could probably play Jewish geography had there been more time. Also doing the multiple party rounds were Chris Mooney and John Connolly, who had the Irish twins routine down cold (when John wasn’t naturally schmoozing with the best looking girls in the room.) And to whoever had the bright idea to bring out cupcakes for dessert – brilliant.