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Party Hopping

Thursday May 08, 2008

Scene @ Housing Works's "First Words" Auction

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As part of its tenth anniversary celebration, Housing Works Used Bookstore Café held a silent auction last night with dozens of signed first editions (including, in the interests of full disclosure, a copy of The Stewardess Is Flying the Plane!). Former NBCC president John Freeman and other bidders mingled with authors like Lynne Tillman, David Rees, and Nathaniel Rich, while Housing Works volunteers like Susie Lupert, Rachel Fersheleiser, and Chaya Thanhauser kept things running smoothly over the course of the ninety-minute auction. (Several of the books are still available, by the way, so drop by the store if you're interested—remember, all the proceeds go towards the store's mission of providing services for people with AIDS.)

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Wednesday May 07, 2008

Scene @ Paris Review Dragoman Party

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Winner of the Sandor Marai prize in Hungary, Gyorgy Dragoman's The White King was originally plucked out of the slush pile by the Paris Review interns which published a chapter from it last fall which is why last night The Paris Review, Houghton Mifflin and The Gernert Company toasted Gyorgy Dragoman and the publication of his novel. Dragoman, who was invited by Salman Rushdie to participate in the PEN World Voices Festival has had his novel translated into 25 languages so far. The Tennessean calls it "stunning, a debut novel as assured as The Catcher In The Rye," and this Sunday we'll see what the Washington Post Book World has to say about this great coming of age novel.

Attending the event last night were Gregory Dragoman pictured above(left) with his Houghton publicity team: Director, Lori Glazer and Associate, Emer Flounders. George Plimpton made a brief appearance but his Paris Review staff stayed to enjoy the wine and cheese. sharon and allison2.JPG
Also in the house were Sharon Male and Allison Takeda from Parade Magazine (left).


Pheasants take flight, interns make good, white wine runs out and more pictures after the jump.

continued...

Tuesday May 06, 2008

Pictures From Events We Were Unable to Attend

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Trish Ryan sent us some photos from her reading at the Harvard Coop Bookstore last week, where more than 100 people came in to hear her read from He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not, a memoir about "faith, hope, and happily ever after." One of Ryan's friends turned her book cover into a cake frosting and, after she entertained the crowd with stories like the one about the time a guy came out to her in the middle of the first date—"there was some power in my attempts to use feng shui to attract a man," she quips, "the only problem was quality control"—she brought out her "happily ever after": her husband, Steve.

continued...

Monday May 05, 2008

Pacific Standard is Literary, Boozey

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Last week I happened to catch the very tail end of Pacific Standard's monthly reading series (# 13 in the Observer's Brooklyn Literary 100) hosted by The Millions blogger Garth Risk Hallberg (A Field Guide to the North American Family) featuring Ceridwen Dovey (Blood Kin), Anne Landsman (The Rowing Lesson)[pictured here], and Francisco Goldman (The Art of Political Murder). Turns out Slunch was there and did a full review of the eveninghere.

What's awesome about this reading series, aside from the authors they get, is that after they read they have to throw a dart to determine the next drink special. This I can get into. So, a bar has a reading series. So what? Well, let me tell you: aside from the over 16 taps of pacific coast micro brew, they're big supporters of the written word. Guess that's what you get when the co-owner is a poet. They run a Finnegans Wake Reading Group every Wednesday (They should get Jameson to sponsor it), there's also Chin Music: The Pacific Standard Poetry Reading Series. The bi weekly series is curated by Colin Cheney and May 8 features Jeffrey McDaniel (The Endarkenment), Meghan O'Rourke (Halflife), And Carey Mchugh (Original Instructions For The Perfect Preservation Of Birds &Co.)

I also really enjoyed how casual things were after the reading, and having a chance to chat with Anne Landsman, Garth, and Stephen Pierson, publisher of the beautifully designed Canteen literary magazine.

By the way, Pacific Standard just rescued a cat, so if yours has gone missing, or you'd like to adopt, drop them a line.

Random Notes from the Party Hopping Circuit

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Amy Tan was flitting from one end of her SoHo loft to the other and back again Friday night, taking pictures of the guests at her party for fellow authors Rabih Alameddine and Aleksandar Hemon, both of whom were in town for the PEN World Voices festival. Although it was touch and go as to whether Hemon was going to make it—as Alameddine chatted with guests in the living room, a Riverhead publicist related, in excruciating detail, how Hemon and his family had been stuck at the airport in Chicago for an extra eight hours and had only just now landed at LaGuardia. Fortunately, they were able to get downtown just in time for the scheduled end of the party, which showed no signs of stopping...

continued...

Sunday May 04, 2008

Pen Cabaret Will Not Give You Brain Inflammation

stucky.JPGI didn't know what to expect when I signed up to attend the PEN Cabaret at Webster Hall last night. I used to go to this venue to see bands like Eurasure, Eurythmics and The Human League back in the late 80's when it was called The Ritz and nothing ever started on time. Plus, this is NYC, and the only thing that ever starts on time here are the shows on Broadway. Well, we can now add PEN to the punctual list.

Upon arriving 20 minutes late, I missed the opening act which was was supposed to be the British Dandy Sebastian Horsley, who was recently denied entry to the United States on grounds of 'moral turpitude.' I know there was some worry over at PEN that he might not make it back in the country for this event but it seems that homeland security unwadded their panties for him.

[UPDATE: "Sebastian did not get in to America to perform for the PEN cabaret," emails his publisher, Carrie Kania. "We still can't believe it."] Well, this certainly is a good lesson in punctuality for me.

Bosnian fear of brain inflammation and Rick Moody on Moo Cow after the jump

continued...

Friday May 02, 2008

Pynchon Pre-Birthday Bash a Regular Krupp Wingding

thomas-pynchon-headshot.jpgRed Hook's Freebird Books is throwing a party Sunday afternoon in honor of Thomas Pynchon's upcoming 71st birthday, but the announcements the store's co-owner, Peter Miller, has been sending out are already making waves. One writer who received the invitation feting "that lovable recluse and buck-toothed prophet of paranoia" wrote Miller to complain that "it is insulting to characterize Mr. Pynchon by his teeth," then found fault with the menu, which consists of "foodstuffs famously vomited by Gravity's Rainbow's Tyrone Slothrop: burgers, homefries, chef's salad with French dressing, Moxie, after-dinner mints, Clark bars, salted peanuts, and 'the cherry from some Radcliffe girl's old-fashioned.'"

"There are many wonderful foods in Pynchon's work, starting with bananas and good coffee. perhaps," this unnamed writer chastises. "Mason & Dixon... is loaded with some interesting foods...What Slothrop vomits is a (light) comic riff on bad food in our fast-food overprocessed world. Honor Pynchon's life-embracing love of the right kind of food, if one is having a party for him, I say."

"I will say, in full disclosure, that I surely do not have the sense of humor Mr. Pynchon does," the letter winds down, "so perhaps I am too earnest and am making mountains out of what Pynchon would not." Perhaps. Anyway, if Miller isn't hauled into jail for postering party fliers around the neighborhood—and he reports that he's already gotten one warning—the party's set to begin at 3 p.m.

Wednesday Apr 30, 2008

Cocktails at Tiffany's

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Last night's soiree for James Patterson and his latest novel Sundays at Tiffany's was the first book celebration at Tiffany & Co. since the publication of Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote in 1968.
Hosted by Mike Kowalski, Tiffany and Co's Chairman and CEO, there was a mix of media and fashion folks noshing on pigs in blankets (couchon en douvet?) and drinking the vino including Tiffany's creative director John Loring, New York Post's gossip gal Liz Smith, agent Bob Barnett, CBS Sunday Morning correspondent Rita Braver, Hachette Book Group CEO David Young, Little, Brown Publisher Michael Pietsch, President of Random House films Peter Gethers, and Publishers Weekly's Sara Nelson. The highbrow event even made the NYC Social Diary
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Tiffany's created two window displays at their 5th ave store featuring the book along with their Celebration Ring which is mentioned in Paterson's return to the romance novel. In his speech, Patterson mentioned that one of his most well-received books was a love story (Suzanne's Diaries for Nicholas) and that many fans named their children Nicholas after reading it.
I wonder how many people out there are named Alex Cross? I know of at least one cat...

Note to self: title next book after famous and very expensive store.


Tuesday Apr 29, 2008

The 2008 PEN Literary Gala Was Fancy

yang tongyan.jpgThe PEN literary gala, a fancy fundraising dinner held under the whale in the Natural History Museum, is sort of like publishing's prom. Editors who are there to pad out the tables their respective houses have purchased, borrow something black-tie and try to pretend that they're at ease hobnobbing alongside Tina Brown and the kind of heavily bejeweled, taut-faced ladies who attend this type of benefit a couple times a week. For an hour before the dinner, people mill around the T. Rex in the lobby politely refusing passed hors d'ouvres, drinking free drinks, and whispering 'Omigod is that Toni Morrison' to their friends (It was!).

Morrison was being honored with the PEN/Borders Literary Service Award. The night's other honorees included U.S. Veterans Administration nurse Laura Berg, who was investigated for sedition because she criticized the Bush administration's handling of Hurricane Katrina, Chinese writer Yang Tongyan (pen name Yang Tianshui-- pictured), and Kho Tararith and the Nou Hach Literary Project of Cambodia. They got the First Amendment award, the Freedom to Write award and the Freedom to Publish award, respectively. One magazine editor I talked to had tried to bone up on Yang Tongyan's work before the ceremony, but had been unable to find anything online that wasn't in Chinese. "I bet there are less than 10 people in this room who've read his work," he mused. Well, yeah.

I wasn't about to be a jerk and ask any of the famous people there what their favorite Yang Tongyan poem was. Those famous people included: Gary Shteyngart, Gay Talese, Frank McCourt, David Remnick, Michael Gross, and Dave Zinczenko. Oh and yes, Tina Brown -- in a black dress, looking super hot.

Monday Apr 28, 2008

Scene @ LA Times Book Prize After-Party

The after-party for the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes, held on a large plaza behind UCLA's Royce Hall, attracted a significant cluster of southern California's literati, as well as the writers and publishers who were in town for the Festival of Books.

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I can't remember exactly what novelist Tod Goldberg could have said to provoke such a reaction from memoirist Bridget Kinsella, but it probably wouldn't be quotable here even if I could. (On his own blog, though, all bets are off.)

continued...


Previously

Scene @ Arianna's Quantum Wellness Party

Scene @ Like a Rolling Stone Book Party

Scene @ Overlook's party for The Wentworths

The Cake At Sloane Crosley's Book Party Was Sort Of Underwhelming

Let Them Eat Cake

Scene @ Sloane Crosley's Helmut Lang Book Party

Scene @ Scott Heim's We Disappear Reading

Scene @ Welcome to Shirley Launch Party

Scene @ Fairhope, Alabama's Restored Writers Cottage

At Last Night's Hubert's Freaks Event: Insanity and Hilarity Ensue

Scene @ Girls Like Us Launch Party

Scene @ The Sex & Sensibility Party

Scene @ Last Night's Last Parties

The Accompanied Literary Society's Forward-Looking Party

Scene @ Doree Lewak's Panic Years Party

Scene @ Women Against MS Luncheon

"In a Year, I Shall Be Unknown Throughout America"

Scene @ Siobhan Vivian's Little Friendly Advice Party

Scene @ Surface/Subsurface Launch Party

Alison Larkin's English American Party

Scene @ Tom Dolby's Sixth Form Party

Party Hopping: Champagne, Cake, & Fancy Dresses

Scene @ Jacob Weisberg's Book Party in LA

More Six-Word Party Action, Now In Video!

Scene @ Six-Word Memoir Launch Party

Scene @ David Levien's Launch Party

VIDEO: Ken Foster & Other Dogs' Best Friends

Scene @ Girls in Trucks Pre-Pub Party

Scene @ Spiegel & Grau Launch Party

Scene @ I'm Looking Through You Party

Scene @ Burns Night in Williamsburg

Scene @ mediabistro.com's Mirage Party

Scene @ The Blind Tasting for Wine and Love

Fave Pics from the Pulpwood Queens "Ball of Hair"

Jerramy Fine's Cosmic Brush with Royalty

Scene @ The Kept Man Launch Party

Scene @ Dutton-Gotham Holiday Bakeoff

Scene @ Punk Rock Book of Lists Party

Scene @ the GalleyCat/Janice Eidus Book Party

Scene @ Seven Stories Holiday Party

Scene @ CBLDF Holiday Fundraiser

Scene @ Mohan Sikka's One Story Reading

Pindeldyboz: No More Print, One More Party

Scene @ FACE OUT Release Party

Scene @ Radar New Radicals Awards

Scene @ Louisa McCormack's Book Party

Jack Romanos Has a Posse

mediabistro.com's Throwing a Party for Nina Burleigh

Catching Up with Last Week's Parties

Scene @ SFWA Fall Reception

Scene @ Shooting War Launch Party

How To Talk About Book Parties You Haven't Attended

Scene @ Regret the Error Launch Party

Scene @ Secret New York Launch Party

Scene @ Shirley MacLaine's Book Party

Scene @ Feminist Press 37th Anniversary Gala

Come Party with mediabistro.com and Jeffrey Yamaguchi

Scene @ Last Thursday's Parties

Scene @ the CLMP Spelling Bee

Come Party With GalleyCat and Janice Eidus

Scene @ DC's Gilded Lili Party

Scene @ October 11's Parties

Scene @ Ferenc Máté's Wine Tasting

Scene @ Paradiso Launch Party

Scene @ Lowell Celebrates Kerouac

Scene @ Pamela Erens' Understory Party

Scene @ Tuesday Night's Parties

Scene @ The Gawker Book Party

Scene @ Dogs I Have Met Party

Scene @ Susan Shapiro's Book Party

Scene @ Zoom Party

Scene @ Thurber Prize Reception

Scene @ The Party of Living Biblically

This Week in mediabistro.com Book Parties

Scene @ Ballantine's "Better Your Life" Party

Scene @ New York's Look Book Party

Scene @ Tuesday Night's Parties

Scene @ Actors at Work Launch Party

Scene @ Akashic Books Fall '07 Launch Party

Scene @ Nightlight Launch Party

Scene @ The Sabotage Café Launch Party

Scene @ Friday Night Parties

Scene @ Jews and Power Party

Book Parties No Longer Dead, Just Bloated

Scene @ Blood Passion Launch Party

Scene @ Duck Duck Wally Party

Scene @ The Great Man Launch Party

Scene @ Career and Corporate Cool Launch

Scene @ J.A. Konrath's Pizza Party

Also Scene @ Ames v. Davidson

Scene @ Gone to the Crazies Launch

Scene @ Every Crooked Pot Launch Party

Scene on the Potter Party Circuit

Indie Publisher Ready to Rock, Again

Scene @ Sin in the Second City

Scene @ Saira Rao's Chambermaid Party

Scene @ Antoine Wilson's Launch Party

Notes from the Party Circuit

Scene @ David Pasternack's Esca Reception

Scenes from the Literary Circuit

Read more on GalleyCat >

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