GalleyCat - The First Word On the Book Publishing Industry

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.


new on mediabistro.com

The Future of Social Media with Chris Anderson

The editor of Wired explains how to create a social network that works.
Watch the video

Email This Post

Fill out the following information and click on the Send button in order to send this post, The 2008 PEN Literary Gala Was Fancy, to a friend.
Friend's name
Friend's email address
Your name
Your email address
Note to your friend (optional, max 200 Characters)

Read more on GalleyCat >

The First Word On the Book Publishing Industry
GalleyCat in Your Inbox
Mobile Version
RSS Feed
Our Blog Network

BayNewser

WebNewser

TVNewser

PRNewser

MediaJobsDaily

FishbowlNY

FishbowlDC

FishbowlLA

MobileContentToday

AgencySpy

UnBeige

GalleyCat

GalleyCat Staff

Editor:

Jason Boog

Senior Editor:

Ron Hogan

Correspondent:

Jeff Rivera

Follow GalleyCat

Email GalleyCat

Anonymous Tips
Favorite Posts

heather-thomas-sidebar.jpg Our Chat With Heather Thomas
jack-oconnell-sidebar.jpg The (Long-Awaited) Return of Jack O'Connell
marya-hornbacher-sidebar.jpg Marya Hornbacher: "No Tortured Artists Here"
stean-sagmeister-sidebar.jpg Stefan Sagmeister: "Design for Non-Designers"
 Why Does Maureen Dowd Hate Popular Women?
Topics

About the 'Cat

About Us - Modules

Adaptation

Agents

Authors

Awards

Behind the Deal

Book Fairs

Book Jackets

Book Trailer

Bookselling

Buzz/PR

Celebrities

Comicbookland

Contests

Deals

eBooks

Editors

Feuds

Food & Drink

GC's Hitlist

Jobs

Lecture Circuit

Libraries

Lit Crit

Litterbox

LOLgalleycats

Mailbag

Monday Morning

New & Upcoming

Paper Cuts

Party Hopping

People of Color

Polls

Publishing

Q&A

Readers

Sex, Drugs & Rock n Roll

The Revolving Door

Trends

Undiscovered Writers

Videos

Web & Tech


Links

Book Beast@The Daily Beast

Bookseller.com

Books@Wowowow

Buzz, Balls & Hype

Danuta Kean

E-Reads

Eco-Libris

MarianLibrarian

Publishers Marketplace

Publishers Weekly

Publishing Contrarian

Publishing For Profit

Publishing Insider

Publishing News

Publishing Perspectives

The Publishing Spot

Publishing Trends

PubRants

Rick Frishman

Shelf Awareness

TeleRead

Weekly Publishing Moves

The Write Report

...more...

Archives

November 2009

October 2009

September 2009

August 2009

more...


Job Listings

Featured Listings

Marketing Director
HarperCollins Publishers
New York, NY

Editor/Reporting and Assessment
Scholastic
Watertown, MA

Administrative Assistant to Photo Director
Book/Calendar Publisher
New York, NY

Chief Financial Officer
Cambridge University Press
New York, NY

ADVERTISEMENT


mediabistro.com l Member Benefits l Jobs l Freelance Marketplace l Courses l Events l Forums l Content
mediabistro Blogs: Media News l TVNewser l GalleyCat l UnBeige l FishbowlNY l FishbowlLA l FishbowlDC l PRNewser l AgencySpy
MobileContentToday l WebNewser l BayNewser l MediaJobsDaily l mbToolbox
Site Map l Advertising/Sponsorships l Partners l About Us l Contact Us/Help

internet.commediabistro.comJusttechjobs.comGraphics.com

Search:

WebMediaBrands Corporate Info

Legal Notices, Licensing, Reprints, Permissions, Privacy Policy.
Advertise | Newsletters | Shopping | E-mail Offers