An armed robber is on the loose and not even the literary elites are safe!
Which Brooklyn Novelist Was Robbed In Fort Greene Park?
Talking With Jennifer Egan, Author Of A Visit From The Goon Squad
If you haven't already heard of Jennifer Egan, you will soon. The Brooklyn-based author of the stunning, wholly original A Visit From The Goon Squad has been the talk of the town, thanks in no small part to her recent acquisition of a little award called the Pulitzer Prize. The book, according to Egan herself, is hard to explain, but in a loose nutshell, it follows—in a non-sequential, polyphonic fashion—the tale of an aging record exec and the people connected to him over the course of some 50 years. If that sounds like a challenge, it's not—Goon Squad, for all its tricky literary stylings, is a pleasure to read.
Local Authors Fight Ratner's Atlantic Yards...With Words
Brooklyn writers are banding together to be the latest voice against Bruce Ratner's vision for Atlantic Yards. A number of local wordsmiths have contributed to Brooklyn Was Mine, an anthology consisting of short essays and stories put together by two Vogue editor to benefit Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn (a non-profit that fights development while uniting the community). From the press release:
"Brooklyn has given birth to some of America's greatest literary voices," note the anthology's co-editors, Chris Knutsen and Valerie Steiker. "Today, a new generation of authors has grown up or resettled here, a testament to Brooklyn's unique quality of life. These writers simply want to protect a community that has provided them with so much. Fortunately, the passion they feel for the place has yielded a vibrant collection of essays—and we are delighted that, with each book sold, something will be given back to Brooklyn."The book is available (as of yesterday) for $15, and of the 20 contributions you'll find works from Jonathan Lethem, Jennifer Egan, Robert Sullivan, and Phillip Lopate -- who are all members of DDDB's advisory board. Egan's story, titled "Reading Lucy," follows "a woman who worked at the Brooklyn Navy Yard during World War II and wrote almost daily letters to her husband overseas," while Lethem's "Ruckus Flatbush" is described as "a wild, dystopian ride into Brooklyn's future, meant to serve as a warning shot to the barbarians at the horizon."
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READING: Have you thought about Rereading Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë lately? Writers and Brontë enthusiasts Jennifer Egan, Siri Hustvedt and Margot Livesey have! Tonight they celebrate the "heart-searing story of a plain, orphaned governess who struggles at an oppressive boarding school before moving to Thornfield, eventually falling in love with her mysterious employer, Mr. Rochester." The event coincides with a new Masterpiece Theatre presentation of Jane Eyre.
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THEATER: A.R. Gurney’s new meta-play, Post Mortem, takes place in a future tyrannical America where a college student discovers a lost “masterpiece” by the largely forgotten playwright A.R. Gurney. In Post Mortem's cowardly new world, many believe Dick Cheney to be responsible for Gurney’s death, and the discovery of an unpublished memoir reveals Gurney affairs with Cameron Diaz, Katherine Hepburn and Katrina Kerns. (Okay, that last one's from our own meta-memoir.) The student’s willingness to defy the government by producing the banned play wins him both a shot at the Nobel Peace Prize and his hot professor’s affection. - John Del Signore
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EVENT: Fat Baby is turning in to Craft Baby tonight, with a Make Workshop event that will teach you to reconstruct your boring 'ol clothes. You can als how to embroider, knit and crochet...your grams would be so proud of you. And don't forget to stop by the silk screen and iron-on station (byo-witticisms).
Elizabeth Merrick, Author, Girly, Founder/Director, Grace Reading Series

Elizabeth Merrick, Author, Girly, Founder/Director, Grace Reading Series

