Lux Lotus

On Publicity

Just added another speaking engagement, so here's the schedule through summer:

• Pilcrow Lit Fest in Chicago (May 22-25)
• Nebraska Summer Writers' Conference (June 14-15)
• Backspace Writers Conference in New York (August 8)

Plus, this summer (July 1 -14), I'm going to teach "Innovative Publicity Basics," an online workshop that costs twenty dollars and is open to all. I probably won't do it again, ever, so avail yourself if that's your thing!

Related from the LL archives: all my favorite thoughts on the topic are best viewed in neon.

In other news

Here's the latest on my beyond smashing literary publicity projects:

If you want to see what a post-retreat glow looks like, come on out tonight (Monday) for "Art & Activism: Writers on Politics Now," which I've put together with authors Stephen Elliott (My Girlfriend Comes to the City and Beats Me Up), Janice Erlbaum (Have You Found Her) and Nick Flynn (Another Bullshit Night in Suck City). I came back for this irresistible happening, so please join us if you're in the neighborhood! Janice is the subject of a fantastic profile running in the downtown papers this week.

Min Jin Lee's nationally bestselling debut novel, Free Food for Millionaires, was praised (again!) in this week's edition of The New York Times Book Review.

Rudolph Wurlitzer's The Drop Edge of Yonder was reviewed by David Ulin in The Los Angeles Times, noting the consistent theme in a body of work that has "merged a Beckett-like sense of ennui with the cool irony of the counterculture to explore the territory between what we perceive and what we are." See also: the current issues of Arthur and The Brooklyn Rail.

The Bardot States

Last night I got home from ten days at an ashram, aka "hippie camp," aka Sivananda Yoga Ranch, upstate in the Catskills. In short, it was the most personally illuminating period of my life, and the eight hours of meditation daily (two two-hour yoga sessions, two hours each in the morning and the evening of seated meditation/devotional chanting in sanskrit) might just have blown my mind. Everything feels... better. And looks better, too. On my way back, I strolled by a park and was like, "are those tulips glowing?"  I'm sure I'll have more to say later about my usual enchanting escapades, although most of the highlights were internal rather than external. Except for that cute backpacker. Hahaha.

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Things I Love Re: My Job (& Friends)

...That "work" tonight included dinner at Centolire (where I go so often I don't need the menu-- you can't miss with the artichokes prepared "Roman-Jewish style" to start, after that, depends on the evening) and a nightcap afterward at Bemelman's (where I haven't been in ages, since my last memorable visit). And sending an email on my Blackberry (by request) with the subject line: "I WANT TO GO TO BERLIN" to someone who can make it so. And sleeping in tomorrow!

P.S. Not about work, but it does remind me of another memorable meal... one of the first bloggers I met, when I was in Los Angeles a few years ago, and we had Argentinean food and crepes and it was the best and I couldn't believe someone I met on the internet could be so charming, erudite and cool. Well not only is he all of those things and more, but my friend Mark Sarvas is a published author as of today! Pick up a copy of Harry, Revised (which British hipster publisher Jamie Byng termed "the hottest debut novel on the planet") tout suite.

A Beautiful Mind

Tonight in a 15-minute period:

I polished my French vocab -- Suivez-moi jeune homme (Follow me, young man) -- courtesy of an interview with Christian Louboutin at Hint.

A curious stranger sent me a Myspace message asking if I know the specific poem number that corresponds with E Cosi Desio Me Mena (And So Desire Carries Me Along) in Petrarch's Canzoniere. I'm thinking maybe it's #235:

Alas, Love carries me where I do not wish,
and I know my journey is towards her
so that I’m more annoying than before
to her who is the queen of my heart:

no skilful sailor ever guided his boat
through reefs, with thanks for his precious cargo,
as often as I have done my frail craft,
through the battering received from her harsh pride.

And then someone used "sprezzatura" in an email, so I had to go and read about that for awhile.

De Stijl, Continued...

I kind of worked through the weekend but before you shed a tear on my behalf, I did enjoy a brilliant break for champagne-y sake and this magical gold-flecked (osmanthus?) dessert at Yozakura Kushiyaki Bar, which means "cherry blossom that unfolds at night" or similar, with one of my favorite people and the new issue of Self-Service. Anyway, news on the work front continues to be spectacular, and so I am happy to share:

Girls Write Now, which j'adore (I am vice-chair of the board of directors) is featured prominently in today's New York Times!

Janice Erlbaum was stupendous last night at Sunday Salon, as always. Here's some gossip for you: I sold a copy of Have You Found Her to hot poet Major Jackson.

Rudy Wurlitzer was featured in The Wall Street Journal over the weekend. On his decision to go with a small press for his new novel, The Drop Edge of Yonder: "I'm done sublimating myself to others."

As I mentioned on Friday, I tracked down his first novel, Nog, which I am really enjoying. I'm only a few pages in but the fantastic narrator, a sort-of psychedelic Holden Caulfield so far, has totally pulled me in: "I was unprepared for such a downpour, being dressed in white seersucker pants, white paisley shirt and finely-woven linen shoes. I stood near her, waiting, but resolved not to give out with any information." And later, "The evening had already been too much of a lark. It might possibly set me back for months." I can see why it's won such ardent fans!

Look for Rudy's "Book Notes" playlist at Largehearted Boy on Wednesday.

Ludlow 38 gets namechecked in Downtown Express as an example of the new art scene. Plus, if you're looking for something brilliant to do in New York tomorrow night, look no further.

Left Banking on It

My lovely day started out with breakfast at Balthazar in the enchanting company of my pal Jeralyn, and ended with dinner at Chez Napoleon with everyone's favorite (poetry-reciting) venture capitalist, who tried to get me to come around to his Manichaean world view, which I am not buying. I am more of a "La Vie en Rose" enthusiast myself, bien sur (see above).

On "Esteem" + La Nouvelle Smart Set

The charming Michael Miller interviewed me for a piece in Time Out New York "on cultural gatekeepers in the literary world." Thanks to Andy at Galleycat for the tip that it had been published. Two hours in and he's got the scoop! And, of course, The Smart Set arrives, just a touch late.

Shop Smart for a Good Cause

See here.

Ring Ring

Remember me, your erstwhile operator? I've gotta go get it together for the Virginia Festival of the Book. While we're on the subject, books I'm publicizing this spring: Have You Found Her (out now), The Drop Edge of Yonder (out next week), Free Food for Millionaires (out in paperback next month). I'll be back next week with the Windowlicker of our dreams...