It was terrific to be in town the night before the "official" start of BEA (the convention floor opens tomorrow) and to ease into the conference mindset with back-to-back literary parties and talking with many enchanting and intelligent people who I hardly ever the have the pleasure of spending time with in person or haven't met face-to-face before.
First, I met up with Tayari Jones, whose award-winning novel, The Untelling, I've publicized in hardcover and newly in paperback, and we split a cab to Embassy Row for the "Reading the World" soiree at the French Embassy. Tayari, always a style pacesetter, was wearing black patent open-toed heels with a crimson layered skirt and black silken, sophisticated peasant top, both created by a local designer. As soon as we arrived, we were met by uber-delight Wendi Kaufman (The Happy Booker), Ron Hogan (Galleycat) and other assorted literary types. Not long after, Edward Champion (Return of the Reluctant) and Carolyn Kellogg (Pinky's Paperhaus), sporting gorgeous fluorescent scarlet hair, joined us, as did Mark Sarvas (The Elegant Variation) and Kassia Krozer (Booksquare).
It was fantastic to see so many West Coast-based writers in the room -- as I am crazy about California lately and always -- and the French Embassy gave a predictably soigne affair with superlative wine. It was also an unexpected pleasure to run into Alex Glass (Trident Media Group), the hot young agent for many rising literary stars, including Marcy Dermansky, author of Twins, which I publicized last fall.
A group of us left for another party at Busboys and Poets that had great catering but feted two books that I found rather uncompelling, so I won't mention them here. Before leaving the Embassy, I grabbed a postcard with the psychedelic message, "wake up & dream," to promote european dream 06, "the first ever citywide festival celebrating Europe's most vibrant and innovative performing arts, film, and literature at prime New York venues, Sep 20 - Oct 31," and the tabloid-style, A Mes Lectures Americains (To My American Readers), "Pen American Center the Villa Gillet the French Cultural Services present: Perspectives on French Fiction and Non-fiction," which looks highly intriguing (see also: the related, and newly launched, FrenchBookNews.com). Note to self: must track down Open City for more Véronique Ovaldé. More tomorrow, mes amis!
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