Writers you have seen, met, heard speak
 

Some of you may remember the thread I posted last year about A Night with Harry, Carrie, and Garp, this afternoon I stopped from my busy schedule and craziness to listen to a Q&A with Maurice Sendak.

If you don't recognize the name, maybe you'd recognize the title of his most famous book, Where the Wild Things Are, if you don't recognice that, maybe you'll recognize the illustrations he's done.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...0060254920.jpg

We all got to email him questions for hm to field. He's an older snarky man. Stating some rather wild things like, "You don't have the guts to just say, 'Fuck You' instead you say 'whatever'" After the Q&A we got copies of his latest book
I get to add Mr. Sendak to my growing list of authors I have heard speak. So far he's been one of the funniest.

Do any of you go to the B&N author book tours? What authors have you gotten to see, meet, hear speak?

I've seen David Sedaris do a reading - gack I wish I could remember where the heck I was when I saw it -I think it was at Radio City Music Hall but I don't remember...

and a few lesser known writers at Borders when they have book signings... though I did see chris Kimball (editor of Cooks Illustrated magazine, and host of America's Test Kitchen on PBS - he's kind of dorky cute :D ) at a borders book signing.

oh and I sat next to Danny Meyer, while I was reading his cookbook, the Union Square Cafe Cookbook, on a train from Washington, DC to New york (and I managed to chat with him almost the entre time) - I had no idea who he was until he gets off the train and he introdced himself -then he signed my cookbook :)

Since I live in a college town, I've gotten to see a number of writers and thinkers speak.

On the more political side of things, I've seen the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Gloria Steinem, as well as Barbara Ehrenreich (Nickel and Dimed).

Spiritually speaking, I've had the chance to see Marcus Borg speak several times, and have seen Karen Anderson speak about what Christians can learn from Buddhism.

As far as authors of fiction go, readings and so on can be really hit or miss. We have a series of lectures on campus called the Craft of Writing. I was really excited to see one of our adjunct professors present (literary criticism as applied to Radiohead lyrics), but was horribly disappointed by his actual talk. However, the best author I've seen read had to be Michael Cunningham, the author of "The Hours." His reading and Q/A session was fantastic. I also had the opportunity to go to a Jewish Women's Writers night in Portland with a professor of mine, Marjorie Sandor. She read from her book "Portrait of My Mother, Who Posed Nude in Wartime".

I was disappointed that I missed the chance this last year to see both Naomi Wolf and Dr. Marion Nestle. But I'll be here through 2008, and given that it's an election year, we're bound to have all kinds of speakers come through town.

I went to an event a couple of years ago here Terry Preatchett interviewed Terry Jones (and vice versa).

It was very good.

just about a week ago i saw naomi klein give a speech on "the shock doctrine" and she signed my book.

real smart cookie, that naomi. cute, too. :P

I recently saw my cousin Charles Frazier (Cold Mountain and 13 moons) speak as the key note speaker at a local book festival (I actually got to be his assistant for the speech and book signing, that was kinda cool) His 2nd book is the 1st book in 175 years (I think thats right) to be translated into cherokee, so we got to hear a reading of that. and at the same festival I saw Diana Gabaldon (author of the Outlander series) she was a trip and a half. It was kinda cool to find out she got the idea for the book and Jamie's character from an old Doctor Who episode.

As a comic book fan I saw many comic writers and authors at conventions. I have seen Peter David, who wrote so many titles it would take for ever to list. He was funny, and very personable. I saw John Byrne, of Fantastic Four and Superman fame, again, funny and very entertaining. Dan Slott, a hellava nice guy. I would love to meet John Irving.

When I was a student I took a trip to Texas and met Allen Ginsberg at a presentation he gave at UT Austin. I was amazed at what a kind man he was and how attentive he was to the young people.

i've seen Michael J. Gelb speak about his book "how to think like leonardo da vinci", he has also written some other self help motivational type books. i thought the guy was a bit of a concocted fraud. met and heard Laurell K. Hamilton read from one of her anita blake books and she was pretty cool. really friendly, smart, entertaining. and i met and briefly talked to the pogue warrior himself Dick Marcinko... not too impressed....

Saw/heard Kurt Vonnegut Jr about 20 or so years ago. He was mildly interesting and mildly amusing. His books are far better though.

i got to see Eric Carle (the very hungry caterpillar) at a book signing. i was intentionally the last in line so i could have a couple minutes of his time. i gave him a "thank you" card that had two drawings of the same thing on it. one in my style and the other i did in his style of paper cut outs. when he opened the card he said, "you should be an illustrator" it made me a little proud to answer with "i am"

he really is a kind and gentle man. before the above experience, when i was in grad school, i wrote to him asking for some personal info on his career path, specifically his transfer from the advertising world into children's books. he wrote back a hand written note and provided me with relevant photocopied articles that i had not found before.

i hope someday to get to see the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art.

...and i'm going to see Anthony Bourdain (Kitchen Confidential, A Cook's Tour) speak at an old theater on the 20th. that should be fun.

For what it's worth, I have occasionally spoken to my favorite childhood author, Christopher Pike, over AIM....

I know a couple published authors via the writing group I am a part of, but I haven't interacted with anyone above "minor celebrity"

If nonfiction counts, I heard a speech by Donald Johanson, they guy who discovered the fossil Lucy.

And if lyrics count, I went to a small seminar by Stephen Sondheim, and I was able to walk out with him and ask a question afterward.

I'm a big Kinks fan (I know, I'm old), and about 10 years ago, I went to hear Ray Davies talk about his autobiography, "X-Ray". He told some great stories about his experiences with the band, and played a few numbers, too. Afterward, I got to meet him and get his autograph. It was pretty cool.

I met Maddox at the book signing for the Alphabet of Manliness. I got him to draw a penis on my head, and sign my friend's tit.

http://jzxproject.com/other/maddox_tempe/img_1286.jpg
http://jzxproject.com/other/maddox_tempe/img_1294.jpg
http://jzxproject.com/other/maddox_tempe/img_1289.jpg
http://jzxproject.com/other/maddox_tempe/img_1297.jpg

Double lucky you! I love Eric Carle's works, and seeing Anthony Bourdain talk would be a kick. Color me jealous.

She's not known for being a writer, but she does have 2 books out. I went to a lecture and Q&A with Cat Cora last evening...Never even knew she was from around here, how bout that.

-Will

Good thread Cynthetiq...

I'm fortunate for having known and worked with among others, Allen Ginsberg, Tim Leary, Richard Alpert (Ram Dass), Galway Kinnel...

I met Allen Ginsberg in the West Village and we corresponded and traded work until his death. Here are two items from him (with personal references removed):

http://artelevision.com/allen_ginsberg_poem.jpg

Allen would occasionally create spontaneous drawings. Here is one:

http://artelevision.com/allen_ginsberg_AH_image.jpg

Thanks,
Art

it's kinda hard to follow that post, art...yikes.

i've met alot of people...but the one who reduced me to vacant fanboy gushing was toni morrison. i had to wrangle my way into a closed reception--i got in because the guy who was running it thought i looked like jesus.

the best reading i have been to was done by peter markus. you should track down his books. they are astonishing.

on a local level, speaking of people with great star power, i met art once.
that was a real treat.

The only person I've met that anyone else might recognize was E.L. Doctorow, who wrote the book Ragtime upon which the musical was based, along with The Book of Daniel and City of God. It wasn't necessarily my most productive meeting with an author that I've had, since I'd just finished reading Daniel and he'd just finished writing City of God so I wanted to talk about the one (that he'd written 50 years ago) and he wanted to talk about the other. So it goes. Either way, it was a pretty impressive and intimate event.

As roachboy would probably attest, the Kelly Writer's House at Penn gives people who know about it some pretty awesome opportunities to meet and talk with fairly high powered local and national authors. I'm not sure what their policies are about attending events if you're not Penn faculty, staff or alumni, but if you're in the Philly area, it's definitely worth checking out.

I also met Ken Kalfus as part of a writing seminar my senior year and, as we shared an interest in Russia and Russian culture, we hit it off pretty well. I probably had a much more interesting and meaningful interaction with him than I did with Doctorow, but he's quite a bit less well known.

you can attend events at writers house regardless--the harder thing is finding out what's happening if you aren't a affiliated with penn. most of the readings--maybe all of them, actually--are recorded and available on pennsound.

here are a few:
http://writing.upenn.edu/%7Ewh/webcasts/

more writers reading strange stuff can be found on ubu.
www.ubu.com

treasure troves, both.