2014 brooklyn book festival!

brooklyn book festival was today!  it’s definitely one of the events i look forward to all year because it’s stuffed full with awesome publishers and authors and panels, and i always have a great time, and this year was no exception.

one.  chip kidd (knopf) and helen yentus (riverhead)!  both art directors, both incredible designers — originally, when the program first came out for bkbf, peter mendelsund was also on the list of panelists, but he was edited out later *sadface* — i could listen to book designers sit and talk about book design for hours.  days even.  i did not know that helen yentus designed those fab covers for camus’ list; the one for the fall is particularly ingenious.

two.  i found waldo!

three.  jeff vandermeer!!!  and lev grossman and deji olukotun!  (though i confess i was mainly there for vandermeer …)  when asked about the trilogy format, vandermeer said that he tried to keep in mind all the things he doesn’t like about trilogies.  like, for instance, when characters have those aha! moments in the third books to wrap things up.  and, when a woman asked a question (very frustratedly, i might add) about what she’s supposed to do with the usual advice of “write what you know,” as part of his response, he said, “you can know a lot about something but not know how to write it.”  (these are very loose “quotes.”  i can only whip out my iphone, put in my passcode, and pull up evernote so fast.)  (i used to be analogue with my note-taking at events, but that never really worked because my handwriting is such shit …)

and, when asked what was next for them, grossman said he needed to get out of the magicians because he’s been immersed in that world for ten years, olukotun said he was working on a next book, and vandermeer said, “cryogenic sleep.”

four.  ROXANE GAY.  can i just sit here and type up quotes (or “quotes”) of awesome things she said?  ok.

• one of the things about modern discourse is that it’s like people are shouting at each other more often (or instead of) hearing or listening.
• in response to anna holmes admitting she doesn’t really feel much towards beyonce, “have you seen her body???”
• if your child’s only role model is beyonce, then you’re a bad parent.  you shouldn’t have a single role model but many.
• we have to stop being so desperate to attach the label “role model” on any popular person.  we should be looking more at the people on the ground.
• it takes some audacity as a woman and as a person of color to believe that your voice matters and that you aren’t just taking up unnecessary space.
• (she also talked about ina garten and how she plans her teaching schedule so she’s free to watch ina garten’s show from 4-5 p.m. everyday.)
• (she loves teaching.  it inspires her to keep taking risks because, if her students are putting their vulnerabilities on the page, then she should be, too.  teaching also keeps her on top of current fiction and non-fiction.)
• (her recommendations to a ten-year-old who wants to be a writer:  believe in yourself, that your voice matters.  write everyday [if you can].  read.  read above your age [if your parents are okay with it].  read outside your comfort zone.  read everything.  keep writing.)
• (the thing that depresses [distresses?] her most about the current world is the continued prevalence of sexual violence against women.  it’s unthinkable that we live in a world where boys are going to college still not knowing what rape is.)
• even though i have low self-esteem, i still believe in myself.  and even if i don’t, i have a support system of people who do.

roxane gay is awesome.  bad feminist is awesome, too.  idk what you’re doing if you haven’t picked it up and started reading it yet.

five.  why, yes, it is always croissant weather.  even when it’s disgustingly humid.  like today was.

six. i always come back from the brooklyn book festival lighter in monetary funds but richer in tote bags, publications, and books.  though this is a lighter haul pubs/books-wise than previous years’ … i didn’t pay for any of the tote bags, though!  harperperennial and penguin were both giving away tote bags (with a minimum purchase), and the london review gave away tote bags if you signed up for their email newsletter, and the writer’s foundry just gave ‘em away for free!  :D

(i also bought mangoes.  because i love mangoes.)

and, with that, good night!

murakami music! (this is a kind of book event, too.)

"Is This Shovel a Real Shovel?" from The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
-  Robert Schumann, Forest Scenes, Op. 82
VII.  Bird As Prophet (excerpt)

"Reiko’s Monologue" from Norwegian Wood
-  Paul McCartney and John Lennon, Norwegian Wood (Arr. Richard Miller)
-  Frederic Chopin, Etude, Op. 25, No. 1
-  Muzio Clementi, Sonatina in C major, Op. 36, No. 3
-  Claude Debussy, Clair de Lune
-  Edvard Grieg, Norwegian Dance, Op. 35
I. Allegro

"The Tale of Miu and the Ferris Wheel" from Sputnik Sweetheart
-  Wolfgang Mozart, Sonata in B flat Major, K. 333
I.  Allegro (excerpt)
-  Claude Debussy, Fireworks (excerpt)
-  Sergei Profokiev, Sonata No. 2 in d minor, Op. 14 (excerpts)
I.  Allegro, ma non troppo
II.  Scherzo, Allegro marcato
III.  Andante

went to a fantastic performance tonight called “murakami music.”  a pianist (eun-bi kim) and an actress (laura yumi snell) worked with a director (kira simring) to set some of murakami’s works to music, specifically the pieces above.  it started off with “is this shovel a real shovel?” feeling like a pretty traditional reading with a piano accompaniment, the music chosen and played very deliberately to go with the reading, and the pieces flowed organically from “is this shovel a real shovel?” — “reiko’s monologue” was slightly more dramatic, like a story not only being told but performed, and the set reached a wonderful climax with “the tale of miu and the ferris wheel,” which felt the most like a performance.

(during “is this shovel a real shovel?,” laura actually read from the book, the wind-up book chronicle — or held it in her hands and used it as a prop — while the two other stories were performed without the books.)

i really loved how these stories were set to music, and not only that but also how the whole thing was brought to life.  i honestly had gone in expecting someone to be reading while someone played the piano in the background, so i was very pleasantly surprised at how thoughtfully all the music pieces had been chosen and arranged and how the performances had been choreographed and staged.  the cell is a tiny, tiny theatre, but i loved the use of space — there was just a piano on the floor and a raised platform behind it, but they made very effective use of it with their movements and with the lighting.  also, costuming was great, too:  laura first started reading in a coat over an evening dress and heels, removed the coat between the first and second story, then removed the evening dress to reveal a shorter dress for the third story.  (she also changed her shoes at one point, but i forgot where, sorry!)  at the end of the third story, she undid her hair and brought the coat back into play — and i’d say what i liked best was that eun-bi and laura weren’t simply telling stories, but they were, in a sense, embodying the stories, really thinking about what murakami was saying and how to express that through music and performance.

at the end, eun-bi and laura played a duet together (they’re both classically trained pianists, though laura switched to theatre), which was fantastic because, one, i love duets and, two, it felt like the ending credits of a film.  there was a q&a after, too, during which they talked about murakami, about being friends, about wanting to do more with this project, and i really liked how the tiny space made for a more intimate conversation where the audience was also able to engage with them.

all in all, it was an amazing night, and i’m so glad i went.  i really hope they continue to do more of these, and, now, i really can’t wait until murakami’s new novel is translated and published in english, and i want to read more of him, despite having felt a little lukewarm towards him recently.  i can’t deny that murakami has a very strong pull for me, despite said lukewarmness, and i’ve been wanting to buy the paperback of 1Q84 and read it again, so, hey, maybe i’ll get on that!

"the small print of consciousness"

Ian McEwan is eloquent, witty, and quite British in demeanour and intonation.  He’s as well-put together in words as he is in print, and hearing him read his own words brings a new sort of power to them.  As he said tonight:

"One of the pleasures of reading is breathing the words."

Listening to speak tonight has cemented my opinion that he’s one of the rare gems in the literary world today, and I’m immensely grateful that I was able to hear him answering questions and laying out his thought processes tonight.

"I think literature is like a higher form of gossip."

He drew some funny correlations, but it’s true in some ways.  As humans work, we like to talk about people, peer into people’s lives, and, like he said, “to know what it’s like to be someone else.” 

One of the things I appreciated about him is that he didn’t try to doll out droll advice or comments on what makes a good writer.  He doesn’t keep rules when he writes (other than “show up at your desk”), but he made a good point when he said that hesitation is one of the most important tools for writers.  He isn’t one of those authors who churns out [identical] book after [identical] book, which is evident enough in his books, and, when asked how he wrote books as introspective of the human condition as Atonement or On Chesil Beach, he simply reiterated his point of hesitation.

"Each book’s got to feel like your first, and you’ve got to learn to write it again."

Also, interesting factoids:  apparently, a French Ph.D did a study that compared the differences between American and British version of books, and, apparently, from McEwan’s own experience, Americans are viciously enamoured with the comma.

There are many other things he said that I was unable to jot down, but, luckily, the conversation was recorded for podcast.

Oh, and:  On Chesil Beach is being adapted for film by McEwan himself (“I think of a screenplay as a novella”) and to be directed by Sam Mendes (!!!).  As McEwan said, there’s so little dialogue in On Chesil Beach that he couldn’t bear to let someone else write the dialogue.