Archive for the ‘Events’ Category

An Evening of Readers’ Theater

Thursday, March 18th, 2010

By Samantha Rowan

There were jazz hands. And singing.

That’s what happens when you bring together four authors—Libba Bray, John Green, David Levithan and E. Lockhart—with a flair for the dramatic. The event, held last night at the packed South Court auditorium of the main branch of the New York Public Library, was aptly subtitled An Evening of Readers’ Theater. It showed the audience that if this whole writing thing doesn’t work out, all four of the authors could probably have new careers as readers—especially if they read together.

Each of the authors read a selection from their most recent work: Bray’s Going Bovine, Levithan and Green’s co-authored Will Grayson, Will Grayson and Lockhart’s The Treasure Map of Boys. The twist, however, was that they were each assigned parts and read the selection almost as if it were a play.

The Treasure Map of Boys was the first up, with Bray reading the part of the narrator and heroine Ruby Oliver, Green reading the part of Ruby’s semi-love interest, Noel, Levithan reading the part of Hutch, another student, and Lockhart reading Nora, who is a close friend of Ruby’s. The scene was an important one because it illustrates one of Ruby’s fatal flaws: being unable to keep herself from flirting with someone who is technically off limits.

The authors read together exceedingly well; it was clear that they not only rehearsed but also deeply understood each other’s work. I’ve read The Treasure Map of Boys but found the reading to be extremely vivid, almost to the point where it changed the way I perceived the scene. As a reader, I knew that Nora was seriously annoyed with Ruby. But hearing it out loud—particularly with Lockhart’s delivery and inflections as Nora—made what Ruby did seem even worse.

The authors proceeded onto a selection from Green’s Will Grayson, with Levithan reading the part of Tiny Cooper. His delivery got the biggest laughs from the audience and his pronunciation of the word “boobs” particularly amused Green, who commented on it afterward. The back and forth following this reading gave Bray a case of the giggles, which persisted into the next reading (a selection from Levithan’s Will Grayson) and eventually led Green to say, “Don’t make me take narrator! Because I’ll do it.” This helped Bray to recover and get through the rest of the selection without laughing.

The second part of the reading was vastly different. The authors, Levithan explained, would be reading from unpublished works in progress. As a result, he asked that no notes be taken or video or audio recorded. What was interesting was that all of the authors are working on something different from what they had published before. Green, for example, is working with a female narrator while Lockhart is working on a book for middle-grade readers.

Despite the changes in genre and perspectives, it was still possible to hear the authors’ distinctive voices. This part of the reading felt much different than the light-hearted first part. The authors read more slowly and seemed almost shy and tentative, possibly because of the unfinished nature of what they were reading.

Samantha Rowan is a journalist and aspiring YA novelist in New York City. Her favorite novel is Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.

More from Tompkins Square

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010

I’ve barely scratched the surface on last night’s events. After Gayle Forman read, we got to listen to a bit from Daphne Grab’s upcoming novel, The Star Shack. It will be published under the pseudonym “Lila Castle.” (Daphne later confided that the book is “very commercial,” rather unlike her first novel, Alive and Well in Prague, New York. But I have a feeling it will be every bit as good, just in a different way.)

daphne

Look for The Star Shack in June.

Sarah Mlynowski followed Daphne, with a reading from her book Gimme a Call, which is out next month. As the topic was first drafts and revisions, she told us all that she absolutely hates writing first drafts and considers the process to be torture.

But she got lots of laughs — good, earnest, “we-love-you-Sarah” laughs — as she read from her first draft. This seemed to annoy Sarah.

“No laughing!” she said. “This is the bad draft!” Whatever, Sarah. Bad draft or not, you’re still way ahead of most of us.

She continued to tell us that, even if you’re trying to write about a character being absolutely miserable, you can’t make the reader miserable. This is a good point.

sarah

By the way, Sarah writes outlines for all of her books. Some of them are fifteen pages long!

In my next post later today, I’ll tell you about some more of the authors who spoke last night.

Tribeca tonight

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010

A reminder: Tonight’s NYC Teen Author Festival event is Getting Inside the Mind of a Teen Boy at 7 p.m. at the Tribeca Barnes and Noble (97 Warren Street).

The authors on the panel are Nick Burd, Matt de la Pena, Gordon Korman, David Levithan, Barry Lyga, Michael Northrop, Jon Skavron and Jake Wizner.

I won’t be able to make it, but if you go, please do report back here and tell us how it went.

Also, tomorrow is the BIG DAY, on which the Most Famous Authors of Them All will speak. It’s going to be at the main branch of the NYPL on 42nd Street, and will feature Libba Bray, John Green, David Levithan and E. Lockhart. It all starts at 6 p.m. Be there! The authors will talk about Going Bovine, Will Grayson, Will Grayson, and more.

PS. I’ll be back later today with more about last night’s panel. There was too much awesomeness for just one post!

There’s a library in Tompkins Square?

Monday, March 15th, 2010

Let me just start out with wow. There were so many authors, so much wisdom, and at least forty fans in the audience on this, the first night of the 2010 NYC Teen Author Festival. This event was called From First to Final Draft, and indeed, authors read from their first and final drafts and talked about their writing and editing processes.

Eliot Shrefer, whom you may know as the author of the fantastic (and scary!) School for Dangerous Girls, read from his upcoming work, The Deadly Sister. To be honest, I didn’t settle in very well for his reading, because he gave these signs to David Levithan (author, editor, and event organizer extraordinaire). What I mean is … look for yourself:

david

Right. So as Eliot read from his first draft, David kept butting in with these signs. There was one with an X on it, meaning that David — in his editor hat — was cutting whatever Eliot was saying. There was one with a talky bubble, which David held up whenever he wanted to interject a thought of his own. And there was one, the one David holds here, that said “insert,” which usually meant David wanted to add a word that made the sentence more grammatical.

It was hilarious. Also? Scary. Because David was switching signs every few seconds, cutting and interjecting and inserting until Eliot’s work was whimpering on the floor. Here is what Eliot looked like as he read while David edited:

eliot

Eliot, by the way, is a fan of outines. “You’re actually driving a really large bus when you’re writing a novel,” he said, comparing an outline to a Pinto. (You have probably not seen a Pinto, but just think of it as a non-functional Smart Car from the 1970s.)

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The festival, it begins tomorrow!

Sunday, March 14th, 2010

Dearest readers,

I hope you haven’t forgotten that the NYC Teen Author Festival starts tomorrow. The first event will be a seminar called “First Draft to Final Draft – Talking About the Writing Process,” at 6 p.m. at the Tompkins Square Branch of the New York Public Library. Lots of cool writers will be there; full details are over at the FaceBook page, but here a few names jumped out at me: Daphne Grab, author of Alive and Well in Prague, New York — loved that book! — will be speaking. So will Natalie Standiford, whose recent book How to Say Goodbye in Robot is seriously awesome. Blake Nelson, one of my heroes, and the author of the 90s grunge rock masterpiece Girl, will also be on the panel. And so will a whole big bunch of other great authors.

I will be attempting to attend just about every event, and I’ll be taking photos and blogging about the events after the fact. So check back here late tomorrow night for an update.

And if you make it to the events, please do come over and introduce yourself! If anyone is interested in writing a guest post about the festival, please do e-mail me!

Much love,
brina

NYC Teen Author Festival

Friday, February 26th, 2010

nycteenauthorfestival Get out your calendars, my friends, for the NYC Teen Author Festival is upon us. It starts Monday, March 15, and just about every author you can think of will be there.

Libba Bray, Natalie Standiford, Barnabas Miller and Dan Ehrenraft will serenade us as their band, Tiger Beat, performs on March 18.

There will be workshops, and signings, and lots of YA wackiness. David Levithan, author and editor extraordinaire, has outdone himself. I scanned the list of events and almost passed out from the unbelievable awesomeness.

Everyone will be there. In addition to David and the members of Tiger Beat, you can expect to see John Green, E. Lockhart, Sarah Mlynowski, Barry Lyga, Diana Peterfreund, Melissa Walker, Sarah Dessen … and many, many others. More than I can list.

Suffice it to say, this will be the best YA week of the year. So book your flights and your hotel rooms, and check out the NYC Teen Author Festival Facebook page for detailed info on the who, what, when and where.

Hope to see you there!

Much love,
brina

Oct. 15 author event UES

Friday, October 9th, 2009

Check it out. Next Thursday, at Barnes and Noble on 86th and Lex, Michael Grant, Carrie Ryan, Scott Westerfeld. More info here.

And yes, I’ve got reviews coming for you soon. Thing is, I’ve spent the last month reading thousands of pages of trashy historical romance. Don’t worry. I’m almost done, and it will be a good five years (at least) before I walk the romance road again.

Seven thousand pages. Seven.

Teen Author reading tonight

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009

FYI:

A gaggle of teen authors will be doing their thing at the Jefferson Market Branch of the New York Public Library tonight. Six p.m., Sixth Avenue at 10th Street.

From the FaceBook page:

Micol and David Ostow: So Punk Rock
Elizabeth Scott: Love You Hate You Miss You
Delia Sherman: The Magic Mirror of the Mermaid Queen
Jennifer Smith: You Are Here
Suzanne Weyn: Distant Waves
Jake Wizner: Castration Celebration
Jessica Wollman: Second Skin

Of these books, I’ve only read Distant Waves, but I can tell you that David Levithan, the venerable author, editor and event organizer, has excellent taste. (Oh, and Distant Waves is awesome.)

Hopefully I’ll be able to snag copies of some of these books for you tonight, as well as taking pics and writing up the event for those of you who are not in New York or who are unable to make it to tonight’s reading.

But if you’re free, and you’re in or near NYC, please do come. It should be a blast!

PS. Elizabeth Scott is crazy prolific. I just read Something, Maybe, which debuted in April, and it turns out that Love You, Hate You, Miss You is her brand new book out this month. Wow!

Twilight invitation

Friday, November 14th, 2008

No, my friends, I am not inviting you to go see an all-star special screening of Twilight with me. This is because I myself have not received any such invitation.

HOWEVER, I am inviting you to send me your pictures. If you go to the film on opening night, e-mail me pics of the crowd. I want to see any and all wackiness, from lines extending down three blocks to people in vampire and werewolf outfits to … well, you get the idea. I’ll post the best pics here on YA New York. Please be sure to include you names (or your internet handles) and locations, so I can give you attribution. A short description wouldn’t go awry, either.

Now, it’s the weekend. I may or may not be attending one or more events this weekend, and I may or may not tell you about them come Monday. For now, everyone go re-read E. Lockhart’s The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks.

Much love,
brina

NYPL-a-palooza

Friday, August 22nd, 2008

Oh, kiddies. You missed a BIG night Wednesday. Big. Epic. Huge.

You know why? Not only were there six amazing authors reading from their books, but we were also graced with the presence of a celebrity guest. Yes, indeed, a woman so recognizable and so widely beloved that I fully expect you all to kick yourselves for not attending.

A pity you missed it, but I’m going to share it with you anyway. Ready? Pics inside! (more…)