Appearances
AT LAST...I'm updating my listings. And coming soon, a much more updated listing page, and updated book pages, and updated everything. I have to confess I don't entirely understand how people find time to do daily blogs when I find it hard to keep this small entry up to date. But enough about that. I'm doing a reading WEDNESDAY MARCH 5TH at the Cornelia Street Cafe, in New York City. Here's the text from the announcement:
You are cordially invited to the 2nd installment of Cornelia Street's
FREE RANGE ** NONFICTION READING SERIES
Wednesday, March 5th, 2008
6:00 p.m.
Downstairs @ the Cornelia Street Cafe
$7 cover, includes one drink
Mira Ptacin, host
Please join us to launch NYC's freshest creative nonfiction reading series!
You ask, what is creative NONfiction (non fik shun)?
answer:
some say creative nonfiction is... not fiction
some say creative nonfiction is done by "showing and not telling"
some say "you know, like David Sedaris?"
the fact is, creative nonfiction is a fuzzy, pulpy hybrid literary genre that is difficult to define, so why not just find out for yourself?
Every first Wednesday of each month, Free Range will release onto Cornelia Street Cafe's stage supah-star writers and fascinating new literary talent in the NYC area, sans additives/preservatives.
Our March readers include:
Susan Orlean, author of several books including "The Orchid Thief" which inspired the film "Adaptation." Susan has been a staff writer at the New Yorker since 1992, and she is working on a book about dog actor Run Tin Tin.
as well the talented:
Adam Chandler
Mira Ptacin
June Eding
Barbara McGuire
and
Maris James
for more information, please email freerange.readings@gmail.com
Ithaca! Ithaca!(Remember that scene in 'Saturday Night Fever'? Or...well, never mind.) The point is I'm going to Ithaca Thursday, April 12th, 2007, to give a talk at Ithaca College. It's at 7:30 pm at Emerson Suites on the campus. For more information, you can email mgattine@ithaca.edu. I believe it's open to the public. I'll read a little but mostly I'm going to talk about the writing life (as it were) -- what I do, why I do it, how I do it. I've also got lots of other appearances coming up and I will diligently list them all as soon as I sit down with all the information.
I Refuse to Use the Too-Obvious 'My Own Private Idaho' Headline! even though it is very hard to resist! But, more to the point, I will be speaking and reading in Coeur d'Alene very soon -- October 20th, in fact -- so see here for details: http://http://www.idahohumanities.org/news/orlean.php Idaho is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been and also one of the most eccentric (years ago, I visited an all-nuclear town in Southern Idaho, which was a little unnerving...). I had once considered writing a piece just trying to describe its peculiar combination of hippies, reactionaries, ski bums, farmers, nuke-meisters, quiet people, and mountain men -- still on my To Do list, so maybe I'll do some research while I'm out there...
On the banks of the Susquehanna...hey, I did that without spellcheck! I'm heading to Pittsburgh soon -- October 9th, 2006, in fact -- to give a lecture and reading as part of the Drue Heinz lecture series. For more information, check http://www.pittsburghlectures.org/section.php?pageID=108 (I hope to take a detour through the Warhol Museum while I'm there, too -- a lifelong ambition of mine, which has been thwarted every time I've been to Pittsburgh in the last decade or so. Watch out Warhol! Here I come!)
More Appearances»General news
Bad dog (food)!.... I have been following the tainted dog food scandal with interest and horror -- the cynicism of the wheat gluten manufacturers in China (who were adding plastic scrap to the gluten because it makes the gluten appear to have higher protein content) is just appalling, and the idea that your pet would be killed by someone's greedy manipulation of their food is quite depressing.
Last year, my friend Sally and I wrote THROW ME A BONE, a cookbook for dog food, treats, and snacks -- partly for fun, and partly because I had gotten very leery about commercial dog food -- not because I'm psychic and could foresee the Chinese gluten scandal, but because years ago, when I switched my dog (my now long-gone, much-beloved Irish setter) from supermarket dog food to high quality stuff, her health completely changed for the better. I'm not a knee-jerk skeptic, but I really did see in practice how much it affected her to be on a really healthy diet.
So when I got Cooper, I decided to start him on good food, and he's a lean, mean, canine machine. I certainly don't cook everything for him -- I wish I had the time to do that, but I don't -- so I give him very good food that I get mail-order, and make him food when I can.
This is all a preamble to some good news, which is that at the end of May Simon and Schuster is re-releasing THROW ME A BONE in a quality paperback edition. Look for it in stores, or you can click through here on the picture of the book and it will lead you to Amazon.
Rin Tin Tinning...full-time now. I'm spending the winter in California doing my last bit of reporting for my Rin Tin Tin book, which gets more and more interesting as time goes on. I spent the afternoon at the house that belonged to Larry Trimble and Jane Murfin, the people who owned and trained Rin Tin Tin's rival, Strongheart. The house was modest, which surprised me, since Trimble and Murfin were very successful. Then I was informed that the house I was in was actually the dog house, and Trimble and Murfin lived in a grander place just up the hill...
California here I...come! I'm heading west for six weeks (until December 22) to finish reporting on my Rin Tin Tin book. I won't be doing any formal appearances or readings while I'm out there, but if any of you are Rin Tin Tin collectors and have interesting things to show me or tell me, please, please send me an email and I will be in touch. . .
Perhaps you've noticed...how out-of-date my website is. Shame, shame! I have been totally and utterly remiss in not putting in 1)new pieces to read 2)new lecture/reading dates 3)new reviews, interviews 4)new, new, new anything. But I do have a legitimate excuse -- I've been busy! My bouncing baby boy has been running me ragged, so my writing has slowed to a trickle and my website updating has slowed to...what's slower than a trickle? A drizzle, perhaps. In any case, I promise to update the site, post some new pieces, and give you a rundown on my upcoming appearances in the next few days. Thanks for your patience...
More General news»Interviews
I had a great time in Portland! What a great city -- and what a wonderful space (Space Gallery) for a reading. Anyway, here's a link to an interview I did with the local paper before the reading: http://entertainment.mainetoday.com/news/060115authorq&a.shtml
Edgy! The University of California Davis publishes a really smart, interesting journal called Writing on the Edge: A Journal about Writing and Teaching Writing . I did an interview with editor John Boe last summer, which is now available on line at http://wwwenglish.ucdavis.edu/compos/woe/default.html. It was one of the best times I've ever had being interviewed -- more like having a conversation with a very intelligent, nice person who had read a lot of my work, rather than the typical 'interview', so I think you'll find it interesting if you want to hear what I really sound like when I'm having a conversation. By the way, John's wife knitted me an adorable baby hat (I was about 8 months pregnant at the time of the interview) and I never properly thanked her. So while I have the chance --Thank you, John's Wife! The hat is beautiful!!
Oh Canada!A few days ago, I spoke with Paula Shackleton, who runs a great website called Book Buffet, which is full of interesting stuff about writers and writing. The interview is now up on her site, and you can read it (and listen to it as a podcast -- very modern, eh?) at http://www.bookbuffet.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/news.article/article_ID/AF24C41C-F68C-43BB-B59D354E17EDA7A9/index.html at your earliest convenience, such as, for instance, right now.
Loose talk...I had a busy December, chatting about my new book (My Kind of Place) everywhere and every chance I could. One of the most interesting interviews was on the Speakeasy Show on WFMU in New York-- here's the link for you to hear the results: http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/SE
More Interviews»Reviews
Flower Power is Ted Conover's review of The Orchid Thief in The New York Times.
Book review of The Orchid Thief at Salon.
More Reviews»For more information, interviews, and news, you can search Google.
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