Category: being in public

Save the dates

Here’s the schedule of the book tour for my novel Necessary Errors. I’ll keep adding details of future events here as I find out about them, so this page will continue to have up-to-date information.

Williamsburg, November 21, 2013, 7:30pm.
Pete’s Candy Store. With Sarah Bruni.

For the record, these are the events that have already taken place.

Brooklyn, August 7, 2013 (Wednesday), 7pm.
Book Court.
163 Court Street, Brooklyn, NY.

Manhattan, August 12, 2013 (Monday), 7pm.
McNally-Jackson. In conversation with Lorin Stein.
52 Prince Street, New York, NY

San Francisco, August 14, 2013 (Wednesday), 6pm.
Book Passage.
1 Ferry Building, #42, San Francisco, CA.

Washington, September 21, 2013 (Saturday), 3:30pm.
Politics and Prose. With Anne Sward.
5015 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC.

Brooklyn, September 22, 2013 (Sunday), 11am.
Brooklyn Book Festival.
Borough Hall Courtroom, 209 Joralemon Street, Brooklyn, NY

Austin, September 26, 2013 (Thursday), 7pm.
Joynes Literary Series, University of Texas at Austin.
Joynes Reading Room, Carothers Residence Hall 007, 2501 Whitis Ave., Austin, TX 78712.
Note: Copies of my book will not be available for sale at this reading, because of university regulations, but feel free to bring one if you’d like it signed.

Bennington, October 2, 2013 (Wednesday), 7pm.
Bennington College. Franklin (a student house).
Bennington, VT

Manhattan, October 6, 2013 (Sunday), 7pm.
KGB Bar. With Kevin Baker.
85 East 4th St., New York, NY.

Boston, October 19, 2013 (Saturday), 12:30pm.
Boston Book Festival. With Christopher Castellani, Henriette Lazaridis Power, Russ Rymer, and Dawn Tripp (host).
The Hancock Room at the Boston Common Hotel & Conference Center

The dress I’ll be going to the party in

I’m pleased to introduce the cover to my forthcoming novel, Necessary Errors, which will be published by Penguin as a paperback original and an e-book in August. The cover is visible at the top of the right-hand column of this webpage—it’s the one in light blue. If you click on it, or if you direct your browser to steamthing.com/necessaryerrors, you’ll be led to a webpage for the book, hosted on this blog, which reprints the advance praise that a few early readers have been kind enough to send along.

Also, for the very curious, below is what the jacket for the advance reader’s copy looks like. It has what are known as French flaps, as the finished book will—though the finished book will look slightly different in other respects.

ARC jacket for Necessary Errors

The Counterpane

Angela Cockayne, Sleeping Sperm Whales: 19 sperm whales made from duvets

This morning you can find me online reading “The Counterpane,” chapter 4 of Moby-Dick. Ishmael wakes up in Queequeg’s arms, is startled to find his bedmate’s hard tomahawk between them, and is reminded of the time his step-mother caught him trying to go up the chimney.

The reading is part of the Moby-Dick Big Read, which invites 135 different readers—including Tilda Swinton, prime minister David Cameron, Chad Harbach, and Andrew Delbanco—to tackle a chapter of Herman Melville’s novel. The project is being organized by the writer Philip Hoare and the artist Angela Cockayne. Hoare is the author of The Whale, which recounts his lifelong, Melville-induced pursuit of the leviathan, and Cockayne, too, takes much inspiration from Melville’s novel (the photo above is of her work Sleeping Sperm Whales).

I feel very honored to take part. The Guardian notes that other readers include Benedict Cumberbarch, Will Self, and David Attenborough; the New York Times reports that John Waters and Stephen Fry are involved; and the Provincetown Wicked Local adds the names Fiona Shaw, Cerys Matthews, and Nathaniel Philbrick.