While I’m mostly spending this spring trying to finish my new novel (due out from Riverhead in the summer of 2014), I’ve also got some very cool things on the docket. For example:
-I’m teaching a fiction workshop at the Center for Fiction, Manhattan’s only free-standing monument to the art of making things up. There’s still time to sign up! Please join us if you’re so inclined. Here’s more info about the Center, and here’s the link to sign up.
-If you’re like me, you spent approximately every day of your youth glued to the pages of the latest installment of the Babysitters Club. I am so excited to be on a panel with Ann M. Martin this April, at Smith College. Swoon.
-Grub Street’s Muse and the Marketplace! Another super cool one! I’ve heard such good things about it, and I’m excited to participate. Live in Boston, or traveling for the conference? Sign up here!
I’ve also got a gorgeous new jacket for the paperback of Laura Lamont, which I will share as soon as I can. Now, let’s all go back to cleaning out our closets and baking carrot cake. (What else were you doing this weekend?)
What are you doing tonight at 7pm EST? Do you secretly not like to leave the house? Me neither! I have the perfect event tonight. Lauren Groff and I will chat on the phone, and you can listen in from the comfort of your own couch/bed/bathtub/yacht.
Call us! It’s like a party line, I think. We’ll talk about Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures and lots of other stuff, too.
(Round two of this chat, in which I grill Lauren about her excellent, excellent novel Arcadia, is on February 6th.)
There is little in life that I love more than giving presents. It is so much fun to shop for someone you love, and then to wrap it up and write them a little note and hand it over, feeling both sheepish and excited. It’s also exciting to know people who have produced truly excellent things this year, and to help them find good homes. So! Emma’s Super Awesome Gift Guide, below.
1. MONDAYS handmade ceramics: Because those plates from Ikea really aren’t good enough anymore.
3. Unusual Creatures by Michael Hearst: Because you know an 8-12 yr old boy and have no idea what to buy him, but do know that he would be super into reading about wombat poop.
4. Arc of LA’s hand-printed bags: Because it’s embarrassing to still keep your makeup in a ziploc baggie under your sink. (I am talking about myself here. I bought myself one of these yesterday and am NEVER LOOKING BACK.)
I’ve just returned from my book tour–what a beautiful country this is, with vintage dress shops and wild animals and bookstores and cellists and wine and friends. I’ve posted pictures throughout over on my Tumblr, which you can see here, and below I will paste a video of me singing ‘Que Sera Sera’ with the Magnetic Fields, as we did on stage every night this week. It was a pleasure, as always.
It’s been a busy fall–I’ve been on and off the road for months, and I leave again in a few days. I’m really excited about the next leg of my tour, which includes the Wisconsin Book Festival and four dates opening for my friends The Magnetic Fields. If you live in Detroit, Pittsburgh, or DC, get your tickets here!
But that’s not all! There are lots other of exciting things happening in November. Here’s a brief list of things I’m looking forward to this month.
-Voting! I really can’t wait. Do you know where your polling station is? Things are all messed up in the Northeast because of Hurricane Sandy’s path, so make sure you know where to go.
-The Vampire Diaries! Soapy, ridiculous, and just the ticket. Availble on Netflix Instant.
Are you in a book club? Me too! I love book clubs! Is your book club interested in reading Laura Lamont and talking to me about it via Skype or telephone or video chat or, if you’re in the NYC area, in person? This offer is also available, of course, for book clubs facilitated by bookstores! We can talk about anything you like. But first you have to invite me!
Send me an email at emmastraublovesbookclubs at gmail dot com, and we’ll make a plan. Looking forward to it!
This wonderful picture appears in this Sunday’s NYT Magazine’s Inspiration issue, with an accompanying profile that talks all about me and Jennifer Jones. Read it here! So, so, so thrilling.
My interview with Jacki Lyden at All Things Considered just aired, much to my great, great delight. If you missed the broadcast, listen to it here! There’s also a brief excerpt of Laura Lamont‘s first chapter on the NPR website.
I am having so much fun on my book tour, and I’m taking lots and lots of pictures, like the one above, taken last night in Door County. If you would like to see all these wacky photos, slide on over to my Tumblr, which can be found here.
