Can't tell what I'm holding up? I'm so excited, I just had to post this anyway, even if I can't figure out how to do a reverse mirror image. I am holding up my copy of the Girls Write Now Anthology: Where We Live. It was for sale yesterday at the last GWN event of the 2009-2010 year, the final CHAPTERS reading.We had a packed house last night. Meg and I got to the Center for Fiction on East 47th Street early, impressed with the oncoming slew of people. We were very happy to be there as audience members, having read our own piece at the May event. We could sit back and enjoy. Meg was effervescent and glowing - finished with her high school classes, her prom, voted as salutatorian at her graduation next week, and soon-to-be college-bound.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie read from her new collection of stories, The Thing Around Your Neck. Her West African accent was as musical and captivating as her prose. I could have listened to her all night, but I had to settle for buying her book. The mentee/mentor pieces were beautiful and thought-provoking. Inspiring.
I snuck downstairs to buy my books (whose proceeds will support GWN) and am still marveling at how well the Anthology is put together. I have a short memoir piece that apears near the beginning of the book, and Meg wrote A History of Widges, the pre-story to the piece we wrote for our reading in May. The only faux pas is in my bio, which I had written last summer, with the wrong pub date and the wrong title for EDGES!
Tomorrow is my birthday and father's day. I would like to have time to reflect on both, so hope to see you then!
