The New Yorker Festival rocks out unapologetically nerd-style all weekend. Many of the events cost, but I managed to chat with (and get my books signed by) many of my favorite authors for free.
My man, Tobias Wolff. I asked him to sprinkle some of his writerly magic into the books that he signed for me.
Rough day, Toby? Talk to me; I'm here to listen.
The adorable Michael, my old buddy from Housing Works joined me for book signing and gossip. He still owes me lunch!
I went back for Toby seconds to have him sign Michael's book.
Less giddy-inducing, the strange and unsettling Joyce Carol Oates.
Nobody seemed to care that Edie Falco was registering people to vote, but when Susan Sarandon showed up, we swarmed.
Pretty sure everyone at the Festival had already signed up to vote, so we asked for autographs instead. Today Susan Sarandon turns 62. Happy birthday, Susan! 62 has never looked so hot!
Susan's hubbie, Tim Robbins joined her to celebrate her birthday.
Michael thinks Tim Robbins is one of the sexiest men on screen.
I took a break from the Festival to enjoy a fresh OJ from Billy's Bakery and a trip to 192 Books. While I was sitting outside Billy's, a stranger asked me to watch his four dogs, including this guy Bearley, and Prozac, Paxil, and the one pictured below (whose name I forgot). The guy wanted to talk my ear off about French Bulldogs, which was interesting at first, but then I had to cut him off so that I could make it to Alice Munro's signing.
My favorite of the four dogs. She was shy and independent, but also sweetly curious.
I could have thrown up from excitement all over Alice Munro.
She seemed much more fragile than I expected.
She barely said a word, but I blathered on about how much I adore her. Of all the authors at the festival, I'm pretty sure Alice Munro hated the crowds the most.
Sherman Alexie waits in line to have Alice Munro sign his books.
My stack of freshly signed books.
And I'm anticipating more fun:
Rachel Getting Married this afternoon and a free ticket to Stereolab tonight!
p.s. Speaking of literary snobs-- in this case grammarians-- check out this fascinating attempt to diagram Sarah Palin's sentences.
