Just bought my Festival of Books tickets from Ticketmaster (which was a painful chore – and they added a fee this year). Anyway, here’s what I’m going to see: On Saturday, I’m going to “First Novels” – mainly for Joshua Ferris and Marisha Pessl, then racing over to see a panel on “Jumping off the Page” with Gary Shteyngart. The real humdinger is at 1 p.m., called “Modern Myth”. Get this: Aimee Bender, Ben Ehrenreich, Deborah Eisenberg, and Steve Erickson, moderated by David L. Ulin. What a crowd, what a crowd.
On Sunday I’m seeing Vikram Chandra and Gina Nahai at “Novel Landscapes”, and going to “Delving Within” (who makes up these panel names, anyway?) for Sherman Alexie and Judith Freeman. Later on, Brad Kessler and Michael Silverblatt are at “Outside the Margins” and then I’m wrapping the weekend up with “Lives on the Edge” with Percival Everett and Janet Fitch.
Lots of names (and lots of names also in the panels that I didn’t mention) and lots of fun. If you recognize me at one of the panels, say hi, or if you want to seek me out, I’ll be one of the guys at the USC booth promoting our new literary journal, the Southern California Review.
