Skylight Books Author Reading Series

A Fortunate Age (Scribner)

Joanna Smith Rakoff will be here to read from and sign the new-in-paperback edition of her acclaimed debut novel, A Fortunate Age.

"A wonderful, funny and spot-on portrait of my clumsy generation that brings to mind such hallmarks as Mary McCarthy's The Group, Jay McInerney's Brightness Falls, and Claire Messud's The Emperor's Children." -- Gary Shteyngart, author of Absurdistan and The Russian Debutante's Handbook

Joanna Smith Rakoff has written for The New York Times, Time Out New York, the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, Vogue, O, The Oprah Magazine, and other publications. She holds a B.A. from Oberlin College, an M.A. from University College, London, and an M.F.A. from Columbia University. She lives in New York with her husband, son and daughter.

THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS APRIL 12, 2010.

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Canteen Magazine

Joyce Maynard and Dana Goodyear will read from their pieces in Canteen Magazine. While the reading takes place, aspiring writers will get to compete with an established writer as Dana Goodyear will face off against two audience members in a flash fiction writing contest, using an assigned topic.  When the readings from Canteen are over, all three short pieces will be read out anonymously, and the audience will pick the winner.  Prizes for all!

Canteen redefines the literary magazine by asking accomplished writers to reveal their creative process, and pairing that insight with the best new work in fiction, poetry, art, and photography—all designed to look more like a fine art book than a dusty journal.

Joyce Maynard is the author of many books, including the novel To Die For (look for her in the movie adaptation of this book, in which she plays the role of Nicole Kidman’s attorney) and the best-selling memoir, At Home in the World. Her novel, The Usual Rules — a story about surviving loss — has been a favorite of book club audiences of all ages, and was chosen one of the ten best books for young readers for 2003. Mother of three grown children, she spends half her time in Mill Valley, California, and the other half in Lake Atitlan, Guatemala, where, in addition to pursuing her own work, she runs writing workshops.

Dana Goodyear is a staff writer at the New Yorker, where she has worked since 1999, and the author of Honey and Junk (W. W. Norton), a collection of poems.  Her work has appeared in many magaznies, journals, and periodicals, including The New York Times, the New York Review of Books, the Los Angeles Times, the Yale Review, the Colorado Review, Open City, Slate, and Vogue.  She lives in Los Angeles.

THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS APRIL 12, 2010.

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Alone With You: Stories (Simon & Schuster)

The acclaimed author of The God of War will be here to read from her new short story collection, Alone with You.

Marisa Silver made her fiction debut in The New Yorker when she appeared in the inaugural “Debut Fiction” issue. Her collection of stories, Babes in Paradise, was a New York Times Notable Book and a Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year. She is also the author of the novels No Direction Home and The God of War, which was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in the fiction category. She is the winner of the O. Henry Prize, and her work has been included in The Best American Short Stories as well as other anthologies. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two sons.

Photo of Marisa Silver by Bader Howar.

THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS APRIL 14, 2010.

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Name Me (Fortunate Daughter Press)

Join us for the launch of a new poetry chapbook by Kim Noriega and a party celebrating the recently established poetry press Fortunate Daughter, whose publisher and editor is Cecilia Woloch! This event will features readings by both Noriega and Woloch.  Both chapbooks currently available from Fortunate Daughter (Noriega's just-published Name Me, as well as last year's An Urgent Request, by Sarah Luczaj) will be available for purchase.

Kim Noriega teaches poetry to adults and teens in recovery homes and public libraries, and facilitates family literacy programs for low-literate adults with small children, to help them break the cycle of intergenerational low literacy.  She reads her work locally

and abroad.  Her poem, "Heaven, 1963" was featured in Ted Kooser’s  syndicated column, "American Life in Poetry."  Her poem, "Name Me" was a finalist for the 2009 Joy Harjo Poetry Prize.   Kim lives in San Diego with her husband, Ernie, and close to their daughter, Leiha.

Cecilia Woloch is the author of four award-winning collections of poems, most recently Narcissus, winner of the Tupelo Press 2006 Snowbound Series Chapbook Award. Carpathia, newly available from BOA Editions Ltd., is her fifth book. She is currently a lecturer in the creative writing program at the University of Southern California, as well as the founding director of The Paris Poetry Workshop. She spends a part of each year traveling, and in recent years has divided her time between Los Angeles, California; Atlanta, Georgia; Shepherdsville, Kentucky; Paris, France; and a small village in the Carpathian mountains of southeastern Poland.

THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS APRIL 3, 2010.

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The Song Is You (Random House)

We're thrilled to have Arthur Phillips here to read from and sign the new-in-paperback novel The Song Is You, one of our Staff Favorites from 2009!

“One of the best writers in America.”—Washington Post Book World

“Enthralling . . . brilliant . . . triumphant.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

Arthur Phillips is the internationally bestselling author of The Song is You, The Egyptologist, and Prague, which was a New York Times Notable Book and winner of the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction. He lives in New York with his wife and two sons.

THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS ON MARCH 31, 2010.

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A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table (Simon & Schuster)

Creator of the popular and award-winning food blog Orangette, Molly Wizenberg will be here to discuss her new book, A Homemade Life.

"Molly Wizenberg writes with wit, style, and heart. Her delicious recipes are a special gift to every reader—and home cook." --Barbara Fairchild, Editor-in-Chief, Bon Appétit Magazine

Molly Wizenberg is a freelance food writer and the creator of Orangette. She writes the monthly column "Cooking Life" in Bon Appétit, and her writing has also been featured in Modern Bride, Town & Country, and on NPR.org.  She has degrees in human biology, French, and cultural anthropology, but in 2005, she left the world of academia to write full time.

THIS EVENT WAS RECORDED LIVE AT SKYLIGHT BOOKS MARCH 30, 2010.

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