Something happened by accident that turned out to be the best thing. No one had name tags, and it was kind of intimidating to go up to a group that was already talking and horn in.
But! I wanted to meet author Stewart O'Nan. The only photo I've seen of him is with him wearing a baseball cap. So I went from group to group introducing myself, shaking hands, and telling them I was looking for Stewart, and asking men if they were Stewart.
I never did find him.
But I did find:
- David Corbett, a mystery author who I was last at an event with in Vegas (let me just say, not a reading town). He is really funny, talking about how his city's slogan should be be "Come for the crack, stay for the whores!"
- Lynda Barry. Lynda Barry, people! She draws the funniest comics, sad and edgy, too. For years I had one called "Think Twice" that showed the drawbacks of not-so-good ideas, including one leering guy saying "You must give yourself again to Ramone!" Linda and I had a long talk about Vitamin D and inflamation.
- I even met a Stuart. Stuart Cohen. His book, The Army of the Republic, was reviewed in the NYT. And he imports cashmere and lives in Juneau and rolls his eyes when you say Palin.
- Joshua Henkin, who wrote Matrimony, a NYT Notable Book. It seemed like he had worked with every famous author who also teaches that there is. Oh, if I lived in Brooklyn, I could know them, too!
- Alexandre Poussin, a French filmmaker and author of Afria Trek, who spent 39 months walking across Africa. It's now the subject of a PBS special. He wore a scarf in a debonair fashion and now lives in Paris.
- Two guys who work for Deschutes Brewing, which provided the brew. They were nice and wanted to know what the whole thing was about. And neither one was named Stewart.
- Blake Nelson! And everyone was right, he is nice! We talked about tennis and skateboarding.
and many, many more! I felt so literary!
Next party I go to, I'm looking for Stewart O'Nan.
