Chicago-area folks: I’m doing an event tomorrow, April 21, in Glenview. I’ll be reading from Permanent Record, followed by a Q&A where I will be forced to answer your questions, even the embarrassing ones.
I remember once I did a reading for The Easy Hour at Barbara’s Bookstore at the old Wells St. location. The setting for The Easy Hour was the Bridgeport neighborhood of Chicago, and after I read an excerpt from the book, a man stood up and said, “How can you say there are Italians in Bridgeport? It’s Irish! Of course now there’s a lot of Polish people and…and…Hispanos…” His voice trailed off here, this master of race relations, reflecting on the melting pot of Chicago. This same guy later on asked, “Your book sounds like it’s a comedy. Do you find any redeeming value in comedy?” Sweating, I took a deep breath and said, “Next?”
At a reading I did for Unimaginable Zero Summer, this time at the old Borders that was on Michigan Ave. (sadly, my reminisces are peppered with phrases like, “the old bookstore that is no longer there”), I finished reading my excerpt and asked if there were questions. A lady asked about my influences in writing children’s books, whereby I had to explain that my book—from which I had just read—was not in fact a children’s book, but for adults.
At a reading I did at a Border’s in Madison, I sat at a table, waiting for people to show up. Customers walked by and asked me where the gardening books were. I directed them as best as I could and shared my tips on mulching roses. Three people eventually came. One of them was an elderly man who had been sent there by some friends of mine. He was their uncle and afterward we sat around and talked and he told me some incredible stories of when he served as a fighter pilot during World War II. I may have only sold 4 books (my husband felt sorry for me and bought one), but it was one of the best times I ever had at a signing.
I did an event once for my first book, Fat Bald Jeff, at the Printer’s Row Book Fair in Chicago. I was on a panel with a couple of really great writers, including John Searles. The woman who introduced us to the crowd, a harridan from NewCity Chicago who shall remain nameless, was the same person who interviewed me for her paper—an interview where 1) she arranged to call me at a certain time on a certain day, and then promptly forgot, making me wait around for hours until I finally called her, where she merely said, “Oh yeah, I forgot about this,” and 2) she lambasted my book. At Printers Row, she introduced John Searles and his book with well-deserved admiration, bordering on gushing, and then she turned to me and said, “And this is Leslie Stella, who seems to have written some sort of comedy.”
Someone recently asked me about “swag” I would have at this upcoming reading. What can I give away? I’m not good at this sort of marketing. I guess I can give away my business card, which doubles as a bookmark. I should have made cookies…
Anyway, there are more examples of the fun things people come up with at these events, but why not come and try to embarrass me yourself?
Sunday, April 21, 2:00 pm
Barbara’s Bookstore—The BookMarket
2651 Navy Blvd. in The Glen Town Center
Glenview, Illinois 60026
Reading and signing
