McNally Robinson NYC

Author of 1940 (Two Dollar Radio)
Jay Neugeboren’s first novel in over two decades, 1940 is a significant return to full length fiction by a master, published by new independent press Two Dollar Radio. Based on the life of the only Jew for whom Hitler ever personally arranged departure from Europe – his childhood physician, Eduard Bloch – the novel follows a fictionalized Bloch and his involvement with a woman and her son in New York, weaving mystery, history, romance, and medicine into a thought-provoking whole.

Readings from Once Upon a Cuento (Curbstone Press)
With editor Lyn Miller-Lachmann
And contributor Sergio Troncoso
Once Upon A Cuento is a collection of stories for young people by contemporary Latina/o authors, exploring heritage and history, identity, language, and relationships from the perspective of Mexican-American, Cuban-American, Dominican-American, and Puerto Rican writers. Individual stories explore such challenges facing young people as making do with little money, the process of moving to a new country and learning English, and one’s relationship to animals and to the natural world. Each story contains a short introduction that offers historical, cultural, and biographical information. Young people in fifth grade and above are invited to join us for readings of the stories in English and dialogue with the writers in Spanish.

With editor Ravi Shankar
And poets Sarah Gambito, Timothy Liu, and Vijay Seshadri
In a time when so much of the American understanding of Asia and the Middle East is rooted in politics, we need a broader knowledge of the artistic offerings of the region. In Language for a New Century, editors Tina Chang, Nathalie Handal and Ravi Shankar have assembled an exhaustive selection of poems from fifty-nine different countries and territories in this vast and often nebulous region, grouped thematically rather than geographically for a varied, rich and experiential portrait of the so often over-simplified East. Join poets Timothy Liu, Sarah Gambito and Vijay Seshadri along with editor Ravi Shankar for a reading and a discussion on the proliferation of poetics and limitations of identity politics around the world.

Author of Bad Moon Rising: How Reverend Moon Created the Washington Times, Seduced the Religious Right, and Built and American Kingdom (Poli Point Press)
Hosted by Mark Crispin Miller
On March 23, 2004, Reverend Sun Myung Moon was proclaimed “King of Peace” at a coronation ceremony held in the Dirksen Senate Office Building and attended by twelve U.S. lawmakers. John Gorenfeld broke the story. With original reporting and new information available nowhere else, Bad Moon Rising introduces readers to the bizarre world of Moon, founder of the Unification Church and ultra-conservative owner of the Washington Times and United Press International. Author and activist Mark Crispin Miller introduces Gorenfeld, who uncovers Moon’s support for Republican operatives and politicians (including the Bush family) and reveals a hidden saga of political corruption and megalomania.

Ed Park, author of Personal Days (Random House)
In conversation with Random House editor Julia Cheiffetz
New York author Ed Park, founding editor of the The Believer magazine and publisher of the New-York Ghost, creates a a modern-day masterpiece of office life with his debut novel Personal Days. Following an idiosyncratic group of coworkers in a Kafka-esque office as their company mysteriously unravels, Personal Days nails cubicle culture and the peculiar blend of dread, ennui, and romance that characterize life in the corporate working world. Park talks with his editor Julia Cheiffetz about the literature of the workday world and their own working relationship.

Author of The Outlander (Ecco / HarperCollins Publishers)
Toronto-based author Gil Adamson’s debut novel The Outlander (a McNally Robinson staff pick) has been compared to Cormac McCarthy and Cold Mountain for its rapturous storytelling and powerful language. The story of a woman fleeing the law and her in-laws after killing her husband in the Canadian West of 1903, the novel weaves a tale of suspense with a searing portrait of one woman’s bid for survival. Join us for a reading and discussion with a talented new writer.

Unglue those glazed little eyes from the big screen. Flipping pages is more fun than flipping channels and we’ve got millions of pages at McNally Robinson. Children’s author Yvonne Brooks will read exciting stories about singing, dancing, and making music. Kids will be tapping their feet and chanting, “No more TV, pass another book, please.” When Olivia Forms a Band (Ian Falconer), aspiring musicians will learn how to transform domestic spaces into musical places; in Mole Music (David McPhail), kids discover that sharing music can change the world; and Drumbeat in Our Feet (Keeler and Leitao) will inspire kids to dance in the aisles. After Storytime, kids will create, tune up, and take home their own musical instruments. Come to the bright red and blue reading rug in the children’s section of McNally Robinson Booksellers. All materials provided. Ages 3 to 7.

Beloved design company Paul Frank has chosen the multi-talented, prolific musician Andrew W.K. to present their first-ever bedtime story, Only In Dreams, with monkey mascot Julius alongside to autograph copies. Kids of all ages and their parents are welcome to come hear Andrew read and speak about the importance of reading and the arts. For every copy of Only In Dreams purchased at McNally Robinson, Paul Frank and Chronicle will donate a new book and match the sale with a monetary contribution to First Book, which gives children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books. And, bring your autographed copy of Only In Dreams to the after party at The Paul Frank Store New York and get 20% off anything that makes hitting the sack a bit more exciting.

Author of The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood (Spiegel & Grau)
New York writer Ta-Nehisi Coates creates an exceptional father-son story with his memoir The Beautiful Struggle: the story of his father, Paul Coates, his brother Bill, and their childhood in inner-city Baltimore. Paul Coates was a Vietnam vet who rolled with the Black Panthers, an autodidact who launched a publishing company in his basement dedicated to telling the true history of African civilization, and he worked at Howard University so his sons could attend for free. With a remarkable ability to reimagine both the lost world of his father’s generation and the terrors and wonders of his own youth, Coates offers readers a small and beautiful epic about boys trying to become men in black America and beyond.

Shirley Abbott, author of The Future of Love (Algonquin Books)
In conversation with Algonquin editor Elisabeth Scharlatt
The ongoing Author/Editor series brings writers and editors together for a conversation about the process of creation, offering insights into a book that go far beyond the traditional reading event. Set in New York in 2001, Shirley Abbott’s debut novel The Future of Love exposes the inner lives and the tangled relationships of eight characters—before and after New York’s tragedy—and forces both them and the reader to see the world in a new way. This evening, Abbott will talk with her editor at Algonquin, Elisabeth Scharlett, about the unique challenges and rewards of ensemble fiction, independent publishing, and writing about 9/11.

With editor Todd Robinson
And contributing authors Charlie Stella, Jordan Harper and Sam Edwards
Call us sick and twisted, but we love Todd Robinson’s Thuglit (so much so that we regularly feature the Thug Picks in our mystery section). Now our favorite online magazine of down-and-dirty crime writing has come to print with a brass-knuckled anthology, Hardcore Hardboiled, and McNally Robinson is honored (or afraid not to?) host a kick-ass coming out party. Tonight Todd and his cadre of hooligans read choice selections from Hardcore Hardboiled, as well as engaging in behavior that you won’t (hopefully) find at the average book party.

Taught by Porochista Khakpour, author of Sons and Other Flammable Objects (Grove/Atlantic)
This hour-long free seminar from writing school Gotham Writers Workshop is taught by professional writers on different writing topics each month. This month’s workshop on creative writing is taught by Porochista Khakpour, author of the highly praised debut novel Sons and Other Flammable Objects, who has also taught at Johns Hopkins University and Hofstra University. Khakpour will use short lectures to explain several elements of creative writing , and participants will be invited to take part in brief writing exercises and discuss the elements of craft that go into great writing.

Julia Calfee, photographer of Inside the Chelsea Hotel (powerHouse)
Ed Hamilton, author of Legends of the Chelsea Hotel: Living with Artists and Outlaws in New York’s Rebel Mecca (Da Capo)
Legends of the Chelsea Hotel reveals the stories behind the hotel’s closed doors; author Ed Hamilton, who has lived at the Chelsea for almost a dozen years, provides intimate portraits of the artists who have called it home. Julia Calfee’s work has been exhibited in museums and galleries in France, the UK, Italy, Belgium, Spain, and the US. Join us for a slideshow, discussion, and signing with two Chelsea Hotel residents.

Josh Ozersky, author of The Hamburger: A History (Yale University Press)
Steve Fraser, author of Wall Street: America’s Dream Palace (Yale University Press)
This monthly series hosted by author and activist Mark Crispin Miller features authors whose books tackle political and public issues from a stance outside the mainstream. Miller edits Yale’s Icons of America series: short works on the image of America through the lens of a single iconic individual, event, object, or cultural phenomenon. Tonight he talks with series contributors Josh Ozersky, who unfolds the surprising significance of the hamburger as an American icon, and Steve Fraser, who recounts the colorful history of America’s complicated relationship with Wall Street.

Author of The Political Mind: Why You Can’t Understand 21st-Century American Politics with an 18th-Century Brain (Viking)
Hosted by Mark Crispin Miller
In The Political Mind, George Lakoff (author of Don’t Think of an Elephant) explains why a great number of Americans vote against their own interests. As long as progressive politicians and activists persist in believing that people use an objective system of reasoning to decide on their politics, the Democrats will continue to lose elections. Lakoff will be introduced by author and activist Mark Crispin Miller.

Author of The End of Manners (Pantheon)
Author and screenwriter Francesca Marciano (author of Casa Rossa) was recently in Afghanistan doing research for an Italian film script. The End of Manners is a novel of men, women and war set in the Afghanistan of journalists and mercenaries, NGO workers and international contractors.

Benjamin Taylor, author of The Book of Getting Even (Steerforth Press)
With readings by Peter Cameron, Amy Hempel, and Binnie Kirschenbaum
In this novel set in 1970s America, a rabbi’s son, who is a budding astronomer, falls in love with another family. Philip Roth called The Book of Getting Even “among the most original novels I have read in recent years,” and numerous fellow authors share his regard for Taylor’s work. Fiction writers Peter Cameron (Someday this Pain Will Be Useful To You), Amy Hempel (Collected Stories), and Binnie Kirschenbaum (An Almost Perfect Moment) will read from the novel and celebrate Taylor’s achievement.

Amy Boaz, author of A Richer Dust
Chris Knopf, author of Head Wounds
Robin Messing, author of Serpent in the Garden of Dreams
The ongoing Indie Press Series highlights the work of great small and independent publishers. The Permanent Press is an award-winning indie founded in 1978 in Sag Harbor, and three of its authors read tonight. A Richer Dust, Amy Boaz’s first novel is based on the life of English painter Dorothy Brett, from her aristocratic roots in Victorian London to her artistic maturity in New Mexico. In Chris Knopf’s third Sam Acquillo mystery, Head Wounds, Sam finds himself in an unusual situation: instead of searching for a killer, he is suspected of being one. Robin Messing’s first novel, Serpent in the Garden of Dreams, is narrated by Tildy Glick, a young woman who has suffered from the effects of growing up in a dysfunctional family.

Nancy Horan, author of Loving Frank (Ballantine)
In conversation with Ballantine editor Susanna Porter
The ongoing Author/Editor series brings writers and editors together for a conversation about the process of creation, offering insights into a book that go far beyond the traditional reading event. Nancy Horan’s best-selling debut novel Loving Frank delves into the life of legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright and his relationship with Mamah Borthwick Cheney, whose husband commissioned Wright to design their home. Horan will talk with her editor Susanna Porter about architecture, fiction, and love.

Authors of Drawing Words and Writing Pictures (First Second Books)
Drawing Words and Writing Pictures is a course on comics creation, and class is in session as its two Brooklyn-based creators offer an interactive evening of presentation, sketching, and workshop instruction. Jessica Abel is the author of the short-fiction omnibus series Artbabe, the graphic novel La Perdida and a new slacker vampire comic, Life Sucks. Matt Madden is a comics creator and teacher at New York’s School of Visual Arts. He is the creator of the graphic novels Black Candy, Odds Off, and A Fine Mess, and of the comics theory book 99 Ways to Tell a Story. He is the co-editor (with Jessica Abel) of the Best American Comics series.

Roxana Robinson, author of Cost (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
In conversation with Farrar, Straus & Giroux editor Sarah Crichton
The ongoing Author/Editor series brings writers and editors together for a conversation about the process of creation, offering insights into a book that go far beyond the traditional reading event. Roxana Robinson is the author of three novels and two short-story collections, and her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, and Vogue. In her novel Cost, Robinson tackles addiction and explores its effects on the bonds of family. Tonight she speaks with her editor Sarah Crichton about the challenges and rewards of fiction.

Author of How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone (Grove/Atlantic)
When debut novelist Saša Stanišić was just 14, he was forced to flee to Germany from his native Bosnia-Herzegovina during the Bosnian War. Now 29, Stanišić draws on his own experience of war in his novel How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone, a tale of family, exile, and childhood resilience in wartime Bosnia. This book has been a literary phenomenon in Germany, and will be published in 27 languages.

David Belisle, photographer of R.E.M: Hello (Chronicle)
with Michael Stipe of R.E.M.
Over the past six years, photographer David Belisle traveled with the band R.E.M., and captured their on- and off-stage lives with unprecedented access. His new book R.E.M: Hello has 175 color and black and white photographs, with handwritten captions by the band and an introduction by Michael Stipe. Belisle will appear with R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe for this exclusive book signing. Please note: this event is a signing only, not a reading. Only copies of the book purchased at McNally Robinson will be signed. Call (212) 274-1160 or click here to pre-order your copy of R.E.M: Hello from McNally Robinson.

Author of The Summer of Naked Swim Parties (Harper Perennial)
Jessica Anya Blau’s debut novel The Summer of Naked Swim Parties tells the story of one girl’s coming of age in 1970’s Southern California: a world that is peopled by hippies, surfers, first loves, catty girlfriends, and eccentric nudist parents who throw naked swim parties in the backyard pool. Madison Smart Bell writes, “You may think you’ve heard this story before, but no one tells it as wittily, winningly, wisely and well as Jessica Anya Blau.”

Author of The Size of the World (W. W. Norton)
New York writer Joan Silber was a finalist for the National Book Award and The Story Prize for Ideas of Heaven. Her new novel The Size of the World uses a similarly interlocking story structure: travelers, colonials, immigrants, and returned ex-pats meet or pass one another, in narratives spanning lifetimes. Set in wartime Vietnam, Thailand, Mexico, Sicily, and contemporary America, Silber’s expansive and intimate work reaches for an understanding of life on our planet.

Wendy Lee, author of Happy Family (Black Cat)
In conversation with Black Cat editor Jamison Stoltz
The ongoing Author/Editor series brings writers and editors together for a conversation about the process of creation, offering insights into a book that go far beyond the traditional reading event. Wendy Lee’s debut novel Happy Family is the story of the relationship between a Chinese immigrant and an adopted Chinese girl, and addresses the very real and moving emotions behind the hot-button topic of adoption. Lee will speak with her editor Jamison Stoltz about ethnicity, family, and cultural issues in contemporary fiction.

Joseph O’Neill, author of Netherland (Pantheon)
In conversation with Pantheon editor Deborah Garrison
Please note: this event begins at 6:30 instead of the usual 7:00.
Netherland is the story of a European man living in Manhattan after 9/11, with two troubled loves: for his wife, and for his adopted country. New York-based writer Joseph O’Neill has written two other novels and a family history, and writes regularly for The Atlantic Monthly. O’Neill speaks with his editor Deborah Garrison about contemporary fiction and the editorial process.

Author of Sharp Teeth (HarperCollins)
In Toby Barlow’s original, sexy debut novel Sharp Teeth, an ancient race of werewolves is thriving in southern California and preying on the down-and-out to join their pack. These modern-day hybrids change from Rolex watch-wearing humans to bloodthirsty canines in a matter of shuddering seconds, and they’re leaving a bloody trail as they battle for control of the city’s underbelly of organized crime and drugs. Barlow reads from his highly acclaimed novel-in-verse.

Author of Closer to Fine (Kensington)
Introduction by Simon Van Booy
In this debut novel about a young woman putting her life back together after the death of her brother, Meri Weiss explores hope after heartbreak, and the ways that those we love can make us whole again. Weiss is introduced by her former classmate Simon Van Booy, author of The Secret Lives of People In Love.

Author of The Story of Edgar Sawtelle (HarperCollins)
Set in Wisconsin, David Wrobleski’s epic tells the story of a boy, his dog, and much more. Father, son, and even dog take turns narrating before the story is told primarily by the inexplicably mute Edgar Sawtelle. Steven King writes, “I flat-out loved The Story of Edgar Sawtelle…I don’t reread many books because life is too short. I will be re-reading this one.”

Author of While They Slept: An Inquiry into the Murder of a Family (Random House)
While They Slept, based on a true story, is Kathryn Harrison’s meditation on the effects of abuse and violence within a family, addressing the fracture that occurs in young lives interrupted by tragedy. Kathryn Harrison is the author of the memoir The Kiss; her first and second novels, Thicker Than Water and Exposure were both New York Times Notable Books.