Miami Book Fair

I'm home from the Miami Book Fair with a quick photo dump. It was a good trip! 

My panel with my editor Charles Kochman of Abrams Books went all right. We've known each other for 17 years (!), and have that history and comfortable telepathic patter that leads to an interesting discussion, I think. I was especially happy to meet a husband-wife pair of writers who seemed like they got some practical value out of it. 

I always count on meeting someone great completely out of the blue, thanks largely to Charlie, who knows everyone. This year's highlights included writer Brad Meltzer, whose work I know and admire; and WAY out of left field, Sonic Youth frontman Thurston Moore and his partner Eva Prinz, a book editor who's a good friend of Charlie's. 

But I think my favorite new acquaintance was photographer James Hamilton, who shot the New York creative scene in the '70s and '80s for magazines like Rolling Stone, Harper's Bazaar and Vanity Fair, and who casually begins stories with sentences like, "When I spent the afternoon with Alfred Hitchcock, I walked into the room and his wife Alma poured me tea." A very low-key, friendly, and self-effacing man who was genuinely interested in my work as well.

So I went to a book fair and wound up hanging out with a celebrated photographer and a rock star. Go figure. When I left at crack-o-dawn Sunday, it had begun to monsoon. Rain in Florida; go figure that, too. I hope the rest of the day went well for everyone. Many thanks to Mitchell Kaplan and the Miami Book Fair for inviting me!

An overview of a bit of the Fair, with a large stage at the end of the street lined with colorful vendor tents. Most of those tents held small publishers, self-publishers, second-hand booksellers, and such.

Charlie and I found a quiet corner in the library to strategize our "spontaneous conversation." We work hard to make it look easy.

Outside the room where our panel was held, the Fair set up a table to sell speakers' books. They even had some copies of "A Fire Story," which was a nice surprise. Of course they all got signed before I left. Sorry I didn't catch the bookseller's name, but he was a cool kid.

At a signing table with Charlie after our talk. I don't have any pics of the talk because I was in it, but take my word for it: we were amazing.

Met writer Brad Meltzer and his wife Cori in the authors' lounge. We had a good long conversation. I also saw humor writer Dave Barry hovering over a chafing dish, but did not pester him.

At a late Friday panel on the Velvet Underground with Thurston Moore of "Sonic Youth," photographer James Hamilton, and actor Michael Imperioli, who all have books related to the band and its leader, Lou Reed.

Looks like I picked the wrong day to wear a rival book fair’s hat. People are cursing me in five languages and hurling half-eaten empanadas at me. Nobody ever talks about the ugly side of literature.