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Photo of Edward P. Jones
by Scott Ellison Smith |
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Presented in partnership
with the National Book Awards
A unique series for sophisticated writers, readers,
and eaters, Eat, Drink & Be Literary builds on
its past three sell-out seasons, bringing major contemporary
authors to BAMcafé for intimate dinners, entertaining
readings, and engaging discussions.
Evenings begin at 6:30pm with a sumptuous buffet
prepared by BAMcafé's acclaimed executive chef,
Tim Sullivan, served with select wines provided by
Pine Ridge Winery and accompanied by live music. Following
dinner, authors read from and are interviewed about
their work, take questions from the audience, and
sign books to conclude an evening of candid glimpses
into the creative process and the rich writings it
yields.
 George
Saunders
Moderated by Aoibheann Sweeney
Jan 17 6:30pm
"Saunders' finest gift is a high note no one
can hit very often, which is to construct a story
of absurdist satire, then locate within it a moment
of searing humanity."
—The Boston Globe
"The best thing about being a writer is that,
when you say you're a writer, nobody expects you to
be able to function normally."—George Saunders
A MacArthur Fellow, George Saunders is the author
of the short story collections Pastoralia,
CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, and In Persuasion
Nation, which was one of three finalists for
the 2006 Story Prize for best short story
collection of the year. His most recent book is The
Braindead Megaphone, a collection of essays.
Widely translated and anthologized, Saunders currently
teaches in the creative writing program at Syracuse
University.
Dinner music by the string trio Sojourner, with
Marline Rice on violin, Judith Insell on viola,
and Nioka Workman on cello.
Buy
Tickets
 Deborah
Eisenberg
Moderated by Aoibheann Sweeney
Feb 7 at 6:30pm
"Simply put, there aren't many contemporary
novels as shudderingly intimate and mordantly funny
as Eisenberg's best stories, and her latest collection...should
finally establish her as one of the most important
fiction writers now at work."
—The New York Times on Twilight
of the Superheroes
"You know how sometimes there's just a certain
slant of sunlight, the fragrance of a certain flower,
and a whole world will open up in your head? You
think, 'What is that?' That's what I go for, an
exploration of the signals that make you feel that
way."—Deborah Eisenberg
Deborah Eisenberg has authored several short story
collections, including Transactions in a Foreign
Currency, Under the 82nd Airborne,
All Around Atlantis, and most recently,
Twilight of the Superheroes, all cited
as New York Times Notable Books of the
Year. Eisenberg is a Guggenheim Fellow and currently
teaches at the University of Virginia.Dinner music
by Eric Kurimski, South American/jazz guitar.
Buy
Tickets
 André
Aciman
Moderated by Harold Augenbraum
Feb 28 at 6:30pm
"It is Mr. Aciman's great achievement that
he has re-created a world gone forever now, and
given us an ironical and affectionate portrait of
those who were exiled from it."—The
New York Times on Out of Egypt: A Memoir
"[I realized that if I] wanted to be a writer
I had to...play at the table history had placed
me in, not in a Neverland of my own invention. I
had to write for America, in America...and I needed
to learn to wet my throat with water from the Hudson,
not from the Seine, the Tiber, or the Nile."—André
Aciman
Winner of the Whiting Writers' Award (1995) and
a Guggenheim Fellow, André Aciman is the
author of the memoir Out of Egypt and the
essay collection False Papers. His latest
novel, Call Me By Your Name, will be released
in paperback February 2008. He currently lives in
Manhattan and teaches comparative literature at
the CUNY Graduate Center.
Dinner music by Rufus Cappadocia, five string cellist.
Buy
Tickets
 Fran
Lebowitz
Moderated by Aoibheann Sweeney
Mar 13 at 6:30pm
"Talking to Fran Lebowitz reminded me of something
a book reviewer once said about one of Saul Bellow's
novels: 'It burns the fat right off the brain.'
Because if the brain were a muscle, mine was sweaty
and well-toned after our two-hour talk."—Index
Magazine
"I have a hard time writing. Most writers
have a hard time writing. I have a harder time than
most because I'm lazier than most. I don't want
to brag, but I'm the laziest person I have ever
known. I am more than slothful: I'm almost inert.
And since writing is so arduous, I tend to avoid
it assiduously."—Fran Lebowitz
Fran Lebowitz is the author of two acclaimed books
of comic essays, Metropolitan Life and Social
Studies, which are currently available in The
Fran Lebowitz Reader. She has also authored a
children's book, Mr. Chas and Lisa Sue Meet the
Pandas, and has written for a number of publications
including Vogue, Vanity Fair, and
The New York Times.
Dinner music by Scott Pearson on piano. Buy
Tickets
 Peter
Carey
Moderated by Aoibheann Sweeney
Mar 20 at 6:30pm
"Let me be entirely clear about this: Theft:
A Love Story is a novel that will get right up your
nose...It is a rudely brilliant, infuriatingly beautiful,
belligerently profane work of art."—The
Guardian (UK)
"My fictional project has always been the
invention or discovery of my own country. Looked
at in this way, Great Expectations is not
only a great work of English literature; it is (to
an Australian) also a way in which the English have
colonized our ways of seeing ourselves...Jack Maggs
is an attempt to break open the prison and to imaginatively
reconcile with the jailer."—Peter Carey
A two-time Man Booker Prize winner, Australian-born
Peter Carey is the author of several books, including
Oscar and Lucinda (1998) and True History
of the Kelly Gang (2001). He has taught writing
at NYU, Columbia University, and The New School, and
currently directs the MFA program at Hunter College.
Dinner music by Carl Riehl on piano and accordion.
Buy
Tickets
 Shalom
Auslander
Moderated by Harold Augenbraum
Apr 3 at 6:30pm
"...[an] extraordinary collection, which has
an energy, a precision and a deep black humour I
haven't seen in a long time."—The
Guardian (UK) on Beware of God: Stories
"I think I'm fairly serious with things I
think are funny because it's so important that they
come out right. The frustration, of course, is that
people say, 'Oh, it's a funny book.' They don't
realize that you've been busy doing something.
"—Shalom Auslander
Shalom Auslander is the author of Foreskin's
Lament, which Time magazine has called
"one of the best memoirs of the year."
His first book was the critically-acclaimed short
story collection Beware of God. Nominated
for the Koret Award for Writers Under 35, Auslander
has written for The New Yorker and The
New York Times Magazine, and is a regular contributor
to Public Radio International's This American
Life.
Dinner music by Stephen Saperstein, pianist and
scholar of New Orleans music.
Buy
Tickets
 Paul
Muldoon
Moderated by Edward Hirsch
Thursday, April 17th
6:30 p.m.
A native of Northern Ireland, Paul Muldoon was
recently appointed poetry editor of the New
Yorker. He has published innumerable poems,
his first at age 16. Since then, he has published
several collections, including New Weather
(1973), Madoc: A Mystery (1990), and Moy
Sand and Gravel (2002), for which he won the
2003 Pulitzer Prize. Muldoon has received international
honors that include the 1994 T. S. Eliot Prize,
the 2003 Griffin International Prize for Excellence
in Poetry, and the 2004 Shakespeare Prize. He is
currently chairman of the Princeton University Center
for the Creative and Performing Arts. To read some
of his work, visit http://www.paulmuldoon.net.
 Edward
Hirsch is a poet and critic. He has published six
books of poems including For Wild Gratitude
(1986), which won the National Book Critics Circle
Award. His seventh collection, Special Orders,
will be published in March 2008. He has also written
four prose books, including How to Read a Poem
and Fall in Love with Poetry (1999),
a national bestseller. He has received a Guggenheim
Fellowship, the American Academy of Arts and Letters
Award for Literature, and a MacArthur Fellowship.
Hirsch now serves as president of the John Simon
Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.
Dinner music by Browning-Gilchrest Duo, with Suzanne
Gilchrest on flute and Winslow Browning on guitar.
Buy
Tickets
 Chinua
Achebe
Moderated by Bradford Morrow
May 15 at 6:30pm
"Mr. Achebe is a novelist who makes you laugh—and
then catch your breath in horror...Achebe is gloriously
gifted with the magic of an ebullient, generous,
great talent."—The New York Times
Book Review
"It seems to me that from the very beginning,
stories have been meant to be enjoyed...Still, I
think that behind it all is a desire to make our
experience in the world better, and once you talk
about making things better you're talking about
politics."—Chinua Achebe
Chinua Achebe is the author of several books, including
the bestseller Things Fall Apart (1958),
which made Achebe the most translated African writer
in history. In 2007, he was awarded the Man Booker
International Prize celebrating his career as a
chronicler of the pre- and post-colonial African
experience. He currently teaches in the Languages
and Literature Department at Bard College.
Dinner music by äj, with Andrea and James
Rohlehr on flute and guitar. Buy
Tickets
Eat, Drink & Be Literary
is sponsored by Bloomberg.
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