Angela Tung Oversharing on the internet since 2005.

If you don’t already know, Book Expo is an annual convention for “industry professionals,” ie, publishers, editors, agents, book buyers (distributors, book stores, libraries), book sellers, and authors. I had a feeling authors and writers would play second fiddle in the book madness, but still thought it would be interesting to hear ideas and hobnob with who’s who in the publishing world.

First off, it was a frigging mad house. Never have I been at a venue with so many people. Plus the Jacob Javitz Center is completely overwhelming. For the first 40 minutes, I just sort of aimlessly wandered around. There’s this horrible food court that was teeming with people and reeks at lunchtime of fried food. Luckily, most of my sessions were in one corner of the center, on the other side of the food court.

Yesterday was hardly a full day for me. I wanted to go to a Walter Mosley talk at noon but couldn’t get away from work. So I settled for just the afternoon session, A Mighty Heart: From Manuscript to Screen.

Maybe you’ve seen previews for this Angelina Jolie flick that chronicles, from the point of view of his wife Marianne, the kidnapping and eventual killing of American journalist, Danny Pearl, right after 9/11. I’m not sure how I feel about Angelina Jolie – for one, I think she takes herself far too serioulsy – but the movie looks pretty engaging. The whole writerly/journalist aspect intrigues me as well.

The program said that Marianne Pearl was supposed to be there, but she wasn’t, to my great disappointment. At the time her husband was kidnapped, she was working for French public radio, and now I believe she’s doing a series for Jane magazine on atrocities against women around the world.

It was still a pretty interesting discussion, especially the writing process. Marianne tried for a long time to write the book herself, but she couldn’t, not only because it had been such a harrowing experience, but because she had just given birth to her and Danny’s son. She needed someone to help her.

She’d go to her editor’s house in Brooklyn, and together they’d write all day. English is Marianne’s second language so she’d write in French, email that to her jazz musician friend in Paris who knew English and who’d translate, email it back, and then her editor would edit it.

As for bringing it to the screen, that was a lot more straightforward. Brad Pitt’s production company, Plan B, approached them, and after some initial reluctance, they agreed.

I believe Marianne Pearl is biracial so at first I had a problem with Angelina Jolie playing her. But from the way they described Marianne – and seeing Angelina play her, even in the short trailer – they seem a lot of alike.

A big problem the American media had with Marianne was that in interviews she wouldn’t cry, like not even on Oprah, which apparently was a huge disaster.

She wanted to remain strong in the eyes of the kidnappers and not show her husband that she was upset. Plus it was just the kind of person she was. That reminds me of Angelina Jolie, like she comes off as this ice princess in interviews. You kind of want to hate her, but then you think maybe she’s just not pandering to the media.

Today was far more packed. The first session I went to was on Nancy Pearl’s book (totally off topic, but I got so confused with all the Pearls at the conference: Marianne Pearl, Nancy Pearl, Crazy Aunt Purl who apparently has a book now), Book Crush, which is a volume of book recommendations for teens and kids. Her other two books, Book Lust and More Book Lust, were aimed at adults.

Seems like a fun idea. She also said that there’s an essay contest connected with Book Crush on “your first book crush.” But I can’t find any info on it on her website. Maybe it’ll be updated soon.

The population at the conference is interesting. Unlike writers conferences, there aren’t any freaks, just sort of sloppily dressed, middle-aged book professionals, except for the sales people. Those folks are all in suits and ties. This is very unlike the sales meetings for my company, where everyone is super polished, even in their business casual attire.

But in the second session I went to, The Leap to Debut: Transitioning from Short Form Periodicals to First Fiction, I felt like I had stepped into a bar in Williamsburg. The audience was far younger and hipper than that of other sessions I had been to. Maybe because “debut-ers” (debutantes?) are usually younger, or maybe because the periodicals represented – The Believer, Granta, and A Public Space – are aimed at a certain audience.

(And hey, PL, if you’re reading this, One Story totally got a shout out as a good place to find excellent fiction, and that was one of just a half a dozen props. Yay One Story!)

At the end this older gentleman raised his hand with not a question but some “obversations.” You know me: I immediately rolled my eyes. Turned out he was the editor for the Antioch Review, which was also been cited as a go-to lit mag for up and coming great writers.

Before my next session, I wanted to get a water. The convention center is full of places to buy eats and drinks. Convenient right? Think again. A 16 oz bottle of Poland Spring cost $3. Three dollars! At Whole Foods it’s 50 cents. So I said forget it and walked three blocks and found a deli, where I got a liter for $1.99.

At 1 I went to NYC Visions: Fresh Authors and Portrayals, where five authors talked about their New York-set novels. After this I was hungry and managed to snag a free lunch that I don’t think was intended for attendees but for exhibitors only. Oh well, no one stopped me.

At 2:30 I went to Editors’ Buzz on Debut Fiction, where five editors talked about books they were very excited about this season. The best thing? They gave away bound galleys so I got five free books. Well, “free,” considering the attendance fee.

The one that sounds the most interesting to me is Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures, which has been described as a literary Grey’s Anatomy, but from the way the guy talked about the book, doesn’t seem to do it justice. It’s already huge in Canada, having sold over 200,000 copies, winning the 2006 Giller Prize, and being lauded by the likes of Margaret Atwood and Alice Munro, two of my favorite authors.

When the editor said the author’s name, Vincent Lam, I kept thinking it was “Lamb.” Imagine my delight to find it was a brother.

The last thing I went to was Out of the Book: A Short Film About Ian McEwan, which was basically a promotion for his new book, On Chesil Beach. I’ve read just one book of his, Atonement, which I LOVED so I want to read more of his books.

I have to say the convention center had the worst A/V support. About 1/5 of the microphones weren’t loud enough, and they took forever to get the lights down and then back up during the Ian McEwan film. At other events I’ve gone to, say at the Small Press Center, mediabistro.com, or the PEN Center, there’s always someone on hand to deal with that stuff immediately.

Tomorrow morning I’m going to an “author breakfast” with Ian McEwan (so I like the guy), Rosie O’Donnell, Alice Sebold, and others, I think. That’s at 8 so I have to get up pretty early since it takes me a year to get out there. Then there are a bunch of readings, of which I’ll probably go to a couple.

I didn’t get to finish my memoir in time for this weekend, but I’m not sweating it. I had more changes than I anticipated, and the ending is not q
uite there and it really needs to be. In fact, it needs to be frigging amazing.

Hearing all the ideas and experiences today was very inspiring, as I expected.

It started Friday night when I went with YP to his friend’s open house at Pratt, which is a pretty cool campus with modern sculptures everywhere. His friend wasn’t there so we waited for a little while – we were both STARVING – then left a note.

YP was nice enough to take me out for a belated birthday dinner at Red Bamboo. I had the sizzling tofu, which was literally sizzling when the waiter brought it out, like a fajita.

The artsy weekend continued with a couple of literary events that were part of the PEN World Voices New York literary festival, which was all this week.

Last night was the Believer Nighttime Event, which was hosted by Eric Bogosian and totally free, which rocks in a kind of unbelievable way. And Eric Bogosian is rather sexy, in an Anthony Bourdain kind of way.

The first part was a mock auction – a mock-tion, if you will – using donated objects from the audience: a half-used roll of Ricolas, a copy of an August Wilson play, an expired AARP card (donated by 50+ year old who looked about 35). It was amusing at times but went on too long.

Next Bogosian read from his new novel. Angry and funny. Hot.

There was supposed to be short film but they couldn’t show it due to “technical difficulties,” which was okay by me because the next bit was the main reason I, and I think a lot of other people, were there.

John Hodgman is perhaps best known as the PC in those Apple commercials, but before that he was already an established writer and humorist, making appearances on The Daily Show. He’s also quite funny.

By chance I recently listened to an old This American Life, Nice Work If You Can Get It, on which he talked about how his life has changed so much and so weirdly since becoming famous from the Apple commercials. If I hadn’t listened to that This American Life, I wouldn’t have recognized his name in the program I got in the mail.

Hodgman hosted a writers’ “speed dating” event, which was basically a timed exchange between pairs of writers. It was pretty fun. The writers, who didn’t know each other, either asked each other their own questions, or the ones that Hodgman had come up with, like, “What did you do this morning? Answer yes or no.”

Having a cast of international writers was pretty fucking cool. The Dutch woman was paired with an Italian man who needed an interpretor (it was also cool hearing the different languages, even if I didn’t udnerstand), while this very young Nigerian American man was paired with an older man from Algeria who spoke French.

The Nigerian American man is an already very accomplished novelist, and yet he’s still going to medical school because that’s what his parents want. Talk about filial piety.

The “prizes” were madeleines from Boule Bakery. How literary. Love it.

Today I went to What Makes a Home? I ended up arriving at the same time as one of the panelists, Alain de Botton, who looks way different from his photo in real life. He’s kinda sexy too, in a supersmart, British-y kind of way, for which I am now apparently a cheap whore.

Lee Stringer was also on the panel. I haven’t read his books yet, but this is the second time I’ve heard him speak and yet again I really liked him.

I have to admit during both panels I thought a lot about H. and that he’d have appreciated the talks and thought they were fun and interesting. I, for one, wish that I’d gone to more events. Next year.