Of Mothers, Lovers, & Strangers: Valentine’s Day Drinks & Book Talk, NYC

Want to talk of books, lovers, and mothers? Of course you do.

On February 14, at 6:30 p.m., at Melville House in Brooklyn, fellow Atavist author Cris Beam, Wired and New York Times Magazine contributor Clive Thompson and I will be talking about memoir in the digital age — and Cris Beam’s Atavist hit Mother, Stranger and my own My Mother’s Lover. From the program:

What is the future for memoir in the digital age? Kids are replacing parents as the true family archivists, posting photos, drawings, diaries, and video: the narratives of the young are dominating those of the rest of the family online everyday.

As more people tell their own stories through Facebook, YouTube and other social media, is the memoir an obsolete medium? Can “e-memoirs” mark a rebirth of the form? What does this new kind of personal storytelling mean for how families are conceived and our histories remembered? Is the digital space not the end of memory, but the end of forgetting? The Atavist is bringing together two of its own memoirists, Cris Beam and David Dobbs, along with New York Times Magazine and Wired contributor Clive Thompson, for a night of discussion and drinks, moderated by Alissa Quart, senior editor of The Atavist.

 We’ll also talk about the ebook and longform innovation that is The Atavist — a small guerilla outfit that has figured out how to let writers write short books they couldn’t likely publish otherwise and, with luck, create some hits. My Mother’s Lover, which describes my excavation of my mother’s secret WWII affair, shot into the top 20 of all Kindle books when it launched last May and has remained in the top 25 Kindle Singles ever since. Stranger, Mother debuted this week in the top 10 Kindle Singles. We’ll discuss these tales and the stories behind writing, producing, and presenting them on the Atavist’s innovative platform. Atavist co-founder and editor Evan Ratliff  will also be on hand to discuss the e-publishing system the company has created, which the company will soon release for general use.

Drinks and chatter begin at 630; at 7 we’ll begin an hour or so of more structured conversation, then return to informal hobbing, nodding, and gobbling. We’d love to see you. Tell your friends.  Location and directions below. If you would, please quickly RSVP, so they’ll be all ready for you.

Hope to see you there.

145 Plymouth St, Brooklyn, NY 11201

Melville House Books » The Melville House Bookstore

145 Plymouth St

Brooklyn, NY 11201

Get directions

Subway: High St

 

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