Cait Murphy at Books at the Bar TONIGHT

If you're not aware of this great lecture series from the New York City Bar Association, tonight's a good one to check out.... The book reading and signing kicks off with a wine and cheese reception! And even better, it's FREE and open to the public.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011 6 pm, FREE!
New York City Bar Association, 44th Street (between 5th and 6th)

Speaker: CAIT MURPHY, Author
Scoundrels in Law: The Trials of Howe and Hummel, Lawyers to the Gangsters, Cops, Starlets, and Rakes Who Made the Gilded Age

Learn about the exploits of New York's first celebrity lawyers whose high-powered and high-maintenance clients of every stripe paved the way for the media trials of modern times.

NYSL Member (and NY State Judge) Diane Kiesel is the chair of Books at the Bar. Info

Poets & Fiction Writers Group II this week

Writing group meetings this week:

POETS: Tuesday, Feb 22, 4:30 pm, Whitridge Room

FICTION GROUP II: Wednesday, Feb 23, 11 am, Whitridge Room

Please note that writing groups are open to Library members only.

Reminder: Library Closed for President's Day

Just a reminder that The New York Society Library will be closed on Sunday, February 20 and Monday, February 21 for President's Day.

We are open as usual on Saturday, February 19 from 9 am - 5pm, so come in and stock up.

dumped on Valentine's Day

I was dumped by a literary magazine (which shall remain nameless) on Valentine's Day.

I've been working on booking this year's Literary Magazine Salon and I had a really great program nailed down. But yesterday, I got the "Dear John" letter from one of the magazines that I was really excited about and that had previously agreed to participate.

I'm heartbroken.

Calling all Children's/YA member writers

Member writers:
I've been doing some preliminary investigation into inaugurating a Children's/Young Adult Writing Group here at the Library. I have already spoken to some of you and there seems to be interest.

So, if you're a member of The New York Society Library , you're currently working on a children's or young adult book, and interested in joining a writing group, drop me a line or give me a call.

Countdown to the Oscars with Molly Haskell and others

Member Molly Haskell ((Frankly, My Dear: Gone With the Wind Revisited and From Reverence to Rape: The Treatment of Women in the Movies) joins a panel to discuss the upcoming Oscar race and trends in Oscar history.

Hosted by the 92nd Street Y's "Reel Pieces" and Columbia University Film Professor Annette Insdorf, the panel also features New York Times film critic A.O. Scott and Mark Harris, author of Pictures At A Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood.


Tuesday, Feb 8, 8pm
92nd Street Y
For tickets, click here

Member Writer Notes and News

Some new-ish notes about some of our member writers:

Member Alexandra Horowitz's Inside of a Dog: What Dogs, See, Smell and Know is one of the most popular selling books on college campuses.

Member Jonathan Franzen has been nominated for a National Book Critic Circle Award for his bestselling Freedom.

Member Dan Cryer's first book, Being Alive and Having to Die, a biography of Forrest Church, has been purchased by St. Martin's Press. The book will be published in the Fall. {via Publishers Lunch}

Kristin Davis will star in a television treatment of member Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project.

Got news to share? Let me know!

News out of Egypt

The political turmoil in Egypt is having an impact on its book industry, its writers and its libraries. Here are some of the news reports:

The Cairo Book fair, which was due to start on January 29, has been cancelled {source LATimes}.

The International Publishers Association has reported that its vice president "is under attack, physically," and that people on th street are defending him. Bulletins are being posted on Twitter @ipasecretary {source Publishers Marketplace}

The Guardian is reporting that Alexandria youth 'protecting library from looters'

GalleyCat shares how Writers in Egypt Can Beat the Internet Shutdown

Research!

What's going on? All of a sudden, the NYSL reference desk is getting a workout. Not that we mind it - in fact, it's about time. Have you all been sleeping for the last couple of months?

I've had quite a few email inquiries directly from writers in the past two days, several more inquiries from members and non-members alike to our general reference desk email account , and I was told there was a line of eager Reference Desk patrons yesterday afternoon (where are you all in the morning when I'm on the desk?).

I guess you are all back to work. Anyway, this is a good time to remind everyone that we are indeed here to HELP!

The internet may have changed the way you research and made it infinitely easier, but a skilled librarian could be your best kept secret. Today, the inquiries we get are less likely to be simple basic factual questions, because face it, that's pretty easy to find and validate on the web. Instead, we are often asked for more in depth support - when a Google search doesn't turn up what you need, we can assist with better search strategies, advise on where to find good print resources (I know it's shocking to consider, but not everything is on the web), how to locate primary sources of letters and manuscripts, and provide tutorials on using library paid subscription databases which require much more specific search strategies than you need to search Google or Bing. We also have lots of friends in lots of libraries - if we don't know, we call on our colleagues in other institutions.

Did you know that many, but not all of the world's libraries' resources are cataloged in WorldCat? It's a great resource, but you won't find NYSL's collection there or the collections of many other smaller libraries. So we have other tools to help you locate hard to find materials.

Stop by and talk to one of our crack Reference Desk staffers or email us. We're happy to give you hands on tutorials of our electronic resources, research assistance, tips for more efficient and successful web and catalog searching, referral cards for access to local area collections through our Metro membership, and handle interlibrary loan requests.

Guidelines for would-be memoirists

I was a little busy yesterday, what with a snow day, a comp day, and a whole weekend off in between (librarian's hours!), otherwise I would have posted this sooner.

I have lately been complaining to my book loving friends about how tired I am of memoir. Everyone has a story. I understand that. That everyone needs to share their story with the world is more confusing to me. Why not just keep a journal for yourself? I have been keeping a diary since I was about 10 {"I had FUN today!!" was a common passage} but I can't imagine sharing it with anyone or for that matter, that anyone would care to read it.

So it was with a bit of relief that I read Neil Genzlinger's piece in this past Sunday's New York Times Book Review.

All would-be memoirists, please take note. Genzlinger's maxims:
1-"That you had parents and a childhood does not of itself qualify you to write a memoir."
2-"No one wants to relive your misery."
3-"If you're jumping on a bandwagon, make sure you have better credentials than the people already on it."
4-"If you must write one, consider making yourself the least important character in it."

Or, perhaps...consider turning it into fiction? The agents we had for our January Finding a Literary Agent talk also weighed in on memoir, admitting that you better have a good story because the market is truly saturated.

What do all you member writers think?