News from Heidi

These guys put on a first class event. The crowd was warm and lovely (and big). Lisa's introduction was amazing. (I'll post the video soon.) And I had my voice back! Hooray! Marisa Mattarazo really rocked with her reading from her excellent book Drenched.  Check out the photos from an awesome evening!

Okay, the author green room was really cool. But I felt like the un-cool kid --everybody seems to know each other--a writer's mafia of sorts? I got to meet Terry McMillan--she was so lovely! And had a fun time on the panel with Alison Burnett and fellow Bellwether Prize winner Gayle Brandeis.

I was just blown away by this wonderful evening. My Philly family held a beautiful reception for me. Well, you can see the photos yourself. It was an amazing night. Thank you Hart, Hariette, Doug, and Irene. Thank you to the whole family and to my friends who joined in the celebration too.

Oh, man, do I love the Groux family or what? You really can't imagine what a wonderful night this was. Did you see the cake? Beautiful but also delicious. I had the best time and just hope that everyone else did. Thank you Bill, Susan and Elizabeth for such a lovely night.

Thank you family, Swirl Philly, and even people I didn't know. You guys were great. Thanks for all of your great energy. I loved it!

I went to Stanford just down the street from Kepler's and I really had a dream that one day I would be a writer and I would read there. The dream came true. And what an amazing night it was. Two of my favorite teachers came that night: Professor John Rickford and my English writing instructor Alan Isaacs. They were both so important to me--both encouraged me and both recognized the work I was doing as something special. There's no greater gift from an instructor because it makes you, as a student, want to do more. Be more. You want to make them proud. I hope (and think maybe I did) that night make them proud. Oh, and don't get me started on my love for Laura Selznick, and my old Casa Zapata peeps who came to cheer me on. I love you all!

Thank you to Open Books. And Ragdale and Becca of Open Books. And Jerry's Elizabeth, the young girl who touched my heart that night.

Thank you Alba for writing this. It's beautiful. Please read Alba's write-up of my Open Books reading in Chicago here. It was a really special night.

This was pretty darn cool. Me, writer Peggy Orenstein, and Kip Fulbeck talk about his book Mixed and mixed kids today. Listen to or read the transcript here.

How happy I was to give a little shout out to Nella Larsen and her book Passing on NPR last week. You can hear the interview here (mp3 file). Or read the transcript here.