"I read your book." | Sung J. Woo

Over at KoreanAmericanStory.org, there’s a nice recap and also a link to my Backstory essay that I read at the event held on 9/15.  I’ve hijacked their pictures here!  Many thanks to the wonderful audience that came out for our little reading.

Scared, tired Whitman.

Joan aborts?  Lane leaves for home.

Un-Lucky Roger.

Runaway Sally.

Joan and Roger, mugged and loved.

Astronaut Ida.

Sunday night, I was sitting at our dining room table, half watching the football game between the Manning brothers and wholly reading James Dickey’s Deliverance.  It was about ten o’clock, and the moon was out, and there was enough light from the kitchen window to cast a shadow on something odd on the floor.

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An essay I wrote for The Nervous Breakdown.

Book reading and wine reception — that’s a pretty good combination.  If you happen to be in the NYC area tomorrow night, please come by Korean Cultural Services at 460 Park Ave.(57th Street), 6th Floor.  In addition to yours truly, Alex Chee and Taehun Kim will also be there to read from their works.  It all starts at 7pm.

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Writer, swimmer Don.

Peggy defends, offends Joan.

Mad men, mad women.

The Brooklyn Bookfest has come and gone, and what a fun-filled couple of days it was.  I took part in the Bookend event on Friday night at powerHouse Arena, then returned on Sunday to take in the literary scenery.  Some of the folks I got to hear: Brooke Berman, Daphne Beal, Matt Stewart, Aryn Kyle, Dennis Lehane, Steven Millhauser, Peter Straub, Stewart O’Nan, Sigrid Nunez, Benjamin Percy.  That might be about 1% of the authors who were at the event, so I’ll have to do better next time.  In any case, here are some pictures in case you weren’t able to make it.

The good folks at Debut Lit, who will be putting on an event at the Brooklyn Bookfest Bookend series this Friday night, asked me if I had something to say about the vastly different designs between the hardcover and paperback editions of my novel.  Here’s a bit of what I wrote:

Everybody knows the saying — you can’t judge a book by its cover.  Which is true.  But at the same time, it is the first thing that people see, and you want it to be original, relevant, and eye-catching.  I didn’t think my hardcover jacket was any of those things, but I didn’t have much choice in the matter.  Unless your last name happens to end in Grisham or Patterson or King, I don’t think you have much input when it comes to your cover.

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In the short essay, I mentioned the rejected “shoe cover.”  Curious about what it looked like?  Here it is.

Not a bad cover.  I especially liked the way the designer integrated “A Novel” into the insole of the slipper.  Alas, it was not meant to be.

In any case, come on by this Friday to Brooklyn to celebrate all things books!  It’ll be a rollicking good time.

DEBUT LIT Presents “Opening Act,” a flash reading of original work by literary rock stars. Readings will be written on a theme provided by DEBUT LIT—it’s fun and it’s fast. Readers include Aryn Kyle (The God of Animals), John Murillo (Up Jump the Boogie), Sung J. Woo (Everything Asian), Brooke Berman (No Place Like Home), Matt Stewart (French Revolution), Fiona Maazel (Last Last Chance), and Daphne Beal (In the Land of No Right Angles).
Location: powerHouse Arena, 37 Main St.
Date: 7 p.m.
Price: FREE