EBLast night was the first night of our Blake Butler Marathon Preview Reading. Here are some thoughts on that:
1. This was my first time attending a reading at Franklin Park, but it won’t be my last. It’s a lovely space and all of the burgers smelled amazing (I spent a large portion of the reading standing directly behind Blake’s editor, Cal Morgan, and his burger and fries.)
2. The standout reader for me was Justin Taylor (also one of our authors), who was so commanding he didn’t even bother going up to the podium. I’ve seen Justin read before and enjoyed it so it wasn’t a shock, but if I were sitting in the audience and had never heard of him, I would have gone home and looked him up. But everyone else did a good job too. Especially me.
3. Putting together an entire week of readings is a lot of work, and I’m glad the person we’re doing it for makes it worth it. If you’ve only read Blake’s stuff on the internet, you might not know what an extremely gracious and warm person he is. But he is. I’m proud of the part we’re playing in his sure to be long and industrious career.
So: for another roundup of last night, check out The Outlet. We continue tonight at Word at 7:30, thursday at the Center for Fiction, and Friday at Powerhouse. Please join us, or follow along on twitter @harperperennial for live-tweeting.
