Laila Lalami

I am on the East Coast for a few days. After checking into my hotel room, I went to the opening reception of the PEN World Voices festival, where I had a chance to see a few friends and partners in crime. Then today was my first panel, with Dany Laferrière, Edwidge Danticat, and Colum McCann, moderated by Benjamin Anastas. You can read summaries and wrap-ups of the various panels on the festival blog. And here is a flickr photo set from the event.

Then I went to lunch with my lovely and amazing agent. I’m happy to report that British, Dutch, and Swedish rights to Secret Son have been sold; I’m looking forward to seeing the book appear in new places. Let’s see, what else? I did a radio interview in the afternoon and now I’m getting ready for another one. More soon, I hope.

Photo: Edwidge Danticat and me. (Photo credit.)

I will be doing several panels at the PEN World Voices Festival. I’m really excited about this festival–it’s really one of my favorites. Here are details for all of my events:

Thursday, April 30, 2009
10:00 AM
Personal Evolution, Social Revolution: Edwidge Danticat, Dany Laferrière, Laila Lalami, and Colum McCann; moderated by Benjamin Anastas
PEN World Voices Festival
Instituto Cervantes New York, 211–215 East 49th Street
New York, New York

Friday, May 1, 2009
12:30 – 2:00PM
Garden Readings: With Laila Lalami, Morten Ramsland, and Peter Weber
PEN World Voices
Deutsches Haus, at NYU, 42 Washington Mews
New York, New York

Friday, May 1, 2009
3:00 – 4:30 PM
This Critical Moment: With Eric Banks, Rigoberto González, Laila Lalami, and Kevin Prufer; moderated by Jane Ciabattari
PEN World Voices
Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue
New York, New York

Friday, May 1, 2009
6:00 – 7:00 PM
Season of Migration to the North: The Work of Tayeb Salih
With Elias Khoury, Laila Lalami, Bruce Robbins, and Raja Shehadeh
PEN World Voices
Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue
New York, New York

You don’t need to have tickets for any of these events, so please come by and say hello.

Despite the Blazers vs. Rockets game on Tuesday night, turnout for my reading at Powell’s was huge–75 people. It was thrilling to be in Portland again, and to see so many familiar faces in the audience. I also signed a lot of extra stock, so if you’d like to order a signed copy, have at it.

Portland, here I come. I’m reading from Secret Son at Powell’s (Burnside location) on Tuesday night. Here are the details:

Tuesday, April 28, 2009
7:30 PM
Reading and signing
Powells City of Books
Portland, Oregon

Come one, come all.

When I left Los Angeles on Sunday, my suitcase weighed six pounds more than the air carrier’s limit, so I had to take out all the heaviest items, which, for the most part, were the books and carry them with me on the plane. So, on Monday, I went to the Queen Anne post office here in Seattle to ship back all the books I had brought with me on tour. I’m upset, as I had hoped to catch up on some reading during my trip.

I spent much of Monday going from interview to interview, but the main event of the day was of course the reading at Elliott Bay Book Company. It was great to see bookseller Rick Simonson again; of course he had several books to recommend (notably Anne Michaels’ The Winter Vault) and so…I ended up buying a few books.

Some new reviews and/or mentions of Secret Son: Kevin Smokler in the Huffington Post; Jonathan Messinger in Time Out Chicago; Anderson Tepper in Time Out New York; Bernadette Murphy in the Los Angeles Times, and Kevin Holstberry in Collected Miscellany.

I am scheduled to read from my new novel Secret Son at one of my favorite bookstores in Seattle on Monday. Here are the details:

Monday, April 27, 2009
7:30 PM
Reading and signing
Elliot Bay Book Company
Seattle, Washington

Come one, come all.

I am in Seattle, Washington (which means I had to take an airplane, which means I’ve been washing my hands obsessively in order to avoid that swine flu that’s all over the news.) Speaking of airplanes, I swear to God I always get seated next to nutty passengers. This one traveled with his cat, which he kept trying to pet, so he put his multiple drinks (wine, beer, two waters–not that I was counting) on my tray table.

The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books went by in a blur; I was there for just one day and ran from event to event before I had to leave. The writers at Jacket Copy have a great round-up of the book panels, including the one I did with Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum, Julia Leigh, and Louise Ermelino. There’s also a festival photo gallery up at the site.

Early reviews of Secret Son have appeared here and there this week: Michael McGregor in The Oregonian, Ellen Heltzel in the Seattle Times, Elliot Walker in Bookreporter, and Daniel Olivas in the El Paso Times. Take a look.