Earlier this morning, BP said that it was “cautiously optimistic” that the 37-day oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has been plugged. As for me, I feel a bit like this dragonfly: helpless against what has happened, helpless against BP’s might, helpless against our useless government.
Photo: AP/Gerald Herbert. From the Boston Globe‘s The Big Picture series.
Hello, dear readers. I am back from a long and lovely stay in Seattle, where I spoke to so many different groups that I nearly lost my voice. I didn’t take my laptop with me, and instead spent my free time resting and reading. I enjoyed Dolen Perkins-Valdez’s debut novel, Wench, which is set in a resort that catered to Southern gentlemen and their slave mistresses in 1850s Ohio. It’s beautifully written and it kept me up at night. I also loved Toni Morrison’s A Mercy; I don’t know why it took me so long to get to this one, but I’m glad I did. It’s a fascinating little book, challenging at times, and it has the curious effect of making you want to immediately start reading it again the minute you reach the end. Since getting back, I’ve been working around the clock on my new novel and so I haven’t had any time at all to read blogs or to write on mine. My silence here is, I hope, the good kind of silence, the silence of work, designed to prevent the more dangerous kind of silence(s) that Tillie Olsen once wrote about.
As I may have mentioned, my novel, Secret Son, was selected for a “One City, One Book” program in Seattle. I’ll be in town for a week, from May 6th to May 10th, to give readings and Q&A events. Here are all the details:
May 6, 2010
11:00 AM
Q & A
Seattle Reads Event
Northgate Community Center
10510 5th Ave NE
Seattle, WashingtonMay 6, 2010
7:00 PM
Q & A
Seattle Reads Event
Seattle Public Library – Douglass-Truth Branch
2300 E. Yesler Way
Seattle, WashingtonMay 7, 2010
7:00 PM
An evening with Laila Lalami
Seattle Reads Event
Seattle Public Library – Central Library
1000 Fourth Ave.
Seattle, WashingtonMay 8, 2010
11:00 AM
Q & A
Seattle Reads Event
Seattle Public Library – North East Branch
6801 35th Ave. N.E.
Seattle, WashingtonMay 8, 2010
4:00 PM
Q & A
Seattle Reads Event
Seattle Public Library – Beacon Hill Branch
2821 Beacon Ave. S.
Seattle, Washington
I will also be delivering a lecture as part of the Seattle Arts & Lecture series at Benaroya Hall. This is a ticketed event and you can purchase tickets here:
May 10, 2010
7:30 PM
Seattle Arts & Lectures
Benaroya Hall
Seattle, Washington
That’s about it. I hope to see you there!
