Author Archives: Emdashes

2009 New Yorker Festival Schedule Is Here!

Martin Schneider writes:
The 2009 New Yorker Festival schedule has been released!
I think it’s a very strong lineup, so appropriate for the 10th anniversay festival. I mentioned in the previous update that I’m very excited to see Bill James and Nate Silver, particularly. Pity that the Matthew Weiner event is at the same time, but such problems are the very stuff of outstanding New Yorker Festivals!
Tickets for The New Yorker Festival will go on sale at 12 noon ET on Friday, September 18. We wish you luck in grabbing tix for your most feverishly desired events!

Friday | October 16
Fiction Night | Paired Readings by New Yorker Writers
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Yiyun Li
7 P.M. (Le) Poisson Rouge ($25)
David Bezmozgis and Jonathan Franzen
7 P.M. Cedar Lake Theatre ($25)
T. Coraghessan Boyle and Mary Gaitskill
7 P.M. Angel Orensanz Foundation ($25)
Daniyal Mueenuddin and Salman Rushdie
7 P.M. Directors Guild Theatre ($25)
Edwidge Danticat and Junot Diaz
9:30 P.M. Angel Orensanz Foundation ($25)
Joshua Ferris and Aleksander Hemon
9:30 P.M. (Le) Poisson Rouge ($25)
Jonathan Lethem and Colson Whitehead
9:30 P.M. Directors Guild Theatre ($25)
George Saunders and Gary Shteyngart
9:30 P.M. Cedar Lake Theatre ($25)
Brooklyn Playlist | A Special Concert Featuring Bands from the County of Kings
With Dirty Projectors, House of Ladosha, Jubilee, and Liturgy.
Curated by the New Yorker staff writers Sasha Frere-Jones and Kelefa Sanneh.
8 P.M. The Bell House ($25)
Take Out of School | New Yorker Writers on The New Yorker
The Moth and The New Yorker present an evening of stories about life at the magazine.
With Roger Angell, Adam Gopnik, Ariel Levy, Mark Singer, and Judith Thurman.
Hosted by Andy Borowitz.
8 P.M. City Winery ($40)
Saturday | October 17
Writers and Their Subjects
Ricky Jay and Mark Singer
1 P.M. City Winery ($27)
In Conversation With
Annie Proulx interviewed by Deborah Treisman
10 A.M. Florence Gould Hall ($27)
Rachel Maddow interviewed by Ariel Levy
10 A.M. Acura at Stage37 ($27)
Tyler Perry interviewed by Henry Finder
4 P.M. Cedar Lake Theatre ($27)
New Yorker Talks
Malcolm Gladwell | The Curious Case of Michael Vick
1 P.M. Florence Gould Hall ($27)
Simon Schama | Obama and History
4 P.M. Florence Gould Hall ($27)
Screen Gems | New Yorker Film Critics Present Overlooked Masterpieces
Alfred Hitchcock’s “Shadow of a Doubt”
With David Denby.
10 A.M. Directors Guild Theatre ($20)
Henri-Georges Clouzot’s “Quai des Orfevres”
With Anthony Lane.
1:30 P.M. Directors Guild Theatre ($20)
Jean-Luc Godard’s “King Lear”
With Richard Brody.
5 P.M. Directors Guild Theatre ($20)
Panels
New Math
With Nancy Flournoy, Bill James, Nate Silver, and Sudhir Venkatesh.
Moderated by Ben McGrath.
10 A.M. Cedar Lake Theatre ($27)
Mad Men
With Lee Clow, Steve Stoute, and Matthew Weiner. Moderated by Ken Auletta.
10 A.M. City Winery ($27)
The Music Biz
With Jace Clayton, Josh Deutsch, Melvin Gibbs, Danny Goldberg, and Livia Tortella.
Moderated by Sasha Frere-Jones.
1 P.M. Cedar Lake Theatre ($27)
The Political Scene
With Hendrik Hertzberg, Ryan Lizza, and Jane Mayer. Moderated by Dorothy Wickenden.
4 P.M. City Winery ($27)
Character Actors
With Christine Baranski, Joan Cusack, Luis Guzman, Richard Kind, and John Turturro.
Moderated by Nancy Franklin.
4 P.M. Acura at Stage37 ($27)
Early Shift
Loudon Wainwright III talks with Susan Morrison | A Conversation with Music
7:30 P.M. The Bell House ($35)
Wallace Shawn talks with John Lahr
7:30 P.M. City Winery ($35)
Ian Hunter and Graham Parker talk with Ben Greenman | A Conversation with Music
7:30 P.M. (Le) Poisson Rouge ($35)
Neko Case talks with Sasha Frere-Jones | A Conversation with Music
7:30 P.M. Acura at Stage37 ($25)
Saturday Night Sneak Preview
“Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
After the screening, Kelefa Sanneh will talk with Sapphire and the film’s director, Lee Daniels.
8 P.M. Directors Guild Theatre ($27)
Late Shift
Jason Schwartzman talks with Richard Brody
10 P.M. The Bell House ($35)
James Franco talks with Lauren Collins
10 P.M. Cedar Lake Theatre ($35)
Tilda Swinton talks with Hilton Als
10 P.M. City Winery ($35)
Steve Earle talks with John Seabrook | A Conversation with Music
10 P.M. (Le) Poisson Rouge ($35)
Justin Vernon of Bon Iver talks with Sasha-Frere Jones | A Conversation with Music
10 P.M. Acura at Stage37 ($25)
Sunday | October 18
About Town
Tailing Tilley
A live, interactive game drawing on eighty-four years of New Yorker history.
11 A.M. Galway Hooker ($15)
Morning at the Frick
Peter Schjeldahl will lead a tour of the museum before public hours begin, followed by coffee and conversation.
11 A.M. Frick Collection ($60)
Come Hungry
Calvin Trillin will lead a tasting walk from Greenwich Village to Chinatown, concluding with a dim-sum feast.
11 A.M. Ticket buyers will be contacted concerning the starting point. ($100)
Strings Attached
Basil Twist will lead a tour of his studio and talk about the puppeteer’s art with Joan Acocella. Drinks will be served.
12 noon. Ticket buyers will be contacted concerning the location. ($60)
Inside the Artist’s Studio
Chuck Close will show his work and talk with Adam Gopnik at his studio. Drinks will be served.
12 noon. Ticket buyers will be contacted concerning the location. ($60)
Bottoms Up
Sam Calagione will demonstrate the beer-brewing process and discuss his work with Burkhard Bilger. Tastings, paired with meats and cheeses, will be served.
12 noon. The Gate ($50)
New Yorker Talks
James Surowiecki | Tomorrow Never Comes: Why We Procrastinate and How It Matters
11 A.M. City Winery ($27)
Atul Gawande | The Death of the Master Builder: A Story of Risk, Medicine, and Skyscrapers
1 P.M. Directors Guild Theatre ($27)
Kaffeeklatsch | New Yorker Writers and Artists Up Close
Heroes and Antiheroes
With Donald Antrim, A. M. Homes, George Saunders, and Gary Shteyngart.
Moderated by Cressida Leyshon.
10 A.M. Conde Nast Executive Dining Room ($15)
George Booth interviewed by David Owen
12 noon. Conde Nast Executive Dining Room ($15)
Our Far-Flung Correspondents
With David Grann, Elizabeth Kolbert, and Ian Parker. Moderated by Daniel Zalewski.
2 P.M. Conde Nast Executive Dining Room ($15)
Master Classes
Master Class: Cartooning
With Robert Mankoff.
10 A.M. Conde Nast Auditorium ($35)
Master Class: Photography
With Platon.
12 noon. Conde Nast Auditorium ($35)
Master Class: Copy Editing
With Ann Goldstein, Mary Norris, and Elizabeth Pearson-Griffiths.
2 P.M. Conde Nast Auditorium ($35)
Panels
Radical Opera
With Lisa Bielawa, Nico Muhly, Peter Sellars, and Rufus Wainwright. Moderated by Alex Ross.
3 P.M. City Winery ($35)
A Humor Revue
Shouts & Murmurs Live
With Jenny Allen, Woody Allen, Noah Baumbach, Yoni Brenner, Ian Frazier, Patricia Marx, David Owen, Amy Ozols, Simon Rich, Paul Rudnick, George Saunders, Paul Simms, and Calvin Trillin. Hosted by David Remnick.
4 P.M. Directors Guild Theatre ($35)
How to Purchase Tickets
Tickets for The New Yorker Festival will go on sale at 12 noon E.T. on Friday, September 18th. There are several ways to purchase tickets:
Online: Get tickets at newyorker.com/festival.
By phone: Call 800-440-6974.
At Ticket HQ: Ten per cent of tickets to all events will be available at Cedar Lake Theatre, at 547 West 26th Street (between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues).
Tickets will be sold on Friday, October 16th, from 12 noon to 4 P.M. First come, first served.
At the door: A limited number of tickets will be sold at the door to each event one hour before start time, with the exception of Morning at the Frick, Come Hungry, Strings Attached, Inside the Artist’s Studio, and Bottoms Up. First come, first served. Cash only.
Book Signings at McNally Jackson Books
SATURDAY | OCTOBER 17
12 noon
T. Coraghessan Boyle – “The Women”
Aleksandar Hemon – “Love and Obstacles”
1 P.M.
Junot Diaz – “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao”
Mary Gaitskill – “Don’t Cry”
2 P.M.
Annie Proulx – “Fine Just the Way It Is: Wyoming Stories 3″
3 P.M.
Malcolm Gladwell – “Outliers: The Story of Success”
Bill James – “The Bill James Gold Mine 2009″
4 P.M.
Paul Rudnick – “I Shudder: And Other Reactions to Life, Death, and New Jersey”
Wallace Shawn – “Essays”
5 P.M.
Robert Mankoff – “On the Money: The Economy in Cartoons, 1925-2009″
SUNDAY | OCTOBER 18
12 noon
Tad Friend – “Cheerful Money: Me, My Family, and the Last Days of Wasp Splendor”
David Grann – “The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon”
1 P.M.
John Cassidy – “How Markets Fail: The Economics of Rational Irrationality”
Paul Goldberger – “Why Architecture Matters” and “Building Up and Tearing Down: Reflections on the Age of Architecture”
2 P.M.
Daniyal Mueenuddin – “In Other Rooms, Other Wonders”
Colson Whitehead – “Sag Harbor”
3 P.M.
Adam Gopnik – “Angels and Ages: A Short Book about Darwin, Lincoln, and Modern Life”
Hendrik Hertzberg – “One Million”
4 P.M.
George Booth – “About Dogs”
Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly – “The TOON Treasury of Classic Children’s Comics”
The 2009 program schedule will appear in the September 21st issue of The New Yorker, on newsstands September 14th. The Festival schedule will also be posted on the same date on newyorker.com/festival.

NYC Straphangers Suspiciously Well Read, If They Do Say So

Martin Schneider writes:
I found delicious the results of the recent New York Times poll asking, “What Are You Reading on the Subway?”
Let’s have a look!

Magazines:
The New Yorker (1,405 readers)
New York magazine (403 readers)
The Economist (371 readers)
Time Out New York (193 readers)
Time (171 readers)
The New York Times Magazine (109 readers)
Newsweek (91 readers)
Harper’s (89 readers)
The Atlantic (83 readers)
People (60 readers)

These results are fascinating. So, to summarize: more people are reading The New Yorker than are reading finishers 2 through 7 combined. Wow. Wow.
I think of Nielsen, the ratings company, which used to ask its subjects to record their weekly TV watching habits in a journal—they found they had to jettison that system in favor of an automated one, because people were rarely truthful about what they watched. They tended to underreport their hours per week, and they also tended to “forget” about the trashier side of their TV diet.
I think something similar may be at work here too. (Where’s Entertainment Weekly? At least People made the list—barely.)
The books list is similarly (improbably) high-minded, with David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest, Robert Bolaño’s 2666 (!?), and Anna Karenina all finishing well. I half-expected to see Finnegans Wake in there. (Rowling doesn’t make the list.)
I’m being cheeky, but maybe my skepticism is misplaced. I honestly do see people reading The New Yorker on the subway with great regularity, and hell, even if these lists are a touch … aspirational, it’s a fine thing to see such dandy aspirations!

What’s in This Week’s New Yorker: 09.14.09

Martin Schneider writes:

The style issue of The New Yorker comes out tomorrow. A preview of its contents, adapted from the magazine’s press release:
In “Check Mate,” Lauren Collins profiles Christopher Bailey, the creative director of Burberry, the British fashion company. Founded in 1856 by Thomas Burberry, who “dedicated himself to devising superior ways of protecting his clientele from the elements,” the company outfitted famed explorers and outdoorsmen including Roald Amundsen and Robert Scott, and created the “trench coat” for British officers to wear in the First World War.
In “Happy Feet,” Alexandra Jacobs goes inside the headquarters of Zappos, the online shoe retailer. Zappos’s thirty-five-year-old C.E.O., Tony Hsieh, “has earned a zealous following by imposing an ethos of live human connection on the chilly, anonymous bazaar of the Internet,” Jacobs writes. “He talks about being the architect of a movement to spread happiness, or ‘Zappiness,’ via three ‘C’s: clothing, customer service, and company culture.”
In “Lady of the House,” Dana Goodyear profiles Kelly Wearstler, the “presiding grande dame of West Coast interior design,” who is perhaps best known nationally for her turn as the eccentrically dressed judge on Bravo’s Top Design (“Most people, including her fellow-judge Jonathan Adler, say they watched just for Wearstler’s getups,” Goodyear notes).
In Comment, Lauren Collins compares local reactions to two recently completed New York City public spaces: the plaza in Times Square and the High Line.
In The Financial Page, James Surowiecki asks why some people are afraid that inflation is about to get out of control.
Patricia Marx shops Chicago.
In Shouts & Murmurs, Ian Frazier offers “Easy Cocktails from the Cursing Mommy.”
Photographs of the flamenco women of Spain, by Ruven Afanador.
Anthony Lane traces the journey behind the photographer Robert Frank’s The Americans.
Judith Thurman examines Amelia Earhart’s legend and legacy.
Nancy Franklin watches the CW’s new Melrose Place remake.
Sasha Frere-Jones writes about the Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor’s latest album, farewell tour, and thoughts on the music business.
Anthony Lane reviews 9 and District 9.
There is a short story by Paul Theroux.

The “Mad Men” Files: It’s Different Inside

Martin Schneider writes:
I introduced a feature last year called “The Mad Men Files” (1 2), and I recently discovered a good occasion to try to spark it again.
For those who are completely up to date, I recommend a perusal of the Talk of the Town of August 3, 1963, which happens to contain two items that seem to relate to Season 3.
First, in Susan Black and Brendan Gill’s item about Radio City Music Hall, they note that “‘Bye Bye Birdie,’ the movie that played [the Hall] during Easter this year, holds the record for the week’s biggest gross—$233,825, with an attendance of 165,255.”
On the next page is a brief and rather lyrical item by Geoffrey T. Hellman, which is worth quoting in full:

Has Mr. Conrad Hilton, who is the chief of Hilton Hotels International (as well as domestic) and, in a way, a one-man Peace Corps, been bearing tall tales south of the Rio Grande? We are moved to this question by receipt of a multicolored postcard from vacationing friends in Acapulco (“The scenery from our patio is more beautiful than even Capri”) which bears a photograph of an irregularly shaped swimming pool and the legend “Las Brisas Hilton. Pink cottages and cocktail-sized pools surrounded by Acapulco Blossoms.” The pool, we should judge, is some eighteen feet long and about half as wide, or a good deal bigger than even a Yale Club Martini, said to be Manhattan’s most ample. What must the Mexicans think of us and our gringo guzzles? Let poetic justice prevail. It remains for Mr. Cesar Balse, of Acapulco and Mexico City, the lessor of the St. Regis, to launch in the King Cole Room a pool-sized Bloody Mary, properly celebrated on a postcard bordered by Orange Blossoms as big as the Ritz.

Why the sudden interest in Conrad Hilton and his irregularly shaped swimming pools? Well, there appears to be good reason to believe that the elderly reprobate Don befriends at the abandoned country club bar is none other than Conrad Hilton. (Given the notoriety of his great-granddaughter, a delicious commentary on the present day, if so.)
Given that Season 3 is set in 1963, it’s a resonant piece of prose, to say the least.

Sempé Fi (On Covers): Don’t Forgive Us Our Trespasses

Banyai_NoTrespassing_8-31-09.jpg
_Pollux writes_:
“No Trespassing!” a sign warns, as a couple wades into the surf at nighttime. It is a forbidden tryst, involving the romance of a midnight hour and a private beach to which they are not allowed access. The sign is small and ineffective; the power of love and lust is not.
It is a _New Yorker_ cover in which the cool grays, whites, and blacks of the coloring are working against the hot passion of a couple who may be about to make love in the surf. There is a touch of danger in the air, and as is usually the case with _New Yorker_ covers, a touch of mystery as well.
Danger lurks in the air. I can’t help thinking that, yes, the couple may be intent on a sexual thrill, but the moonlit pathway to the sea seems also to lead to death -either by murder or by suicide.
As one blogger has “written”:http://stevereads.blogspot.com/2009/08/in-penny-press-new-yorker-31-august.html, Banyai’s cover “manages to be romantically touching despite the fact that it automatically summons to mind the open scene of _Jaws_.”
The cover of the August 31, 2009 issue of _The New Yorker_, called “No Trespassing,” seems to be a parody of a romantic moonlit scene. A full moon is a commonplace symbol of romance and romantic trysts. Don’t lovers ever fall in love beneath the glow of a waxing gibbous or third quarter moon?
The cover’s artist is “Istvan Banyai”:http://www.istvanbanyai.com/, a Hungarian-born artist who now lives and works in New York and Connecticut. As Banyai has “remarked”:http://www.chroniclebooks.com/Chronicle/excerpt/0811846083-e0.html, “I like visual, I think visual.” His children’s book “_Zoom_”:http://www.hemmy.net/2008/05/02/zoom-picture-book-by-istvan-banyai/ is all about visuals: the book is composed of a slow and steady zooming out over the course of many pages.
Body language is everything. The legs of the woman are not draped gracefully and seductively across her man’s arms. She seems to flail rather gracelessly in the night air. Her knees are pointed against one another. Her pose is ungainly.
Nevertheless, her face is turned towards him, her eyes closed, her lips ready. She seems to be entirely naked. Her partner is clothed. Instead of a white tux or _From Here to Eternity_ swimming trunks, however, the man wears a tank top and shorts that sag unattractively down his buttocks.
Banyai’s May 6, 2002 “cover”:http://www.cartoonbank.com/product_details.asp?mscssid=N75BLQT1QCKS9NR183NUWJWU397MBJ28&sitetype=1&did=5&sid=51407&pid=&keyword=Istvan+Banyai&section=all&title=undefined&whichpage=1&sortBy=popular also depicted a couple who made up for any lack of elegance with sexual passion: the boy wears an ill-fitting tank top that reveals skinny arms and a belly button.
The girl wears a summer dress, a bandanna, and no bra. She extends a long arm around him; his arm simply hangs across her shoulders. They kiss in a city street infused with a creamy yellow and with people bustling off to work. The commuters are boring and bored, and their nipples aren’t showing.
Banyai’s drawings of intertwined couples place the focus on their bodies, on their physicality. His couples are not perfect physical specimens, just regular couples who have managed to find a moment of passion and sexuality.
Where are they? Are they, perhaps, on one of Martha’s Vineyard’s coveted “key beaches”? These are beaches that require a key to get in, but according to this “article”:http://www.bostonphoenix.com/archive/features/99/07/29/VINEYARD_BEACHES.html, people still manage to sneak in. Gates are scaled, keys are duplicated and hidden under rocks, and visitors “accidentally” wander onto association beaches.
The rules regarding beach trespassing seem to be a little hazy, although most authorities consider public property everything seaward of the mean high water line–the mean high water line being the average level of the high tide line over the last 19 years.
There is no political or social message on the cover, and Banyai’s cover is not about beach property rights at all. (In any case, even an advocacy group like “C.R.A.B.”:http://www.crabnj.org/2.html, the Citizens’ Right to Access Beaches, declares very categorically the following: “We respect the rights of private property owners and do not advocate trespassing.”)
The cover’s intent is to evoke a scene of romance, of sex and danger. It is about the thrill of public nudity. It is about the thrill of wearing any old thing, or nothing at all, and still having someone who wants you.
Banyai’s couple does not seem to be worrying about high tide levels and property rights. They are trespassing and transgressing. Love, or at least lust, is in the air.

New Yorker Festival: First Glimpse of the Lineup!

Martin Schneider writes:
The New Yorker sent out its first lengthy announcement regarding the attendees of the New Yorker Festival today. Below are the lightly trimmed highlights from the press release.

* * *

The 2009 New Yorker Festival
Date: October 16-18
The full program guide will be included in the September 21, 2009, issue of the magazine, on newsstands September 14, and will be available at newyorker.com/festival.
Among this year’s highlights:
Interviews with the filmmaker Tyler Perry; the news anchor Rachel Maddow; the actor James Franco; the actress Tilda Swinton; the actor Jason Schwartzman; the playwright and actor Wallace Shawn; the author Annie Proulx; and the sleight-of-hand artist Ricky Jay.
The character actors Joan Cusack, Christine Baranski, Luis Guzmán, Richard Kind, and John Turturro will discuss how they create such memorable supporting characters.
Shouts & Murmurs Live will feature some of the funniest men and women from our pages Jenny Allen, Woody Allen, Noah Baumbach, Yoni Brenner, Ian Frazier, Patricia Marx, David Owen, Amy Ozols, Simon Rich, Paul Rudnick, George Saunders, Paul Simms, and Calvin Trillin–and will be hosted by David Remnick.
New Yorker writers Roger Angell, Adam Gopnik, Ariel Levy, Mark Singer, and Judith Thurman will gather for an evening of stories about life at the magazine, presented in conjunction with the Moth performance series and hosted by Andy Borowitz.
Pop-music offerings will include interviews with and performances by Neko Case, Bon Iver, Steve Earle, and Loudon Wainwright III; a pub-rock reunion with Ian Hunter, of Mott the Hoople, and Graham Parker, of Graham Parker and the Rumour; and a panel discussion about the music industry with Jace Clayton, Josh Deutsch, Melvin Gibbs, Danny Goldberg, and Livia Tortella. In addition, a special Brooklyn Playlist concert at Brooklyn’s Bell House, curated by Sasha Frere-Jones and Kelefa Sanneh, will feature Dirty Projectors, House of Ladosha, Jubilee, and Liturgy.
In a series of New Yorker Talks, Atul Gawande will relate a story of risk, medicine, and skyscrapers; Malcolm Gladwell will examine the curious case of Michael Vick; Simon Schama will explore Obama’s role in history; and James Surowiecki will look at why we procrastinate.
New Yorker film critics will screen and discuss overlooked masterpieces: David Denby will present Alfred Hitchock’s 1943 thriller, “Shadow of a Doubt”; Anthony Lane will explore the 1947 French film “Quai des Orfèvres”; and Richard Brody will discuss Jean-Luc Godard’s 1987 version of “King Lear.”
After a sneak-preview screening of “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire,” Kelefa Sanneh will talk about the film with Sapphire and the film’s director, Lee Daniels.
A panel, Radical Opera, will explore innovations in the genre, with participants Nico Muhly, Peter Sellars, Rufus Wainwright, and Lisa Bielwa discussing their recent work. This event will feature a special performance by the string quartet Brooklyn Rider.
About Town excursions throughout the city will include Calvin Trillin‘s ninth gastronomic walking tour of Chinatown and Little Italy, with stops at some of his favorite eateries; a tour of the Frick Collection before public hours begin, conducted by Peter Schjeldahl; a look into Chuck Close‘s studio, with drinks and conversation with Adam Gopnik; a studio tour with Basil Twist, who will discuss over drinks the art of puppeteering with Joan Acocella; and a beer-brewing demonstration and tasting with Sam Calagione, of Dogfish Head Brewery, in conversation with Burkhard Bilger.
Friday Night Fiction events will feature paired readings by New Yorker fiction writers: Mary Gaitskill and T. Coraghessan Boyle; Edwidge Danticat and Junot Díaz; David Bezmozgis and Jonathan Franzen; George Saunders and Gary Shteyngart; Daniyal Mueenuddin and Salman Rushdie; Jonathan Lethem and Colson Whitehead; Yiyun Li and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie; and Joshua Ferris and Aleksandar Hemon.
A panel on the world of advertising, moderated by Ken Auletta, will feature Matthew Weiner, the creator of AMC’s “Mad Men”; Lee Clow of TBTA Worldwide and Chiat/Day; and Steve Stoute of Translation Consultation + Brand Imaging, who will look at the reality behind Madison Avenue, today and in the past.
The interactive game Tailing Tilley game will send teams of participants off with New Yorker-inspired clues that will point the way to iconic locations around the city. Eustace Tilley himself will be hopping from one location to another, and the team with the most sightings will get a prize.
A live version of The New Yorker‘s popular weekly podcast on politics, the Political Scene, will feature Hendrik Hertzberg, Ryan Lizza, Jane Mayer, and Dorothy Wickenden discussing President Obama’s first year in office.
A New Math panel will feature people who crunch numbers in interesting ways, to fascinating ends: Bill James, the baseball theorist; Nate Silver, the political analyst and creator of FiveThirtyEight.com; Sudhir Venkatesh, the urban ethnographer; and Nancy Flournoy, the biostatistician. [Note: I really hope I get to go to this!—MCS]
In a new series called Kaffeeklatsch, New Yorker writers and artists will come together for discussions in an intimate setting. The writers Donald Antrim, A. M. Homes, George Saunders, and Gary Shteyngart will explore the themes of heroes and anti-heroes in their work; David Owen will interview the cartoonist George Booth about his decades of work for The New Yorker; and the correspondents David Grann, Ian Parker, and Elizabeth Kolbert will tell of their far-flung travels to report stories for the magazine.
A set of Master Classes will feature Platon on photography, Bob Mankoff on cartooning, and Ann Goldstein and others on copy editing at The New Yorker.
Tickets will go on sale on Friday, September 18, at 12 noon, and may be purchased at newyorker.com/festival or by calling 800-440-6974. Ten percent of tickets to all events will be available at Ticket HQ, at Cedar Lake Theatre, 547 West 26th Street (between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues). These tickets will be sold on Friday, October 16, from 12 noon to 4 P.M. A limited number of tickets will be sold at the door to each event one hour before start time (including Tailing Tilley, but excluding all other About Town events). Updated Festival information will be available online at newyorker.com/festival.