The Jewish Literary Festival in D.C. opens this weekend with a bookish bang. National Public Radio hosts a special edition of "Selected Shorts," a program celebrating the short story that features Broadway actors (including Victoria Tennant, Kathleen Chalfant and Isaiah Sheffer) reading stories from acclaimed British Jewish writers, such as Muriel Spark and Neal Gaiman. It all begins at 7 p.m. Sunday at the D.C. Jewish Community Center, 1529 16th St. NW. Tickets are $18 to $20. 202/518-9400, ext. 393.
Which sounds really cool. I'd say "the first I've heard of it" but it's probably one of those things that my agent asked me about in passing and I said "sounds fun" to. If anyone goes there, let me know what they read, who read it, how it sounded, if and when it'll be on NPR, all that...
And from the UK Times:
A LITTLE NIGHT READING;BOOKS /BY
Times of London , Sunday, September 22, 2002 , Section: Features , Page: Culture 40
What Carol Ann Duffy has on her bedside table
I'm on my second copy of John Colapinto's About the Author (Fourth Estate), having lost the first; I can hardly bear to reach the end of this hugely entertaining, cleverly plotted black comedy about a writer's crazed need not to write but to be published at any cost. It's the most unputdownable novel since Sarah Waters' beautifully crafted Fingersmith (Virago). I'm also checking the post every day for my paid-for advance copy of The Crimson Petal and the White (Canongate), Michel Faber's new novel. I have high hopes that this Victorian page-turner will keep me curled up in front of the fire now the nights are drawing in. I've been writing some poems about rock'n' roll for children, which is a great excuse to dip into The Rough Guide to Elvis, Paul Simpson's excellently detailed pocket Bible to the definitive 20th-century talent. My seven-year-old nightly climbs into bed to be read to, so Neil Gaiman's future classic, Coraline (Bloomsbury) is scaring us both to death, relieved by Eric Carle's sublimely illustrated (with flaps ) Watch Out! A Giant! (Simon and Schuster).
Carol Ann Duffy's Feminine Gospels is published by Picador
Which is doubly nice because Carol Ann Duffy is a terrific poet. Here's a website with a few of her poems on.