National Book Festival--roll thru
if yr in dc sept 3
As much as I think it’s a mistake to ask a a writer to talk and expect her to be any good at it, the whole speaking things feels easier now that I’ve publicly asserted that I don’t actually mean anything I say. (I only mean things I write, obviously. Talking is for figuring out what you think when you don’t know yet; writing is for expressing what you’ve become reasonably confident you think via talking and sitting around thinking slowly for a while.) Anyway, I’ll be talking, saying things I may or may not decide I really believe but that are hopefully entertaining enough, on a panel about “the essay in an age of speed” (!!) with my pals Celeste Marcus, Morten Hoi Jensen, and Shawn McCreesh at the National Book Festival on September 3 from 4-4:45. I think we’ll be hanging out and signing whatever you’d like us to sign afterwards. If you’re in town and you want to come, the event info is here: https://www.loc.gov/events/2022-national-book-festival/schedule/item/event-404982/writing-is-thinking-the-essay-in-an-age-of-speed-with-morten-hoi-jensen-shawn-mccreesh-and-becca-rothfeld/2022-09-03/.
If you can’t make it, there will be a livestream here: https://www.loc.gov/events/2022-national-book-festival/schedule/watch-the-festival/society-and-culture/.