They called my writing "femme-Kafka" so I went with it! The launch party for A FLASH OF DARKNESS was Kafka themed. Set in an underground East Village cabaret, the master of ceremonies, Betsy Golden Kellem, won an Emmy the day after being our emcee. The Poetry Brothel warmed up the crowd with some in-character poetry performances, and then I read a new translation of Kafka's A Hunger Artist and explained how Kafka's work influenced me when I was just a teen reading the stories in their original German.
I then read the story "Tastemakers" from my collection that echoes the themes in A Hunger Artist and afterward, Victor LaValle came to the stage and interviewed me about everything from childhood events to name recognition. Atmosphere was created by Rimas Polikaitis of Bellows & Ivory. Pangea's lighting and sound guy did a wonderful job, and everyone had copious good food and drinks.
Take a peek at what you missed - and don't miss the next one!
