Immortal Bird Gets Writers Room Cake: One of 36 Works Published by Room Writers in 2012
Last night we held the annual Writers Room book party at McNally Jackson bookstore on Prince Street in New York City. In a time-honored tradition, every Room writer who had a book published in the past year is recognized and gets his/her book cover reproduced, with remarkable fidelity, onto the surface of a cake. We had 36 individual cakes decorated with different book covers at this year’s bash, an impressive number. I felt proud of this achievement both in my capacity as Writers Room Board President–though the person who deserves the credit is our amazing executive director, Donna Brodie–as well as being one of this year’s authors with a published book, Immortal Bird. I have been a member of the Writers Room for 25 years and it is my spiritual home. I first joined in 1988, in anticipation of Damon’s birth because I worried that having a newborn in the house would prevent me from concentrating on my work. I was a free-lance writer then, with my first book contract, and the Room provided a quiet refuge, a place to meet like-minded scribblers, and a kind of validation because it gave me an “office” to go to. After Damon’s congenital heart disease surfaced, I needed to get a regular job that would provide health insurance so I had to leave the Room but I continue to drop in and write there for brief intervals and to serve on the Board with many friends. The Writers Room is the oldest and largest urban writer’s colony in America and a place where writers can feel welcome 24/7. And as the 36 cakes can attest, it is a place where books get written and published on a regular basis.
Great picture and wonderful event!