SOUTH WHITEHALL TWP., Pa. — A line jutting out onto a Tilghman Street parking lot of excited readers and listeners braved the Tuesday evening smoky haze for a chance to meet and get a signed book from humorist David Sedaris during his Lehigh Valley tour stop.
The author and frequent New Yorker contributor held a speaking event and signing for his new book of essays, "Happy-Go-Lucky," as part of a tour of independent bookstores throughout the country.
- Author and humorist David Sedaris held a sold-out speaking event at The End, a new bookstore opened in April with the same owners as Let's Play Books in Emmaus
- Owners said this is an example of the types of events they hope to hold there, given the greater space than their other location
- Sedaris talked about his writing process, family life and time living abroad, and fielded many questions from the audience after reading excerpts from yet to be published essays
It took place at The End, a new bookstore at 3055 W. Tilghman St. and sister location to Emmaus' Let's Play Books that opened in April.
During his presentation, Sedaris spoke about his writing process, and how during touring he would read.
And he did just that — reading excerpts from various in-progress essays before answering questions from the audience.
The crowd frequently giggled as loud as an author event where you do not wish to interrupt the reader would socially allow.
But there also were also more somber moments in the reading that brought the audience to metered silence and attentiveness.
That was particularly true during a reading of an essay discussing the relationship among his mother, himself and his siblings, simply titled "Cool Mom."
'I've been a fan ever since'
Other topics read and talked about included Sedaris's time and experience living in England, seeing language change among different groups of people, and his favorite (he mentioned his essay "Now We Are Five") and his least favorite ("everything in the book 'Naked'") essays he has done.
On display at the shop, and later in many of the attendees hands or shopping bags, were copies of "Happy-Go-Lucky" and many other examples of Sedaris' published work. Books such as "The Best of Me," "Calypso," "Holidays on Ice" and more were stacked for attendees to buy.
James Garrett, who was among the nearly 100 people who bought tickets, said he has followed Sedaris since 2000, after reading an essay of his called "The Great Leap Forward."
The essay was set "when he was working for a moving company, it just just kind of struck home with me a little bit," Garrett said. "Comparing stories in New York City to stories of just people, it was really well written, and I've been a fan ever since."
Garrett said he was looking forward to reading Sedaris' new set of essays and appreciated the move by the author to keep the tour in smaller independent stores.
Store owner Kirsten Hess said the event was emblematic of what she and those at the new bookstore hoped to provide.
"We knew we were going to have David Sedaris before we even had the keys to this place," Hess said, noting the early call Let's Play Books received as Sedaris' team planned his tour.
"At Let's Play Books, we can only have 15 people seated for any event, and the average event for any kind of an author that we would bring to the Lehigh Valley would be minimum of 25 to 30 seats.
"We don't need, you know, the PPL Center, but we need a place for people to walk people to use the restroom, people to buy books, people to sign, there has to be floorspace and the other store is very challenging to deal with that."
'I'm glad that they're here'
Hess said the new space will allow holding author events comfortably for a 30- to 40-person audience — something they weren't able to do in the space at Let's Play Books up to this point.
This event, however, was sold out. With 64 seated attendees in the bookstore, the rest of the 98 ticket holders stayed at nearby Nowhere Coffee Co. to see a livestream of the event before coming to get their books signed after that part of the event concluded.
"There used to be a bookstore across the street in the shopping center, and when that closed, I really missed it. So I'm so glad that they're here, and that they're going into events like this. I hope they continue."Event attendee Anita Ambler
Anita Ambler, a viewer watching the overflow stream in Nowhere Coffee Co., said while there were some audio issues, it was great to have Sedaris — an author she said made her burst out laughing when she read him — there, and she is excited for the future of the space.
"There used to be a bookstore across the street in the shopping center, and when that closed, I really missed it," Ambler said. "So I'm so glad that they're here, and that they're going into events like this. I hope they continue."
No photos or recordings of Sedaris were permitted at the event, but Allentown artist Lorna Flowers was recruited to paint the scene throughout the presentation as a non-photographic means of documenting the occasion.
Questions from the crowd
After his presentation, Sedaris took questions from the crowd, one of which was how he stores and manages ideas to write about — to which he provided an anecdote on how the "Cool Mom" essay just came from seeing a sweatshirt with that phrase on it.
He said he came up with the idea of the essay just after a bit of Googling about the idea.
"It's weird, because you're writing about things that actually happened, but still you can discover all of a sudden you're talking about this when you didn't expect to be," Sedaris said.
Attendee Melissa Kamyab said, "He's a commentator on today and I love that and he does it with wit. He does it with grace, and he does it in a way that makes us all think. That's what I like about him."
"I'm waiting for so many people to die."Humorist David Sedaris
Another attendee asked Sedaris whether there are any stories he's holding onto for future books and pieces.
"I'm waiting for so many people to die," Sedaris said with a smirk, prompting the crowd to burst into laughter.
"Because you're always kind of walking a line there, with people who are alive. I mean, generally you don't want to reveal their...everyone has stuff they don't want people knowing and I feel I have a pretty good idea what that is."
