Pen Parentis to Welcome Ann Hood, Rick Moody & Max Watman, 3/11

Pen Parentis has announced an evening of readings and conversation with three wonderful writers about the passions that inspire their work. Ann Hood, bestselling author of the novel The Knitting Circle, will discuss her love of knitting and the anthology she edited, Knitting Yarns. Rick Moody, author of the acclaimed novel The Ice Storm, will talk about his music making and writing, the latter of which was collected in the book On Celestial Music. Accomplished journalist and author Max Watman will regale us with tales of food and drink drawn from his new book Harvest. Each author will read from their work and then participate in an informal, salon-style roundtable with audience participation (moderated by co-hosts Brian Gresko and M. M. De Voe) about their writing, parenting, and the various influences that inspire them. It's sure to be a wide-ranging, entertaining evening.

This Pen Parentis Literary Salon will takes place on Tuesday, March 11th at the elegant Hotel Andaz at 75 Wall Street, which graciously provides happy hour specials on beer on wine. The night kicks off at 7:00 pm, and admission is free. RSVP is recommended, but not required-the Pen Parentis Literary Salon is open to all adults over the age of 21. The authors' books are available for purchase from The Park Slope Community Bookstore.

March 11th's Literary Salon features:

Ann Hood is the author of The Obituary Writer and bestsellers such as The Knitting Circle, The Red Thread, and Comfort: A Journey Through Grief, a New York Times Editor's Choice and named one of the top ten nonfiction books of 2008 by Entertainment Weekly. She's received a Best American Spiritual Writing Award, a Best American Food Writing Award, a Best American Travel Writing Award, the Paul Bowles Prize for Short Fiction, and two Pushcart Prizes. Her essays and stories have appeared in The New York Times, Good Housekeeping, Ladies Home Journal, The Washington Post, Mademoiselle, Redbook, Bon Appetit, and National Geographic Traveler, with regular columns in Self, Glamour, Parenting. She became an avid knitter in 2002 to help get through the grief of losing her daughter, Grace, to a virulent form of strep. Through knitting, Hood was able to pick up her craft again and share her painful journey with the world. She was born in the mill town of West Warwick, Rhode Island, and now lives in Providence with her husband.

Rick Moody is the author of five novels, three collections of stories, a memoir, and, most recently a volume of essays entitled On Celestial Music. His novel, The Ice Storm was made into a popular movie. Since 2009 he has written on music at The Rumpus. He teaches at New York University and Yale.

Max Watman's most recent book is Harvest: Field Notes From a Far Flung Pursuit of Real Food (W.W. Norton & Co., 2014). He is the author of Chasing the White Dog: an Amateur Outlaw's Adventures in Moonshine, and of Race Day: A Spot on the Rail with Max Watman. He has worked as a cook, a farmer, a guitar player, a silversmith, a tutor, a greenskeeper, a warehouseman, and a journalist for the New York Times, the New York Times Book Review, Forbes FYI, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune Small Business, Gourmet, and Parnassus. He was the horseracing correspondent for the New York Sun, and wrote frequently on books, music, food, and drink for their pages. In 2008, he was awarded a Literature Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. Max was raised on the banks of the Shenandoah River, in the Massanutten Mountains of Virginia, and lives near the banks of the Hudson River, in the Highlands, with his wife and son.

More info at penparentis.org.