This list includes three past LIVE guests — Zadie Smith, Cheryl Strayed, Joan Didion — and related company (Natalia Ginzburg, mother of historian Carlo Ginzburg). Read on for their stirring essays and click names for full event programs.
Photo by Sarah Stacke from our October 2 event with Cheryl Strayed. See more from the evening here…
Following Cheryl Strayed’s visit to LIVE, Elizabeth Greenwood of The Atlantic notes how Strayed’s “no-nonsense approach makes her the modern-day spokeswoman for self-reliance”—a voice that rings clearly in this time of recession. Read more about Strayed’s powers of authorship here.
Last night Cheryl Strayed brought Sugar, spice, and everything nice to the LIVE stage, and Paul Auster gave the audience a night to remember on Monday as he discussed the memories in his new book.
If you can’t make it to any of these events, come see Katie Roiphe next week to hear her discuss her essays on literature and contemporary life, gathered in her new collection, In Praise of Messy Lives.
You need to stop feeling sorry for yourself. I don’t say this as a condemnation—I need regular reminders to stop feeling sorry for myself too. I’m going to address you bluntly, but it’s a directness that rises from my compassion for you, not my judgment of you. You must separate the global injustice (why should some be shackled by student loan debt when others aren’t?) from the individual reality (I’ll be paying this damn bill forever).
As you and other long-time readers of this column may know, I’m a socialist at heart, but when it comes to the actual, individual way we live our lives, I adhere to an entirely pull-oneself-up-by-one’s-bootstraps creed. Nobody’s going to do your life for you. You have to do it yourself, whether you’re rich or poor, out of money or raking it in, the beneficiary of ridiculous fortune or terrible injustice. And you have to do it no matter what is true. No matter what is hard. No matter what unjust, sad, sucky things have befallen you. Self-pity is a dead end road. You make the choice to drive down it. It’s up to you to decide to stay parked there or to turn around and drive out.
TUESDAY! CHERYL STRAYED in conversation with Paul Holdengräber. Get tickets here… (p.s. enter code “DEARSUGAR” at checkout for $10 off each General Admission ticket)
Artwork by Jaeil Cho
“Aspire always for greatness, but surrender to mediocrity.”
— Cheryl Strayed shares some worthwhile advice on removing the ego from the writing process.
If you want to glean more wisdom from Cheryl, come see her talk about her memoir, Wild, and her “Dear Sugar” advice column at LIVE from the NYPL on October 2!
Sometimes I think the reason I became a writer is because I’ve always felt others’ experiences so acutely. When I tell the people who write me letters that their problems keep me up at night, I’m not joking. I’ve been given a huge gift with this column, and I knew I would write it like a motherfucker, but I didn’t know people would embrace Sugar the way they have. I knew I wanted to be a writer, but the crosscurrent was always that I wanted to help people. I didn’t have total faith that I could help people with writing, but as Sugar I feel like I have helped in some small way.
—Cheryl Strayed, in an interview with Bitch Magazine
Our fall season is finally up! Tickets go on sale this Friday at midnight, but if you can’t wait until then, Become a Friend of the NYPL! Friends receive 46% off all LIVE from the NYPL tickets and are given pre-sale access to events before the general public. So if you can’t wait to see our events, including conversations with Paul Auster, Cheryl Strayed, Pete Townshend, and Tom Wolfe, become a Friend and purchase tickets now and for less by following this link!
