Come On Out To Fall Events [#21]

Details on events in New England, LA and Texas, plus fun reads like a behind-the-scenes on how they kept the BTS book a secret.

Annyeonghaseyo!

The official tour wrapped up in the summer, but I’m back on the road a bit this fall to do some free, public events that I hope you can attend (or send your people in your stead).

• October 14 in New Haven, at Possible Futures Books, in conversation with Connecticut Public Radio’s Catherine Shen. I cannot say enough about how generous the public radio stations around the country have been. Not only in having me on their shows, but also in loaning out their talent to do live events. Catherine and I met at my AAJA talk in July and she already feels like an old friend. We start at 11am, more info at the link.

• November 12 in Austin, at the Texas Book Festival, on a panel with the uber-talented novelist and concert violinist Ling Ling Huang, who is also an author at Dutton — we share the same PRH imprint! We’ll be at the Capitol Auditorium starting at 12:15pm. Please come out, it’s at my old stomping grounds — the Texas Capitol — and I can’t wait to see the Austin posse show up big for this one.

• November 19 in LA (Marina del Rey) at a new location for the Marina Barnes and Noble, to celebrate its grand re-opening! The booksellers there slid into my DMs to ask if I’d do an event since this is my local Barnes and Noble and I signed some books for them before I went on tour in May. I’m delighted to do it and hope to see you if you’re on the Westside or just in town that weekend.

Some Reading about Reading

These are links that normally I’d share on the social media platform previously known as Twitter, where I used to spend so much of my time. But what’s left of it is, at best, inexplicable and useless so I’m no longer there.

The moral case for no longer engaging with Twitter is a compelling one.

If you’re looking for a Goodreads alternative because of the “review-bombing” problem there, I keep hearing about Italic Type. Give it a try and let me know what you think?

How the people behind the BTS book kept it a secret. My friend JB (whose known as Anton Hur professionally) was the translator of the BTS book. I remember texting with him and his husband late night California time one night this spring. I asked him why he was still awake in Korea and he said he was waiting on editors in New York to close on a deal but he couldn’t say anything else. I got annoyed he wasn’t telling me. Here’s our exchange, and … he was right.

And in Flawless News…

I wrote a Sunday Times piece on the South Korean procedures that are all the rage right now (laser toning to slim down the jawline, the lip edge filler and “contour injectables”). It’s paywalled, so here’s the pdf if you’re really curious.

Last week Asia Society Texas hosted me to speak at their ongoing Women’s Leadership lunches, a ticketed event that sold out and brought in hundreds of dynamic Houston women.

In Houston at the Asia Society Texas Center.

I learned so much from the fellow panelists — Dr. Susan Chon, who heads dermatology at UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, and Janet Gurtwich, who turned Laura Mercier into a business. Janet shared her personal stories about the rapid change of the industry, especially with regards to how they sell (Out: Department stores, In: Sephora and online) and who moves product (Out: Beauty magazine editors, In: Influencers). And Dr. Chon was just so personable, hilarious, and knowledgeable about skin, skin treatments, and sunscreen. I really want to be her friend.

This was a long dispatch so thanks for sticking with me. More exciting updates to come.

Until then,

E

PS. This is neither here nor there, but last night I tried the K-town KBBQ that boy bander/solo success Jungkook really liked, Pigya, and dang not only was it deeeeeelicious it’s also a really excellent bargain. There are many, many KBBQ places in LA’s K-town but this one was legit AFFORDABLE, which I can’t say about a lot of the ones people recommend all the time (cough Park’s BBQ cough).