Hamptons Celebs and Authors Hit the Literary Scene
The Hamptons literary scene is alive and well! Celebrities, local authors and other personalities are proving that books are still all the rage on the East End.
South Forker Christie Brinkley released her first book in more than 30 years last week. In Timeless Beauty: Over 100 Tips, Secrets and Shortcuts to Looking Great, the supermodel shares some of her favorite diet, fitness, skincare and makeup rules. Brinkley released her first tome, Christie Brinkley’s Outdoor Beauty and Fitness Book, in 1985.
Sag Harbor’s Donna Karan is receiving rave reviews for her recently released memoir, My Journey. Said Publisher’s Weekly, “In this candid and revealing memoir, fashion designer Karan recalls her less-than-perfect youth, her relationship with mentor Anne Klein, her glory years as a mega-successful fashion designer, and her grief over losing the love of her life…The book’s energy is infectious, and Karan’s instinctive talent on the page and off is fascinating.”
Critically acclaimed author of 19 books, Arlene Alda, who most recently published her six-decade spanning memoir Just Kids From the Bronx (Holt, 2015), spoke at Writers Speak Wednesday, a free author talk and reading at Stony Brook Southampton, this week. The final guest author of the fall Writers Speak series, poet and children’s book author Willie Perdomo, will appear on December 2. On Wednesday, December 9, the evening will be devoted to readings by students currently enrolled in the MFA in Creative Writing and Literature program at Stony Brook Southampton.
Fellow fashionista Kelly Klein recently signed copies of her new photography book, Photographs by Kelly Klein (Rizzoli), at Harbor Book in Sag Harbor last Saturday, November 14. Sag Harbor book signings appear to be a tradition for Klein. The designer and shutterbug signed copies of her second photo collection, Horses, at the Rizzoli Bookstore at Empire Gallery in 2009.
South Fork writers Celine Keating and Ed Johann launched a successful Kickstarter campaign in support of Montauk: A Literary Celebration. The anthology features work from 50 writers, and celebrates Montauk’s unique beauty, history, culture and more.
Sag Harbor poet and “performing plumber” Terry Sullivan’s first book, The Birds of Sag Harbor Notebook: A Conservational Survey in Poetry, Prose, Photography and Prints will be published by Empire Science Resources in the new year. Sullivan is reading a story at the Dan’s Papers Literary Salon this Saturday, November 21, at the Southampton Arts Center.
East Hampton author Daniel Simone will be on hand Sunday, November 22 at the East Hampton Library for a Q & A following a screening of Goodfellas. Simone recently released The Lufthansa Heist, which retells the story of the $9 million theft at JFK Airport. Ed McDonald, the former US Attorney who prosecuted the case, will join the discussion, which will be moderated by Dan’s Papers founder Dan Rattiner. Goodfellas is based on Nicholas Pileggi‘s book Wiseguy.
Amagansett residents Alec and Hilaria Baldwin will read from Oliver Twist at BookHampton in East Hampton on Black Friday, November 27. Clearly, Riverhead’s big box stores aren’t the only hot spots on the biggest shopping day of the year! The reading of the Charles Dickens classic will begin at 3 p.m. at 41 Main Street, East Hampton.
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Speaking of BookHampton—in the face of the permanent closure of BookHampton in Southampton after the holidays, Daniel Hirsch and Gregory Harris have inked a deal with owner Charline Spektor to buy the store! The new venture, Southampton Books, folds in Harris’s business Restaurant of the Mind Books, which he founded in 2008. Now who’s going to buy BookHampton’s East Hampton store?