Dan's Literary Salon Returns Saturday, May 16
The ongoing Dan’s Papers Literary Salon series continues at its new summer venue, the Southampton Arts Center on Jobs Lane, this Saturday, May 16, at 5 p.m. This month’s lineup includes readings from 2014 Dan’s Papers Literary Prize for Nonfiction winner Eve Eliot, along with Catherine Ingram and, for the first time, Dan’s Papers founder and Editor-in-Chief Dan Rattiner! Wine and cheese will be served, and all are welcome to attend this free event.
Ingram will begin the evening by reading her Dan’s Papers Literary Prize highlight submission, “Honeysuckle Memories,” an essay about the honeysuckle on Clearwater Beach near her home in Springs, and the memories triggered by their scent. It’s a story of aging, life’s joys and tragedies, and her remembrance of things past.
Eliot, who won the $5,000 grand prize in last year’s Dan’s Papers Literary Prize for Nonfiction, will read her winning essay, “The Life and Times of Miss Muffet.” This story looks back at the author’s formative years growing up in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, “my home town that felt like the center of the universe,” her move to Manhattan and eventual, long lasting romance with the Hamptons and all its ponds, swans, ducks, daffodils, tulips, windmills, bunnies, white picket fences and “dwellings for which Miss Muffet herself would apply for a mortgage.”
Finally, Rattiner, the “Dan” in Dan’s Papers, will step out of his role as Literary Salon emcee and take the mic to read his “Lions in the Hamptons” story—about South African industrialist Hans Van der Klerk and the 26 lions he would release into the wild to “deal with the Hamptons deer problem.” The hilarious hoax became a worldwide viral sensation after it was published online in December 2013, leading multiple news outlets to report on the story, and numerous terrified locals to lock their doors and keep their kids inside until the perceived mayhem passed. A string of articles about the lions’ progress followed, including a map revealing where each Hamptons lion was released, a video and even a commemorative T-shirt, on DansPapers.com.
After this week’s event, the next Dan’s Papers Literary Salon will be held on Saturday, June 13. The event will continue monthly through October.
Submissions are currently being accepted, through August 15, for the 2015 Dan’s Papers $6,000 Literary Prize for Nonfiction, open to writers of all ages, and Dan’s Papers’ new $4,000 Emerging Young Writers Prize for Nonfiction, open to authors age 25 years and younger. All entries must be an original work of nonfiction between 600 and 1,500 words with meaningful references to the East End of Long Island. Poetry is not accepted. For complete rules and submission info, and to view past entries, visit LiteraryPrize.DansPapers.com. One author may enter up to three works in each competition, at a cost of $25 per entry.
Winners will be announced at a special awards ceremony at Guild Hall’s John Drew Theater in East Hampton on Thursday, September 3.
Major funding is provided by Barnes & Noble. Sponsorships are provided by Southampton Inn, Bridgehampton National Bank, Guernsey’s Auction, Ben Krupinski Builders, Bobby Van’s and Sotto Sopra. Support for the Emerging Writers competition is provided by Alec Baldwin.