The New York Public Library (NYPL) held its annual lunch Thursday, under the iconic glass dome of the Celeste Bartos Forum in the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building. A highlight of New York's cultural happenings, the yearly event features NYPL board member and New Yorker Editor-In-Chief David Remnick in conversation with three best-selling authors. This year's theme was “Historically Speaking”, with Remnick moderating a conversation between Jennifer Egan, Colm Tóibín and Min Jin Lee on the process of writing historical fiction. The lunch raised a record breaking amount to support the Library’s mission to inspire lifelong learning, advance knowledge, and strengthen communities.
"This is one of the best and most lovely experiences in New York City," said Daisy Prince, who Co-Chaired this year's lunch along with Remnick, Abigail Baratta, Louise Grunwald, Mahnaz Ispahani-Bartos, Zibby Owens, Deborah Goodrich Royce, Nanar Yoseloff and Honorary Co-Chair Colum McCann. "I think it's important to support the library, because I love books and literacy. Books are my best friends, so I will do anything to support the people who work here and the authors."
The event is an avid reader’s dream: guests, including Caroline Kennedy, Candice Bergen, Fran Lebowitz, Merryl Tisch and Susan Cheever were treated to copies of Tóibín’s Brooklyn, Lee’s Pachinko, and Egan’s Manhattan Beach - the most checked-out book in the New York Public Library system in 2018 – along with a silver bookmark from the event’s sponsor, Asprey.
As guests finished their main course, NYPL’s CEO, the charismatic Anthony Marx, laid the groundwork for the discussion.
"The Library as a whole is here to support and nurture the brightest writers and artists to create vital, important and necessary work - which is why we are here to celebrate that work today,” said Marx. “It is only possible because of the efforts of the library to collect, preserve and document our shared history.”
“The Schwarzman building is our temple to the collective wisdom of the world which we share, including the historical material, to help inspire and inform the next generation of creativity,” Marx continued. “That's why we turn to historical fiction today: because it mines the past for perspectives on the present. But it does more than that: only by understanding and reading into history - fact and fiction - can we as a society maintain and develop our empathy. Only by learning about other places, other times, other peoples can we learn how to live together, and only by doing so is it possible for us to maintain our Democracy, our justice and our prosperity.”
Each author shared the challenges of writing historical fiction, including the depth of research required for authenticity, and having to pull back from trying to submerge the reader in the details of the era so as not to lose the plot line .
“Readers have a right to complain when there isn’t plot,” said Lee.
Egan shared that she reads her material aloud to collaborators in her writing group, who give her an honest assessment of her work, while Tóibín and Lee spoke of seeing their work converted to the big and small screen.
After the discussion ended, the conversation stayed lively as the audience had been privy to such a special glimpse into these brilliant, prize-winning authors.
“The Library is ever-more important today, as freedom of thought and access to ideas and knowledge are being challenged around the world,” said Ispahani-Bartos.
