The Nolita bookstore at which my friend Katie works is changing its name from McNally Robinson to McNally Jackson and to celebrate, they closed early tonight and held a private party.
Esther K. Smith had tables set up in the center of the store where guests could illustrate their own mini picture books on a rectangle of heavy-stock, accordion-folded paper. Materials included many kinds of paper, markers, stickers and ink-stamps. Esther advised me personally that it’d be easier to use my glue stick if I placed the items I was gluing on the table instead of holding them in my hand. My book turned out well; it’s the story of a bunny, the collage illustration style loosely inspired by my favorite children’s lit illustrators, Ezra Jack Keats.
Other authors stepped-in as bookstore staff for the party, recommending books and taking photos of people holding their favorite book; under pressure, I chose to hold The Great Gatsby while forcing a unnatural-looking smile. Colson Whitehead, an author and journalist who has received the MacArthur “Genius” grant, was assigned to pour champagne and seemed bemused by his task.
