Synopses & Reviews
In Like Shaking Hands with God, two distinguished writersseparated by age, race, upbringing, and education, but sharing common goals and aspirationstalk about the place where the lives they lead meet the art they practice. That these two writers happened to be Kurt Vonnegut and Lee Stringer made it a historic celebration.
The setting was a bookstore in New York City, the date Thursday, October 1, 1998. Before a crowd of several hundred, Vonnegut and Stinger took up the challenge of writing books that would make a difference and the concomitant challenge of living from day to day. As Vonnegut said afterward, "It was a magical evening."
A book for anyone interested in why the simple act of writing things down can be more important than the amount of memory in our computers.
Kurt Vonnegut (19222007) was among the few grandmasters of twentieth-century American letters, one without whom the very term American literature would mean much less than it does now. Vonnegut’s other books from Seven Stories Press include God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian and the national hardcover and paperback bestseller A Man Without a Country.
Lee Stringer is the author of the acclaimed Grand Central Winter: Stories from the Street, which chronicled his twelve years of homelessness in New York City. A former editor and columnist of Street News, his is also the author of Sleepaway School: A Memoir. He is at work on the forthcoming White People: Stories from the Suburbs.
Dan Simon is founder and publisher of Seven Stories Press, co-author of Run, Run, Run: The Lives of Abbie Hoffman; translator of Pascal Bonafoux's Van Gogh: Self Portraits; and co-editor of three volumes on Nelson Algren: Nonconformity, the critical edition of The Man with the Golden Arm; and Entrapment and Other Writings with Brooke Horvath.
Ross Klavan is a writer and performer in New York City. His critically acclaimed original screenplay Tigerland, based on his novel of the same name, was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award.
Art Shay is the author of Chicago's Nelson Algren. His photographs have graced the covers of Life and have been included in the museum exhibits around the world.
Synopsis
Kurt Vonnegut and Lee Stinger talk about the place where the lives they lead meet the art they practice.
Synopsis
Like Shaking Hands with God details a collaborative journey on the art of writing undertaken by two distinguished writers separated by age, race, upbringing, and education, but sharing common goals and aspirations. Rarely have two writers spoken so candidly about the intersection where the lives they live meet the art they practice. That these two writers happen to be Kurt Vonnegut and Lee Stringer makes this a historic and joyous occasion.
The setting was a bookstore in New York City, the date Thursday, October 1, 1998. Before a crowd of several hundred, Vonnegut and Stringer took up the challenge of writing books that would make a difference and the concomitant challenge of living from day to day. As Vonnegut said afterward, ""It was a magical evening.""
A book for anyone interested in why the simple act of writing things down can be more important than the amount of memory in our computers.
About the Author
KURT VONNEGUT was among the few grandmasters of twentieth-century American letters, one without whom the very term American literature would mean much less than it does now. He was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, on November 11, 1922, and died on April 11, 2007, in New York City.
LEE STRINGER's journey from childhood homelessness in the ’60s, to adult homelessness in the ’80s, to his present career as a writer and lecturer, as told in Sleepaway School and Grand Central Winter, is one of the great odysseys of contemporary American life and letters. Stringer, the only board member of Project Renewal who is also a former patient of the facility, has demonstrated that writers are made, not born. He is the two-time recipient of the Washington Irving Award and, in 2005, a Lannan Foundation Residency. He is a former editor and columnist of Street News. His essays and articles have appeared in a variety of other publications, including The Nation, The New York Times, and Newsday. He lives in Mamaroneck, New York, where he also serves on the board of the Mamaroneck Public Libraries.