I was looking forward to in moving to NYC because I knew that the city offered a lot to the literary community.  It wasn’t until I came here that I actually saw ads for books (on the subway).  I’m not used to seeing that kind of thing.  In the past week, I’ve had the chance to attend 3 events with writers.  I haven’t been to many of these in my life, but I always enjoyed the ones that I have been to.  My favorite so far was a reading in Denver by my former professor, Jake Adam York, who afterwards signed my copy of his latest collection of poetry with very inspirational comments.

First up, Marilyn Chin.  I had never heard of her until then, and I had only read one poem by her.  Marilyn read various poems from her collections, selections from her novel, and read poems at the request of the audience.  The small room was very crowded and many people had to stand.  I intend to read some of her collections in their entirety.  Marilyn Chin is a performer.  She read her poems with such emotion (some of them from memory!)  The first poem that she read, “How I Got that Name” was my favorite poem of the reading.  You can’t just read it on paper.  You have to hear her read it (and I’m glad I was able to).

Orhan Pamuk, a Nobel-Prize winning novelist also recently visited the college.  One of the things that he really made me think about was “who we write for”.  His works are translated into many languages and the moderator asked him what does he think when he writes about something that others in another country may not understand.  I had never thought of writing like that.  I would like for everyone to understand everything I am saying but we all come from different cultures, backgrounds, religions, etc.  I can’t worry about all of that.  All I can do is write.

I also attended a reading by Philip Levine, the new U.S. Poet Laureate.  I really enjoyed Levine’s reading.  Before each poem he related little anecdotes—stories, some of people he knew, most about how the poem came to be.  His poems were beautiful.  I intend to read more of his work.

The fact that all of these events were packed with eager readers says a lot about NYC’s literary community.

I love attending these readings and conversations with novelists, poets, and writers.  They always inspire me to go home and write.  I am eagerly checking the websites of my favorite authors to see if any of them will be in the neighborhood soon.  At times, my transition here has been difficult.  Its events like these remind me of why I came to NYC in the first place.