Dudes. I was totally the runner-up at the Define-A-Thon at Broadway Books. I had great trepidation about the Define-A-Thon (trepidation is a good Define-A-Thon-style word, actually) but it turned out to be super fun. It brought back memories of playing Around The World in elementary school, although I managed not to get sent out of the room for being too excited.
The event, excellently emceed by Gabriel Boehmer, brought out a bunch of writers, among them Katie Schneider, Ellen Urbani, Monica Drake, and Kassten Alonso. Kass won, and as previously stated I was the runner up. We were the two library employees in the room, so perhaps that conveyed an unfair advantage. The library school student who was present (also a bookseller) acquitted herself nobly as well. Cheers all around.
Other notable literary events of the day: Lessons From A Dead Girl appeared! And so, apparently, did a book by some guy named Colbert.
Also: all y’all in Portland should buy your tickets to see Laurie Halse Anderson this coming Monday night! It will be super fantastic.
Gabriel Boehmer
October 29, 2007 at 7:47 pmIt was really fun to watch the she-and-he brarians duke it out. Really, I suspect you and Kass thought that Define-A-Thon meant guessing word meanings for as long as humanly possibly. Next year, if Broadway Books lets me come back, my plan is to practice pronouncing the contest words ahead of time — at lest all those longer than, say, two syllables. That alone should speed the game up by a day . For the record, I nailed “jipijapa” on the first try, although I had no idea it had anything to do with monocotyledonous perennials. Who knew?