Posts From Author: Month: November 2017

Seriously Questioning…David Friend

David Friend joined Vanity Fair as editor of creative development in 1998, after serving as Life magazine’s director of photography. Friend is the author of Watching the World Change: The Stories Behind the Images of 9/11. He has won Emmy and Peabody awards as an executive producer of 9/11, a CBS documentary that aired in 140 countries. Friend has covered conflicts in Afghanistan, in Lebanon, and throughout the Middle East. He has organized numerous photography exhibitions, including “Vanity Fair Portraits, 1913–2008,” which he co-curated with Terence Pepper, of the National Potrait Gallery, London. Along with Graydon Carter, Friend edited Vanity Fair’s Hollywood, as well as Oscar Night. His new book is The Naughty Nineties: The Triumph of the American Libido. On December 5th, he will be speaking at House of SpeakEasy’s Seriously Entertaining show, Caught in the Act alongside James Foreman Jr., Laura Lippman, and JT Rogers  (tickets). We spoke to James ahead of the show…   Describe your current project: The Naughty Nineties: The Triumph of the American Libido What is your earliest memory involving reading or writing? Reading Dick, Jane, Spot.  The first story I read at school involved Sally and a cat named Puff. What is your favorite line from your current work? “It was, in […]
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Seriously Questioning…Laura Lippman

  Laura Lippman is a New York Times bestselling novelist who has won more than 20 awards for her fiction—and been nominated for 30 more. Since her debut in 1997, she has published 20 novels, a novella and a collection of short stories. Lit Hub recently named her one of the “essential” female crime writers of the last 100 years. She also has written for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and T magazine. Her novel Every Secret Thing, optioned for film by Academy Award-winning actress Frances McDormand, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2014, starring Diane Lane, Elizabeth Banks, and Dakota Fanning. Laura lives in Baltimore with her husband, David Simon, and their daughter.  Her new novel, Sunburn, will be published in February 2018. On December 5th, she will be speaking at House of SpeakEasy’s Seriously Entertaining show, Caught in the Act alongside James Forman Jr, David Friend, and JT Rogers  (tickets). We spoke to Laura ahead of the show…   Name:  Laura Lippman Describe your current project: Sunburn. Postman Always Rings Twice crossed with Ladder of Years What is your earliest memory involving reading or writing? Trying to write a book at age 5  What is your favorite line from your current […]
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Seriously Questioning…James Forman Jr.

James Forman Jr. is one of the nation’s leading authorities on race, education, and the criminal justice system, and a tireless advocate for young people who others have written off.  Forman worked as a law clerk for Judge William Norris of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and Justice Sandra Day O’Connor of the U.S. Supreme Court. After clerking, he took a job at the Public Defender Service in Washington, D.C., where for six years he represented juveniles and adults in felony and misdemeanor cases.  At Yale Law School, where has taught since 2011, Forman teaches Constitutional Law and a course called Race, Class, and Punishment. Last year he took his teaching behind prison walls, offering a seminar called Inside-Out Prison Exchange: Issues in Criminal Justice, which brought together, in the same classroom, 10 Yale Law students and 10 men incarcerated in a CT prison. Forman’s first book Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America is a Washington Post bestseller and a New York Times Editor’s Choice.   On December 5th, he will be speaking at House of SpeakEasy’s Seriously Entertaining show, Caught in the Act alongside David Friend, Laura Lippman, and JT Rogers  (tickets). We spoke to James ahead of the show…   […]
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Seriously Questioning…J.T. Rogers

J.T. Rogers is a playwright whose plays include  (Lincoln Center Theater, then Broadway; National Theatre, London, then West End); Blood and Gifts (Lincoln Center Theater; National Theatre); The Overwhelming (National Theatre, then UK tour with Out of Joint; Roundabout Theatre); White People (Off-Broadwaywith Starry Night Productions); and Madagascar (Theatre 503, London; Melbourne Theatre Company). For Oslo he won the Tony, New York Critics, Outer Critics, Drama Desk, Drama League, Lortel, and Obie awards. As one of the playwrights for the Tricycle Theatre of London’s The Great Game: Afghanistan he was nominated for an Olivier Award. He is a Guggenheim fellow and has received three NYFA fellowships in playwriting. Rogers is a member of the Dramatist Guild, where he is a founding board member of the Dramatists Legal Defense Fund. On December 5th, he will be speaking at House of SpeakEasy’s Seriously Entertaining show, Caught in the Act alongside James Forman Jr, David Friend, and Laura Lippman  (tickets). We spoke to JT ahead of the show   Current projects: I’m writing the screenplay of my play OSLO, creating a series for Netflix, and digging into a new play. What is your earliest memory involving reading or writing?: Pouring over “Dick and Jane” books in preschool, staying in at recess so […]
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