People to you. The first is roger rosenblatt, whose work has been published in 14 languages. He has three best sellers, kayak morning, the boy detective and another that was in the new yorker. The story i am, came out april and cold moon, live, love and responsibility will be out in october. Rogers written seven off broadway play, the one person free speech in america that he performed at the american place theater and which was named one of times of the times best plays of 1991. Last spring at bay theater in sag harbor, he performed and his play lives in the basement, does nothing will go to the center for arts at stony brook and a theater in new york next year. He also wrote the screen play for his best selling novel which which is currently in production. Roger is a professor of english and writing. Creative writing at harvard where he high school his ph. D. And among honors, george 0 polk award, and a peabody on Time Magazine and pbs. In ireland he played on an International Basketball team, seven doctorates, and from an institute for his body of work. And were very pleased to have roger with us. Next, we have erica, shes at the Adirondack Library system and she works with 34 libraries including saratoga. And along with the local library at the Saratoga Springs, and a historical librarian along with her colleague jack scott from the adirondack system has been cord nighting leaving our fingerprints, documenting covid19 in the adirondacks, collecting experiences during the coronavirus during covid19. Theyre working in tandem with our communities to document this historical pandemic. Everyone is welcome to participate in this collaborative effort to capture the impact of the virus in our region. And finally, but certainly not least is ellen beal, the founder and president of the saratoga book festival. Ellen is a former International Book editor and publishing executive at National Geographic books. Running press where she managed Editorial Development and multilingual projects. As a reading coach she was deeply interested in promoting literacy and shes the driving force behind the saratoga book festival. With that, ill turn to over to you, ellen, for a few words. Thank you very much, ike, im very thrilled as all of us are at saratoga book festival to launch, as ike mentioned our First Virtual event. Were sad, of course, that were not launching our actual first inperson book festival this year, but we are working on plans for 2021 and during this pause that were all going through, we wanted to find ways to stay connected and also to make sure we were helping authors get their message out to all of you, and readers with each other. Were thrilled to partner with the Saratoga Public Library and the bookstore short shire north shire bookstore, and any of you who would like to volunteer, or suggest for Virtual Events or authors next year, visit us at saratoga book festival. Org and of course were on facebook as well. Enjoy authors and best of health to you. I hope you find the content that spoke to you as well. So, roger, your most recent book the story i am mad about the writing life, a collection of snippets, your love, obsession, i would say about the writing and the writing life. Some are new and some are previously published and its getting rave reviews. And the purpose to be, as we all know, snarky, a warmhearted gratitude and humility. And another called it the book that will inspire anyone for the next. Would you care to share a little bit . I will share my gratitude for both of those generous comments. Just the way the book begins will give a sense what most writers can identify with. This is from kayak morning, the characters im writing about have lost control. The oneeye hag has turned into a dog and that plays the banjo. And the hero is spread in 100 direction, as for the villains, there are so many now id be better yoking them on a single name. And when you write, a character called death has struck his roman nose into the plot. He places a vampire, who need a transfusion. Bad idea, dont you think to give a transfusion to a vampire. I sometimes wished i owned a shop, are anything, but books people could come to my shop to get what they want and i would give them what they want and we would have satisfaction in the transaction. The trouble with writing, you give people what they dont want and by the time they realize they got what they wanted, the shop cant be located. You were intent on your work, that consists of theft. I read one cover to cover for the sole purpose of robbing his grave. Theres om one point to writing, it allows you to do impossible things. Sure, most the time its chimney sweeping or dung removal or plastering or caulking, but every so often theres a moment in the dead of morning and everything is still as starlight and something invade your room like a bird those flown flew the window and youre filled with as much joy and then you think, i can do anything. Thank you for that. So i believe that the topic of tonights conversation, when you and i are talked about a conversation you had with your students about the plague year, daniel defoe, about the london bubonic plague epidemic, whether or not theres a dispute its fiction or nonfiction. Most agree that its a novel rather than history or reportage and thats certainly where we librarians classify it and i guess that begs the basic question of what exactly is the journal, if you have thoughts on that. Are you asking me . Yeah, i am, roger, im sorry. Its a wonderful question because that would mean that it would, i guess, say that if it were fiction that it might not be a journal because fiction would be a journal or a journal thats just using the form. Defoe certainly wrote fiction and based it on his uncles notes and they were real. They were notes of ak actuality. Im not sure that distinction makes much difference when youre reading. There are some events, as the five of us too well know, as well as the wonderful audience for this book festival. There are some events so big and so preposterous, so unbelievable, that they seem like fiction when were experiencing them and this is one of them, the pandemic is one of them. So, when somebody writes a journal of the pandemic, it no doubt, people would think youre making that up. But of course, were not making it up. It does kind of feel like something weve read a lot about and post apocalyptic fiction, doesnt it . Absolutely. So erica, much of rogers work as a writing teacher, i imagine, and roger you can correct me if im wrong, involves providing prompts to your students. And in many ways, i think that leaving our fingerprint project feels like the mother of all prompts, its a form basically. Guest do you want to tell us about that project and oregons and goals . Absolutely. If its okay with you, im going to take over the screen and actually going to share some pictures because i love stories, but i also love pictures. All right. So let me give you the ability to do that. Thank you. Youre welcome. Lets see, okay. So oops. Let me go back. There we go. So, ive always really loved stories and that shouldnt be surprising for someone who is a librarian and a journalist. Words have always been my comfort zone. Stories resonate so profounder with me, the collection that we tell, that we hear and that we absorb and that gives us life and makes our world. And its what, obviously, to become a librarian and a journalist and really enjoy the written word, but when it comes to the pandemic, whats off my radar until about february when i was travelling home from nashville. When i was in the airport, the airlines began make ago lot of changes. And asked people with etickets instead of putting the phone on the counter to hold it above or leave it off and trying to get people to take paper tickets instead. And i thought, wow, that seems thats when it started to strike me we were in for something serious and to think a couple of months ago and such a simpler time in our world. By the time i was working from home in mid march, the pandemic had pretty much taken over my life. And one day when i was scrolling through twitter, which i shouldnt do, i was to work on a story, a journal and to document what we are were experiencing during this pandemic. Even though im the laziest diaryist on the planet, it stuck with me and how covid19 was affecting libraries across the country and i can only equate trying to do that to wrestle water. Each time i began to piece together a narrative, it would slip away and morph into a new beast. There was no way to get my arms around it. As the pandemic continued and kind of moved from deep condition to utter catastrophe, the interviews i was holding with people were taking on a very earnest quality, i would say. They became a lot more personal and even though we were strangers we would inquire about eliot had, Employment Status and anxiety levels and all of that made me start thinking about the initial twitter post i saw. At the southern Adirondack Library steam we were Holding Meetings with the director of the 34 libraries to keep in touch and figure out what was going on. Its my job to kind of think about how we can work with our communities and i was struggling to really do that, when our buildings were closed and when people had to socially distance and be away from everybody. And then at the beginning of april, i thought about the power of stories and how transformative that can be. And the importance of story in dark times when were looking for a light or a way forward and i started thinking about what would be like if we could help people tell their story of what it was like to be in the pandemic. When i mentioned at one of our weekly meetings, i saw my epiphany, it was not unique, everybody else was thinking that, too, which was great. Including the public historians of new york state. And who so i went to their website. One of our directors at lake george said hey, dube about their initiative and they were talking about the journals kept during t during the spanish flu. It historians, that gave us a lens for what we were doing. And our Amazing Library directors and including our fabulous host ike and Kaitlin Johnson from the schyllerville library and kathy from crandall. Had all about thinking of similar projects, it was a matter of pulling it together. But theres a lot of talent to tap into. So we kind of formed this merry band which includes the local history librarian at Saratoga Springs. Michelle from schyllerville and my wonderful colleague, jack scott, who was a tech whiz. Talked about how to capture very personal unfiltered history of our friends and neighbors in real time and then in their own words or images, because as we were talking, michelle, who has a teenage daughter. Said that they were her daughter and their friends werent communicate as much through writing as they did through either memes or things like tik tok videos. And we thought how do we capture this new way of communicating. So we created this Simple Survey about 20 questions. This is our big reveal tonight and ill put the link in the chat box and hope everybody goes there and fills out the information. You dont have to do all 20 questions. You can pick and choose what you respond to. What were doing is trying to create a robust resource. For the communities, having a chance to sit back and reflect on our collective experience and preserving peoples history for future generations. All the responses are anonymous. We asked for a first name and a last initial and for people to af where they live. And thats mostly so we can share information with the local historians who might want to archive this. Im going to stop sharing my screen and get out of this, maybe, or maybe not. Or you can take it back, but ill put the link to the project into the chat box. Thanks, ike. Youre welcome. Thank you. So, roger, i think you might agree, the best known books are memoirs, i wonder if you have any thoughts on the distinction between journals and memoirs . I havent thought of it that way, but ive written my last book, my last eight books, have all been written as if they were journals, that is theyre written in segments that mount on one another. My attempt, i dont know if i succeed, is like music. I play jazz piano and i like the idea of the movements of the sections of the book to try to mount into one song eventually. And one tune. So there really is no distinction between writing a memoir and writing fiction and i do the same thing in fiction and the book thats coming out from turtle point press, a publisher in the fall, cold moon, is a hymn, really. Its a hymn to life and advice, love and responsibility. And it just plays the tune. It plays the songs that go along. Its just, i make no claims for the form, its just something that i feel comfortable in. A wonderful songwriter, l lyriccists wrote the way we were, and hears the words in the music and thats where the lyrics come from and i realized when he said it, i hear the music in the words so when i write, thats what thats what comes out. Its a longwinded answer to your question, ike, but i guess that one reason that the memoir appeals to me is that memory is an act of faith and so it comes as close to fiction as one can do in life and still believe youre telling the truth. Thank you for that. Thats you know, i dont believe that either one of you are therapists, but it does seem like erica, you talked, some of what your description of this project reminded me of, people often journal therapeutically, right . Yeah. In addition to, you know, leaving documentary evidence and ellen, a lot of you roger, a lot of your writing is therapeutic to me. Is that a Fair Assessment . Yeah, i pity the patient. [laughter] i realize that youre right about the tone. Youre right about i mean, it feels very revelatory, i suppose thats what memoirs are. Thats what memoirs do. If either one of you have any thoughts about journalling at a time like this, as therapy or as or as recordkeeping . Or as an act of generosity. I think of writing more as writing for a public, so that means you really want to think well of you want what you do to do some good and to keep a journal at this time. Im not doing it, but to keep a journal at this time would have the potential of doing a lot of good even if you just right the facts. Im a great believer in writing the facts. Write what you see in the street. These horrendous mad scenes on beaches where people are in some sort of hedonistic frenzy and dont care if they die and the breathtakingly heroic people working in hospitals who are careful as they can be. And i busted up my shoulder recently and so i was in a hospital and i felt a little foolish, actually because i busted up my shoulder, so what . Im looking around at all of these people in peril and these amazing nurses and doctors attending them. One byproduct of this time is that nurses really have come into their own and people realize what an immense gift nurses give to society. So you have these people on the one hand, this is your journal, and if i were keeping a journal, i would write about the hospital and what i saw in a beach in alabama or jersey or wherever it is where people are saying in a sense, this is the red death, come and get me. And interesting you mentioned the therapeutic quality because we just posted we just went live today with it and hadnt done promotion, but already had 11 people beyond and start filling out the storms and weve had people, i think the youngest is 16 and the oldest 77. At least three of the responses have said directly remarked how therapeutic it was, and i think what it is, its were living in, although were supposed to be socially distant and were at home, were living in this incredibly chaotic universe. And to stop for a minute and be still and quiet, and reflect on whats going on in our lives is, i think, really powerful. And for people to start to think, to give themselves the time and the space to think about the grief and the anxiety and Everything Else thats going on and also about the tremendous beauty. Like roger is talking about, you know, Different Things emerge from this. Theres both horrible things, but also, really extraordinary moments of kindness and beauty that come out of these really unimaginable situations. And thats what i think is interesting. I like your observation, ellen, because were all stunned in the depths of our grief or terror, how sudden and beauty and truth and our heads snap back and get a glimpse of the other side of life. Yeah. I am ooh, i mean, it has been a joy for me to see everyday people you mentioned nurses, roger, i mean, like Grocery Store clerks, elevated to this status of hero. I mean, theyre putting their lives on the line for us, for society. Isnt it interesting, ike, along that line, how adaptable we are. A few months ago, wandering along the street wondering your boyfriend, your girlfriend. And we turned on a dime to try to help your neighbors survive. I hope we do it, obviously, in my long life, this is the most impressive moment. That was a commonalty weve seen so far in the responses, that people are talking about this kind of endless generosity of friends and neighbors and people who maybe didnt know each other that well before, but now were checking in to see if anybody needed anything, especially if they were concerned about people going out for whatever health or age reasons, and really, a sense of community thats coming out of this extraordinary situation. And youre keeping a journal, watch the things that ellen is talking about and write as carefully as you can about what you see. The first role of the writer is to make the readers see. Let the readers see every detail of what he is going on in the streets and the homes and the hospitals, and even on the beaches and so forth so that nothing is lost on the senses that will tell future generations what was going on here. Erica, are you journalling . Are you keeping a journal . Well, i had plans. I had the best of plans. [laughter] im a journalist, unless i have a hard deadline, im going to procrastinate. [laughter]. Because weve moved to this Virtual World that we were talking earlier is this kind of authenticity and vulnerability that we see people. We are seeing people in their homes and all sorts of kids come up and you were at a worth mcgee theres an animal abdicated all this other stuff. The idea of being fashionable or expertise for whatever that is kind of drifts away and you get to see the full humanity in the people you know in a different way and thats been i think just a real gift. Ive forgotten kick out of watching posts on television who have always, show up made up in front of us but they are not made up now. Even they cant i think they look 1000 better. Erica and i were talking yesterday about we are in a profession that attracts introverts. I think theres something to what youre saying, erica. Working this way now, the way i normally work im in my office at the library but my house looks very much like this when im working from home. Never had that many people into it so it really does force you to open up in the way and make yourself much more vulnerable and you might have been. In multiple ways not just letting people in but letting people in here as well. Very good. I wonder if there are questions over here in the chat or in the q a. Roger, jeannie says she used to work with you at time and wants to say hello to you. Well, jeanine and i were in a world in which an element is familiar. We didnt have much of a choice in terms of getting our work done. You can procrastinate for just so long but this cannot once a week. Jeanine and remember how i never paid attention to mr. Now i pay more attention than it ever did before but i was working for newsmagazine so that was something of a liability. I was walking in the mornings since i was the essayist. We had a a great group of guysd women. I didnt know the news. The editor was a great guy and would say what do we think about . I had no idea what that was what he is referring to but the chances of the being good was amenable i would only say terrible, just terrible. Then id run to find that what he was talking about and write the essay. At the end the day you had to show up with something. So here is sharing lets see, where did it go . Julie is sharing a great memory of you roger at the Public Library Association Meeting in boston having a blast handing out copies of your book. Do you recall which book that was . I dont but it sounds selfaggrandizing enough to be me. Having a great time handing out my own book. Many of us wish we could do that. What else . This question about, question we traditionally ask at the beginning of the book of group that i lead at the library where before discussing the book that we are about to discuss we go around the room and introduce ourselves and talk about differences. People want to know what folks are reading during the pandemic. Are you reading anything noteworthy . I am ashamed. Ellen will come out the store of the class and i will be the dunce. I havent read for pleasure in a very long time. Sometimes accidentally. I i reviewed a book for the New York Times book review just now, and it was really very good fit was as good as his first one but it was good. Since then most of the time i read, i see something they give me an idea, i can use it and i do. I am the worst person to ask about this experience. I will meander into reading the youtube ads but in the last god knows how many years im a disgrace. How about you, erica . Im not far from that. I have been a super reader during this time but ive been reading what i started working my way through is the whole system thinking which turns out to be perfect for this time because all systems thinking of courses what happens when you dont consider an entire ecosystem and you only are considering little parts of it. It ended up being the perfect book for right now. For the book group im leading i feel like since no guest access to the physical library that we are choosing selections from are always Available Online collections for things that are freely Available Online. We just had a very interesting discussion, a nice diversion. [inaudible] that would be a great book for you to write, ike. Emma and the year of the plague year. What does the girl who loves social life do now . One of those quirky books, right . Have you seen these books, cork publishing, rhyme prejudice and zombies . [laughing] so next month we are discussing the [inaudible] that is a great, great novel. Yeah it is. Here are some more, people are disagreeing with you roger about never. Charming and never selfaggrandizing. Oh, thats okay. [laughing] a couple questions about leaving her fingerprints of people want to know what responses have been up so far. You address that a little bit. Otis says hes kept the suspected which is member of the southern Adirondack Library system. Think about how intrusive and inappropriate that quarantining must you like if you are one of the few yearround residents. Especially i think after the Holiday Weekend where everybody came north. I know its making people nervous. Jennifer says she works as the archivist at a small Public Library and southwestern pennsylvania and doing something along the same lines as you, erica, working with the state Library System to do so. I am very impressed you have already 11 survey participants. Encouraging people to share their thoughts and experiences drink this time. Part of the challenge is currently people are growing weary of the situation and i think thats true. The first tip i would say is find an online book festival and weasel your weight in to promote your project. [laughing] no, i was really surprised. We were hoping to launch a week or two ago but we had some tech issues related with the power outages, and so i was like what im supposed to talk about this and we dont have anything. I have been very happy its got so quickly but i think that i do a lot of work with communities helping people figure out what they want to see happen in the world. A lot of times it just depends on the questions you are asking and how the president with people. We did spend a fair amount of time thinking about what questions we were asking and its a mix of some please tell us whats going on in your heart, along with how are your pets handling this . To this kind of mix it up and give people a chance to share what they are doing. People are growing weary of the situation but they still have a story to tell. Im also hoping were going to get a big, were fortunate that this years Summer Reading program thing for people in the Library World is imagine your story. Im hoping we can pushes out and get a lot of kids to participate in the Summer Reading program. Still want to hear what little kids think. The line of kids, erica, we were talking about how times like this can bring out not necessarily the best in you but the most generous imagination when you start thinking of your position with others. I volunteer in the Childrens Hospital in stony brook. I dont do much. Im like a therapy dog but not as appealing. As a peeling. I walk around and talk to the kids and write down their stories. But now in the Childrens Hospital not just at stony brook, all of the country you have to remember their parents cant see the period or if their parents come see them than the parents have to stay there which mean they dont work. Its a nice experience. I got all harding, three colleagues, paul harding, incredible guy such a beautiful book. Jennifer kramer just one a writing award, brilliant and Lindsay Atkins the won an award and is also brilliant and wonderful, and the four of us just this week recorded videos that were sending to the Childrens Hospital about writing. I love it. We are giving look at this, right something from it. If i i get a chance i will lete know and then let you know how the project went but we just started it but i have high hopes for it. I would love to see it catch on and tell to these kids literally you are not alone. I love that. Plus the magic of kids is they are so unfiltered. Like, they are going to tell u exactly what it is and they have these great ways of expressing things. They have been told what not to say or how not to express themselves get so they can really be free with that. I would love to see what comes out of it. That sounds fantastic. A little musical play i did last summer, i guess i will do a couple more times called, who lives in the basement does nothing, comes from my granddaughter. My wife and i lived with her grandchildren when my daughter died at half years in the lower level of the house. Talk about writing, one afternoon im up there and my granddaughter jessica introduced me to her fourthgrade classmates. This is my rant father, he lives in the basement and does nothing. [laughing] couldnt fault her for accuracy. [laughing] one of my favorite things ive seen this week is a picture posted to the Library Facebook page of some children playing library storytime. That is so great. Think of the parodies available. [laughing] so more from the chat over here. Jennifer our librarian friend from pennsylvania says she has worked with one of our local High School English teachers who has encourage probably 50 or so of her High School Seniors to prepare essays. Thats great come for the library archives. Havent seen the submissions yet but wait for. That sounds pretty terrific. Steve has just shared for everyone a link to purchase the story i am from north shore bookstore. North shire is, along with the library, a sound of the saratoga book festival and they are terrific Library Partners and future supporters of the reading and Author Community here in Saratoga Springs and in manchester vermont so after the Court Session were super proud to be associated with. Christian shares that people should check out your video, roger, at the gaithersburg book festival. Thank you. Thanks, christian. I just did that the other day. I i was glad to do it. Im glad you like it. Roger come something you shared with me recently was a video of the commencement you gave your students at stony brook. Did you want to talk about that . I thought it was a fascinating parallel between here we are having this conversation in a way that six weeks ago we never would imagine that we would have done. Absolutely. It just wasnt notion that dropped in my lap that virtuality is the writers wheelhouse. We do this. This is what we do. We live in a Virtual World, virtual characters, virtual thoughts and characters and virtual life. And now suddenly in this dreadful, perilous time virtuality is coming to its own. The difference being, this is what i was talking to our graduates, that you graduates traffic and virtual cry. That is the virtual supply. We make the best of something that is not real. You want a king and you get tingly. You want a distraught woman and you get Anna Karenina and. Go back to emma or any of the great heroes and heroines of literature are all virtual. They never were. But then we do something with virtuality and we say that the light that can be imagined, to go back to eric is thoughts, like can be imagined can be the life that is sublime, and thats our business in the world. Thats at least part of it. The other part right click, and never shared from this because i believe it wholeheartedly, business is to make the world better, make us smarter, make it feel more, make it happier or make it more intelligent or solder, whatever thought is at the disposal of words, the writers duty is to make the world a better place. This is now and what of all exercise that responsibility. That sounds like almost the Perfect Place to into our conversation. To end. Not wish that i dont wish you could go on but that sounds like a perfect summary thought and i appreciate your being here and participating in this, both of you. So thank you so much. Thank you, ike. I wonder if, does alan want to come back for a minute and say anything ellen . I dont know if she has sound capability. Thank you. Ellen really is the driving force behind all of this and so i really appreciate the work that you put into this to bring this Book Community together and i am hoping we will be able to do it in real life sometime. So thank you everyone. Have a terrific evening. Thank you, erica. Thank you, roger, so much. Thank you. Thank you, alan. You are watching booktv on cspan2. Of you we can with the latest nonfiction books and authors. Cspan2, created by americas cabletelevision companies as a Public Service and brought to you today by your television provider. When you read the thing said about Thomas Jefferson that he was an infidel and he was an agent of the french government, sounds a little reminiscent, doesnt it . The things were said about Abraham Lincoln think so said about fdr that he wanted to be a dictator, so it does kind of come with the territory but i think in trumps case at least in the modern political era postworld war ii ive never seen anything like it. Sunday at noon eastern on in depth our life to our conversation with author and face a good faith and Freedom Coalition founder ralph reed whose books include awakening, act of faith and his most recent for god and country to join in a conversation with your phone calls, this book, its context in tweets. Watch booktv is indepth sunday at noon eastern on cspan2. Host welcome to booktv in depth pro can pick this a special year of fiction on in depth for josie authors such as david baldacci, rhetoric, walter mosley, last month with David Ignatius the Washington Post columnist and thriller writer writes about the cia and such. This but ripleys rep pulitzer prizewinning author Colson Whitehead as our guest. His most recent book is the underground railroad. Mr. Whitehead, whats the appropriate response when your books appraised by oprah, president obama, human apology and the National Book award, what is it appropriate response . Guest if only a took the painwa