>> i also want to thank the many publishers who, out of great respect to carla, contributed to this occasion. and so if you stay, which i hope you will for drinks and food, remember that it is penguin, harpercollins, simon & schuster, norton, perseus, random house, and mcmillan who are all providing for you. [applause] >> thanks so much. about 10 years into the life of politics and prose, carla arrived one morning and announced that david, that's carla's husband who may talk later, david says that we are the world's greatest approximate yours. and she delivered that. she pronounced that with such great pleasure. made in part because of his hyperboles. but also because she thought david had articulated another facet of our facility. and so then we had come as i0ú recollect, an interesting conversation about our partnership. one crucial ingredient we felt was our ability to tolerate a lot of balls in the air, always knowing at least one was going to drop. [laughter] >> perfection was not -- was never a quality that either of us expected from the other person. powerless best quality can also be our worst. we made the best operating instructions of our partnership. some people called our partnership ain't mashup which0ú is actually a pretty good, i thought, definition. [laughter] spirit in the last weeks of carla's life, i reminded her of our success at being the world's greatest approximators, and the sorrow that i felt about the upcoming definitive moment that could not be approximated, and that was death. i'm sorry. so i said to her, can't we just approximate death? [laughter] >> and actually i felt at times that carla succeeded in approximating death, because i felt her presence so much in this store since she died. and especially today. thank you all for coming. [applause] >> climate and shield for those of you who don't have a program, and the reason i agreed to speak today which is very hard, is so my husband would have a chance. [laughter] >> i first met carla on new year's eve 1968. my husband, mark, and it would have worked together on vietnam declined during the tumultuous democratic convention in chicago that year. they invited us to their soon-to-be but not quite yet famous new year's eve party. we had just moved back to d.c. after spending the fall election season in ohio, working on john gilligan's remarkable but ultimately unsuccessful campaign to be senator from ohio. prior to that we both worked on robert kennedy's tragic campaign presidency that spring. by new year's eve i was in need of new friends, new faces, and a new outlook on the democratic process. and there at just the right moment were the coin. when we bought a house they followed us and afterwards. a close friendship was formed. card was full of life, and bigger than life. she was funny and irreverent, and analytical and smoltz he, and demanding, and and demanding. committed to making the world a better place and committed to caring for her friends and family. we love knowing aaron and ended his children and seeing david and carla, and instill their virtues and values and hopes and dreams in them as they go into town to an independent adult. for 40 years we shared babysitters, children, yardman, and recipes, and home renovations and parenting advice, and parents, and many, many great tennis full of laughs, disagreements and priceless anecdotes. we used to share these dinners with others, but we found it didn't leave us enough time to talk, so for the last 20 years or so it was just the four of us. the one exception was our at least yearly trip to baltimore to take carla's remarkable mother out to do what the of the great treats. i lived through many carla transformations from community planner, when she called me down to witness its rebirth, to when she handed them dresses she had someone to our daughter amy. they lasted approximately one wash cycle. [laughter] >> i told her she should south of the cookbooks she wrote, 100 ways to spell bikini. [laughter] >> carla was not amused. to "salon" keeper when she would invite interesting people to her house on sunday afternoon, for good food and conversation, and he finally declared she now seems to have been destined from the very beginning to pursue, founder of politics and prose. i remember going to one of the many pre-bookstore meetings at the house where she was brain -- brainstorming and turned inventor. i suggested readers because i said, the store was for people who really read books, not for those who just bought them to put on their coffee table. our response to that, of course i'm going to sell those books. there's a big markup. [laughter] >> she taught herself use the computer, which was not second nature to any of us at that time. she taught herself to write a business plan. she research neighborhoods that could support a store, she borrowed money from anyone who had two extra times, and from some who didn't. and chevy unparalleled foresight unparalleled foresight and good judgment to see that she needed a superbly organized manager to address the areas in which she was less competent and less interested. when barbara meade applied for the job, i real partnership was born. it's impossible to imagine the store without the two of them working together. so now we must imagine it and some new configuration. with new owners who we hope will nurture it, and thus in the same way that carla and barber did for more than 25 years. carla started her career as a committee planner but she ended it in something far more important, a community builder. in fact, she built a community, a business, and a family, and that's all of us. we are all the better for it. [applause] >> the incomparable literary constellation comprises of two stars come each and on wake indispensably elegant barbara and carla cohen. every day and evening in politics and prose, all the conversations, all the discoveries, as keith said, a reprieve on the larger act companies, just inside this vast browsing library that sells its books, the home away from home it is for so many people. as i see it, every day and evening convinced the cultural inheritance of barber and carla's original vision. i think of the remarkable lives of iconic women in the realm of books. i think of the history of world-class bookshelves. at 5 a.m., the morning after carla passed, a young novice, a former student of mine now working at shakespeare and company in paris, of course found by sylvia beach, and carl and i discussed so the beaches wind up letters, telephone and said -- put a bunch of her college on a speakerphone to say the news had reached them and they just want to chat a moment. so again, the permanent elegy begin. so many moments, so many stories, so many spontaneous conversations, so much coffee, so many riders coming through sitting in the back office of their. the 10,000 emotions. anyway, over the years i have saved a lot of notes from carla. one of my favorites, and i would had and i would have to say it's very representative, as you well know, carla less generous with opinion. -- carla was generous with opinion. and equally generous in revising your opinion. [laughter] >> as a particularly famous author had just published a novel, i dropped by the store, my almost daily visit of morning writing to a cup of coffee, then is looking into the office i saw carla deeply engaged on the telephone, but she waved me close and gave me that big smile, and handed me a copy of this novel. and on my way out i read the note she tucked in the pages. we need to talk about this. now, that sentence for those of you who knew carla, was nice ingestion. [laughter] >> it was within a friendship. and i had this experience so often that i already begun wondering exactly what was carla's opinion. allow me to say passionate judgment. and in all honesty there could be a little, well, nervous anticipation, once in speaking about a novel i said, you know, i read that novel and i want to propose marriage to the author. and carla just tilted her head a little bit and said, i wanted to throw the damn book against the wall. [laughter] >> but, you know, full agreement would've been perhaps less satisfying than partial. like conrad said, close reading is a matter of it meetings -- of admitting one's true nature. in that note though it's the word need that to me. need, like being deliriously in love, or overwhelmingly melancholy, to read in order to feel things deeply. in one of the many synchronicity's, well, irony is i suppose that happen in this bookstore all the time, a few evenings ago when the doctor was here, introduced by mark, to speak about his biography of cancer, the upper of all maladies, and as the evening went on with perhaps some of the most heartbreaking -- heartbreakingly urgent and educated questions from the audience, i had heard in years, a whole evening and albert is to ideas. i looked over at mark and thought, and thought i had read in his expression, carla would have loved this. [applause] >> good afternoon. my name is mary kay zuravleff, and this gathering reminds me of said, oh, this is going to be one of those nights when we talk and cry together, isn't it? that's what many of the nights have been like at politics and prose, and especially this afternoon. like many of you i have been missing carla cohen since she got too sick to be here regularly. because this is where i saw her. i was very moved by the talk at her funeral service. and her family and friends told such hear stories about her whole lifetime and i got to know and love are better that day, which i was very grateful for. connection to carla is through politics and prose as a writer, reader, and a customer. any coffee drinker. so much coffee. carla was an exuberant, feisty, well read and well meaning person. and it was uplifting to be here in her company in building this bookstore she really did build a community. i've lived in this neighborhood in the same house for 24 years, and we didn't actually buy our house because the bookstore was here, however i was originally coined the real estate ads and that's the house advertised with the kitchen amenities and the master bedroom suite, and the merged school district, and near politics and prose. [laughter] [applause] >> we are such added customers that my daughter asked can i have my amounts and go to the bookstore? and once after my son spent his money on a book and it is very same day, he came running downstairs with a brilliant idea. what if, he said, there was a place you could go, and rather than buy a book, you could just read it there, or maybe you could borrow it and take it home? if you promise to bring it back in other people can read the same book. [laughter] >> indeed. politics and prose is truly a destination bookstore, and i used to enjoy telling carla that it was my landmark. whenever i traveled, geneva, london, houston, if someone asks me where you live in washington, i say do you know the bookstore, politics and prose? oh, absolutely. and i would report to carla the stories about a particularly wonderful staff member, or a particularly memorable reading. many specifically remembered her, often they remember her talking about the books they wanted to buy. [laughter] >> and choosing better books, according to her. as richard of booktv wrote i also appreciated carla's fierce honesty, especially in retrospect. [laughter] >> writers are desperate for evidence that the written word matters. specifically the words they write. our presence here, our gratitude, to carla is evident that the written word matters. carla cohen believe in the written word. she was passionate about the written word. and she believes my written words mattered, and that as the poet said, made all the difference. so often when i come in, and many, many writers would say this exact same story, carla would greet me with such enthusiasm and a radiant smile, housed the next book coming? we can't wait to read it. if i was drinking coffee with a friend she would urge me on, so good to see. when you're done here, go home and write. [laughter] >> the idea that a reader is waiting to receive your work is enough to make a swig of coffee down and get back to your desk. her encouragement really meant the world to me. after my first novel was published, december the 50th anniversary with a shindig at the new public library, and i was happy to be invited to listen to the first string. those writers voices were already in my head, because i heard them here. and so it was a thrill to file into the reception and see barbara and carla, the first string of booksellers also at this event. live in new york. authors all over the world clamor to read your come and a friend who came to the party with me was a rep for yale university press. the four of us had a blast dishing about we just heard and he was there, and afterward, my friend confided in me that she came for a sales rep event with carla. she was both overprepared and terrified. she said, you know, she actually reads the books. [laughter] >> and she specifically told me, she to me to task for camelia paglia, as if it were her fault. when my second novel was published carla cohen read the galleys and she called me at home. it reminded me of george eliot and eleanor lipman, she said. which was about the biggest price i could possibly hope for, and it meant we got to have a wonderful conversation about george eliot. as a writer it doesn't get any better than that. you also appreciate when she introduced me, and i of course hoped she would mention george eliot, she said and said it's nice that mary kaye at this district usually done in the children's section with someone on her lap. [laughter] >> that measure of importance actually match my daughters assessment and the reading was a big deal because the biggest celebrity in her life, her montessori teacher, meant everything. carla encouraged by her example and her support to care deeply about what we do, i got a note recently from alex mcdermid was reminiscing about her. and i'm just going to read from her no because it's so lovely that i think mostly a thing and's office and minutes before reading. it's been my experience some booksellers use this time to worry out loud or maybe just prepared a writer for the worst. the weather is often discussed, rain, snow, or an exceptionally lovely evening that portends a small audience. hints are sometimes talked about the event that weren't posted, or even debate about how well-known you are to the people in the area. you emerge from these that the podium and certain what he should immediately apologize to the people who have come, or weep. but carla would just sit with you and chat about family and friends, politics or some in the news. she had this confidence of a great hostess. she knew her staff, she knew her gas, and her manner made you believe she knew how delightful the next hour would be. and alice talks about exactly the same thing that's happened to so many of us. she said outside the great good fortune of carla be the first real person after editor and agent, and publisher to read my last novel. it was laced may the book wasn't to be published in september. i saw carla, in the first thing she said to me, her straightforward no-nonsense way was, it's your best yet. i exhaled three months earlier and anticipated, a great time is pride, carla cohen with smart, engaging, imaginative and bighearted. she brought us all together, and i know that together we will continue to honor her. thank you. [laughter] >> my friendship with carla actually was a family friendship over kids. writing and journalism, et cetera, et cetera. here's the thing about card in a nutshell, is she loves me and i she was able to communicate. i love her too of course but she was able to dedicate this love. you knew you were loved by carla cohen. how she did it come how she had so much spirit, how she had so much love in her, it's pretty amazing. she was full of love and i don't think there's anything else to say. [applause] >> hi, everyone. i want to thank barbara and mark for asking me to be your. i am alexander zapruder. i'm going to read. early memories of the collins and politics and prose. i was first pulled into the orbit when i was in high school when entering join my older brother matthew, who maybe are somewhere, and a fast friendship, which lasted to this day triple threat of brains and wit. and i became friends with their and there was a season around the time of my senior year in high school when we all hung out a fair amount on hollywood street. i distinctly recall being impressed by the chaos, allergic to the black dogs and their hair all over the furniture. and most of all trying to keep up with the intellectual banter between the junior and senior members of the household. i had a vague memory but, frankly, i'm not entirely sure of my own of an impromptu dinner at holly street in which carla was moved to tears during an impassioned assessment of something, soviet jews, or something. the feeling was memorable. the delighted discourse, the particular freedom of ideas, a deep unapologetic investment of the world. in the late '80s politics and prose moved from the west to east side of connecticut. i have to confess that i didn't hope about my brother did. i was happy to steal his t-shirt which i still have commemorating the event. on the front, why did the bookstore cross the road? and on the back, to get to the other side. [laughter] for a long time before the newton crown and olsons or kramers if you are already supercool. but politics and prose broke the mold. i remember walking into the coffeehouse for the first time struck by the funky retro furniture thinking, who put the couch in our chairs and a coffee shop? why are all the tables and chairs different sizes? what's up with these mix-and-match coffee mugs? little did i know that would become a trend. many years later in 2002 of my book came out. and by then getting everything in politics and prose, especially in the mr. veissi desirable bookselling month of april with something of a coup. not only did i stand and just as angry to a full house, but carla devoted the focus of that month newsletter to young washington area writers, a group that she courage and never lost interest income. card introduced me and sat reassuringly nearby in an armchair, beaming, not income as proud as if i were one of her own, which in a way i suppose i was. from that time on carla always treated me with it -- greeted me with a bright smile. and what are you working on? then later, how are the children? pause, wait for it. so, what are you working on? [laughter] even when i was a working she asked me. she took an entirely for granted that someday i would get back to it. these little things help me through as a mother, so harried and frazzled. so far away from my writers self. she told me like most of us hear what you read and what not to read. in fact, i think she wants to the book at enhancing no, no. don't read that when. and pull the over the table to be something better. but far from undermining my confidence, she bolstered a. i thought she believed in me as she did so many of us here and elsewhere. and that comment coming from someone who is well read as wise and interested and committed to the race life as carla made more than she possibly could have realized. i had my share of memories of carla as we all do. and then there are the other memories of this place that she and barbara created. i remember, exhausted husband and i walked up to politics and prose with our newborn daughter in her stroller and roamed around the books and fell into tears while she slept and i remember mornings in the coffeehouse with my brother, all of us come home from college, that time at a time when there's nothing to do but complain about your childhood dream until lunch. i spent many hours writing downstairs fin