GalleyCat correspondent Amanda ReCupido went to the first Happy Ending reading of 2008, manned entirely by writers associated with A Public Space (with a musical performance by Kid Gloves, fronted by author John Wray). “As per tradition,” Amanda reports, “each reader was required to take a ‘risk’ and do something they’ve never done before in public. Ian Chillag, a producer for NPR’s Fresh Air, chose to have a random audience member cut his hair. But not just any random audience member—he specifically requested someone who has difficulty seeing without her glasses, and preferably someone who had been drinking. That special person just so happened to be my friend Molly, and I was more than happy to vouch for her insufficient eyesight and altered judgment (another gin and tonic, please!).”
That looks (and sounds) a lot more entertaining than Jack Livings‘s knock-knock jokes, but I’m still kicking myself that I missed Jim Shepard reading from “Courtesy for Beginners,” one of my favorite stories in his National Book Award– and Story Prize-nominated Like You’d Understand, Anyway.