Laurie Sandell

Last night was one of those breakout, insanely fun nights you never expect to happen–so much fun. Started with a party at my great friend Neal Decker’s new store, Arthur & Co. Neal is a talented bag designer who has been featured in every top fashion magazine; he’s finally selling his gorgeous bags on 63rd St. And he decided to sell my book at his store last night as well! Here are a few photos from that event. By 8:00 PM, I was on my way downtown to Housing Works Bookstore for their annual Gin Mingle. I knew lots of people there, like hostess with the mostess Alison Brower, and the writer Said Sayrafiezadeh, who is basically my co-worker since we write together every day, and of course the indefatigable Amanda Stern. By 9:00 PM or so, the DJ started to spin, and I tell you, this was the best party DJ I’ve heard in, maybe ever. He mixed 80s tunes with the rockingest modern beats, and we tore up the dance floor for hours. At one point, this dude I’ll just call “Gin,” cause he was drinking lots of it, grabbed me and started swinging me all over the floor.

"Gin" dude

Now, I like to dance, but I also like my personal space, of which this guy had no concept whatsoever. I was rescued by Amanda and her friend Beth.

At 10:30 or so, we decided to head down to Cipriani for the National Book Awards after-party. Was I invited? No. It was a black-tie event with a list at the door, too. But I was with Amanda Stern, and Julie Barer, and Heidi Julavitz, and so I sailed into the party on their collective star power. Then I proceeded to have one of the best nights ever. Talked for a while to the sweet and fascinating Jon Jon Goulian, who is working on a memoir I will be first in line to buy. Annoyingly, I cannot figure out how to rotate the photo so you can see it upright. Said hello to Dave Eggers, who I profiled for Shift Magazine years ago; he told me he was on the verge of writing a graphic novel himself–he started his career as a painter–but realized it was going to take him ten years, so he abandoned the project. Met New York Times writer Allen Salkin, who’d read my book and pulled me aside to tell me how much he liked it. Hey, someone read my book! Hung out with Sean Howe, who’s writing a book on the history of Marvel Comics; how cool is that? Amanda and I left at 2:00 AM, and drove our new friend Sean home. An A+ night I’m sure I’ll be trying to replicate for a while.

Sean Howe

with Jon Jon Goulian