Scarsdale Salon
Bringing many writers and their readers together to talk about books in an informal setting
Bringing many writers and their readers together to talk about books in an informal setting
Four years ago, the journalist Preeti Singh and myself decided to transform a small regular home literary gathering in a successful community event. We are both writers, passionate about books and multiculturalism. We both appreciate literature from all over the world and we are amazed by the good writers that surround us in our daily lives. We are good friends coming from opposite sides of the globe: Preeti is from Mumbai, India, where she developed a brilliant career as a writer and columnist before moving to New York. I come from São Paulo, Brazil, where I worked for years as a journalist and radio host.
I used to have a regular writers gathering in my own house, a small, sit-by-the-fire-and-read-aloud meeting. Preeti encouraged me to expand it, searching a partnership with the Scarsdale Public Library, who opened all doors to our project. Now, we are partners in organizing The Scarsdale Salon, which happens twice a year and has brought many writers from different places and genres to read their work and meet the public.
In the Spring and Fall, we invite four writers to participate. Lately, the Salon has been happening at Bronx River Books, a cozy bookstore in Scarsdale NY. There’s always a theme connecting the writers’ work, wrapping them all in a bunch, such as “Journeys”, “Women” or “Distant Voices”. Each writer reads from his or hew own book for five minutes. Afterwards, the microphone is open to the audience to ask questions and promote discussions. We are always amazed by the interesting comments and observations. In the end, authors sign books and mingle with the readers.
We recently started a partnership with the Salon de Belleville in Paris, France.
Over the past four years, we were honored to listen to amazing and diverse literary voices: Elyssa Friedland, Falguni Kothari, Henry Webb, Patricia Dunn, Sara Aharon, Asif Ismael, Barbara Solomon Josselsohn, the poet Ruth Handel, the satirical columnist Deborah Skolnik, Lynn Lowin, Nancy Kelton, Rebecca Marks, Steve Lewis, Sonya Terjanian, Annabel Monaghan, Ginger McKnight-Chavers, Lori Wilson, Gillian Lynn Katz, Sara Lippmann, Jacqueline Goldstein, Beverley Caen, activist Ruchira Gupta, Iris Dorbian, Manreet Someshwar, Jimin Han, Carol Zoref, Emily Rubin, Stephen Landau, Susan Kleinman, Amanda Stauffer, Kathy Curto, John Gredler, Jackie Friedland, Thaddeus Rutkowski, Alice Kaltman, Lea Geller, Txemi Parra and Vladimir Klimenko.
© 2024 • Ines Rodrigues Author • Website by Wayne Smiley Design
Site secured by Wayne Smiley Design