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JANUARY 2008

Alice McDermott Hits Homerun at Marymount
Manhattan College Writing Center

By Dr. Pola Rosen

“Somewhere in the Bronx, only 20 minutes  or so from the cemetery,” read Lewis Burke  Frumkes, director of Marymount Manhattan  College’s much praised writing center the other  night to a packed house. He was standing before  a wildly enthusiastic audience explaining that he  was quoting from a book that the Philadelphia  Inquirer called “Alice McDermott’s astoundingly  beautiful novel about the persistence of love,  the perseverance of grief, and all but unbearable  loneliness.” That book, Charming Billy, continued  Frumkes, went on to win the national book  award in 1998.

Most of McDermott’s novels in fact have been  nominated for major awards. Frumkes added that he  remembered reading Child Of My Heart a second  time two years after he had first read it and being  totally enthralled all over again. “Alice,” he went  on, “has that power over readers. Sorceress-like she  draws you into her tales easily, then forces you to  look at her characters and yourself through a variety  of lenses until you understand both the character  and yourself in new ways.” “Great writers,” he said,  “are able to do this. It is like magic, it happens but  you are not quite sure how it happened.”

McDermott was the fourth and final speaker for  the fantastic “Irish Voices” series that Tina Flaherty  and Frumkes cooked up this fall through the writing  center and which Flaherty funded to the tune  of $100,000. The other speakers were Mary and  Carol Higgins Clark, Edna O’Brien who flew over  from London for the occasion, Nuala O’Faolin, and  Alice McDermott. Next fall they intend to have the  men, either Irish or maybe Italian writers.

McDermott, charming like Billy himself,  recalled speaking once to another crowd where  someone asked her if the novel in question was  about her family. But before she could answer,  she said, a woman on the other side of the room  blurted out, “no it’s about mine.” and the audience  roared. During the question and answer  period McDermott became serious and said that  she is very interested in what we all seek in life  she said, what kinds of happiness we hope to  achieve, what kinds of redemption. Frumkes,  clearly pleased with the warm reaction to the  final irish voices speaker, thanked everyone for  coming including a group that had driven up from  Pennsylvania just to hear McDermott and promised  more wonderful fare in the coming months.

The writing center, on East 71st, continues  to offer the city unique cultural and intellectual  events he said proudly. Frumkes teased the audience  with highlights from the new winter/spring  brochure. There is the best-selling author series,  which begins this month and will feature the great  suspense novelist Joseph Finder January 17th,  Walter Mosley, February 19th, Adam Gopnik,  March 5th and Donald Westlake, May 5th. All  the events he said are free but the center will  also offer paying events such as a special panel  called “The Secrets Behind Getting Published”  on February 27th which will showcase important  editors from The New Yorker magazine, The New  York Times, as well as Adam Moss, the editor in  chief of New Yorkmagazine. As if this were not  enough he titillated the audience with a course  called “Literary Erotica,” taught by Daphne  Merkin, a stand-up comedy course taught by  Carolyn Brown, and a history of American classical  music taught by the music critic, Barrymore  Scherer. For more information or to register, call  212-774-4810 or 212-774-0789.#

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