Award-winning magazine writer Adam Gopnik, a regular contributor to The New Yorker, kept an intimate crowd at Turtle Bay Estate House enchanted with his wit and insight on Tuesday evening, January 30.
The evening was the culmination of Caneel Bay Resort’s “Hot Type Visiting Author Series for 2007,” which also included an afternoon tea and a managing director’s cocktail party with the author.
Exclusive Access
The Hot Type program offers access to reviewer’s copies of the latest books months before they are available for sale, giving guests at any Rosewood Hotel and Resorts property the chance to read the latest fiction or non-fiction before most people.
“We wanted to create a program to give our guests at Rosewood access to something no one else has,” said Amanda Miller, vice president of Nike Communi-cations, the public relations firm for Rosewood Hotels and Resorts. “Guests get the bragging rights of reading something before anyone else they know and publishing houses get the buzz created by high-profile clients reading advance copies.”
Reading Resort
The program is especially fitting at Caneel Bay, Miller explained.
“I think the thing about Caneel is that there are no phones or faxes or TVs in the rooms on the property,” said Miller. “People really read here — we have an incredible amount of readers among our guests.”
The visiting author series takes the program one step further by offering guests the chance to meet some of the eminent writers they read.
“We try to pick authors with whom our guests will have a frame of reference for,” said Miller. “It’s kind of like the most prestigious book club.”
Intimate Dinner
Gopnik, his wife Martha Barker and Miller rotated among the three tables of guests in the wine room of Turtle Bay Estate House, giving all attendees the chance to chat personally with the guest of honor.
Between delectable courses prepared by Caneel Executive Chef Roland Czekelius — with perfectly paired glasses of wine — Gopnik read excerpts from his latest book “Through the Children’s Gate,” a collection of essays chronicling his family’s move from Paris to New York.
New York-specific Pressures
The first tale recounted Gopnik’s daughter’s imaginary friend Mr. Ravioli, who is too busy to play with the young girl.
“I think this tale comes closest to defining the particular pressures of growing up in New York City,” said the author. “It might make you flee to the closest island — other than Manhattan.”
Gopnik is living his life-long dream.
Living the Dream
“I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was 10,” the author said. “I never wanted to be anything but a writer. And I’ve always wanted to be a New Yorker writer.”
A good writer can write about anything, Gopnik explained.
“For me style and structure are what matter in writing,” he said. “The choice of subject doesn’t matter, what matters is the quality of words and how they are put together.”
For more of Gopnik’s high quality words and style check out www.newyorker.com or one of the author’s works including “Paris to the Moon,” “The King in the Window” and his latest “Through the Children’s Gate.”
