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Speaking Engagements

Mickey Pearlman is available to talk formally (in public forums) or in informal settings (classrooms, etc.) on these subjects:

• How To Build A Better Book Club
• How To Be A Better Reader
• A Writer’s Life
• How to Get Published and Suffer Like the Rest of Us
• This essay won the Ballantine Book Club Award.

Mickey Pearlman is also available for teaching engagements. For more information, click here.

From audience members. . .

“…I wanted to let you know---Boy, have we been getting calls ! Your books are all checked out …Everyone I have talked to was delighted with your program. I’ve gotten wonderful feedback from it…I also hope that our paths will cross again.”

Eva M. Greenberg, Oberlin Public Library, Oberlin, Ohio

“…Your lecture at Point Park College…was the most successful public lecture of the year: succinct, witty, substantive, and informative. Both students and faculty found it stimulating…As a former English professor who has read the majority of your publications, I feel that the quality of your numerous books speaks for itself. However, you speak for yourself even more eloquently.”

Katherine Henderson,Ph.D., President, Point Park

“The books you’ve steered me to, and how they enhance the work I do every day …have made this the most creatively rich and intellectually enjoyable summer of my life. Thank you.”

Martha Coventry, Split Rock, U. Minnesota

“We still can’t get over our good fortune in having you keynote our conference on ‘Friendships.’ It was Kismet. It was also extraordinarily well-received by all in attendance. We thank you for your good spirit and wise and warm words.”

Juliet Goldsmith, Director, Public Relations, The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, Westchester Division

“We were just delighted with your program…and so were our patrons. I’ve had a number of people come to the reference desk to tell us how much they enjoyed it, and two or three have said, ‘We need more like her!’ I tell them you are one of a kind !

Susan Grotyohann, Chief Reference Librarian, Monroe Township Library, MT, NJ.

“I’ve written to several authors over the years, but you are one of the very few to make me feel that you have, indeed, read my letter !”

Helene Benardo

“Again, it was a great pleasure to meet you in October. I met many authors and listened to them during my tenure at Kepler’s, but I will always remember you as the warmest, most interesting and engaging one.”

Guity Boldaji

"On behalf of BCCLS, the Bergen County Cooperative Library System, and all
those who attended the BCCLS Book Club Leaders Workshop on November 3,
2005, at the Wyckoff Public Library, my sincerest thanks for doing such a
fine job as our keynote speaker.

Mickey, you are the guru of all things book club and your wisdom and
enthusiasm are palpable and contagious. I am sure that many of our
attendees went back to their libraries and book clubs energized and ready
to make their book groups profoundly meaningful for all those who
participate."

Arlene Sahraie
Library Services Director
BCCLS - Bergen County Cooperative Library System

From Book Club members. . .

WHY I LOVE THE "MICKEY PEARLMAN BOOK CLUB"

by Peggy Rosenblatt

There are no frills; it's just about the book. We meet in a doctor's waiting room on Manhattan's Upper East Side. No coffee, no cake, no chitchat--only talk about the book. Everybody knows somebody in the group but nobody knows everybody. We've been together for over six years and we are devoted to each other, smitten with our leader and passionate about reading.

We have been skillfully led through literature so we don't mind if events are not linear or the past is the present. The first person may meld into the third person and time and space can be out of place. We don't care if you like the book, we only want to know what you think about it. Why did the author pick those names for her characters? And what about the imagery and symbolism? Our leader (a Ph.D. in English, college professor, published writer/editor/ anthologist and personal friend to many contemporary authors) has taught us that it's not about the plot but how the author takes you to places hitherto unknown.

We have found solace after finishing The Unconsoled, been lost in Andorra, met the monster in Frankenstein, had a fine time at Larry's Party, and were stirred by The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. We made the acquaintance of Mrs. Dalloway several years ago and revisited her through The Hours. After finishing As I Lay Dying, we pleaded for relief and were rewarded with Carolina Moon. We had two nights of sheer delight when Katherine Weber came to discuss Why Objects in Mirror are Closer Than They Appear and later enthralled us with The Music Lesson.

We hear about other book clubs and we know they are not for us. Recitations of reviews, plot dissections and character assassinations would not bring us to better understand the nuances of the author's writing and style. Having an Armenian dinner while discussing Black Dog of Fate just would not add to the experience for us. Rather than sharing recipes, we prefer to delve into one another's thoughts and the insights each of our members brings to the discussion. Our collective life experiences span the ages of women: we are grandmothers, mothers, single, married, teachers, artists, designers, business executives, attorneys, nurse and environmental planners. We are readers.

From the Press. . .

ESTEEMED AUTHOR SHARES HER WISDOM

Mickey Pearlman visited the Writers House for a discussion and lecture on writing memoirs.

Twenty aspiring writers from the Penn community crowded around a dining room table last night. The Kelly Writers House provided the setting for a conversation entitled, "How to Write Memoir, and a few words about How to Read It."

Mickey Pearlman, esteemed essayist, editor and lecturer led the discussion.

She began by discussing the basics -- mood, voice, place and audience -- quickly moving on to the essence of memoir.

"Memoir is a form whose time has come," she said. "Memoir is a slice of life."

Eventually she tackled tough questions like how to write unflattering stories about relatives.

"It's called the small penis rule," Pearlman explained. "No one will admit to being the character with the small penis."

Pearlman's books include What to Read, the Essential Guide for Reading Group Members and Other Book Lovers and Listen to Their Voices. The complete list of her published works fills several pages.

"No wonder I'm exhausted." she said after her introduction.

Pearlman's warmth, humor and enthusiasm captured the attention of every listener.

"She is just so inspiring," said Beverly Dale, the executive director for the University Christian Association. Dale is completing her own memoir.

Writers House Program Coordinator Thomas Devaney praised Pearlman for her integrity and passion.

"We want to cultivate that," Devaney said, adding that employees at the Writers House hoped students would "get a sense of someone who's doing it for real."

A diverse, multi-generational audience turned out.

Retired Asian and Middle Eastern Studies Professor Cecilia Segawa Seigle recently began writing her own memoir.

"When you get to be old like me, you think about writing a memoir," she said. Segawa added that she came in hopes of figuring out what to include in her book.

College freshman Becky Dalzell said she was looking for a refresher in writing fundamentals.

"I just need to be reminded because I never do it on my own," she said.

Whether participants sought personal motivation or a cherished opportunity to meet a famous author, they walked away from the table satisfied.

Pearlman, who holds a doctorate degree in English and American Literature from the City University of New York, recently had one of her memoir essays published in the anthology, Father: Famous Writers Celebrate the Bond Between Father and Child.