Special Event: An Evening w/Henry Alford

Pan Pacific Seattle Hotel, 2125 Terry Avenue , SEATTLE

Many thanks to the tempestuous Tay M!

This event is a presentation of The Warren Report in partnership with Kim Ricketts Book Events and The Pan Pacific Seattle Hotel.

Some of us have been following the life lessons of Brion James in BLADE RUNNER for far too long: “Wake up. Time to die.” Thank heavens, Henry Alford‘s got better advice. He wants to help us make constructive use of that apparent golden time between birth and potentially fatal encounters with replicants.

In his new book,  HOW TO LIVE: A Search for Wisdom from Old People (While They Are Still on This Earth), the investigative humorist, turns to, gulp, our elders — you know, the ones pestering you for your seat on crowded buses — for some perspective on Life, Liberty and The Pursuit of Happyness. (Why the Founding Fathers were so presciently jazzed about the Will Smith flick, I’ll never understand. Though, admittedly, the movie did make me weep.)

So, come join me Friday night when I welcome the irrepressible Mr. Alford for an intimate evening of amusing and enlightened chatter about HOW TO LIVE and why so many of us have to.

From Publishers Weekly

Alford (Big Kiss) recognizes that the elderly have been through more in their lives than the rest of us, and figures it might be a good idea to talk to some of them and see if they have any meaningful advice to impart. This plan sets off a prolonged meditation: what is wisdom, anyway? Some of his interview subjects are famous, like playwright Edward Albee or literary critic Harold Bloom—but it’s the less recognized figures who consistently provide Alford with the most evocative source material, like the retired schoolteacher who lost her husband, her home and all her possessions in Hurricane Katrina but refuses to feel sorry for herself. The search is not all rosy: shortly after , Alford’s interview with his stepfather, he loses his sobriety and the author becomes a sideline observer as his mother initiates divorce proceedings and moves into a retirement home. Such scenarios depart from the laugh-out-loud stories for which Alford is best known, but there are still enough moments of rich humor, like the guided tour of Sylvia Miles‘s cluttered apartment, for longtime fans of Alford.

About the author

Henry Alford is the author of two acclaimed works of investigative humor — Big Kiss: One Actor’s Desperate Attempt to Claw His Way to the Top and Municipal bondage: one man’s anxiety-producing adventures in. He has been a regular contributor to The New York Times and Vanity Fair, and a staff writer at Spy. He has also written for The New Yorker, GQ, New York, Details, Harper’s Bazaar, Travel & Leisure, The Village Voice andParis Review.