Events
The Art of the Memoir
November 12, Book Revue, Huntington, Long Island
November 15-16 Miami Book Festival
Happy Endings
November 20, Happy Ending Lounge, 302 Broome St, New York City
The Art of the Memoir
December 11, Moravian Book Shop, Bethlehem, PA stephanie@moravianbookshop.com
The Art of the Memoir with Arielle Eckstut
January 15 Clinton Bookstore 6 p.m.
Porn, Strippers and Murder with Georgina Spelvin and Stan Kent
January 22 Hustler Bookstore
Art of the Memoir
January 23, Vroman’s, Pasadena
Art of the Memoir with Katherine Harrison, Philip Lopate, Leonard
Lopate and David Carr
February 15 92nd St Y.
THE SELF-HELP, SCOTTISH BALLS & MURDER TOUR
An All-Star Who’s Who of memoirists will be rocking the Bay Area in October. Ex-track star best-selling fashion icon Beth Lisick, ex-pat Glaswegian literati kingpin Alan Black, and ex-industrial sex technician Disney screenwriter David Henry Sterry star in Art of the Memoir: Telling and Selling Your Life Stories. There will be performances revealing shocking intimate details about Richard Simmons, southern TV evangelists, and the greatest male stripping empire the world has ever known. Then the authors will reveal why they all felt compelled to spill their guts all over the page.
THE ART OF THE MEMOIR:
TELLING & SELLING YOUR LIFE STORIES
“Everybody wants to make their mark. Nowadays, that means everybody is writing a memoir.” – CNN, April 18, 2008
Find out what it takes to write and sell your life story from trained professionals who’ve actually done just that. David Henry Sterry, best-selling memoirist, book doctor and literary talent scout will emcee and read from a Master of Ceremonies: A True Story of Love, Murder, Roller Skates and Chippendales. Alan Black will brogue his way through Kick the Balls: and Offensive Suburban Odyssey. Beth Lisick will regale you with tales from Helping Me Hell Myself: 1 Skeptic, 10 Self-Help Gurus, and a Year on the Brink of the Comfort Zone. And then they’ll tell you how they did it. Is memoir the new 15 minutes of fame? What makes a good memoir? What makes a bad memoir? And how does a memoirist know when to shut up? All questions will be answered.
October 9 (Litquake) Hemlock Tavern
October 13 Book Passage, Corte Madera 7 PM
October 14 City Lights, San Francisco 7 PM
October 15 1st Congregational Church Berkeley, Berkeley Arts and Letters, 7:30 p.m.
October 18 Barnes & Noble Jack London Square, Oakland 10-12
October 20 Kepler’s, Menlo Park 7:30 PM
October 21 Lyon’s Books, Chico, 7 p.m.
You will laugh, you may cry, but you will never be the same.
DAVID HENRY STERRY
MASTER OF CEREMONIES: A TRUE STORY OF LOVE, MURDER, ROLLER SKATES AND CHIPPENDALES*
Smack dab in the middle of the cash happy/coke crazy 80s, when it was raining men and girls just wanted to have fun, David Henry Sterry became the MC at Chippendales. Find out what it was like working for Nick de Noia, who dreamed of a safe place where women could fondle, ogle and sexualize hot man flesh. And got assassinated for his trouble. Find out what it was like to find true love in the strangest place. Find out what it was like to be the ugliest man at Chippendale’s. Sterry’s first memoir, Chicken, is being made into a TV series by Showtime. “‘Master of Ceremonies’ is a dizzying, tender story resplendent with seedy glamour, hilarious backstage madness, and unflinching honesty… There are two underlying love stories, one between Sterry and a coworker, and one between Sterry and his craft..” - Library Journal “Sterry writes with comic brio…” – NY Times “Sterry’s prose fizzes like a firework. Every page crackles… laconic as Dashiell Hammett, viscerally hallucinogenic as Hunter S Thompson.” - Irish Times *anyone who buys this book will get a free consultation from a publishing expert.
BETH LISICK
HELPING ME HELP MYSELF: 1 SKEPTIC, 10 SELF-HELP GURUS, AND A YEAR ON THE BRINK OF THE COMFORT ZONE
Grappling with her lifelong phobia of anything slick, cheesy, or remotely claiming to provide self-empowerment, Beth Lisick wakes up on New Year’s Day finally able to admit to herself that she’s tired of having no savings account, feeling unorganized and chaotic, and realizing she last exercised regularly as a member of her high school track team twenty years ago. Beth decides to consult the multimillion-dollar-earning pros and national experts, not only reading their bestselling books but also attending their seminars and classes. Beth doesn’t think of herself as the typical self-help victim. But is she? “Lisick has created a hilarious, knowing tale of a year of willing ridiculousness.” — San Francisco Chronicle “Her accounts of everything…are not only hilarious but enlightening. Finding useful tips amidst the bunk, she distills the best from thousands of pages of self-help books. Readers will be inspired: If a woman in a banana suit can clean her closet and pay off her credit card debt, surely you can, too.” – People
ALAN BLACK
KICK THE BALLS: AN OFFENSIVE SUBURBAN ODYSSEY
An uproarious, fish-out-of-water account of a season in the life of a pee wee soccer team — introducing a laugh-out-loud new voice in American writing. A transplanted Scot living and working in California, Black commits to a season coaching the Dragons, a team of 8- and 9-year olds. For the parents of the players, fun is all that matters. But Black follows the words of Bill Shankly, the other legendary Scottish soccer coach, who once said, “Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.” It doesn’t help, of course, that the Dragons display absolutely no skill at the game. Well, it’s a recipe for disaster. In the tradition of Trainspotting and Fever Pitch, KICK THE BALLS is a side-splitting memoir of grass stains and free kicks, and of a security-obsessed, late-night America few get to see, all delivered in a prose so sharp it could cut a soccer ball in half.
SEX WORKER LITERATI
CENTER FOR SEX AND CULTURE
OCTOBER17 - 8 p.m. 1519 MISSION ST.
www.sexandculture.org www.David HenrySterry.com
Spend the night with writers that helped insert the phrase “Sex Worker Literati” deep into the American vernacular. Take a peek behind the desperate housewives gone bad and desperate businessmen gone worse; the tidal waves of greenbacks slipped into envelopes and g-strings; the vanity, the humanity, the inhumanity, the mundanity, the ecstasy and the agony. David Henry Sterry, ex-teenage gigolo/rentboy/ho and author of Chicken and Master of Ceremonies: a True Story of Love, Murder, Roller Skates and Chippendales, will host a cavalcade of tough guys, fast girls, bad boys and loose women spinning yarns of true love, fake orgasms and real-life love. Because behind the bumps and the grinds, under the garters and the pasties, in between the booze fueled clients and the stiletto heels there is in the exchange of sex for money a power dynamic that opens a window into the soul. Come take a peek.
DR. CAROL QUEEN sexy ho
DAVID HENRY STERRY golf ho
MELISSA GIRA GRANT techno ho
RJ MARTIN badass ho
LORELEI LEE absolutely fabulous ho
SCOTT UPPER hunky ho
CARLA CRANDALL heart o’ gold ho
SAM FORMO sassy ho
ALVIN ORLOFF fashion ho
ALL QUESTIONS WILL BE ANSWERED
The Self Help Scottish Balls Murder Tour
BARNES AND NOBLES COLONIE CENTER ALBANY EVENT
Click here for the Press Release for Master of Ceremonies
STRAND BOOKSTORE 828 September 22, 2008, 7p.m.
THE ART OF THE MEMOIR:
TELLING & SELLING YOUR LIFE STORIES
“Nowadays, everybody is writing a memoir.” – CNN
Find out what it takes to write and sell your life stories from trained professionals who’ve done just that. Best-selling author and book doctor David Henry Sterry, and international storytelling sensation Mike Daisey will perform from their memoirs. Then they will discuss with James Levine, one of America’s literary agent superstars, the joys and perils of making a narrative out of your own life, dealing with issues of privacy and the lunacy of family, and figuring out how to navigate the stormy seas of publishing. All questions will be answered. And perhaps an audience member or two will get a chance to tell one of their life stories.
Want to write your life stories? Come find out how.
DAVID HENRY STERRY
MASTER OF CEREMONIES: A TRUE STORY OF SEX, DRUGS, ROLLER SKATES & CHIPPENDALES*
1985. Smack dab in the middle of the cash happy/coke crazy 80s, when it was raining men and girls just wanted to have fun, David Henry Sterry became the MC at Chippendales, when it was the hottest show in the city that never sleeps. Find out what it was like to be the ugliest man at Chippendale’s. He has appeared on NPR, the BBC, and the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. His first memoir, Chicken, is being made into a TV series by Showtime.
“‘Master of Ceremonies’” is a dizzying, tender story resplendent with seedy glamour, hilarious backstage madness, and unflinching honesty… maximum entertainment value….” -Katherine Litwin, Library Journal.
*Anyone who buys this book will get a free 10 minute consultation on how to get a book published.
JAMES LEVINE
LEVINE-GREENBERG LITERARY AGENCY
James Levine is one of America’s great superagents, and the founder of Levine-Greenberg literary agency. He has spent decades putting together ideas, people, and money; identifying, nurturing, and marketing talent; and creating projects that make a difference. He is also the author of seven books and over a hundred articles, and has appeared on Oprah. He has helped dozens and dozens and dozens of writers become professional authors.
MIKE DAISEY
21 DOG YEARS: A CUBEDWELLERS TALE
MIKE DAISEY has been called “the master storyteller” by the New York Times for his many monologues, which include How Theater Failed America, Great Men of Genius, and 21 Dog Years. Over the past decade he has performed at the Public Theater, the Spoleto Festival, Yale Repertory Theater, the Noorderzon Festival, and many more. He’s been a guest on David Letterman, his work has been heard on the BBC, NPR and currently he’s a commentator for PRI, and a contributor to Vanity Fair. His first film, Layover, is being distributed by Lars von Trier’s company Zentropa. He has been the recipient of the Bay Area Critics Circle Award, two Seattle Times Footlight Awards, and a MacDowell Fellowship.
David Henry Sterry
David Henry Sterry is a best-selling author, award winning
actor/comic, book doctor, and a man who has not worn matching socks in
thirty years. He is both writer of and performer in the one-man show
“Chicken”, based on his bestselling memoir Chicken: Self-Portrait of a
Young Man for Rent (ReganBooks/HarperCollins: 2002). In addition that
book has been translated into ten languages, and is being made into a
series by Showtime. His latest is Master of Ceremonies: a True Story
of Sex, Drugs, Rollerskates and Chippendale’s (Grove
Atlantic/Canongate, 2008). This was preceded by Putting Your Passion
into Print (Workman Publishing, 2005), based on the class he taught at
Stanford University for four years. His first book was an American
Library Association pick-of-the-year, Satchel Sez: The Wit, Wisdom &
World of Leroy “Satchel” Paige (Crown/Random House, 2001). His first
YA title, (written under the name Henry Johnson) is Travis & Freddy’s
Adventures in Vegas (Dutton/Penguin, April, 2006). In addition he
co-wrote: LittleMissMatched’s Pajama Party in a Box;
LittleMissMatched’s Marvelous and Fabulous Me (Workman, 2007);
LittleMissMatched’s The Writer in Me! and LittleMissMatched’s The
Author In Me! (Workman, 2008) His story in San Francisco Noir
(Akashic, 2005) was a finalist for the Henry Miller Award. He is a
contributor to Creative Non-Fiction, 2 Do Before I Die, 5 Minute
Erotica, and many other anthologies. His poetry has been published
everywhere from Santa Monica Review, to the Hungry Orangutan. He’s
also written for, among others, The London Times, The San Francisco
Chronicle, Penthouse, and The Scotsman. Plays performed at PS 122, the
West Bank Café, and the Duplex. Wrote screenplays for Disney, Fox, and
Nickelodeon Pictures.
David Henry Sterry is also a teacher, consultant and talent scout for
the Levine Greenberg Literary Agency. He taught writers about
publishing with Putting Your Passion Into Print at Stanford for three
years, and many of his students have book deals. PYPIP has now been
presented, in various forms, hundreds of times, in colleges,
universities, libraries, bookstores and festivals, writer’s workshops,
on TV, radio and in print. He’s also taught writing, performing, and
creating theater from life, everywhere from Reed College, to
University of New Orleans, to San Francisco State; and to teenagers in
NYC, SAGE in SF, and for the United States Department of Justice, in
Washington, DC. He is also a presentation coach and pitch doctor,
working with lawyers, models, architects, actors and writers, helping
them present themselves and their ideas with clarity and passion. As a
book doctor he has helped dozens of writers become published authors.
David Henry Sterry is also a performer. “Chicken”, the show, began at
the Marsh Theater in SF, and was named one of the Year’s Best Shows in
the SF Chronicle. It premiered internationally at the Edinburgh Fringe
Festival, and was named the UK’s #1 play. He’s performed “Chicken” all
over America from Manhattan to Hollywood, and all over the world, from
Amsterdam to Australia. As a stand-up comedian, performed with
everyone from Robin Williams to Milton Berle. As an actor, worked with
everyone from Will Smith to David Letterman to Michael Caine to Zippy
the Chimp. He was a TV pitchman for AT&T, Proctor & Gamble, and
McDonald’s, performed in over 750 commercials, winning 4 Clios.
Starred in HBO’s Emmy Award-winning Encyclopedia. Emceed at
Chippendale’s Male Strip Club in New York.
Been featured in (among others): The New York Times, The London Times,
The Sunday Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, New York
Magazine, Details Magazine, BBC Radio, and NPR’s Morning Edition,
Weekend Edition, and Talk of the Nation. Chicken was published by
Canongate in the UK in April, 2003, Dutch (de Kern), German (Rowohlt,
2005), Spanish (Grupo Planeta, 2006), Croatian (Celeber, 2006), and
Russia (Red Fish, 2006), and is coming out in Italian (Adelphi, 2008).
He’s worked as a chicken, a chicken fryer, a soda jerk, a cherry
picker, a poet, a building inspector, a limo driver, a barker, and a
marriage counselor. He graduated from Reed College, and loves his
wife, his cat, and any sport involving a ball.