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How do you make a memorable modern best-seller
in the digital age?
Mother's Day comes early to The Luncheon Society
This will be a one-course "Lite Luncheon."
Also this lunch will begin at 12 noon
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The Luncheon Society ™
welcomes
New York Times Best-selling
author
Elizabeth Benedict
Editor of the New York Times Bestseller
What My Mother Gave Me: Thirty-one Women on the Gifts That Mattered Most
and
Mentors, Muses & Monsters: 30 Writers on the People Who Changed Their Lives
Author
Almost
Slow Dancing (1985 National Book Award finalist)
The Practice of Deceit
The Joy of Writing Sex: A Guide for Fiction Writers
with
Andra Miller of Algonquin Books
Join us for a conversation of what it takes to create a best-seller in a modern digital world.
Friday April 18, 2014
Bar Americain
152 W. 52nd Street
New York, NY 10019
Tel: 212.265.9700
12 noon
$40
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NY Luncheon Society Event
What is the most meaningful gift that your mother ever gave you?
There are two stories in this book: how this stellar group of writers was brought together to tell the stories of their mothers' and their lives, and how the writers, the editor, and the publisher came together to make the book a commercial success on The New York Times Best Seller's list.
How do you craft a memorable addition to the New York Times best Sellers List?
To RSVP; [email protected]
Best,
Bob McBarton
Chief Conversationalist, The Luncheon Society
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How do you create an unlikely
New York Times Bestseller?
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Elizabeth Benedict, Susan Stamberg, and Eleanor Clift Discuss "What My Mother Gave Me."
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Novelist/Editor Elizabeth Benedict and Algonquin Senior Editor Andra Miller talk about the making of the New York Times Bestseller: What My Mother Gave Me: Thirty-One Women on the Gifts That Mattered Most. Among the 31 contributors are Joyce Carol Oates, Rita Dove, Katha Pollitt, Susan Stamberg, Mary Gordon, Margo Jefferson, Abigail Pogrebin (writing about her mother Letty Pogrebin), and Lisa See.
"It started with a beautiful scarf," says novelist Elizabeth Benedict'. "It was the last gift my mother ever gave me, bought at a holiday fair at her assisted living facility. For ten years, I wore it all winter long around my coat and became strangely attached to it. But because I'd had such a distant relationship with her, this attachment perplexed me. I thought about it often but never spoke to anyone -- I didn't have the words to describe this jumble of feelings. In 2011, I began wondering if other women had a specific gift from their mothers that spoke to them this way -- an object or experience that was an entry point into their relationships. Thirty amazing women said yes, and when Andra Miller at Algonquin Books bought the proposal, this amazing conversation began."
What My Mother Gave Me was published last Mother's Day, and the publisher and the writers promoted it via Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, book blogs, traditional media, and lots of public and private conversations.
Rita Dove remembers the box of nail polish that inspired her to paint her nails in the wild stripes and polka dots she wears to this day. Lisa See writes about the gift of writing from her mother, Carolyn See. Cecilia Mu�oz remembers both the wok her mother gave her and a lifetime of home-cooked family meals. Judith Hillman Paterson revisits the year of sobriety her mother bequeathed to her when Paterson was nine, the year before her mother died of alcoholism. Abigail Pogrebin writes about her middle-aged bat mitzvah, for which her mother provided flowers after a lifetime of guilt for skipping her daughter's religious education. Margo Jefferson writes about her mother's gold dress from the posh department store where they could finally shop as black women.
Collectively, the pieces have a force that feels as elemental as the tides: outpourings of lightness and darkness; joy and grief; mother love and daughter love; mother love and daughter rage. In these stirring words we find that every gift, no matter how modest, tells the story of a powerful bond. As Elizabeth Benedict points out in her introduction, "whether we are mothers, daughters, aunts, sisters, or cherished friends, we may not know for quite some time which presents will matter the most.
Christy Turlington's international organization, Every Mother Counts, chose the book for its book club. Barnard College - from which Elizabeth, Andra, and contributors Mary Gordon and Susan Stamberg graduated - just named it the Barnard Book of the Year.
Elizabeth Benedict's Website
http://www.elizabethbenedict.com/index.php
NPR story on Elizabeth and her book
http://www.npr.org/2013/05/08/182263648/whats-the-most-meaningful-gift-your-mom-gave-you
Tumblr Page
http://whatmymothergaveme.tumblr.com/
Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/pages/What-My-Mother-Gave-Me-31-Women-on-the-Gifts-That-Mattered-Most/93515090368
Only one question-are you in? Your host: 
is a marriage and family therapist and Narrative Medicine educator. After fifteen years as a therapist in private practice, she devoted two years studying the multi-disciplinary field of Narrative Medicine, earning a Masters degree from Columbia University http://www.ce.columbia.edu/narrative- medicine . The power of the work, which was originally conceived as a way to teach empathy to doctors, inspired Shari to use her background in psychology, education, improvisation and creative writing, and adapt the theories and practices into dynamic workshops for organizations, businesses, healthcare professionals, adolescents and high risk populations. Foos created The Narrative Method, an engaging multi-media approach to understanding the subtle meaning and impact of spoken and written words, body language and facial expressions, leading to improved communication, cooperation and increased empathy. She offers workshops and salons in The Narrative Method at universities, medical schools, clinics, businesses, non-profits, adolescent programs, middle and high schools. In addition, she creates programs for events and retreats and presents at conferences. A passionate advocate for underserved populations, in 1999, Shari founded The Bridge Program at Antioch University, Los Angeles (http://www.antiochla.edu/thebridgeprogram). The Bridge is an intensive year-long university Humanities course for adults who have never been exposed to higher education, many of whom, after earning college credit for the course, go on to become college graduates and active members of their communities. Shari was educated at Columbia University and Antioch University, Los Angeles. She has trained and interned at Cedars Sinai Hospital, the National Council of Jewish Women, the Maple Counseling Center, Homesafe and numerous schools and programs for adolescents, including Free Arts for Abused Children, Halcyon Child Center Studies, University High School, Morningside High School, Aviva Center, and the Optimist Boys Club. She has written for Huffington Post, the L.A. Weekly, CBS Radio Network and CBS Television. Shari was formerly a performance artist and singer/songwriter. She has hosted and produced entertainment, social action and political salons and events for over twenty-five years. She serves on the Boards of BreastCancer.org http://www.breastcancer.org, a free online community with up-to-date information about breast health; and New Visions Foundation http://www.newvisionsfnd.org, which delivers a wide-range of learning based programs to underserved children. She is a member of the New York Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, American Counseling Association, American Psychotherapy Association, Writers Guild of America West and SAG/AFTRA
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Lite Luncheon
The Luncheon Society gathering with New York Times best-selling author Elizabeth Benedict and Andra Miller will take place in Manhattan on Friday April 18, 2014. The lunch will begin at 12 noon and will run for a little longer than an hour.
Restaurant.
The luncheon will take place at Bar Americain in Manhattan. We will be meeting in their private room. The restaurant is located at 152 W 52nd Street. The phone number is 212.265.9700. The website is http://www.baramericain.com/new-york-city-restaurant/
The Price.
Like in all TLS events, we basically split the check. Based on conversations with their staff, the cost for the gathering will be $40.00 per person.
Where to Park.
Its Manhattan and you will know what to do.
Books
Elizabeth Benedict will gladly sign copies of her book.
Cancellations
Sometimes, as they say in the movies, life intercedes. If you wish to attend but have a change in plans, please let me know 72 hours prior so that I can inform the restaurant.
Our Very Modest Annual Dues.
If you need to handle this, thanks for taking care of matters.
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Dining Choices.
We are building out the menu. It will be a one-course lite luncheon. Beverages included
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Biography
Elizabeth Benedict is a bestselling novelist, journalist, teacher of creative writing, editor, and writing coach. She has published five acclaimed novels, including the bestseller Almost and the National Book Award finalist Slow Dancing, a classic book on writing fiction, and hundreds of reviews, essays, and articles. She is the editor of two acclaimed anthologies, the New York Times Bestseller What My Mother Gave Me: Thirty-one Women on the Gifts That Mattered Most (Algonquin 2013) and Mentors, Muses & Monsters: 30 Writers on the People Who Changed Their Lives (Simon & Schuster; SUNY Press). Her novels have established her reputation as a writer who "specializes in the subterranean currents of modern relationships, the secret motivations and betrayals that underlie everyday interactions." Hallie Ephron in the Boston Globe called her most recent novel, The Practice of Deceit "a wickedly funny literary suspense novel" that is "wry, at times heartbreaking, always smart and entertaining."Newsday's reviewer said that Benedict's "wit is as sharp as her eye, and twice as fast. She writes the hard, horrifying truth about human nature, and it is addictively entertaining." Fresh Air's Maureen Corrigan chose her previous novel, the bestseller Almost, as one of her top five novels of 2001. Her first novel, Slow Dancing, published in 1985, was shortlisted for the National Book Award. She is also the author of several other novels and of a classic book, The Joy of Writing Sex , which is used widely in writing programs. She's taught fiction and non-fiction writing at Barnard, the New School, Princeton, the Iowa Writers' Workshop, Swarthmore College, and MIT and has written for many publications, including The Huffington Post, The Rumpus, The New York Times, Salmagundi, Esquire, Tin House, Harper's Bazaar, and The American Prospect.
 Andra Miller is a Senior Editor at Algonquin Books, and has worked in its New York office for 15 years. She acquires and edits both literary fiction and narrative nonfiction, including New York Times bestsellers The Drunken Botanist: The Plants That Create the World's Great Drinks, by Amy Stewart; novelist Caroline Leavitt's Is This Tomorrow and Pictures of You; What My Mother Gave Me: Thirty-One Woman on the Gifts That Mattered Most, ed. Elizabeth Benedict, and Man With a Pan: Culinary Adventures of Fathers Who Cook for Their Families, ed. John Donohue, plus award-winning novelist Tayari Jones's Silver Sparrow.
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The Luncheon Society
is a series of private luncheons and dinners that take place in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Manhattan, and now Boston. We essentially split the costs of gathering and we meet in groups of 20-25 people. Discussions center on politics, art, science, film, culture, and whatever else is on our mind. Think of us as "Adult Drop in Daycare." We've been around since 1997 and we're purposely understated. These gatherings takes place around a large table, where you interact with the main guest and conversation becomes end result. There are no rules, very little structure, and the gatherings happen when they happen. Join us when you can.
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