Community Corner
Penguin Bookshop Hosts Candlelit Reading of "Pittsburgh Noir" and Auction
Severe storms raged yesterday afternoon, causing Penguin Bookshop to lose power during its book reading and auction; luckily candles and flashlights were on-hand and the event carried on.
Last night's reading and discussion of newly released anthology, "Pittsburgh Noir" at was disrupted by a power outage due to afternoon storms.
Fortunately, "dark" was already the theme of the evening, as the book consists of short fictional stories about crime, murder, sexual motivations and mystery. Therefore, watching the book's authors read excerpts of their stories by candlelight was quite fitting.
"Pittsburgh Noir" is part of the Akashic Books' Noir Series, which began in 1994 after its first anthology, "Brooklyn Noir," became a best-seller. The stories in each of the Noir series take place in different neighborhoods within a particular city.
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Four of the book's authors attended last night's event, including Rebecca Drake, K.C. Constantine, Hilary Masters and Kathleen George, who is also the editor of "Pittsburgh Noir."
Drake, who writes dark crime fiction, said people often ask her if it was hard to write a dark story that is set in Fox Chapel, an upper-class Pittsburgh neighborhood.
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"I always tell them that behind every great fortune is a great crime," she said.
Kathleen George, who both wrote for and edited the anthology, also writes crime fiction novels, but mentioned how much of a challenge it was to write a short story rather than a novel.
The other three writers present also write mostly novels and commiserated with George.
However, the authors were thrilled that George asked them to write for the anthology and enjoyed being able to choose the Pittsburgh neighborhood in which their story would take place. Most of the writers live in or have some connection to the neighborhood that they chose.
After the book discussion, Bill Wolfe, Executive Director of the Homeless Children's Education Fund, auctioned off five Adirondack chairs that were painted by the , , The National Aviary, Penguin Bookshop Book Clubs and Penguin Bookshop staff members. The auction raised over $2,000 and all of the proceeds will benefit the Homeless Children's Education Fund.
