BAM Book Night: Fairy tales for grownups are Michael Cunningham’s next offering
Brooklyn BookBeat
Michael Cunningham, world-renowned novelist, never dreamed of growing up to be a writer. “I was much more visual…I thought I would be a painter,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “The Hours” revealed to an audience Wednesday night at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM). But to the fortune of his fans, Cunningham took a writing class in college and soon knew he’d be trading in his paintbrush for a pen. “I understood almost immediately that the fundamental [essence of effective writing] — can you simulate life using ink, paper and the words in the dictionary — was endlessly fascinating to me.”
Cunningham is one of several notable authors featured this season as part of Eat, Drink & Be Literary — a popular BAM series, presented in partnership with the National Book Foundation — which this year entered its second decade of readings and discussions, preceded by dinner in the BAMCafé. Wednesday’s audience enjoyed a buffet meal catered by Great Performances and a steady supply of wine, courtesy of Seghesio Family Vineyards and Joseph S. and Diane H. Steinberg.
Cunningham recently published “The Snow Queen,” a novel about three characters who live together in Bushwick but follow decidedly different paths. On Wednesday, he expressed interest in the borough not just as a book setting, but also as a home for himself. “I live in Manhattan, but I’m determined to move to Brooklyn,” Cunningham revealed to this writer following the event.