Archives for September 22, 2009

My last author photo is so old that it’s (A) in black-and-white and (B) was shot on film. Not surprisingly, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt informed me in no uncertain terms that I needed a new digital photo for the dust jacket of Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong. Alas, I don’t know any professional photographers, but I was lucky enough to run across a terrific one when I went to Santa Fe two months ago for the premiere of The Letter. The Santa Fe Opera employs Ken Howard to shoot its productions, and Ken was kind enough to make himself available between shows to shoot me as well.
The portrait on the left was taken one sunny afternoon in the Crosby Theater, the outdoor auditorium where The Letter was performed. The Givenchy tie that I’m wearing was the one originally belonging to Virgil Thomson that was given to me by Mrs. T as an opening-night present. I’m not especially photogenic, but I like this picture very much. I hope you do, too.

Joanna Pinsker, my publicist at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, recently asked me to prepare a “self-interview” about Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong that could be sent to radio and TV producers. I was more than happy to oblige. I’ve posted a link to the questions and answers in the right-hand column, but in case you didn’t notice it, you can read what I wrote by going here.
Assiduous readers of this blog won’t find any of the information surprising, but it might possibly interest you to see how modern-day authors go about publicizing their books.

“The stupid believe that to be truthful is easy; only the artist, the great artist, knows how difficult it is.”
Willa Cather, The Song of the Lark