THE NEW YORKER
May 11, 2009


One of the great features of the recently concluded Auckland Writers & Readers Festival 2009 was the presence of four of the staff of The New Yorker.

What stars there were. Articulate, forthright, intelligent, appealing and engaging, a marvellous quartet and it was great to have them in our town.Thanks for coming guys, and thanks to the Festival for organising their visit.

They were Judith Thurman, Rhonda Sherman, Hendrik Hertberg, and James Surowiecki.Three of them are writers with the magazine while Rhonda Sherman is the Director of The New Yorker Festival which I hope to attend one year.


So it was a great thrill today when the latest issue of The New Yorker arrived in my mail to find that two of this foursome have pieces featured.

James Surowiecki told us that he is the first financial columnist at The New Yorker in its 85 year history. He also told us that his pieces are confined to one page in length. Sure enough there he is on page 38 with his Financial Page on the subject of the banking and finance industry, their size and influence.


But the real gem is Judith Thurman's five page review of the Helen Gurley Brown biography, Bad Girls Go Everywhere” (Oxford; US$27.95), by Jennifer Scanlon. What a treat.
Don't miss it.


Footnote:
Bookman Beattie has family living in New York, (they gift him a sub to The New Yorker for Christmas each year, thanks guys), so he feels a strong connection to that amazing city which added further to his delight at the presence of these special New Yorkers at the Auckland Writers & Readers Festival.