On November 13, Poly Prep Country Day School in Bay Ridge welcomed Tama Janowitz (pictured at right), the celebrated author of Slaves of New York, A Certain Age and Area Code 212. She read from her new novel, They Is Us: A Cautionary Horror Story (Harper Collins), a futuristic, dystopian satire.

Janowitz, a Brooklynite and Poly Prep parent, agreed to headline the school’s annual library fundraiser. Self-deprecating and thought-provoking, she mentioned how difficult it had been to get her new novel published. She also quietly noted the steep decline in reading as mass audience entertainment.

Continuing in the same dark vein, she plunged into the beginning of her new novel: “Years pass. There are still thimbles and Unitarians. The world is the same as it has always been, maybe a little worse.�

After finishing her excerpt to much applause, she ended with an appeal to support Poly Prep’s Joseph Dana Allen Library, then autographed copies of her book.

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