By Beth C. Aplin
Cutthroat competition, last-minute reversals, buzzer-beating wins…. No, it’s not March Madness, it’s the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament! On Friday, for the first time in history, the nation’s biggest and oldest crossword competition kicks off in Brooklyn. Directed by New York Times crossword puzzle editor Will Shortz, the tournament is leaving its longtime home in Stamford, Connecticut, and setting up camp at the Marriott at Brooklyn Bridge in Downtown Brooklyn from February 29 to March 2.
If you think a crossword competition is a snoozefest, then you’ve obviously never seen Wordplay, the 2006 documentary that explains why crosswords — and the puzzlers that resolve to solve them — are so fascinating. Famous people like John Stewart and Bill Clinton as well as crossword puzzle celebrities contribute interviews. Rent the movie, or better yet, stop by the Marriott and see for yourself what all the fuss is about.
Long gone are the days when a library was a place to simply borrow books. Brooklyn Public Library’s Dweck Center continues its impressive roster of author events on March 8 with fiction writer Alice Mattison. At 2 p.m., Mattison will read from In Case We Are Separated, her 2005 collection of short stories that spans several generations of a Brooklyn family. In an interview with HarperCollins, she spoke about how her own family compares to the characters in the book.
“Nobody is based on any particular real person, but the family I grew up in had the structure of the family in the book: my mother was one of five sisters and a brother whose parents had immigrated from Eastern Europe at the start of the twentieth century,” said Mattison.
“My father also came from a large Brooklyn immigrant family, and I grew up in Brooklyn with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins within easy reach, while others arrived for frequent visits from the places they’d moved to.”
The author of five novels and four short story collections, Mattison will appear as part of BPL’s monthly series Brooklyn Writers for Brooklyn Readers. Mattison currently lives in New Haven, Connecticut, and teaches at the Bennington Writers Seminars.
Coming up in April is Park Slope’s literary giant, Paul Auster.
Last week Paul Auster’s better half, the novelist and poet Siri Hustvedt, gave St. Francis College students and community members a sneak peek at her novel, The Sorrows of an American. The book is due in stores on April 1.
After the reading at the Brooklyn Heights-based college, Hustvedt shared advice with the budding writers in the audience. Responding to a question about whether or not writing programs are beneficial, she urged new writers to follow their own paths. “The most important thing for students to know is that there really are no rules,” she said.
Hustvedt did add one caveat to her no-rules philosophy: “You cannot be a writer if you don’t read. You’ve got to read your guts out!”
The event was hosted by the St. Francis College Women’s Studies Minor, the Department of English and the Women’s Studies Center.
During a recent rehearsal for Urinetown, a group of Poly Prep drama students got a visit from the musical’s maker, Greg Kotis. Kotis, a Boerum Hill resident, wrote the book and co-wrote the lyrics to the Tony Award-winning show. Eagle reporter Tom Kane was on the scene when a student asked the playwright, “What was it about Urinetown that you thought would be appealing to the audience?”
“I really wasn’t sure,” replied Kotis, “because we figured no one was actually going to see it.”
Poly Prep’s production of Urinetown begins this Friday, February 29. Get all the details at www.brooklyneagle.com.
Last weekend the Daily News caught up with Harvey Elgart, the owner of Cobble Hill Cinema on Court Street.
Elgart grew up in Sheepshead Bay and graduated from Brooklyn College. He bought his first movie theater in 1977. “I just love the movies,” Elgart told the paper. “I like a place where you watch a really good film without distraction and disappear into the world of the movie. I personally choose the films that play in my theaters, and so in my own way I have a cultural impact on the community. I don’t play crap.”
Check our archives at www.brooklyneagle.com for recent interviews with other local cineastes, including Heights Cinema manager Amy Mascena and BAMcinématek manager Matt Buchholz.
Saturday is the last chance to see the current exhibition at BRIC Rotunda Gallery in Brooklyn Heights. Featuring six artists and curated by visual arts director Elizabeth Ferrer, “Infinite Line: Contemporary Drawing in Time and Space” asks if drawing is still important in the realm of contemporary art. The exhibition is free and open to the public from noon to 6 p.m.
Earlier this month, participating artist Anita Pantin held a “live drawing performance” at BRIC Rotunda Gallery. Pantin is a multimedia artist who divides her time between her native Venezuela and New York.
Have a tip for People You Know? Email beth@brooklyneagle.net
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Just a reminder, though -- It’s not considered polite to paste the entire story on your blog. Most blogs post a summary or the first paragraph,( 40 words) then post a link to the rest of the story. That helps increase click-throughs for everyone, and minimizes copyright issues.
So please keep posting, but not the entire article. arturc at att.net
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