Report from The Devil, the Lovers, and Me

Kimmi Auerbach's reading at Border's in Columbus Circle last night was packed--I've never been to a reading quite like it. Kimmi, author of The Devil, the Lovers, and Me: My Life in Tarot, picked three tarot cards from the deck and read the correlating chapters (each chapter's title is the title of a card). Her performance was stellar; her writing hilarious, poignant, alive.

During the Q&A, someone asked how her parents (who were sitting in the front row) felt about turning up as characters in her memoir, and I had flashbacks to all the times I got that question while on the road with Only Child earlier this year. Among other bits of wisdom the 30-something wise-beyond-her-years writer dispensed was this, a line adapted (I think) from Kimmi's friend and fellow funny girl Wendy Shanker, who was also in the house:

"The children who are loved the most are boldest on the page." Meaning, children who are well loved don't fear losing the love of their parents when they grow up and become writers who write about their past. I thought this was an interesting counter-sentiment to the words of the writers who told Daphne and me that they couldn't safely write about their parents until they were 6 feet under. Interesting litmus test, I say.