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Author Pete Hamill In BPL Writers Series Spotlight
A standing-room-only group of about 150 filled a small, second-floor meeting room to attend Hamill's appearance on February 12 at the Central Library at Grand Army Plaza. Several dozen latecomers were turned away due to the capacity crowd. After a brief introduction by series host Leonard Lopate, of WNYC's “New York and Company,” who sat across from Hamill on a slightly elevated platform, the crowd greeted the famed Brooklyn scribe with a warm round of applause. Lopate and Hamill then began a discussion that focused mainly on the writer's latest work, “Downtown: My Manhattan,” which was published to critical acclaim last December. "Downtown" is a generous blend of history and nostalgia that reinforces the writer's genuine love of his hometown. While concentrating on the city from the Battery up to Times Square, the 250-page book is as much about the city he grew up in to treasure as it’s about how it impacted his life. Hamill read excerpts from the book and spotlighting vignettes about growing up in the Brooklyn neighborhood west of Prospect Park. “As a child,” Hamill said, "Manhattan, to me, was always a suburb of Brooklyn," to which the crowd responded with hearty laughter. He later quipped, "The sun rises in Prospect Park and sets, as so many lives do, in New Jersey." Though he never earned a college degree, Hamill explained that the newspaper business was "my university." Hamill began work as a reporter for the New York Post in 1960. An extensive career in journalism followed. He has been a columnist for the New York Post, the Daily News, the Village Voice and New York Newsday, and has won many journalistic awards. As a journalist, he has covered wars in Vietnam, Nicaragua, Lebanon and Northern Ireland. He holds a particular distinction in New York journalism history — having served as editor-in-chief of both the Daily News and the New York Post. His brief tenure at the latter is credited with saving the tabloid when it was near extinction. In addition to his distinguished journalism career, Hamill has written 18 books, including eight novels and two collections of short stories. After the session, Hamill spoke briefly with the Canarsie Courier and said that his urge for writing actually began when he read comic books and came to appreciate their narrative flows. When asked why the New York City media offers scant coverage of Brooklyn news, compared to events in Manhattan, Hamill said that many of today's reporters and editors are from the suburbs and don't have a sense of the borough. After the session, Hamill graciously signed books for more than an hour, as he chatted with each individual seeking an autograph. BPL's “Brooklyn Writers for Brooklyn Readers” series continues on March 12 and April 9. For more information visit their web site at www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org.
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