Rol's Road Blog 3
Fantastic audiences on the West Coast. Roland Kelts will catch up and recount more--Tokyo, NYC, Boston, DC, Berkeley, SF--very soon. But for now:
Last night, Powell's Books in Portland, one of the best bookstores in the US, and as far as we know, and as far as we have seen, the world--and one of our best crowds so far. Packed house, excellent questions, kind compliments, genuine interest in the book and the future of the cultural interchange detailed therein. Not to mention an age range that ran from the teens to the 60s or beyond, plus RK's dear friend from Tokyo, Jun Kim, Haruki Murakami's brilliant and illustrious office manager.
We're writing to you from a condominium in Seattle at the behest of another dear friend, RK's sometimes editor and always heroic publisher, Bruce Rutledge. On deck tomorrow: a radio interview with Seattle NPR, a newspaper interview, and a presentation for the Japan America Society of Washington State.
For now: Here's Roland Kelts on a radio program that aired nationally on Tuesday of this week:
Japanese POP CULTURE on "The World," PRI/NPR
And a review RK penned of Matthew Sharpe's mind-blowingly brilliant new novel, Jamestown, for the Village Voice:
"Jackass for the Jacobean Set," The Village Voice
And here's his new monthly column for the Writer's House Newsletter in Tokyo:
Japanamerican Eyes
And now, because he is 7 cities into his 9-city tour on precious little sleep, RK will retire. Besides which, RK/Roland Kelts is not his real name. As I'm sure you know by now: If he tells you his real name, you will die.