Authors Night Returns to East Hampton

An evening filled with mysterious, historical, fictional, biographical and dramatic stories written by nearly 100 diverse and unique authors will return to the big tent in Herrick Park this weekend for East Hampton Library’s 19th Annual Authors Night.

“It’s one of the largest cocktail parties in the Hamptons, but the real draw of it is that the authors are there to talk to [guests] and answer questions and take pictures,” explained Dennis Fabiszak, the executive director of the library and the event’s co-chair. “They are volunteering their time to be there and talk to people, and they seem to love it as much as the guests do.”

Fabiszak added that the main goal of this event is to generate funds for the East Hampton Library. He notes there is a balance between trying to sell tickets and raise money, while also providing an entertaining and educational event for East End residents and visitors. Therefore, the authors selection committee aims to choose not only writers of merit, but those who they believe people will want to come and meet in person.

“It is a difficult process deciding,” said Fabiszak. “We like to have a good mix of authors. We like to have Pulitzer Prize winners of course, but we also want authors that cover various topics too.”

The committee met for several months over the winter and spring to decide who would receive an invitation to be an author at this event. This year, the committee considered close to 400 authors with less than 100 seats for authors under the tent.

For this year’s Authors Reception, 85 percent of the writers are new, with only 15 percent being returning authors.

One of these returning authors is Sag Harbor’s Tom Clavin who will be presenting his book, “Follow Me to Hell: McNelly’s Texas Rangers and the Rise of Frontier Justice.”

“I have written several books set in the 1800s American West. [For this book,] I looked for a story that had never really been told before,” Clavin explained. “You won’t find this in the history books, but I thought it was a pretty gripping story.”

Clavin noted that there are two main reasons that he really enjoys Authors Night. The first is the ability to meet readers, shake their hand and chat with them.

“There are people that come up to me that are readers and sometimes I only see them once a year,” Clavin said.

He added the second reason he enjoys Authors Night is the ability to rub shoulders with other authors. Whether these are friends from previous Authors Nights, or a writer that he admires, Clavin said the opportunity to socialize with each other is a wonderful experience.

“The downside is that the Authors Night event goes by so fast. You walk into the tent and you see people you know and you start talking and signing books and before you know it, it is time to go and you have to wait another 364 days to go again,” Clavin said.

Author Helen Harrison, a former New York Times art critic and the director of the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center in Springs, also shared her love for this annual event, which she has had the privilege of taking part in several times.

Harrison will return to Authors Night with her most recent novel, “An Elegant Corpse,” the fourth in her “Art of Murder Mysteries” series in which she blends her knowledge of the art world with crime. She expressed excitement for the upcoming event and all that it entails.

“It’s not only novels. There are picture books and memoirs and biographies and just a huge variety just every kind of book you can image,” Harrison said. “And also, the raw bar is great.”

Not only is Harrison a big shellfish fan, but she is also a big fan of the event. She has even made several friends with other authors, including Amy Turner, her Pilates partner.

Harrison lives in Sag Harbor, which allows her to have insight into the setting of “An Elegant Corpse,” which takes place at The Creeks, the palatial East Hampton estate of artist Alfonso Ossorio. In the book, Ossorio owns Jackson Pollock’s masterpiece, “Lavender Mist,” which is the centerpiece of his fabled modern art collection. The plot takes a twist when Ossorio’s decision to sell the painting proves fatal to him and suspicion falls on his circle of friends and acquaintances, including Pollock’s widow, Lee Krasner, who has made no secret of her opposition to the sale.

Harrison notes that he she knew Alfonso Ossorio, the murder victim of this novel, and visited The Creeks many times.

“I really have an intimate understanding of the place and it’s significance, but I changed many things,” said Harrison. “The story, of course, is entirely fictional, but knowing the places and the people involved allowed me to fashion a story that was believable even though it is not true.”

Like Harrison, Amy Fusselman — another participant in Authors Night this year — took aspects of observations she has made in her daily life to write “The Means,” the novel she will be presenting at Authors Night. The book focuses on protagonist Shelly Means and her desire to obtain a beach house in the Hamptons to solve her problems.

“I feel like right now, the idea of a second home or vacation home, with the proliferation of social media it seems like everyone is on vacation all the time,” Fusselman noted. “Just that notion of ‘having a luxurious beach house will save my life’ is more in the air than it was 20 years ago.”

In her book, Fusselman aimed to take a more lighthearted and comedic look into the concept that owning a beach house or taking a vacation will completely change someone’s life. Fusselman said that she has come to realize that everyone desires something.

“I can back up her fantasy — it is amazing to spend time in the Hamptons,” said Fusselman. “That’s no lie.”

However, the fact that the main character of her novel takes desire as a face-value solution to her problems allowed Fusselman to dig into other topics. The author said that she also explores motherhood, wealth and the meaning of place within this comedic novel in an attempt to highlight the suffering inherent in desire.

Each of these East End authors, in addition to dozens of other published writers, will take their time to meet aspiring writers and fans of their work at Authors Night.

“I hope that people realize to get there it is a lot of hard work,” Clavin said. “None of these authors just wakes up one day and gets to be there, behind those tables in one of those chairs.”

East Hampton Library’s 19th Annual Authors Night is Saturday, August 12. The Author’s Reception is at 5 p.m. and will be held outdoors under a tent at Herrick Park, 67 Newtown Lane, East Hampton Village. Guests will enjoy hors d’oeuvres and wine, meet authors, buy their books and have them personally inscribed. At 8 p.m., guests can dine at dinner parties at nearby private homes in honor of one or more of the guest authors.