A year ago, two important things happened to Adam Sternbergh. His daughter was born and eight days later, his debut novel, Shovel Ready was launched at BookCourt. He returned to the Brooklyn bookstore to celebrate the launch of the sequel, Near Enemy.
Last year, New York City’s literary community wondered if the city retained the magic of writerly mythology. For some, the question was never serious. For others, they had already left. The woman responsible for all of this sudden concern with place was Sari Botton, editor of the essay collection Goodbye to All That. Last December, Botton celebrated that book at Housing Works. The book had launched in October, leading to months long contemplation for many writers confronting their own debate as to whether they should stay or go.
Shovel Ready, the debut novel by Adam Sternbergh, is set in a future dystopian New York City featuring a trash collecting, hitman protagonist. BookCourt celebrated the release of his book by hosting Sternbergh for a reading. Sternbergh is the culture editor for the New York Times magazine and a former editor at New York Magazine.