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| Image credit: Kimberly Butler |
This past weekend, I dragged my husband along down to Bard College to spend an evening with Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer (his wife - and what a cute couple they are!). It was a lovely night with a pretty full crowd, made up of college students and the general public. I noticed a few children, which was an odd sight to me. I'm wondering, did those parents realize that Neil Gaiman isn't exactly a children's author? I mean, I know he's written books for kids, like
The Graveyard Book, but his adult stuff is about sex and monsters and there's a lot of the f-word involved. I'm curious if the children went home saying "What a fucking awesome time, Mommy! Thank's for fucking bringing us to this fucking reading!" As much as I advocate for free reading and giving children the opportunity to see great writers in person, I don't know that I would have taken kids under 10 to this kind of thing.
Anyway...
I had such a great time hearing Amanda's music for the first time, experiencing the two of them as newlyweds, and experiencing several readings from works Neil has never read out loud to an audience before. It felt intimate, and special, even though we weren't that close to the stage. Neil's personality certainly came through in his readings, his conversations with Amanda, and even the songs he sang (yes, he sang for us!).
