Prepare to fall in love with THE BOHEMIAN LOVE DIARIES

Slash Coleman's memoir, hailed as "moving" and "entertaining" by Kirkus and a de-gentrifier of souls by internationally bestselling author Gary Shteyngart, was released last month by Lyons Press. Zany and offbeat, The Bohemian Love Diaries recounts Coleman's upbringing by a family of eccentric artists and his quest to live life with unrestrained creativity and love.

Coleman is an award-winning storyteller, perhaps best known for his PBS special The New American Storyteller and his Off Broadway show The Neon Man and Me. He is also a regular Psychology Today and Storytelling Magazine contributor with a large and loyal fan following.

To give readers a sense of the vivid storytelling and hilarity in his memoir, Coleman brought an excerpt to graphic-novel-like life for his book trailer:



Only fittingly, the launch party for The Bohemian Love Diaries revolved around storytelling, humor, and (failed) love. It was held at The Gallery at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City and featured “a panel of failed love experts." Below we bring you a photo-summary of the unforgettable evening:

The event started off with a bang as comedy duo The Donovan Ensemble staged a rather unique adaptation of the play Carmen.

Next, comedienne Sarah Elizabeth Greer regaled the audience with a story of love lost and love found.

Performance artist Emleigh Wolf, performing as Umberto MacDougal, read a moving tale from self-created Umberto's Book of Sad.

Playwright Ira Gamerman performed Dangerously Unqualified: A Podcast about Love, using his smartphone as a prop to great effect.

Street photographer Mo Gelber, whose photographs of blow-up doll Rivka have become viral sensations, introduced Rivka, his girlfriend, to the audience.

Then came the moment we'd all been waiting for. Coleman took to the stage and gave a storytelling performance of excerpts from The Bohemian Love Diaries...

...followed by a more formal reading of excerpted passages.

The New York City launch event was only the beginning of Coleman's book tour. He plans to do readings in 23 states. His most recent stop was in his hometown of Richmond, VA, where he gave the below interview with the local CBS news station:



If all of the above didn't make it obvious to you, The Bohemian Love Diaries is a book not to be missed!  It's a book you'll fall in love with.  Below is a sampling of some of the praise it has received:

“The author’s account exhibits flashes of humor and thoughtful introspection...moving...[An] entertaining examination of the plight of an artist’s progeny.” --Kirkus

"Slash Coleman's book has made the East Village dangerous again. He has de-gentrified my soul." --Gary Shteyngart, internationally bestselling author of Super Sad True Love Story

“Coleman comes alive on the page in this memoir about the bizarre and beautiful life of a free spirit and artist who navigates through life with his heart. It’s easy to fall in love with him as a reader, and I can’t decide if I wished I was on the journey with him or if I’m completely content to simply read about it and enjoy the laugh. One thing is for sure, Evel Knievel would be proud.” --Ophira Eisenberg, host of NPR's Ask Me Another and author of Screw Everyone

“Slash’s endearing and idiosyncratic memoir feels wonderfully intimate, like he’s whispering his life’s greatest and most heartbreaking moments right into your ear. A lively, wonderful read.” --Mara Altman, author of Thanks for Coming

"Slash Coleman has a fresh point of view, an original story and tons of style. The Bohemian Love Diaries is a fun, raucous read by a fantastic storyteller." --Mishna Wolff, bestselling author of I'm Down

Lyons Press, July 2013

A photo journey through BEA 2013

Last week, book madness descended on New York City for BookExpo America (BEA), an annual publishing conference and book exhibition extravaganza for publishers, industry experts, booksellers, librarians, and book lovers.

While educational panels, subsidiary rights meetings, and more take place throughout the conference, the most dazzling feature of BEA is always the Exhibition Hall, where publishers showcase the books they are most excited about for the upcoming fall season or that they have recently published.  JVNLA's books were featured prominently, so of course we hunted them down and snapped some photos in order to bring a part of BEA 2013 to our blog! 

To give you a sense of what the Exhibition Hall looks like, check out the photo below, showing conference attendees milling around several publishers' booths, including Algonquin and Workman.  Now, imagine this multiplied over 760,000 square feet of exhibition space! 

Clearly, many, many eyes were on the look out for exciting, new books.  We were pleased that so many of JVNLA's books were a part of the spotlight!

According to reports from the front at Sourcebooks, the line for a signed galley of Dianne Dixon's newest novel, THE BOOK OF SOMEDAY (September 2013), was long and didn't end until the last copies were given away!  THE BOOK OF SOMEDAY is the story of three women, each caught up in a web of secrets, and one haunted by a nightmare of a beautiful woman in a silver dress.  While we didn't get a picture of the galley line, we did snap one of Dixon standing beneath her cover as it presided over the Sourcebooks exhibition area.

One woman got started reading THE BOOK OF SOMEDAY right away!

The Lyons Press exhibition booth featured ONE PUNCH FROM THE PROMISED LAND: Leon Spinks, Michael Spinks, and the Myth of the Heavyweight Title by John Florio and Ouisie Shapiro (September 2013).  The book is a narrative nonfiction account of the two famous boxing brothers and the divergent paths their lives took.
 

At the Skirt! Books display table, Linda Hundt's recipe book based on her award-winning bakery of the same name, SWEETIE-LICIOUS PIES: Eat Pie, Love Life (October 2013), made passersby salivate.

C.J. Sansom's newest novel, DOMINION (Mulholland Books, January 2014), was an eagerly anticipated giveaway over at Hachette's booth. DOMINION sets readers in an alternate history in which Britain surrendered to Nazi Germany in 1940, and, twelve years later, a spy for the Resistance must rescue a man with a secret from a British mental hospital and smuggle him from the country.

Soft Skull Press's booth showcased Berlin Reed's just-released part-food memoir, part-argument for sustainable living, THE ETHICAL BUTCHER: How Thoughtful Eating Can Change Your World (April 2013). 

At the Penguin exhibition area, Jillian Cantor signed galleys of her new novel MARGOT (Riverhead, September 2013).  The novel is a reimagining of the life of Margot Frank, Anne Frank's sister, had she not died in a concentration camp in 1945.

Conference attendees were so excited about snagging a copy of MARGOT that even a baby rifled through the pages to get a quick glimpse of the story!

At Smithsonian Books, YOUR TICKET TO THE UNIVERSE: A Guide to Exploring the Cosmos by Kimberly K. Arcand and Megan Watzke (April 2013) stood out on a display table.

PASSION BLUE by Victoria Strauss (November 2012), a YA novel about a seventeen-year-old in Renaissance Italy sentenced to live in a convent when all she wants is true love, graced the display tables at the Amazon Children's Publishing booth.

BEYOND THE BEAR (March 2013), a memoir about surviving a bear attack and learning to live and love again, written by Dan Bigley and co-author Debra McKinney, was featured in the display racks over at Lyons Press.

Meanwhile, Algonquin arranged its featured books on the walls of its booth.  Just to the right and below the center, you'll find A LIFE IN MEN by Gina Frangello (February 2014), a novel of a woman diagnosed with debilitating cystic fibrosis who takes up her best friend's adventurous lifestyle across many countries and with many men after her friend's tragic death.

Jeryl Brunner signed copies of her newest celebrity travel book, MY CITY, MY LOS ANGELES: Famous People Share Their Favorite Places (March 2013) at the Globe Pequot Press booth.  We snapped a photo of her (center) with her agent Jessica Regel (left) and editor Amy Lyons (right).

In addition to Brunner, Slash Coleman was another JVNLA author selected by Globe Pequot Press to sign books at this year's BEA. Below is the sign announcing the times of the signings for Brunner's MY CITY, MY LOS ANGELES and Coleman's THE BOHEMIAN LOVE DIARIES (Lyons Press, July 2013).

And, here, check out Brunner's and Coleman's books on display at the Globe Pequot Press booth.

As you can see in the previous photo, the cover of Coleman's THE BOHEMIAN LOVE DIARIES features a young boy, shirtless and shoeless, wearing a motorcycle helmet.  Well, that boy made a special guest appearance at BEA.  Here he is below, pictured with the author.  Together, they took the BEA by storm!