Kate Gavino is a Brooklyn-based writer and illustrator, and the author of the new book
Last Night's Reading: Illustrated Encounters with Extraordinary Authors. From her Q & A with Deborah Kalb:
Q: How did you come up with the idea for this book?
A: Since I moved to New York seven years ago, I've always gone to readings since they're usually free and at my favorite bookstores. I've always doodled in notebooks while listening – it oddly keeps me focused.
At a Junot Diaz reading in 2013, he spoke about the importance of bearing witness to what you've seen, and as someone who is constantly observing, this rang especially true to me. I posted the quote alongside a portrait I drew of him on Tumblr, and that was the first official post on Last Night's Reading.
Q: You say in the book that you go to book readings to observe and to draw. Do you ever talk to the authors or ask them questions, or would that change the dynamic for your drawings?
A: I go to book readings to observe, so I don't usually talk to the author unless I happen to know them. I like...[read on]
--Marshal Zeringue