KGB, NYC, 2004

It’s a big deal to read at KGB, and I was really nervous. How would a bunch of New Yorkers feel about a story set in Indiana?

Three young women were slated to read: me, Lauren Grodstein, and someone else whose name I’ve forgotten. There was some discussion about the order. My agent got up and spoke to someone at the bar. He came back to the table and said, “You’re reading last.” I knew what that meant, so I got even more nervous.

That was the first time I read from the last story in The Circus in Winter, and about halfway through, the room was so still, I could hear the traffic outside.

That’s when I remembered that everybody  is from someplace else, and that deep down, they still think about the places they left. I’d made a bunch of New Yorkers nostalgic!