03-09-2006

Behind The Book: Thomas Beller and Jonathan Ames

Readers: Jonathan Ames is the author of the novels I Pass Like Night, The Extra Man, and Wake Up, Sir!, and the essay collections What's Not to Love?, My Less Than Secret Life, and I Love You More Than You Know is his newest book, released in February 2006. He is also the editor of Sexual Metamorphosis: An Anthology of Transsexual Memoirs. Wake Up, Sir! and The Extra Man are in development as films, with Mr. Ames writing the screenplays. He is the winner of a Guggenheim Fellowship and is a former columnist for New York Press. Mr. Ames performs frequently as a storyteller and comedian and has been a recurring guest on the Late Show with David Letterman. Thomas Beller is the author of three books, Seduction Theory, The Sleep-Over Artist, and How To Be a Man: Scenes from a Protracted Boyhood, and editor of three anthologies. He is a co-founder and editor of Open City Magazine and Books, and creator of the websites, Mr. Beller's Neighborhood, and Mapsites.net. His short stories, essays, and reportage have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies, including The New Yorker, Ploughshares, New York, The Village Voice, Spin, Vogue, Slate, New York Times Magazine, and Best American Short Stories. He lives in New York. For more information go to www.behindthebook.org