Hats off to Brooklyn for having an even more wonderful event than last year. The emphasis was definitely on Brooklyn authors--Paul Auster, Jonathan Lethem, Jim Carroll, Pete Hamill and scores more were all in attendance. It's interesting that Brooklyn Borough President and festival presenter Marty Markowitz chose to interview the Bronx-born Dominic Carter, senior political reporter of NY1 about his book No Mamma's Boy. Without a doubt, this had to be one of the most moving conversations at the festival. Carter talked about his early childhood in the Bronx where he was raised by his grandmother and aunt. He never knew his father and his mother was only an intermittent presence in his life. He was frank about his mother's mental illness and the sexual abuse he received from her. He wrote the book, in part, to heal himself and to reduce the stigma attached to mental illness.
Carter also talked about some of his famous interviews. He said that while he and Giuliani would go at it, even to the point where the former mayor would try to have him removed from the press corps, they were pals outside of work. He asked Nelson Mandela how, after 27 years in jail, could he still smile and be so radiantly happy. Mandela said, "To be angry would be giving into my captors and I would never do that." He also said that Curtis Silwa says 'borderline racist' things on the air, but in real life he is not that way at all. Carter also said Markowitz would make an interesting choice for mayor. Hmmm...
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