Gold Coast Book Fair returns with Nelson DeMille tribute

Romance authors, nonfiction authors and at least one actor-turned-author — the Gold Coast Book Fair will bring those and dozens of other writers together for its second annual edition happening Friday through Sunday at LIU Post and downtown Oyster Bay.

Launched last year by Steve Israel — the former Long Island congressman, current owner of Theodore’s Books in Oyster Bay and an author himself — the Gold Coast Book Fair drew roughly 3,000 attendees and this year expects to attract nearly 8,000. There’ll be 100 featured authors, up from last year’s 70, including such famous names as longtime legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin and Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Ron Chernow. The fair also includes a Kids Zone, featuring bouncy houses, children’s book readings and other activities. Nearly all events are free, but advance registration is encouraged.

“We made a budget decision to order more books and invite more authors,” Israel says. The lineup, he adds, was chosen according to “a combination of celebrity status, well-known authors and authors who suit the interests and curiosities of Long Islanders.”

One example that covers all three bases: “A Loving Tribute to Nelson DeMille,” a Saturday afternoon event at LIU Post that will gather friends and family of the late Garden City writer best known for his 1990 novel, “The Gold Coast.” Scheduled to attend are bestselling spy novelist Daniel Silva, actor Susan Lucci, former Congressmen Bob Mrazek and Peter King, and DeMille’s son, Alex DeMille. “That's a distinctly Long Island cultural event,” says Israel, who will also be on hand.

A bird's-eye view of Lili Taylor 

Another celebrity on the schedule is Lili Taylor, the actor known for her roles in “Mystic Pizza,” “Short Cuts” and HBO’s “Six Feet Under.” While taking a break from acting a few years ago, Taylor, 58, found a new hobby: bird-watching. Her first book, “Turning to Birds: The Power and Beauty of Noticing,” was published by Crown last month.

The Gold Coast will be Taylor’s initial book fair. “It’s a maiden voyage for me,” the Brooklyn-based Taylor says by phone from Los Angeles, a stop on her ongoing tour. So far, she adds, literary events have proved quieter and more intimate than the film and television junkets she’s used to attending. “People who love to read do seem to like to talk to each other about it,” she says. “The crowds are more serious. You know, it’s not Comic-Con.”
 

Griffith's bucket-list item

Ivelaw Lloyd Griffith, a Guyanese-born, Freeport-based academic with an expertise in Caribbean affairs, will bring his first work of fiction to the fair. Though Griffith has published many scholarly texts, he recently published a novel, “Sylvie’s Love and Loss,” inspired by a random encounter with a young drug dealer in Grenada more than 30 years ago. “When I retired in 2019 and moved back to Long Island, I decided to get that bucket-list item off the list,” Griffith, 69, says.

Events like the book fair can help people put down their smartphones, pick up a physical book and explore a world outside their own, Griffith adds. “There’s a community,” he says, “that's engaging in conversations about things other than your life and your work.”

For Tessa Bailey, a Floral Park-based romance writer whose latest title is “Dream Girl Drama,” the fair is a chance to make some converts. Bailey, who confesses she isn’t much of a networker, says she’s found that book readings are a good way to pique readers’ interest in her novels.

When audiences connect a real person to the face on the dust jacket, “people do take a greater interest in your work,” Bailey, 41, says. “I really do feel that people who might not normally pick up my book will do so after they’ve heard me talk for a while.”

Israel will host several events, including one that might seem unlikely: a conversation with Massimo Pigliucci, a professor of philosophy at the City College of New York and the author of several books on Stoicism. “I started dabbling in it when I was in Congress, as a way of relieving pressure,” Israel says. Today, his bookshop not only features a Stoic section but also hosts a Stoic book club.

“There's a demand for a deeper understanding of the volatile environment that we're in,” Israel says. What’s more, he adds: “You have to be a Stoic to run an independent bookstore.”

By Rafer Guzmán

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