Jennifer Egan

Wow! Jennifer was a star. The audience was fascinated with her description of her writing methodology. Great questions from the audience too. We were extremely pleased. She is delightful.

We all thought Jennifer Egan’s visit was a huge success. She was a fabulous speaker/interlocutor: enthusiastic, engaged, patient and generous. Our students especially appreciated the opportunity to hear from her and speak with her—some of them have told me it was a highlight of their experience here at Berkeley.

“The Library community absolutely adored Jennifer. She was amazing and her presentation was wonderful. She left the crowd wanting more. The event ran very smoothly and Jennifer was a delight to work with.”

“Jennifer’s visit to Johns Hopkins yesterday was a marvelous success from beginning to end. She gave the students a great time in the class, then delivered a quite wonderful talk and reading – one of the best we’ve had in a high-flying series. And throughout it all she was kindness itself to all and sundry.”

Jennifer was an absolute delight, and the students and faculty loved meeting her and were very inspired by both the Q&A and the reading. They’ve been raving about her visit since she left! Quite a few of the professors in the English Department taught Manhattan Beach and/or A Visit from the Goon Squad, so the turn out for both events was great! Jennifer was one of the easiest and most laid back writers we’ve ever brought to campus. It was an absolute pleasure and an honor.

It was spectacular. I think it’s safe to say that everyone was wowed by the whole thing.  Many people in the audience thanked me after the event.

Pen Pals with Jenifer Egan was a tremendous success! Jennifer’s insightful look into her writing process and extensive research had the audiences thoroughly engaged on both days. And what a lovely person she is!

Everyone was charmed and fascinated by her talk.  At the event last night many people stopped me and told me how wonderful they thought she was. She gave us a lot to chew on which is a good thing. It was very apparent to me that her generosity of spirit coupled with her enormous discipline in work and editing is what moves her from a very good writer to a great one.  It is a good lesson not only for students but for all of us.

The reading was fantastic!  Ms. Egan was really wonderful—professional, amiable and generous—and everyone raved about her reading, her interaction with the audience and her willingness to share some personal anecdotes.

The event was great! Jenny was extremely generous and receptive to our students during the afternoon event, and she spoke about her early experiences as writer in a way that was relatable and thoughtful. She also gave a truly fantastic reading. The audience actually ‘oohed and ahhed’ during certain moments (which I’ve never witnessed before), Jenny’s general bearing when speaking and when answering questions was both warm and captivating, and she carried the room with incredible grace and charm.

Jennifer Egan’s visit was a huge success. She truly understood the program before she even arrived on campus and, as a result, was warm and generous with all of  the students. She took them seriously, and spoke with them rather than at them. The students spoke about how much they appreciated her prepared remarks, high praise from adolescents who can be pretty tough when it comes to appraising those who speak to them. In short, this was about as good as it could be.

I think Jennifer Egan is among the most brilliant, gracious guests we’ve had in 12 years. We had well over 450 people at her events, which is more than we expected.  I’m still fielding e-mails from people who wrote to say how charming, articulate, and generous Egan was. Her accessibility brought people closer, and then her native intelligence kept them there, waiting to hear what she would say next. Several people said these were the best author events they’d ever been to.

Jenny and her talk on the intersection between her fiction and nonfiction writing was absolutely great. The audience loved her and we had wonderful turnout at our before and after parties, which is always a sign that folks want more contact with a beloved author.

Jennifer’s talk was perfectly pitched and expertly and genially delivered. The audience was clearly ‘tuned in’ (and I think also charmed): responsive during the presentation and enthusiastically appreciative afterward. She was incredibly generous about everything involved in this event, signing books for more than an hour after the talk, and chatting warmly with each and every person in the line.  All through the reception, people came up to me to say what a terrific event it had been. I heard ‘best ever’ more often than I would ever have dared hope, and I know Jenny’s presentation and wonderfully friendly, natural manner had a lot to do with that.

It was an honor to have Jenny come to our institute. She was incredibly insightful, funny, and reflective. I could tell by the questions students asked during the Q+A that they were really engaged, and that’s a testament to Jenny’s openness. Few speakers have been as generous with their time and thoughts as she.

Our best guess is that 140 people attended the reading—standing room only.  This is the largest crowd that we have ever had at one of our Distinguished Writers events.  Yes, she was very well-received–it was an attentive, adoring audience.  Jennifer was nice enough to sign the unsold copies of A Visit from the Goon Squad for later sale in the Wellesley College bookstore.  The event was a huge success.

In my opinion, Jenny’s visit was the most exciting and successful of my time here.  Jenny gave so much, staying beyond her allotted time to answer questions from the many eager students, and then even fielding questions from the students who lined up to get their books signed after the reading was over.  She had a gift for keeping the audience engaged, and she also made the large hall feel intimate.  She’s wonderful in every way.

The event was fabulous. Everyone was engaged and involved in the process and Egan responded so generously to everyone.  Egan’s responses were insightful, astute, and penetrating. She was generous to the sophisticated and simple alike.

Everything went perfectly and Jenny’s talk easily exceeded our high expectations. I have been receiving rave reviews from attendees since we concluded yesterday afternoon. Thank you for helping us pull off a wonderfully successful fundraiser for the Ridgewood Library.

Jenny was the best.  We are all charmed by her down-to-earth friendliness and utter lack of pretention, as well as being spookily smart!  She read wonderfully and just the right amount.  But the Q & A was perhaps the most surprisingly rich we have had in ages:  her access to her own process is amazing, and she speaks so eloquently, yet self-effacingly, about it.  We all felt we learned a great deal about how she WORKS, her mind’s mechanisms. She is unflagging in her cheerfulness. We would have Jenny back any day, or for forever.