Extremely hectic day yesterday, rushing from one thing to another with moments to spare, but I did just barely get to everything on time. The talk by Mohsin Hamid (author of Mothsmoke) was excellent, really informative about current life in Pakistan, and extremely well-attended (if almost entirely by middle-aged white folks :-), giving me hope for our festival and for might happen if we manage to partner with the Chicago Humanities Festival (which put this talk on). They bring us lots of people, we bring them ethnic diversity of audience. :-)
Afterwards, cooked dinner at my place for Charles Brown (of Locus), Marina, Gary Wolfe, Richard Chwedyk and Delphyne. (I don't respect the women any less than the men -- just not sure of their last names :-). Gary teaches at Roosevelt University here in the city; there's some possibility of job stuff there. Would be insanely convenient, I must admit. We'll see.
And after dinner, I had a lovely long talk with Karina, doing my best to convince her to come to Sri Lanka with me for part of my trip. I haven't seen her in years, and it would be so terrific if she could meet me there. Fingers crossed.
Free lunch today at Vermilion (Indian/Latin fusion restaurant), to taste in preparation for possibly working with them on festival. Good deal. And then this afternoon, writing.