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How to introduce yourself at your Ivy League Writer-Agent mixer to old-guard literary agents and other aging people (a step-by-step guide)
with great gratitude to Columbia University for providing the research space
Last night, I attended a four hour Agent-Writer Meet and Greet sponsored by Columbia University. The night was glamorous — a gorgeous campus event space was transformed into a blue-lit fairyland with a central buffet of Asian-inspired hand-held food-treasures with two open bars and a soaring vaulted ceiling where the steam could curl without affecting anyone’s perfectly coiffed hair.
(No one coiffed their hair. There were people dressed in business casual and people dressed in upscale subway. These were all writers after all.)
Since my last literary agent took up recreational painting, and my debut novel is in its finishing stretch, I arrived early with a similarly agent-seeking friend who is also a colleague and a classmate. We got rid of our coats and bags, put our kids’ texts on mute, and headed for the main event.
An administrator for the school welcomed everyone and explained the code: white…