Wednesday, June 4, 2008

The 'YIPPIE!' book is out!

After much back and forth games and delays the ’YIPPIE!’ book is finally out. I’ve got my copies today. Now comes the next phase: promoting the book. I have to do it myself, because my publisher will not put any effort and money to it, but surely he'll blame me if the product wouldn't sell. I will not get any financial rewards for selling more copies, but I want people to read the book, because I think it is an important source of information in this time and age. The book is about the youth culture of the 1960s-70s America, it is about a hopeful age, when most people of my generation have thought that a better world is in the making. It is about idealism and real community, rock music and sexual liberation, about masses of people who believed that war is a crime, racial and sexual discrimination must be stopped and that the power of the government must be controlled and curtailed. While writing the book I relived my youth. It is a very personal piece of writing. As I was turning my memories to words I was trying to be as direct, sincere and personal as I could. It is not a scholarly work by any means, but - similarly to my earlier 'Downtown Blues' book - rather a rock and roll diary.

I have organized an introductory party for the new book, at the Merlin International Theatre (Budapest). It is going to be on Friday, June 6, 2008, starting at 7 PM. My publisher, Golyós Toll has provided me with some wine and the writers’ association (Szépírók Társasága), which I am a member of is supporting the event with a small grant (about US $ 100). Unfortunatelly they won't support my other scheduled book presentations (one at the University of Theatre Arts, Kaposvár, the other at the Líra bookstore, in Szombathely), so I had to cancel them. With audio and video material I collected on the Net I created an hour long video documentary, titled 'Yippie Trilogy', which will open the Merlin evening. With my co-writer Gabriella Schuller we'll autograph the book during the Book Week (Könyvhét) book fare, at Vörösmarty square (Budapest), in Pavillion 7, on June 6, 4 PM - 5 PM, on June 7-8, 5PM - 6 PM.

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