On Monday, June 6th at 5:30pm PDT Warwick's, in partnership with Little Brown and Company, presents James Patterson as he launches his new book, James Patterson: The Stories of My Life, in conversation with Julie Slavinsky of Warwick's! James Patterson is the world's bestselling author. The creator of Alex Cross, he has produced more enduring fictional heroes than any other novelist alive. He lives in Florida with his family.
How did a kid whose dad lived in the poorhouse become the most successful storyteller in the world?
- On the morning he was born, he nearly died.
- Growing up, he didn't love to read. That changed.
- He worked at a mental hospital in Massachusetts, where he met the singer James Taylor and the poet Robert Lowell.
- While he toiled in advertising hell, James wrote the ad jingle line "I'm a Toys 'R' Us Kid."
- He once watched James Baldwin and Norman Mailer square off to trade punches at a party.
- He's only been in love twice. Both times are amazing.
- Dolly Parton once sang "Happy Birthday" to James over the phone. She calls him J.J., for Jimmy James.
- Three American presidents have invited him to golf with them.
How did a boy from small-town New York become the world's most successful writer? How does he do it? He has always wanted to write the kind of novel that would be read and reread so many times that the binding breaks and the book literally falls apart. As he says, "I'm still working on that one."
Julie Slavinsky is the Director of Events for Warwick’s Bookstore. She has been in the book business for seventeen years, has been with Warwick’s for twelve of those, eleven of them as the Director of Events. She was born and raised in Los Angeles, has a Bachelor of Arts degree from San Diego State University and has called San Diego home since 1979. Her passion is reading and connecting readers and authors.
