"Nom de Plume is a fascinating collection of stories populated by individuals whose 'doubleness' is so distinct that they acquire secondary personalities, and, in some notable cases, multiple personalities. It's a richly documented literary excursion into the inner, secret lives of some of our favorite writers."
—Joyce Carol Oates

The powerHouse Arena presents a night of literary history and wordplay with Carmela Ciuraru (Nom de Plume) and John Pollack (The Pun Also Rises).

About Nom de Plume:

In our "look at me" era of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and the 24-hour news cycle, privacy now seems a quaint relic. Everyone's a brand. Self-effacement is a thing of the past. Yet as Carmela Ciuraru's book Nom de Plume: A (Secret) History of Pseudonyms reminds us, it wasn't always like this. Nom de Plume explores the fascinating stories of sixteen authorial impostors across centuries and cultures, plumbing the creative process and the darker, often crippling aspects of their fame. A wide-ranging exploration of pseudonyms both familiar and obscure, Nom de Plume is part detective story, part exposé, part literary history, and an absorbing psychological meditation on identity and creativity.

About the author:

Carmela Ciuraru is not a pseudonym. Her anthologies include First Loves: Poets Introduce the Essential Poems That Captivated and Inspired Them (Scribner) and Solitude Poems (Alfred A. Knopf/Everyman's Library). She is a member of the National Book Critics Circle and PEN American Center, and has written for a number of publications, including The Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, The Forward, Newsday, O, The Oprah Magazine, and ReadyMade. She lives in Brooklyn.

About The Pun Also Rises:

A love letter to language, laughter, and the power of imagination, The Puns Also Rises: How the Humble Pun Revolutionized Language, Changed History, and Made Wordplay More Than Some Antics is the definitive account of the humble pun, its history, and why punning still matters.

In The Puns Also Rises, John Pollack—a former presidential speechwriter for Bill Clinton and winner of the O. Henry world pun championship (a yearly spoken word competition that takes place every May in Austin, Texas, where people have quick-fire rounds of punning, ultimately leading to a champion)—leads readers on a remarkable journey through time, culture, and language. Rich with anecdotes, history, pop culture, neuroscience, literature, anthropology, and humor, this book will inspire every reader to reconsider what they think they know about puns.

Along the way, Pollack tracks down history's first recorded pun, traces the history of the shaggy dog story, unearths Thomas Jefferson's lost commentary on punning, explores the origins of the groan, and explains why—in evolutionary terms—punsters might get the last laugh.

About John:

Former presidential speechwriter John Pollack won the 1995 O. Henry World Championship Pun-Off. Earlier in his career, he wrote for The Hartford Courant and spent three years in Spain as a freelance foreign correspondent writing for The Associated Press, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Miami Herald, and Advertising Age, among others. His previous books include Cork Boat and The World on a String: How to Become a Freelance Foreign Correspondent. He currently works as a speechwriter and consultant for ROI Communication, a consulting firm. He lives in New York City.