By Levi Wright
Today Stephanie Danler, the author of Bittersweet, will read from her highly acclaimed book, which has been featured in the New York Times, Vanity Fair, and Vogue, among other publications. This coming-of-age story follows a young woman on her journey through the “sensual” side of the restaurant world.
The evening’s host, Prairie Lights, 15 S. Dubuque St., has brought many writers to Iowa City for readings. The bookstore and café has worked hard to become a place that readers and writers can visit and feel welcome.
“We think that writers are important, interesting, and it’s an amazing opportunity to engage with them,” said Kathleen Johnson, the events coordinator and fiction buyer for Prairie Lights. “Books aren’t just something you can click and order. Real people write them. Real people sell them. There are a lot of relationships built around talking about them,”
Danler is excited to continue the tradition, with her own delectable contribution.
“I’ve often been told that [Sweetbitter] leaves people hungry,” she said. “[At readings,] I read but also talk. I like to speak about my journey, because sometimes the stories you know have a fairy-tale quality to them, and I like to dig under that to show the uglier or more difficult parts that went into writing the book. Fairy tales are dangerous mythologies, so I like to talk about the whole process, and the compromise, and the sacrifice, and the rejection that came with it.”
Danler brings readers into her book and uses her experiences to develop a world the reader can become a part of, whether it be through the fragmented dialogue grabbed while moving past tables or the intimate conversation that took place over a plate of oysters.
“Her description of the panic of the unannounced health-department inspection was so engrossing to read, I missed a flight even though I had already checked in and was waiting at the gate,” critic Gabrielle Hamilton wrote in a New York Times review of the book.
Before Danler became the renowned author she is today, her life was quite similar to main character Tess in *Sweetbitter*. Danler left behind her life at 22 to live in New York and was soon wrapped up in the fast pace of the restaurant world.
“[While working in the restaurant] I learned how to taste, which is what the book is about,” she said. “Learning to slow down and pay attention to your senses, which has changed not just my art but the way I do everything. It’s one of those skills that when you acquire it, it become how you see the world.”
Once Danler finally decided to leave the restaurant world, she gave herself two years to write a book. Two years later, Sweetbitter was born, giving a perspective unique from what is usually depicted on television.
“I had expertise in restaurants. I had been working in them since I was 15 years old, and I wanted to show a different side of them that isn’t typically presented from reality TV and memoirs,” she said. “I feel like that side is very aggressive and testosterone-driven and about knives, and tattoos, and loud, violent kitchens. I wanted to show a more sensual and romantic side of restaurants.”
When: 7 p.m. today
Where: Prairie Lights, 15 S. Dubuque
Cost: Free
