Authors? Books? BOTH, PLUS DINNER

By Linda Lee —

Once a year, dedicated readers from the East End descend on Herrick Park in the center of East Hampton Village. For them it is one of the most prized evenings of the year. It may be only the 21st Authors Night, but it feels as though it has been going on as long as the Artists and Writers Softball game.

Authors Night, August 9, brings 100 living, breathing authors and their new books to town. (Bourbon, beer and gin sales will go up accordingly.)

Hilaria Baldwin will be signing her new book, about raising seven children with her husband.

Among them are Hilaria Baldwin’s “Manual Not Included,” (possibly the book version of “The Baldwins” reality TV show earlier this year), Maureen Dowd’s “Notorious” (her portraits of Hollywood stars, who are treated no better than Washington politicians), and Griffin Dunne’s “Friday Afternoon Club” (about growing up in a star-studded Hollywood and New York family.) Go ahead, ask Dunne about the time he tried being gay, which he recently discussed on “Fresh Air.”

Griffin Dunne has been out promoting his new book, “The Friday Afternoon Club,” which is full of revelations about old Hollywood.

Look, we are only up to the “D’s” and we skipped Christie Brinkley and Bobbi Brown! So many authors, such good stories!

Christie Brinkley’s book is called “Uptown Girl.” Her motto is: “Life is beautiful! Everyday is a gift to celebrate!” And there are a lot of photos in it.

It all takes place under a big white tent.

Here’s how it works. The book-signing cocktail party begins at 5 pm. Tickets are $150 — for a good cause, remember. The event supports the East Hampton Library. There are so many lines of people waiting to get in, you would think it was a football game.

Once inside, eager book buyers spread out, running from table to table in search of their favorite authors. (Sorry, Stephen King isn’t here.) Others stroll, more interested in the lagniappe of finding a new author, someone unexpected. They treat the tent like a giaant, curated book store.

For three hours, there are hors d’oeuvres and drinks. It is not unheard of to spot a celebrity, often of the book sort, another author, say, or an editor. Is a book reviewer a celebrity?

Maureen Dowd: Her book is a collection of profiles of Hollywood personalities.

At 8 pm it’s over. Book lovers leave, burdened like donkeys with their purchases. Except for those ticket holders who have paid $500, and up. Way up ($5,000).

Those ticket holders head to private homes and hotel dining rooms to have dinner with such authors as the ever-popular Neil deGrasse Tyson, Maureen Dowd, Paul Goldberger or … Wilbur Ross, for you financial types.

Neil deGrasse Tyson is one of the most popular authors at Authors’ Night

What they can look forward to, if they are lucky, is the kind of spirited discussions that happen in university towns, or among the great and the good at the Groucho Club. All it takes is bringing 100 authors and their book-loving fans to East Hampton.

(If only there could be a scholarship to place a bright East Hampton high school English major at each table.)