Neal Pollack Speaker Profile at The Lavin Agency

To promote his books, Mr. Pollack has given readings in train stations, public fountains, at the beach, outside of a baseball stadium, in rock clubs, and, if pressed, in bookstores. His irreverent writing and speaking style and outrageous stories have inspired many high-school and college students to try fiction writing themselves. Mr. Pollack, a former newspaper reporter from Chicago, made his literary debut with the satirical cult classic The Neal Pollack Anthology Of American Literature, which was also the first book published by writer Dave Eggers' revoultionary McSweeney's press. The Anthology won the 2001 Firecracker award for Alternative Fiction, and was later published in an expanded paperback edition by HarperCollins. In 2003, Mr. Pollack published Beneath the Axis Of Evil, a collection of parodic essays and short stories about contemporary politics, and Never Mind The Pollacks, a satirical novel about rock critics that writer Neil Gaiman has called "the rock novel to end all rock novels." Mr. Pollack recorded two rock albums to accompany his books, and has toured with his own band, The Neal Pollack Invasion. He's a regular contributor to Vanity Fair, GQ, and many other publications, and has appeared as a guest on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, as a featured reader on CSPAN's Book TV, and on numerous NPR programs. Neal Pollack is a creative and dynamic speaker, guaranteed to give an exciting, hilarious and insightful performance.

The Grassroots Writing Career

In this lecture Pollack talks about his philosophy of "Book Punk," an alterative to the traditional routes writers take to getting published and noticed. Topics include: How to develop a unique public-reading style, how to put together a "literary cabaret", the perils and joys of self- or small-press publishing, how to organize a book tour and how to build relationships with bookstores and the media. Too many writers see themselves as artists first and businesspeople second. For a select few writers, that model works. But Pollack argues that the great middle of American writers need to find another way. From his own experience as a veteran of the book-tour road and every kind of publishing imaginable, Pollack's perspective on the literary world is truly unique.

Writing for The Internet

When he launched his satirical political "weblog," The Maelstrom, in August 2002, Pollack entered a lunatic world of bloated, badly-researched opinions, easily-hurt feelings, and sharp, bitter ideological divisions. It was wide open for satire, and he took the job with gusto. Pollack talks about the nature of writing on the contemporary Internet. He presents examples of good and bad writing, dissecting the Net's political and literary climate all the while. He delves into the odd world of "fan fiction." And he talks about the pluses and minuses of receiving instant feedback on everything you write from complete strangers. An inside look at an increasingly popular form of communication, from a man who lived inside the matrix.

The Pollack-Hodgman Interviews

Neal Pollack and his "comedy partner," the hilarious McSweeneys writer and New York literary toastmaster John Hodgman, present a funny and insightful parody of the literary interview. Pollack plays the arrogant great writer and Hodgman the fussy literary academic to riotous effect. The show includes both of them reading from their work, an interview, largely improvised, questions from the audience, and a special guest, usually a local musical act or vaudeville performer. A literary evening unlike any other, The Pollack-Hodgman Interviews is destined to become a legend of American humor.