The True Itinerant: Pico Iyer

Arriving only five minutes early to the Pico Iyer and Jeanette Winterson reading at the 92nd Street Y's Unterberg Poetry Center, we were condemned to the last row of seating in the Buttenweiser Hall. I borrowed a pair of glasses and found the place on my nose where the blue and white 92 ST Y banner draped over the podium unblurred slightly. And waited.

I had stumbled upon the notice in The New York Review of Books and immediately purchased tickets. At last I was going to hear Pico Iyer talk and read. Humanities and travel writer, global nomad, inspiration to me and countless other vagabond spirits around the globe. The Pico Iyer much in the news lately: "Pico Iyer, based in California,will be awarded the [Guggenheim] fellowship in the general nonfiction category for his work Reflections on the 14th Dalai Lama." [George Joseph, Rediff.com, April 13, 2005] "Interview with Pico Iyer" about His Holiness the Dalai Lama [TibetNet, Phayul.com, April 17, 2005] The chatter of the capacity audience (which had camouflaged my stomach's rumblings, working contentedly on dinner--rushed but delicious--from Rosa Mexicano) subsided and David Yezzi, Director, 92nd Street Y Unterberg Poetry Center took the stage. A gracious if rather stiff and academic introduction to the evening's event. He welcomed C. Phillips who then offered a flattering introduction to Pico Iyer, "the true itinerant, the most global of all souls, a shining example of how one might live in this Brave New World."

For the next three quarters of an hour (having lost all track of time the moment he opened his mouth, I estimate...) Pico Iyer wrapped us in his world. He shared his vision, his imagination, his experience. He read from The Global Soul and even his new novel, Abandon. He suggested that cultural "mongrels" such as himself "represent one of the great hopes of this century." And he reflected on the need to see the world in a "less binary and more human and complex way". The audience was transfixed. Lessons from the master. Tell us more!

And, as good luck would have it, while autographing my copy of his new novel, he agreed to answer some question via email, an interview of sorts. My fingers are crossed. So in the near future he may indeed share a little more...