[Update] Now includes video, below

The place was packed

I was ecstatic to attend my first Cory Doctorow reading/signing yesterday at Red Emma’s bookstore. The small bookstore/coffeehouse was packed so tight that there was continued difficulty to open/close the front door to let more people in. The place has some amazing circulation, though, as it didn’t get stuffy or uncomfortably hot.

I made my way to the back of the store during the Q&A to buy an iced tea and a copy of Cory’s new book For The Win, and with luck was the third in line to get the book autographed. I can’t wait to start reading it as I loved the short story it was based on titled Anda’s Game.

The tea was quite good and if I lived closer to Baltimore I could see relaxing at Red Emma’s for a drink while browsing, reading, or writing.

From the back of the store

Tonight Cory will be speaking at the New America Foundation thanks to Thomas Gideon, CopyNight, and Public Knowledge. Cory will be “discussing his dystopian vision of the growing  conflict between free speech and the democratic principles of the Internet and the business aims of commercial media giants”.

As a matter of fact, I need to get packed up and start heading over. Perhaps I’ll see you there!

[Update] The speaking event was great. I had heard the ideas and anecdotes before, but it was a charge to see them presented live. Thomas gave a wonderful introduction and the place was packed.

New America Foundation has an excellent space for this kind of thing. They had light refreshments available, lots of space in the main room, and monitors/speakers for people who had to overflow into the lobby. I ended up arriving quite a bit early so it was just me and the folks setting up at first, but it didn’t take long for some familiar faces to show up. All in all I think there were about 150 people in attendance.