Alan Gallauresi

January 1, 1997

Mr. Pinkwater,

I love your books! I’ve been reading them since I was 10 and now that I am partially grown (22) I appreciate them even more. Please keep on writing novels for young adults– the drought since Borgel was hard on me and I swear that you’ve got one more sequel for the Snarkout Boys in you somewhere.

Anyway, I’ve just got “The Education of Robert Nifkin” from my Amazon.com pre- order, and I’m thoroughly enjoying it. Now, the back cover mentions you went to high school in Chicago, and knowing your enjoyment of b-movies from your novels, I wonder whether you’ve ever attended the annual 24 hour bad movie festival at Northwestern University? We basically create a ruckus, throwing around paper plates and riffing on the horrible films. When I read the descriptions of people in your books, I can’t help but think that we B-Fest attendees are your sort of people. I’d love to see you there — what an honor!

I'm delighted amazon.com is shipping ""The Education of Robert Nifkin."" The suitably low-paid and outstandingly incompetent people at Farrar Straus and Giroux have yet to send me a single bound copy. I have to mention that this company leads the pack in arrogance, insolence, and stupidity. They managed to produce two books I'm proud of, but if it meant dealing with them again, I'd certainly quit writing.
In my day in Chicago, there was no need of a bad film festival. We had the Clark Theater, (prototype for the Snark).