Met Audrey Niffenegger Last Night

I met Audrey Niffenegger last night, author of "The Time Traveler's Wife." My husband Carlos and I attended a benefit for the Ragdale Foundation and book release party for Luis Alberto Urrea's "Into the Beautiful North" at Tumbao bar and restaurant on Armitage near Kedzie in Chicago.

Since Niffenegger is a Ragdale alum and her book was part of a special raffle going on that night, she was a definite invitee, who walked through the door with a striking presence. She is a beautiful brunehilde of a woman, with long red hair, in a hue that's unique but complementary to her features.

She is not only a writer, but an artist as well. Audrey Niffenegger's self portrait appears above. I approached her while she ordered a wine at the bar and complimented her on Time Traveler's Wife, which was a book selected by my family book club. I told her I liked her Chicago references, in particular of the Get Me High Lounge, which was a notorious Chicago poetry reading haunt back in the 80s. In that same scene, she described a bartender named Mia who had relatives in Glencoe. I told her my stepdaughter Mia also has relatives in Glencoe, but Niffenegger laughed, saying everything in the book is fictional. She's noted other such coincidences among her readers.

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Met Audrey Niffenegger Last Night