Photo credit: Janet Donovan
We weren’t surprised that George Pelecanos has a short Bucket List; after all, he is an award-winning author as well as a producer for The Wire. With 19 books under his belt, multiple producing credits and non-stop offers, it’s no wonder the list is short. It’s impressive though: “I’d like to direct,” he told Hollywood on the Potomac at a book party in his honor at The Woodley hosted by Andy & Mike Manatos, Jim & Ted Pedas and a Q&A with Garrett Graff, Editor Politico Magazine. “I think I could do a good job at that. And, I’d like to make a Western.”
Andy Manatos, Emily and George Pelecanos with Mike Manatos
Pelecanos is a proud Washingtonian of Greek descent who started working with his dad when he was 11 delivering food orders from his diner. He has worked as a line cook, dishwasher, bartender, and woman’s shoe salesman before publishing his first novel in 1992. “I was a kid,” he told us reminiscing about working with his dad. “It was a turbulent and exciting time for a boy.” Those experiences were the impetus for his crime writing based on the underbelly of Washington.
“In the title novella – which takes its name from Hollywood slang for the last shot of the day, the one that comes before the liquor shots begin – we go behind the scenes of a television cop show, where a writer gets caught up in a drama more real than anything he could have conjured for a script. By turns heartbreaking and humane, brutal and funny, these finely constructed tales expose the violence and striving beneath the surface of any city and within any human heart. Tough, sexy, fast-paced, and crackling with energy, The Martini Shot is Pelecanos at his very best.” The Publisher
In Entertainment Weekly, Stephen King wrote that Pelecanos is “perhaps the greatest living American crime writer.” Pelecanos would like to note that Mr. King used the qualifier “perhaps.”
George Pelecanos with Christos Panagopoulos, The Ambassador of Greece – Photo credit: Joy Asico
There were a lot of guests whose names ended in OS, emphasizing his Greek heritage. Moderator Garrett Graff was not among them, but that didn’t stop him from a lively and engaging dialogue with the author.
Jayne Sandman with Garrett Graff
Hollywood on the Potomac goes one on one with Pelecanos:
