Signing In - Softcover

From 2005—2010 Lawrence Grobel wrote over 50 magazine articles about his in-depth encounters with some of the most famous people in the world. Each piece had only one caveat: to include at least a paragraph about something the celebrity had signed. So Grobel built each portrait around a signed photo, poster, drawing, personal letter, or book inscription, many of which are shown in this engaging book. Among the entertainers and writers included are Barbra Streisand, Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Farrah Fawcett, Henry Fonda, Madonna, Angelina Jolie, Robin Williams, Steve Martin, Luciano Pavarotti, Anthony Kiedis, Truman Capote, Monica Lewinsky, Norman Mailer, Elmore Leonard, and Saul Bellow.

Lawrence Grobel (www.lawrencegrobel.com) is a novelist, journalist, biographer, poet and teacher. Four of his 22 books have been singled out as Best Books of the Year by Publisher’s Weekly and many have appeared on Best Seller lists. He is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship for his fiction. PEN gave his Conversations with Capote a Special Achievement Award. The French Society of Film Critics awarded his Al Pacino their Prix Litteraire as the Best International Book of 2008. James A. Michener called his biography, The Hustons, “a masterpiece.” His The Art of the Interview is used as a text in many journalism schools. Writer’s Digest called him “a legend among journalists.” Joyce Carol Oates dubbed him “The Mozart of Interviewers” and Playboy singled him out as “The Interviewer’s Interviewer” after publishing his interviews with Barbra Streisand, Dolly Parton, Henry Fonda and Marlon Brando. He has written for dozens of magazines and has been a Contributing Editor for Playboy, Movieline, World (New Zealand), and Trendy (Poland). He served in the Peace Corps, teaching at the Ghana Institute of Journalism; created the M.F.A. in Professional Writing for Antioch University; and taught in the English Department at UCLA for ten years. He has appeared on CNN, The Today Show, Good Morning America, The Charlie Rose Show and in two documentaries, Salinger and Al Pacino’s Wilde Salome. His books can be found at Amazon.com. He is married to the artist Hiromi Oda and they have two daughters.