> by HEATHER COOK

Laura Pedersen was born and raised in Western New York. She tells us all about her Buffalo roots in her award-winning novel, Buffalo Gal. However, at the young age of seventeen, she packed her things and moved to NYC to pursue a degree in finance, while working for the American Stock Exchange. Along the way she became the youngest columnist at the New York Times. She recorded these unique experiences in her best-seller, Play Money.

On Thursday (9/10), Pedersen will return to Buffalo for the Larkin Square Author Series to discuss her new memoir, Life in New York: How I Learned to Love Squeegee Men, Token Suckers, Trash Twisters, and Subway Sharks. She offers a humorous perspective of the highs and lows of living a city life. The novel captures the good and bad side of NYC, from local hot-spots to questionable people in Central Park. She shows us that New Yorkers are about as unique and diverse as the city they live in—aware but giving, harsh but warm. This is a funny account that shows how New York has emerged into the city we know today.

Come out for a night of good conversation and laughs at 5:30pm on the covered boardwalk in Larkin Square. You can purchase a copy of the book from Talking Leaves and grab a drink from the Filling Station.

If you cannot get enough of Laura Pedersen’s wit and smarts, she’ll also be here for the premier of her play For Heaven’s Sake! Set in 1974 Buffalo, it comically explores the fast-growing generation gap in a typical Irish-American family. The play will premier at 710 Main Theater, and run from September 17–October 4.