On Friday, December 12, at 7:00 p.m., the publication of State By State: A Panoramic Portrait of America, which was inspired by the WPA State Guides of the 1930s was celebrated with readings by Jonathan Franzen, Sarah Vowell, Parker Posey, and others.

Editors of the book Matt Weiland and Sean Wilsey wanted to know "what makes one state different form another? What are each state's particularities and idiosyncrasies, their prejudices and biases, their beauty marks and moles, their cadences and jokes?" State by State, answers these questions and more while portraying the beauty, the kitsch, the unexpected, and the quintessential things that make America home.

Weiland, the deputy editor of the Paris Review, and Wilsey, author of the bestselling memoir Oh The Glory Of It All and an editor at large at McSweeney's quarterly, first came together to create the bestselling book, The Thinking Fans Guide to the World Cup.

This event sponsored by The New School Writing Program, took place in Tishman Auditorium.