Maira Kalman

Drawing on their own experiences with heartbreak, writer Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) joins forces with illustrator Maira Kalman on his new novel for young adults, Why We Broke Up (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2011) and the accompanying website project.  The story is told through the objects -- a matchbox, a movie poster, a pennant -- left behind after the couple parted.  What mementos of past loves have you kept?

READINGS: January 18 at 7PM at Barnes & Noble Union Square; January 19 at 7PM at WORD Bookstore, 126 Franklin St., Brooklyn

All week long we have been talking about the idea of "home," and the physical attributes and emotional attachments we have to our homes.

We end our series by talking with artist and writer Maira Kalman. She is the author of “And the Pursuit of Happiness,” a compilation of her year-long journey for our partner, The New York Times, to explore her adopted home, America. Kalman was not born in the United States, but she traveled the country to fall back in love.

A sense of optimism after the 2008 election inspired illustrator Maira Kalman to travel around the country and create images that pay tribute to symbols of the nation's history and pursuits of happiness. She compiled the images in her new book, And the Pursuit of Happiness.

Maira Kalman is an author and illustrator whose work is colorful, funny, and keenly observed -- she gets most of her ideas by simply walking around town. Her latest book, The Principles of Uncertainty is a journal in paint and prose, documenting a year of ...

Kurt Andersen and author Maira Kalman talk about her recent book (un)Fashion (Harry N. Abrahms, 2000), which is full of photos of the way people ornament themselves accidentally and on purpose all over the planet.