Amanda Stern retired her popular Happy Ending Music and Reading Series a few years ago to carve out time for her own writing, and now the event is making one last appearance at Joe’s Pub on Wednesday, June 27 to celebrate the fruit of her efforts, Little Panic. Stern’s compelling new memoir details her Greenwich Village childhood and the single, tragic year in which Etan Patz disappeared, her best friend died of cancer, and her sister’s friend was kidnapped. Accompanying her throughout is a paralyzing feeling of anxiety, the symptom of a panic disorder that went undiagnosed until her twenties. Not surprisingly, the theme of the evening, which includes readings by Stern, Alexander Chee, Leslie Jamison and Todd DiCiurcio as well as music by Amanda Palmer, is “Anxiety and Misdiagnosis.” Tickets are $30; the reading starts at 7pm.
