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Author Takes Readers Back to Greenwich Village's Heyday

By Serena Solomon | July 6, 2011 7:01am | Updated on July 6, 2011 6:58am

By Serena Solomon

DNAinfo Reporter Producer

GREENWICH VILLAGE — Writer Lorna Graham is too young to have experienced the Beat Movement of Greenwich Village in the 1940s and 50s.

But the author found a way to transport herself back to the time of cheap rent and bohemian intellectualism: "I couldn’t live in it, but I could write about it," she said.

Her debut novel "The Ghost of Greenwich Village," released last month by Ballantine Books, takes readers back to what Graham imagines as the neighborhood's golden era — when artists and writers populated the area and experimented with music, sex, drugs and philosophy.

"What I think was interesting about back in the Beat Movement, the Village was something of a public living room," said the 47-year-old author.  "You didn't just live in the neighborhood, these people you could meet them and get to know them."

Lorna Graham's
Lorna Graham's "The Ghost of Greenwich Village" was published by Ballantine Books June 28, 2011.
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Graham's hero, Eve Weldon, is an aspiring writer who develops a friendship with the ghost of a bohemian writer called Donald Bellows, who becomes a mentor.

The idea for the book came to Graham in 1994 when she realized her Greenwich Village apartment was once the home of the late Donald Barthelme, a writer.

She started imagining conversations between herself and Barthelme.

"Who was this famous artist? This famous writer who lived in my apartment?" Graham said.

"The idea of him stuck with me — this guy trying to do such important work, trying to rework fiction."

Graham was working as a writer for Good Morning America at the time, and she used her daily assignments as fodder for her imaginary conversations.

"I started thinking about what he would think of me, what we would talk about," Graham said.

Graham moved from California to New York City in 1983, to attend Barnard College. She graduated in 1987 and relocated downtown to Greenwich Village in 1988.

She pursued a career in television news, moving from Good Morning America in 1998 to her dream job at NBC's Dateline, where she still works.

"When you achieve your goal you kind of look around and think ‘Okay, what is my next goal?'" said Graham.

She recently held her first book reading at an event at the Strand Book Store, with an audience of a few hundred people. The transition from journalist to fiction author has been a daunting but satisfying one, she said.

While life has changed in the Village, with high-end boutiques and chain stores where struggling artists once plied their trade, the spirit of Greenwich Village is still intact, Graham said.

The charming streets can still feel like the Beat Movement never left, and old haunts like the White Horse Tavern at 567 Hudson Street take vistors back in time instantly.

"Just think of the people that have sat in those seats or maybe rested their drink where you are resting yours," she said.

Lorna Graham will discuss her debut novel, the Ghost of Greenwich Village, on Monday July 11th at the Garage Restaurant & Cafe, at 99 7th Avenue. Tickets are $100 and will benfit the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. Tickets can be purchased by sending an e-mail to: affinityprojects@aol.com or calling (917) 402-3482