Finally!  Heather Knight really was at Manny's!  There were announcements in earlier months, and then the programs changed, affected I guess by her moving to the New York Times.  But last night's event was about her work at the New York Times--and at the SF Chronicle.

I thought her interview with Manny--and answers to the questions from attendees--were particularly interesting.  Manny is an excellent interviewer, and she seemed confident and genuine.  Even her voice sounded better.  

At one point, she told Manny, "You should be my agent," and he responded, "I have a day job."

She saiid she'd always thought she'd spend her whole writing life at the Chronicle like Carl Nolte and others.  But she got a call back in March, thanks to Connor Doherty, who when he found out that the NYTimes had an opening asked, "Have you read Heather Knight?"  They had, and they liked what she read.   She had thirteen interviews, and the people were very nice and more polite than the people at the SF Chronicle.  

Manny and others were concerned with how SF was coming across so negatively, and Heather said it was like the prettiest, most popular girl at school; people wanted something terrible to happen to her.  Manny made reference to Mean Girls and the most popular girl being hit by a bus.  (He wanted to know whether that reference was "a Millennium thing" that others wouldn't understand.  

More later!