I don't really have an atelier with skylights or lofts, nor do I have any specific discipline. Studio is Italian for "I study" coming from the Latin studium, loosely defined as pursuing something with eagerness or ardent interest. So please have a look around.
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Welcome to my studio.
Steven Sorrentino
SAG-AFTRA * AUTHORS GUILD
Praise for
Luncheonette: A Memoir
“With echoes of Wally Lamb and David Sedaris, and a voice all its own, Luncheonette is a survivor’s tale told with compassion and style, and all the edges left sharp.”
--JERRY STAHL, author of Permanent Midnight and I, Fatty
“With his pitch-perfect blend of poignancy, wrenching gallows humor, and above all, truth, Steven Sorrentino’s arrival on the literary scene is our collective good fortune.”
--DAVID RAKOFF, author of Fraud
“With its scrumptiously quirky characters and deliciously dead-on dialogue, Luncheonettereads like the best page-turning fiction, exquisitely told. And there’s a bonus: real life lessons from a father-son relationship that go down like champagne. Don’t miss Luncheonette!”
--BARBARA GORDON, author of I’m Dancing as Fast as I Can
“Treat yourself to Luncheonette. You won’t be sorry. Steven Sorrentino has prepared a repast from his past: sumptuous, funny, cuttingly told, rewarding. You’ll want more. Get to work, Mr. Sorrentino: the lunch crowd’s arriving.”
--GREGORY MAGUIRE, author of Wicked
“Poignant.”
--PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
“…winsome…likely to be compared to the work of David Sedaris…This loving, humorous portrait, resplendent with colorful diner characters and witty malapropisms, is highly recommended…”
--LIBRARY JOURNAL
“Sorrentino offers a very tender story… Describes with a natural ease the vigilance necessary to keep the faith, value life, and live in the present.”
--KIRKUS
“…a wacky, poignant and brutally truthful memoir…Written with a keen acidly observing eye, Luncheonette serves up a slice of life, a coming-of-age story with dark humor, straight-up characterizations, and bald honesty.”
--BOOKPAGE
“The local diner is a lost universe, one evoked so well that you’re at the grill with Sorrentino… By turns funny and tragic, Sorrentino’s debut is ultimately about the power of rejecting paralysis and choosing instead to live.”
--OUT MAGAZINE
“…an amusing buffet of quirky characters, profane gallows humor and poignant life lessons…Mixing oddball comedy with your own personal metamorphosis on the same literary menu can be tricky, but Mr. Sorrentino does it well.”
--NEW YORK TIMES
“Steven Sorrentino has a compelling story to tell, and he does it with an engaging combination of frankness and élan…the book succeeds in casting a net that is much broader than issues around sexual identity. It is about family, responsibility and choices that go into shaping a life…And while Luncheonette would be an entertaining read if it simply relied on the large cast of players, what gives the book its heft is the gradually revealed relationship between the author and his father.”
--DENVER POST
“A deadpan observer of familial tragedy to rival David Sedaris, Steven Sorrentino breathes vigorous new life into the memoir—a genre whose recent incarnations have been gag-inducing. His relentlessly engaging tale of an NYC queen who takes over the family’s suburban luncheonette when his dad is suddenly paralyzed is honest, witty and never once maudlin.”
--GENRE MAGAZINE
“Be sure to read this book with an economy-size box of tissues by your side. Luncheonette will make you cry so hard, your nose will run…hilarious in the hands of an author with a pitch-perfect ear for dialogue…he also should be lauded as a writer for avoiding the sentimental pitfalls of stories like his…Sorrentino serves up a satisfying and well-balanced tale of the sacrifices we make in the name of love.”
--NEWARK STAR LEDGER
“This is a father/son story about discovering life’s truths in the least expected places…a great, poignant, funny read.”
--John Searles, CBS TV/ THE EARLY SHOW (CBS THIS MORNING)
“Luncheonette unfolds on two levels at once: the broad comedy of the lunch counter, with its cartoonish ensemble of small-town eccentrics; and the private struggles of the Sorrentinos, father and son…The result is a very personal narrative that reads as much like fiction as autobiography.”
--NEWSDAY
“Luncheonette is a memoir that dates to a time and place, West Long Branch, NJ, in the ‘80s, with such surrender it feels as if the right exit on the Garden State Parkway might bring you to Steven Sorrentino’s younger self.”
--NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
“The meat of the story is Sorrentino’s huge heart, his love for his family and the lessons learned when he became a victim, as well as a savior, in a set of unpredictable circumstances…Nowhere is this better-illustrated than in the scene where his father comes home after months in the hospital. Sorrentino writes well of his mixed feelings of love, ambivalence and confusion at his own young life’s being put on hold…many, many heartfelt moments.”
--THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS
“…a poignant father/son story that speaks to those who have sacrificed a little of themselves—even if just for a little while—for someone they love…The best part of the book is the truthful way Sorrentino tells his story…exactly that kind of genuine emotion that makes the book work…Finally, a book about a gay son and his father that has more to do with love than the struggle for acceptance of a son’s sexuality.”
--HARTFORD COURANT
“…heartfelt and engaging.”
--Gary Kramer, PHILADELPHIA GAY NEWS
“…a darkly funny and affecting memoir…peppered with Seinfeld sarcasm, but with writing richer and raunchier. Sorrentino limns a priceless and quirky raft of characters…He also captures accents and speech rhythms with perfect pitch.”
--BOOKSELLING THIS WEEK
“…filled with a cast of zany characters you’d swear were made up—except they’re far too bizarre to be fiction…a funny homecoming story…a loving tribute to the bond between fathers and sons.”
--HX MAGAZINE
“…will have you laughing out loud…This is not your typical “gay” book or some sort of fluffy love story. Perhaps that’s why I found it so interesting. Knowing the characters are real people who are sliced out of Steve Sorrentino’s life made it an even more attractive read. Needless to say, this is a well-written memoir.”
--OUTINAMERICA.COM
BIO
BIO
STEVEN SORRENTINO began his career in public relations in 1987 as a publicist for Harper & Row, staying with that company during mergers and acquisitions, becoming Vice President and Executive Director of Publicity for HarperCollins Publishers, at one point supervising a forty-three-person operation, the largest integrated PR department amongst the major New York publishers at the time.
While there, Sorrentino directed campaigns for numerous #1 New York Times bestsellers including Bryan Burrough and John Helyar’s Barbarians at the Gate; John Gray's phenomenally successful Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus; Marianne Williamson’s A Return to Love; Newt Gingrich's To Renew America and Lessons Learned the Hard Way; Margaret Thatcher's Downing Street Years and Path to Power and more. Regarding the latter two, he also accompanied and advised the former Speaker of the House and British Prime Minister respectively on multi-city media tours.
Additionally, he worked with a wide array of controversial and political figures; film, television, and sports stars; and literary authors. These include the Reverend Ralph Abernathy, Michael Beschloss, Wayne Gretzky, Armistead Maupin, Bob Colacello, Jay Leno, Marilu Henner, Cybill Shepherd, Wally Lamb, Gregory Maguire, Christopher Darden, Valerie Harper, Eric Bogosian, Gary Hart, Donald Spoto, Leon Uris, Dan Quayle, Donald Katz, Bobbie Ann Mason, Thomas Moore, Ginger Rogers and others.
In his capacity as spokesperson for authors, the publishing house, and occasionally the industry, Sorrentino has been interviewed on Entertainment Tonight, Nightline, CNBC, Fox News Channel, and MSNBC.
In 2001, Sorrentino left HarperCollins to write about his experiences as a young man taking over the family business when his father suddenly became a paraplegic on Christmas Eve 1980. Luncheonette: A Memoir was published to critical acclaim by ReganBooks in February of 2005 and was followed by a 10-city tour where he spoke at colleges, libraries, and bookstores throughout the country, doing over 40 national and local print interviews and radio shows. The trade paperback edition was published in February of 2006, followed by release in ebook format.
In 2006, Sorrentino became Director of Author Promotions and Special Events for Barnes & Noble, Inc., the nation’s premiere book retailer. As the key liaison with sales and PR reps for major publishers and music labels, he oversaw an operation that booked over 3000 events yearly with writers and musical artists in various event formats and special programming. He personally supervised the planning and execution of particularly complex events for such high-profile political figures as Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump and more, in addition to many blockbuster celebrity events.
Sorrentino is perhaps best known as producer and host of “Live at Barnes & Noble”, an event series with a theatrical format he created, featuring performances by Liza Minnelli, Chita Rivera, Patti LuPone, Stephen Schwartz, Betty Buckley, Donna McKechnie, Marvin Hamlisch, Julie Budd, Leslie Uggams, Charles Strouse, Ann Hampton Callaway, Linda Lavin, Michael Feinstein, Rebecca Luker, Kelli O’Hara, Marin Mazzie, Jason Danieley, Kate Baldwin, Jennifer Holliday and many other Broadway luminaries—as well as cast performances from Jagged Little Pill, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!, Once On This Island, The Band’s Visit, An American in Paris, Anastasia, Come From Away, Waitress, Disaster, Cagney and nearly one hundred other Broadway and Off-Broadway shows to promote original cast recordings. He has conducted onstage interviews with Lin-Manuel Miranda, Joel Grey, Barbara Cook, Cloris Leachman, Ben Vereen, Andy Williams, Burt Bacharach, Sutton Foster, George Hamilton, Linda Eder and more.
Steven Sorrentino has also worked as a publishing and PR consultant, done personal coaching and is currently working on a novel. He lives in New York City.
Hal Prince Prince of Broadway cast recording event
Hal Prince Prince of Broadway cast recording event
