Mindy Kaling admits to being "a little nervous" about following in Jon Stewart's footsteps as master of ceremonies for this morning's (25th) Book & Author Breakfast. A needless worry. Kaling not only has the star power for the job (she's a co-executive producer as well as playing chatty Kelly Kapoor on the hit NBC show The Office), she has some serious credentials as a writer.
In addition to being an Emmy-nominated and Writer's Guild of America award-winning writer for The Office, Kaling co-wrote and co-starred in the play Matt & Ben, which was named the New York International Fringe Festival's Best Overall Production in 2002, was on Rolling Stone's Hot List for Hot Play, and named one of Time magazine's Top Ten Theatrical Events of 2003. And her first book, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns), is due this November from Crown.
Not surprisingly, Kaling is a lifelong and passionate reader. She grew up in Cambridge, Mass., the daughter of Indian immigrants (a physician mother and architect father) "who were suspicious of after-school activities like sports." So her afternoons were spent at the local library, where she happily read her way from the Babysitters Club to Robert Cormier ("I was fixated on dark stories about outcast boys.") While Kaling says, she "always identified myself as a funny kid— except for a period in my teens, when like so many people in comedy, I wasn't remotely funny," she was also an honor student who entered Dartmouth as a Latin major but graduated with a degree in playwriting.
Kaling describes Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) as "one-third memoir, one-third revenge fantasy, and one-third comedy essay," and turns her formidable wit on everything from her favorite men ("anyone written by Aaron Sorkin, Sherlock Holmes, 19th-century hunks like Mr. Darcy, and NBA players") to life in the writers' room of The Office ("when it's 2:30 in the morning, and you realize you've consumed 3,500 calories that day in nonorganic, preservative-laden food ") and how much she loves her mom. In April, Kaling was surprised by a real-life revenge fantasy of her own. The formerly plump and bookish grade-schooler was named one of People magazine's 2011 Most Beautiful People. Sweet.
You can meet Kaling (and pick up an autograph) at 10:30 a.m. in the Random House booth (4420).