Great Book Guru #978 Dear Great Book Guru, I was at the Love Your Neighbor Long Table event and a new friend told me there is a fascinating book recently published about a famous Sea Cliff resident and written by a Sea Cliff author. Any ideas … I’d love to read it! Lover of All Things Sea Cliff Dear Lover of All Things Sea Cliff, What a beautiful past weekend we had here in Sea Cliff, but I did venture a few miles south to Cedarmere - the lovely Nassau County park that houses the home of William Cullen Bryant, 19th century poet, abolitionist, and newspaper editor - where Margaret Brucia was giving a reading of her book THE KEY TO EVERYTHING: MAY SWENSON, A WRITER’S LIFE. May Swenson lived in Sea Cliff for twenty years before her death in 1989. Brucia, a long-time Sea Cliff resident, gives us an intimate portrait of this much acclaimed poet based on her diaries and letters. While not an analysis of her poetry, this book gives us a detailed look into the forces that shaped one of the most important poets of the twentieth century. Her early childhood in Utah, as part of a strong Mormon community, and the role her parents - especially her father - played in creating her strong sensibilities is presented in exquisite detail. The bulk of the book however focuses on 1936 to 1959 - her time in New York City - during the Depression, her work with the Federal Writers’ Project, her life in Greenwich Village, and her friendship with NEW YORKER editor Harold Ross among other literary notables. Over sixty of her poems were published in the NEW YORKER, a record-breaking number. The immense number of personal anecdotes Brucia gleaned from Swenson’s diaries and letters make for a fascinating look into the life and creative process of this iconic figure. Highly recommended!