Last Monday night, Ruthie Rogers, the owner of London’s ever-popular River Cafe, celebrated the publication of her new book, Table 4 at the River Cafe, with an A-list crowd that included Jill Biden, Tina Brown, Henry and Marie-Josée Kravis, Anthony Scaramucci, and Martha Stewart.
It wasn’t at one of the city’s hot new restaurants or even a classic like the Polo Bar. It wasn’t at one of New York’s latest batch of private clubswhere you need to know a member to get the address. No, it was at someplace more exclusive: the Bloomberg Philanthropies Headquarters.
The townhouse on East 78th Street houses the corporate and personal giving foundations of former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. It’s become the place in New York to have a book party, one that regularly attracts power players simply by nature of the host.
Michael Bloomberg and Ruthie Rogers at a party for her new book Table 4 at the River Cafe.Courtesy of Town & Country
Bloomberg “has always loved throwing book events to fuel conversation,” says Maryam Banikarim, a longtime chief marketing officer who also hosts the podcast The Messy Parts. “It’s a beautiful room, and the perfect place for a book party.”
Adds one publishing insider: “If you’re launching your book with them, you’ve done something right. They’re huge, influential, well-funded, and I would assume pretty selective.”
Typically, the authors feted at Bloomberg Philanthropies are of the blue chip, nonfiction variety. That means they’re already more than pretty well connected. Think former Disney CEO Bob Iger and his book The Ride of a Lifetime; Lloyd Blankfein, who wrote a memoir about his experience at Goldman Sachs; Walter Isaacson, whose latest tome dissects the second sentence of the Declaration of Independence, or CBS News correspondent Norah O’Donnell, who celebrated the publication of We the Women: The Hidden Heroes who Shaped America at Bloomberg Philanthropies in late April. These aren’t exactly debut authors desperate for a shout out in Publisher’s Weekly.
“Most of it is very organic,” says Rachel Nagler, who leads external communications at Bloomberg Philanthropies. “It comes out of our work here and often for philanthropic partners working on the issues we care about.”
It’s people on the Bloomberg Philanthropies board—like Iger and Isaacson—people whose philanthropic missions align with the organization, which include arts, public health and the environment, and, of course, people who are friends of Bloomberg or his top brass. Rogers, for one, is a pal; Bloomberg appeared on her podcast (also called Table 4) and features in the book.
“You need a connection, and not everyone gets it” says a New York insider about how one scores a book party at the townhouse. She knows of at least one person who tried unsuccessfully to lobby for one. “But if you had a book, wouldn’t you want it at Bloomberg Philanthropies? It’s always a great room, and if Mike shows up, that’s a plus.” And if “Mike” shows up then, you know, Diane Sawyer, Tom Freston, Graydon Carter, Anna Wintour, and guests of that ilk will likely come too.
Invitations are typically plug and play. Bloomberg Philanthropies has its own list of New York philanthropic and cultural leaders. Authors are asked to submit their own invitees. An email in your inbox arrives from Michael Bloomberg. The attached jpeg usually reads “Michael Bloomberg cordially invites you…” Guests are always given a copy of the book on the way out. Authors are asked to come the day before to sign copies.
Jordan Roth and Darren Walker at the Bloomberg Philanthropies celebration of Walker’s book The Idea of America.courtesy Town&Country
“The parties there—well, it’s less a party party—are substantive and serious and they have a lot of sizzle,” says Darren Walker, a member of the Bloomberg board of directors who launched his recent book The Idea of America with a party at Bloomberg Philanthropies attended by, among others, Oprah Winfrey. Of Walker’s dozen or so events for the book, he says his party at Bloomberg was the first but also “the most impactful and successful.”
“It was the largest one,” he explains, “and it received a tremendous amount of attention on social media. So it really established a momentum that carried the book forward.”
Separately, Walker just likes being on the Bloomberg Philanthropies book party house list. “It’s always going to be filled with interesting people doing interesting things,” he says. “You leave a Bloomberg book party energized and reminded of why we love New York.”
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