Kurt Vonnegut's Fredonia College 1978 commencement speech and excerpts

Seven Stories Press has made available to ABA members a commencement speech from the collection If This Isn’t Nice, What Is? written by Kurt Vonnegut and edited by Dan Wakefield. 

Vonnegut’s 2,500-word speech “How to Make Money and Find Love!” was presented at Fredonia College in Fredonia, New York, in 1978, and is available here to ABA members in its entirety, as well as in 500-word and 1000-word excerpts.

Booksellers are welcome to use the speech in any number of ways, including in newsletters or on their websites. It may be further excerpted as desired and credited as follows: “Excerpted from If This Isn’t Nice, What Is? by Kurt Vonnegut and edited by Dan Wakefield, published by Seven Stories Press.”

If This Isn’t Nice, What Is? was originally released as an e-book in 2013. The new hardcover edition, published in April by Seven Stories Press, features original Vonnegut artwork not found in the first release of the e-book.

Booksellers can also share a video of Wakefield, who sifted through boxes of Vonnegut’s writings in order to compile the collection, discussing the speeches in the book.

Bookstores interested in receiving additional Seven Stories Press content for their customers can sign up for the company’s newsletter here.

In an effort to make unique publisher content available to independent booksellers to use on their websites, in newsletters, or through social media, ABA will be hosting selected content from publishers on BookWeb.org. Publishers with content to share should contact Senior Program Officer Joy Dallanegra-Sanger.