2008

The first year after Mailer's death. On 9 April some 1,200 people gather at Carnegie Hall for the memorial 'The Time of His Time'; posthumous publication of his work begins — thirty-eight letters in The New Yorker, his Blue Night introduction, and a clutch of archival pieces in the inaugural Mailer Review.

Norman Mailer's desk, Provincetown, 2008

The first year after Mailer’s death, given over to memorial and to the first posthumous publication of his work.

April — the Carnegie Hall memorial

On 9 April 2008 the memorial program “The Time of His Time: A Celebration of the Life of Norman Mailer” is held at Carnegie Hall, sponsored by Random House and produced by Norris Church Mailer, Lawrence Schiller, Carol Schneider, and J. Michael Lennon. Twenty-five family members and friends speak; their statements fill The Mailer Review’s 2008 double issue (08.8).

Norris Church Mailer, 2008

Posthumous publication

The Mailer Review, the journal of the Norman Mailer Society, launches with archival Mailer material: the National Book Foundation acceptance speech (08.4), the Harvard-era “Bodily Function Blues” (08.6), the abandoned-1992 “What’s Wrong with America” proposals (08.7), and Michael Chaiken’s film interview (08.5). In October The New Yorker prints “In the Ring” (08.1), thirty-eight Mailer letters edited by Lennon; Mailer’s introduction to George Hirose’s Blue Night (08.2) — among the last things he wrote — also appears, as does the Plimpton oral biography George, Being George (08.3), to which Mailer had contributed.

October — the Society conference

October 16–19 — The Norman Mailer Society holds its 6th annual conference in Provincetown, on the theme “Norman Mailer: Memory and the Afterlife” — the first since Mailer’s death. Conference program (PDF).

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Last updated: 2026-06-08