Being a writer is drab and unglamorous—lots of nights spent watching HBO comedies and trying to forget deadlines, not nearly enough spent out on the town—but once you’ve made it, you’ve really made it. The 1 percent of the writing world celebrate themselves at the Pen World Voices Festival opening night at the Top of the Standard, with pre-eminent lit-world party-boy Salman Rushdie in attendance, as if to prove Midnight’s Children was less a title than an organizing principle. For all the glamour, though, writers still have to confront their own essential nerdiness—the highlight of the evening is a 35-minute cabaret act based on lyrics by Anthony Burgess of A Clockwork Orange fame. After a few drinks, you’d have to hold our eyes open to keep us watching!

Top of the Standard, Standard Hotel, 848 Washington Street, 10 p.m. Tickets and information can be found at http://pen.org.

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