An American theme suffused the event. Cumberbatch read a touching letter from Richard Avedon to his father, and Patrick Kennedy had fun with a ribald memo from the South Park creator Matt Stone to the censorship board. We also heard a glorious job application from Eudora Welty to the New Yorker, which despite its assertion that her mind was one that moved "quick and away from the point", failed to land her an interview.