On Tuesday night, an exclusive crowd of familiar faces and literary enthusiasts gathered at the Chateau Marmont to celebrate the west coast launch of Didion & Babitz, Lili Anolik’s new book about the complicated relationship between writers Joan Didion and Eve Babitz—inspired by Anolik’s 2022 feature on the subject for VF.

The hosts of the evening, actor Emma Roberts and her Belletrist book club cofounder Karah Preiss, called the event a full-circle experience, as both are friends of Anolik as well as fans of Babitz.

“The book is our November [read],” said Preiss. “And when Lili told us there were going to be these previously unreleased letters [in the book] that Eve had written and never sent, we were like, ‘What if we got a bunch of actors to read the letters at Chateau Marmont?’”

“This is a pipe dream that came true,” added Roberts. “We’re so excited. Eve Babitz is so LA and so Hollywood, yet anti-Hollywood, and we thought it would be so fun to honor her tonight by reading her previously unreleased letters. As Lili says, they found the letters after she passed away, letters she wrote to get her feelings out and never sent. And I like to think she’d love to see us reading her real thoughts out loud at the Chateau on a November night.”

Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black admitted he’s normally a homebody, but couldn’t miss the event after getting lost in Anolik’s book. “Emma sent me the book a couple of weeks ago…I finally cracked it open this morning and had it finished by three o’clock,” he said. “I’ve been searching for something that addresses this moment we’re in, and we’ve been in this moment for about a week, and to have this book land in my lap and in my heart now, it’s just a gift.”

The event’s readings included roughly 10 of Babitz’s colorfully-worded, unsent letters and journal entries, delivered with enthusiasm and verve—including and especially, several well-placed f-bombs—by Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Nicole Richie, Roberts, director Alexi Wasser, Anolik, Elizabeth Olsen, and Beverly D’Angelo. One choice postscript, in a letter to Babitz’s ex-love, Grover Lewis read by Roberts: “P.S. I am not drunk. It is 8 a.m. on a Tuesday morning and I figure, fuck it—you guys are loathsome bores and deserve to be exposed.”

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D’Angelo, who brought the house down as the final reader of one of Babitz’s more fiery journal entries, was excited about getting to say aloud what Babitz “wrote for herself only, and to embody in reading it this inner self that’s so in conflict with the public concept of who she was,” said the actor. “And that’s kind of thrilling to me. It’s wonderful to think in terms of, Hey, wait a minute: There was a woman here who was accountable during a time when an outsider’s view wasn’t valued because of her social behavior. Let’s revisit her voice.”

Although D’Angelo never met Babitz in person, she’s long been an admirer of the writer. “Surprisingly, I was a little bit too young [to have met her], but I know people who slept with her. Does that count?” she said with a smile. “That’s a girl after my own heart.”

The readings were bookended by two musical performances. Grammy nominee Leslie Mendelson kicked things off with a cover of Joni Mitchell’s “People’s Parties,” while Lily Kershaw closed out the event with “California Dreamin’.” Attendees enjoyed appetizers and a choice of two Didion and Babitz–themed Casamigos cocktails: a tequila and soda and a spicy margarita.

Included among the many enthusiastic VIPs in attendance was Babitz’s sister, Mirandi, who found the evening “very touching, moving and beautifully done. And a riot,” she noted, adding that her sister would have been “very satisfied” with the entire experience.

For Anolik, the release of the book has been a whirlwind thus far, especially after a journey that began around 14 years ago when she set out to write about and interview Babitz. It took roughly three years to convince Babitz to participate, but Anolik’s persistence led to a very memorable piece in Vanity Fair’s 2014 Hollywood Issue.

“It doesn’t feel real to me,” the author said. “This all started right around the corner [from here]. My brother had an apartment at Crescent Heights. He was in business school. I was staying with him in 2010, and I remember walking down Sunset, turning on Gardner and Romaine and leaving a letter at Eve’s house—a letter she didn’t return, by the way. And now we’re here. This is nuts.”