Is this just marketing? He kind of seems sincere. Yann Martel, author of Life of Pi, is taking a stand for the arts. And it’s a stand that will expand Canada’s Prime Minister’s book case.
Martel says he’ll keep the world up-to-date, via a website, on all the books he sends to the PM’s house.
This little new tidbit has just moved Life of Pi to the top of my TBR pile. I know, I know… I’m probably the only person on the planet who hasn’t read this yet.
We made the trip to Montgomery for the second annaul Alabama Book Festival. This year’s festival was twice as big as last year, taking up two city blocks of Old Alabama Town. There were even a few more authors speaking. Including Pulitzer-prize winner Robert Olen Butler.
Hopefully more folks will come out next year and the event will keep growing. Here is a pretty pitiful write up in Montgomery’s local paper. The reporter didn’t really look into the festival or what it was about. I think they missed a great opportunity for a neat human interest story.
But anyway, here are a few pictures I snapped while weaving in and out of all the publisher’s tables and author signings.
The Alabama Book Festival is April 21st!
I can’t tell you how much fun we had at last year’s inaugural event! And it wasn’t due to all the free books and swag we picked up. There were some great authors speaking last year. So far the list seems much longer this year.
I see that Southern-super-brain-historian Wayne Flynt will be speaking. So that’s one I’ll have to see and (even better) Amos Kennedy has already committed to hauling his letterpress equipment back down there (like he did last year). His table was right next to the UofA Book Arts people. It’s fun to watch cool people do cool things.
Mark your calendars!
I read Nick Toshes book In the Hand of Dante a couple of years ago and have just run across his writing twice today in two different places. Here he’s reviewing a Dante bio (Bookforum link via fade theory) and here he’s participating in Esquire‘s Napkin Project.
I have to say that his napkin my favorite thing he’s written.
The Napkin Project is pretty cool and I killed too much time there today. Some of the writing is good, but what I’ve enjoyed is looking how all of the authors used the space of the napkin. There’s even an entry from Bama-boy Rick Moody, who took up both sides of his napkin.
