Category Archives: Events

Alabama Book Festival is this Saturday

I’m tempted to use some old school blinking text and neon colors to highlight this event! The weather is going to be great and the attending panelists, authors and speakers is just as good. You can get the full schedule here (it is a PDF download). I’ve already heard from some folks on Twitter that they will be going. So I hope to meet some folks that I’ve been following for a while. Folks start walking around early but it doesn’t officially kick-off until 10a.m. and it’s FREE!

If you want to keep up you can follow the festival on their site, Facebook, blog or Twitter feed. I’ll try and share some pictures throughout the day, while we’re there. Hope you can make it!

Alabama Bound is Tomorrow

This year, Alabama Bound is taking a different track and falling in line with the state-wide The Big Read initiative. It’s still free (except lunch) and runs from 10a-3p, tomorrow (Saturday, march 20th) at the Central Branch in downtown Birmingham. Since this year’s Big Read is The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, they are going to have a Mark Twain impersonator, music “from way back” and the Irondale Cafe will be catering. Looks like the weather is going to be nice too!

Free Books – Read It Forward

I love promotional programs like the new Read It Forward here in Birmingham/Jefferson County. They seem to merge all of the fun parts of technology, connects a community and has FREE books! This year Tom Sawyer has been selected as the book for Alabama Reads and the JCLC system is stepping up to make reading and lending books fun.

All you do is go to one of the JCLC libraries for a free copy of Tom Sawyer and read it. Then go to the Read It Forward site and enter in the ID number from the book and rate the story. Then go find a park bench or bus stop or lunch room and leave the book there. Just walk away. From time to time you can then go back to the Read It Forward site to see who picked up your copy and what they thought of it and see where that book is headed next.

I already have a couple of copies of Tom Sawyer, but I may have to go get one of these so I can play too.

The Largest Book in the World

Wow. Just wow! The Guardian has a feature on the world’s largest book, which is part of a map & atlas exhibit at The British Museum. It takes 6 people to move the 350-year-old Klencke Atlas which contains maps and such dating from the time of Charles II. Pretty cool. I can’t find any measurements for the Atlas, but will share once I do. Apparently, this exhibit will be the first time the world’s largest book will be publicly displayed, with its pages open for viewing.