Today is International Women’s Day and one way to celebrate is to visit the newly launched website dedicated to Nordic women writers. The site spans 1000 years of literature and features hundreds of articles on 800 writers. "The story begins in Iceland during the transition from oral narrative tradition to the introduction of written culture. And it ends with a chapter on Sami and Greenlandic women’s conquest of written language in our own time." Karen Blixen, 1923. Better known in these parts as Isak Dinesen, the author of Out of AfricaAside from in-depth pieces on particular writers the website also includes...
"Pulp Shakespeare"
Ever wonder what Shakespeare might have done with Quentin Tarantino's classic 1994 film Pulp Fiction?Well wonder no more - The Her Majesty's Secret Players production of "Pulp Shakespeare," continues its extended run at Theatre Asylum in Los Angeles. The Elizabethan take on the Tarantino masterpiece derives from Her Majesty's Secret Players commitment to staging modern stories and giving them a "classic twist thus allowing audiences to enjoy Shakespeare on a whole new level." Here's the trailer:
A Bookshelf Frames the View to the World Outside
Designer Fábio Galeazzo has hit a home run with his transformation of an abandoned house in São Paulo, Brazil into a stunning "Urban Cabin." One of the centerpieces of the design is a circular bookshelf that was built to enhance the view and "increase communication" between the internal and external spaces.Wow!Many more pictures of this amazing project at the Contemporist
David Ishii: 1935 – 2012
A friend, colleague and longtime neighbor (our bookshops were in the same building) died yesterday at 76.Pioneer Square has never been the same since he closed his shop almost 7 years ago and now that he is gone Seattle has lost one of its treasured souls.Obit in the Seattle Times, Longtime bookseller David Ishii was quite a story himselfR.I.P.
Some Visual Stimulus Courtesy of Redfoxpress
Located on Achill Island in County Mayo, Ireland Redfoxpress is the brainchild of Francis Van Maele. Van Maele, whose previous publishing house Editions Phi was acquired by the Luxembourger Newspaper "Tagablatt", launched Redfoxpress in 2001 to focus solely on the creation and production of artists books. One of the highlights of the press is their "C'est mon Dada" series. "A collection of small hand made artists' books dedicated to experimental, concrete and visual poetry, or any work combining text and image in the spirit of dada or fluxus."West of Dodge by Nico Vassilaki, 2010. USA. Volume 38 in the series....