"Authors, Publishers and Readers of Independent Literature" March 22-31, 2012The seeds of APRIL can be found in the 2010 Small Press Bookfest, an ambitious project of the late Pilot Books. APRIL aims to harness the spirit that made Pilot Books a community space and locus for daring and innovative writing.The goal of the festival is to connect readers with independent literature and the authors and publishers of this relevant and vitalizing work. The festival aims to celebrate independent writing and publishing and to foster community amongst the artists and appreciators who help make it thrive.With a successful Kickstarter campaign behind...
The Graphic Side of Dard Hunter
When one thinks of Dard Hunter the word "paper" usually comes to mind first. He was in many respects the king of American papermaking. He authored over fifteen books on the subject and single-handedly revived the art of handmade papermaking in America.Prior to his obsession with paper Hunter spent his time as a printer and graphic artist. His began his career working for the famed Roycroft Press in East Aurora, New York. Under the tutelage of Elbert Hubbard, Hunter immersed himself in the Arts & Crafts style that permeated the design aesthetic of the press and he emerged as "one...
Slightly Foxed: The Well-Made Book Lives On
The headline reads: Outfoxing the digital revolution.The story in The Telegraph profiles Slightly Foxed, a second-hand bookshop, publisher of a popular beautifully produced reader's quarterly and publishers of Slightly Foxed Editions."Slightly Foxed have stepped aside from the ebook stampede to publish beautifully bound hardbacks that recall a bygone age – and sell like hot cakes," and too boot they only publish memoirs that are out of print but not out of copyright, and all include new prefaces that are reproduced in the quarterly magazine.Each clothbound pocket hardback includes colored endpapers, headband, tailband and a silk ribbon marker. Each is published...
A New Home for Nordic Women Writers
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: