Martha Rosler's library has landed at the Institut national d’histoire de l’art (INHA), "a newly created institute dedicated to the history of art" in ParisWriting on the traveling library in the spring 2007 issue of Afterall Elena Filipovic says:[Rosler] temporarily dispossessed herself of the vast majority of her personal library so that it could be made available for consultation. No borrowing was possible, but the eclectic ensemble of books on economics, political theory, war, colonialism, poetry, feminism, science fiction, art history, mystery novels, children’s books, dictionaries, maps and travel books, as well as photo albums, posters, postcards and newspaper clippings...
Cohen & Glass
Two of the most influential artists of the late 20th and early 21st century Leonard Cohen & Philip Glass have joined to bring us 'Book of Longing' a cycle of 22 songs. The work premiered in Toronto in June and then went on to played Lincoln Center in July."For me, this work is both a departure from past work and a fulfillment of an artistic dream." says Glass who first started thinking about the project six years ago when he and Cohen ran into each other in Los Angeles and Cohen read him the manuscript for 'Book of Longing.'In his...
Shelfari Stumbles
It looks like things in the book social networking world are heating up.It seems that in their race to gain market share Shelfari has engaged in some pretty dubious behavior including astroturfing (posting on blogs pretending to be users, not employees) and partaking in widespread spamming campaigns.Tim Spalding founder of LibraryThing has documented the travesty over at the Thingology blog. The post is titled Shelfari Spam: "basically social network rapists" with the quote coming from a Gawker post on the issue.Before you get into the well he is the competition of course he is going to knock them read the...
Children’s Book Week
Children looking through window of Magnolia Branch Library, Seattle in 1943Since 1919 the week before Thanksgiving has been designated Children's Book Week. It is the longest running literacy event in the country.Beside all the hoopla and events planned across the country Children's Book Week has always been a showcase for poster art.Jessie Wilcox Smith did the first poster back in 1919. It was titled More Books in the Home and it was so successful that they used it for five years in a row!Here is a link to a list of the poster artists and themes since 1919.
The Color of Romance
"Between the kitty litter and the toothpaste, on a lonely aisle of your supermarket, they cry out for love. Highlander Untamed! Unleash the Night! To Pleasure a Prince! The Boss's Wife for a Week! Willingly Bedded, Forcibly Wedded!"So begins Brian Miller's piece in the Seattle Weekly, A Billion Dollar Romance Novel Industry, And its Lonely Black Author. Miller profiles the Seattle romance novelist Edwina Martin-Arnold and in the process gives us a peek into the world of Romance publishing.How big an industry is it:The genre accounts for 26.4 percent of all popular fiction salesIt annually produces around 6,000 titlesHarlequin, the...