“There are those to whom place is unimportant, / But this place, where sea and fresh water meet, / Is important. . . . ”from “The Rose” which he read to an enthusiastic audience at the Seattle World’s Fair in 1962Theodore Roethke is arguably the greatest poet to have spent a significant amount of time living in Seattle. His years teaching at the University of Washington (1947 until his death in 1963) put the region on the literary map. "The sixteen years of Roethke’s residence in Seattle changed the region’s literary maturity and taste."He is to the Northwest School of...
The Bookshop as Sacred Space
We who love books know that spending time in a bookstore is, on some level, a spiritual event. The creative output that is housed at the bookstore is awe inspiring.A bookstore just opened in the Netherlands that is housed in a 13th century Dominican church. The church was built in 1294 and was recently converted.There are also people I know where going into a bookstore is a physical event. They get so overwhelmed by the bookish surroundings that they immediately have to go to the bathroom.Thanks to Kimbooktu for the lead
Think Small: March is Small Press Month
"As Water to Flowers, Independent Publishing to Democracy" Alice WalkerIn 2005 about 80% of all books released were published by a small press. Unfortunately, the publishers that produced the other 20% make all the noise and leave little room for the others.James Joyce's Ulysses was first published by a small press, a bookshop no less.Virginia Woolf and her husband Leonard ran the seminal Hogarth Press.Sherman Alexie's first book was published by a small press, Hanging Loose Press.Samuel Johnson's Dictionary was originally published by his small press.William Burroughs "Naked Lunch" was first published by a small press in ParisThe list goes...
It comes in 3’s- 3 Literary misfortunes
In the last couple weeks the literary world suffered 3 unfortunate, sometimes violent events.1. Three intruders broke into Nobel Prize winner Nadine Gordimer's home in South Africa assaulted her, locked her in a storeroom and stole cash and jewelry.2. Vandals desecrated the grave of Nobel Prize winner Boris Pasternak, covering it in wreathes then setting it on fire.Lastly, and luckily not as severe unless of course you are the museum's archivist, the 3rd misfortune and hopefully the one that ends the bad literary juju.3. The owner of Alex Haley's original manuscript for "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" is suing a...
Eric Carle 70 Books and Counting
If you are a late baby boomer or a baby boomer with kids there is a good chance you have either read or been read a children's book illustrated by Eric Carle.For me it was Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? (1967, his first illustrated book) which was in heavy rotation when my daughter was about a year old.The Tacoma Art Museum is having an exhibit of his work through January 21, 2007If you are driving up to Seattle or down to Portland or beyond it might be worth a quick pit stop in Tacoma.Beside his stature as...