It started innocently enough. Over dinner a friend mentioned that he saw a used bookmobile for sale on Craigslist and wished he could by it.
That was all the impetus Tom Corwin needed, “By the end of dinner, I had come up with this whole concept of buying the bookmobile myself, and having authors join me, taking turns behind the wheel, and driving across the country interviewing people about the books that have touched their lives and creating a documentary film and a Web-based literacy outreach component” Corwin told the San Francisco Chronicle.
He was soon off to suburban Chicago to buy the decommissioned bookmobile. He paid $7500 for it.
Corwin has already garnered the support of the National Book Foundation, the Association of American Publishers and the American Library Association for the project and has signed a deal with Whitewater Films in Los Angeles for the documentary which will be titled “Behind the Wheel of the Bookmobile.” The film will also include information on the history of bookmobiles.
Corwin will begin the inaugural Behind the Wheel of the Bookmobile tour this spring. He will travel across the country via the Lincoln Highway, America’s first cross-continental roadway.
Authors that have already signed up in support include Michael Chabon, Dave Eggers, Junot Diaz, Tom Robbins and Scott Turow, with many of them to take a turn at the wheel
Sounds like it is going to be a fun trip, reminiscent of the great Wave Books Poetry Bus journey of 2006.
You can follow Corwin’s Great Adventure at the Behind the Wheel of the Bookmobile website and on Twitter.
Previously on Book Patrol:
Bookmobile 2.0
Bookmobile Heaven
Who Needs a Bookmobile?
The Kenyan Literary Express