 Convention Fever It began, as many affairs do, in an understated manner. “I’ve been thinking,” Alan Irwin commented over a Thai lunch he was plying me with, “of how we can get Laine, Hope, Olga, Don, you and me together to talk about it.” Seven months later, the love affair of which he was speaking, that which all of us have with bookmarks, blossomed into this past weekend’s inaugural Bookmark Collectors Virtual Convention. Beginning at 8:00 am (PST) Saturday morning and continuing until 8:00 am Sunday morning, lovers, collectors, and appreciators of bookmarks—those tiny pieces of ephemera that pack in some of the greatest cultural studies around—gathered online to talk about, share images of, and drool over others’ bookmark collections. And it was wonderful despite the fact that I worked for twenty-two hours and forty-eight minutes with no sleep. I did five 1-hour PowerPoint presentations, added about three dozen images to the online galleries, and participated in more than a dozen productions by other presenters. Non-bookmark people, which is to say most of the world, tend not to appreciate bookmarks. They are one of the smallest areas of ephemera collecting. Few if any libraries or museums include them in their collections except as incidentals. Yet packed into these rectangular or heart-shaped or die-cut pieces of paper, leather, silk, and metal are worlds of history. Whenever I look at my slender, fragile, government-issued “Buy Liberty Bonds” paper bookmark with its image of a World War I solider crawling up and out of a trench I see more than just a single soldier. I see a time when war was a serious social as well as a political matter that disrupted life at home, that demanded personal costs from the civilian population as well as the military, that demanded sacrifice from the nation and people. But even less serious bookmarks also carry a lot of history. A celluloid die-cut owl bookmark from the Maltine Manufacturing Company advertises coca wine (at a time when psychoactive medicines such as cocaine and opium were part of medicinal products). What history do I see in this bookmark? The state of medicine, the role of culture in the acceptance of alcohol in solving physical and emotional problems and the social issues that impacted the times as well as future generations, the position of advertising medicines directly to the public (something only relatively recently and amid controversy returned). That is a lot for the little owl to bear. It was that history and more than the three dozen convention attendees shared in that twenty-four hours. But for co-founder Alan Irwin and I an exhausting, exciting, and nervous time. We had one minor disaster which I solved by completely re-writing one of my presentations between 11:00 pm and 1:45 am on Saturday night/Sunday morning. By the time of my third presentation my voice was cracking and my energy beginning to flag. But I kept on, kept talking about storage and display options for all of us whose collections are outgrowing our spaces. And now, on Sunday evening as I sit finishing this letter up, wishing I had the brain power to continue on I think back to what I believe is an extraordinary thing we accomplished. It was an affair to remember. Upcoming Book Festivals: Natchez, Mississippi, will be hosting the Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration from Wednesday, February 25 through Sunday, February 28. This year’s theme is “Humor in the Deep South,” and to that end the festival’s events and presentations will be—there’s no other way to say it—a laughing matter. It begins with a talk by storyteller/author Diane Williams on humor though a cultural lens. That night a performance of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas will take place. More talks, theatre, and a movie screening on Thursday night, will be followed, on the weekend by talks, screenings, programs, an open house, panel discussions, a special evening event, an awards event, a vocal concert, a gala reception, and on Sunday, writing workshops. Much Ado About Books is celebrating its fifteenth year, and the organizers have lined up a lot of things with which to celebrate. The dates are February 26-27, 2010. For those in or near Jacksonville, Florida, you can attend on Writer’s Workshop on Friday from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. There’s also the Friday evening extravaganza, Ex Libris, Volume 5: Lights Over London, a delightful evening where attendees will help raise money for the Jacksonville Public Library while enjoying authors, dancing, food, and drinks. Saturday will include with a Breakfast with an Author, panel discussions and book signings in a variety of interests, a luncheon with keynote speaker Mary Kay Andrews, and a morning Children’s Chapter with readings and events for young readers. Alpine, Texas is hosting the Texas Cowboy Poetry Gathering from February 26-28. Most of their poetry and music events are free but two—Breakfast at Poet’s Grove (Friday at 7:30 am) and the Friday and Saturday Stage Shows (7:00 pm)—have a minimal charge. Headliners include Mike Beck, Cowboy Celtic, Joel Nelson and Red Steagall. The South Carolina Book Festival, which will take place in Columbia from February 26-28, has a lot going on. Saturday hours are 9:00 am to 5:30 pm, and Sunday hours from 11:30 am to 5:00 pm. More than eighty exhibitors, 100 authors, and twenty-seven artists are participating. Writers will find two Master Classes on Friday, but most of the events are on the weekend including panels, presentations, book signings, and discussions. Special events include the opening night reception and Brunching with Authors, a moveable feast on Sunday morning. The Pub House: Imaging Books & Reading: First up is the link I mentioned. Read to Win the War was a poster from the Library War Service, a division of the American Library Association. The ALA built forty camp libraries in the U.S., most of them funded by the Carnegie Corporation, which was also responsible for funding and building a network of public libraries across the United States. Of Interest: This Week . . . Until next week, read well, read often and read on!
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