Preoccupation with the physical form of the book, or lack thereof, is a recurring theme at Spring (W)Rites, the inaugural 2010 Finger Lakes Literary Arts Festival, which kicks off this afternoon. More details on specific events can be found below and in yesterday’s preview coverage article, Lush Literati.
IS THE BOOK dead? We’ve been hearing this rumor for quite some time now. One common argument posits that visual mediums have replaced literary ones. A recent Onion article headline aptly quipped “Nation Shudders at Large Block of Uninterrupted Text.” Internet links to news stories take us unexpectedly to photo galleries accented with the dismembered pieces of what used to be stories—chopped up blocks of text, relegated to grammatically incorrect captions. Surely literature is a quaint notion of yesteryears, quietly rotting away in libraries filled with hardcovers encrusted with dust on their petrified and putrid spines.
We beg to differ, on two counts. The first is the unprecedented ease and means for the electronic distribution of literature. With the advent of the e-book, the web journal, smart phones that double as e-readers, Kindles, Nooks, and the more recent iPad, not to exclude audio forms such as pod casts, applications abound that allow dedicated lovers of literature to read or listen to virtually any style or genre of literature available. It would seem that literature is not dying, as some cultural pundits would have us believe, but is going through a transformation.
The second is just as pervasive and perhaps more controversial. As traditional publishers become more inaccessible, and fewer titles make it onto Barnes & Noble bookshelves, many of the same authors who have embraced the world of online distribution have also begun embracing book-making in a way that seemed to have gone out of vogue years ago. Back in the day, indy newspapers and ‘zines represented different artistic perspectives that engaged in ideological battles, staining the fingers of their makers with ink and cuts. Industrial reproduction was supposed to have put an end to the art of “making small,” the personal books that are works of art in themselves. But the snake has eaten its own tail, and now, small publishers, such as the good people of Cannibal, One Story, and McSweeney’s—more locally, Ithaca College Professor Catherine Taylor’s Essay Press, Vista Periodista, the work of Cascadilla poets Bridget Meeds and Kenny Berkowitz (who run the Ithaca City of Asylum program for exiled poets), and Ithaca Post’s own editors Danielle Winterton and David Nelson Pollock of Essays & Fictions Press, all of whom have a strong online presence—make and sell stylized books that concentrate on the physicality of the book as much as what’s inside its cover.
This year’s inaugural Spring (W)rites Festival is a celebration of Finger Lakes literature and writers and readers who create it and love it, but it is also an exploration of the body of the book in this tumultuous stage of its evolution. Amongst traditional readings and writer’s workshops are symposiums and discussions preoccupied with the body of the book itself, its physical form, or in some cases, the lack thereof.
At 4 p.m. on Friday, May 7, a recording of WSKG’s “Off the Page” will kick the weekend off with an audio-literary event presented in the Borg-Warner Room of the Tompkins County Public Library. “Off the Page” is a radio show that offers routine podcasts for listeners, and features local writers, playwrights, historians, and essayists. For the festival, host Bill Jaker has invited a number of local authors (including J. Robert Lennon, as well as mystery writer Beth Saulnier and former Tompkins County Poet Laureate Katharyn Howd Machan) to share work that explores the environment of Ithaca and the Finger Lakes Region as setting, inspiration and even character prose and poetry.
At 4 p.m. Saturday in the Emerson Suites at Ithaca College, there will be a panel discussion entitled “The Future of the Book,” which will examine the enduring value of books in the digital age. This discussion will be facilitated by Anne R. Kenney, Cornell’s University Librarian, with panelists Charles Brittain, Chair of the Classics Department at Cornell, who will discuss the importance of physical books for research and teaching; Katherine Reagan, Curator of Rare Books at Cornell, who will address how the physical manifestation of books are critical to understanding their meaning; and Dean Krafft, Chief Technology Strategist at Cornell University Library, who will describe technology’s impact on reading and research, from Kindles to digital books.
For those dedicated to the original form of the book itself, Sunday marks the start of National Preservation Week, May 9-15. In this spirit, Michele Brown, Book Conservator at Cornell University, will give a demonstration of book repair and preservation, addressing guidelines for proper handling, environment, storage, and simple repairs on Sunday, 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Buffalo Street Books.
In addition to staging his new play "Better than Nothing" (8pm Friday at the CSMA), George Sapio, along with Wolf's Mouth Theatre Collective will also present four brand new short plays written specially for Spring (W)rites, the first inaugural literary festival in Tompkins County. Written with the theme "Books" specifically in mind, the Wolf's Mouth 10-minute plays include "Dewey-Eyed," a hilarious new mini-opera from David Guaspari; Judith Pratt's "Teen Reading Program," in which Marnie is less than enthusiastic about the reading program she's been signed up for; Peter Shuman's "Going Over the Books," about an audit that spins off hopelessly in the wrong direction; and Kit Wainer's "The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook," a quadrophenic journey through the mind and appetite of the famous writer. Photo by Ed Dittenhoefer / FreeAirPhoto
Additional Notable Events and Readings, Luke Z. Fenchel
8 p.m. on Friday at CSMA will feature George Sapio’s staged reading “Better Than Nothing.”
Saturday’s Essays & Fictions V.VI launch reading will focus on the intersection of literature with visual arts, featuring legendary artist Steve Poleskie, a modernist who was at the helm of Chiron Press in the mid-60s and printed original covers of The Paris Review. 3 p.m., State of the Art Gallery, 120 State Street in Ithaca.
Saturday at 6pm at Cinemapolis, an event will feature past Tompkins County Poets Laureates — Kathryn Howd Machan and Paul Hamill — as well as current laureate Jay Leeming and Broome County Laureate, Andrei Guruianu.
Saturday at 4pm at Emerson Suites at Ithaca College, a panel led by Cornell University Librarian Anne R. Kenney will examine the enduring value of books in the digital age. And Sunday at noon, Michele Brown, a Cornell University book conservator will explain how to preserve books in your home library, discussing proper handling, environment, storage and will demonstrate simple repairs.
Sunday at 2 p.m. is the Fourth Works In Progress reading hosted at Buffalo Street Books Sunday. The writers participating share recent unfinished work, and among those participating are a former social worker, a published author and the retired Executive Director of Hospicare.
The festival culminates on Sunday at 4pm with “The Sound of Words,” the Ithaca Community Orchestra’s Spring Concert, which features original compositions written to complement the poetry of Tompkins County Poet Laureate Jay Leeming and poetry competition winner Amy Li.
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