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Ann Arbor News 8/28/08Latest Updates for the Kerrytown BookFest Kerrytown BookFest
Brouhaha Ann Arbor, 9/07Kerrytown BookFest Issues Limited Edition Hemingway Broadside Books and Bikes Kerrytown BookFest Largest One Day Book Festival Hemingway in Michigan Theme at the BooKFest Kerrytown Book Heaven for a Day
Bill Castanier 517-449-8771 Tom Hollander 734-741-7531
Latest Updates for the Kerrytown BookFest
The Kerrytown BookFest will take over the Ann Arbor City Market for it sixth annual book festival, beginning at 11 a.m., Sunday September 7 with the presentation of the Community Book Award to Ann Arbor’s Barbara Brown, an area teacher and artist.
The Award is presented each year to the person who supports books and book arts in the community said Tom Hollander, president of the BookFest.
Immediately following, the winners of the Hemingway dust jacket redesign competition will be announced. High school students had the opportunity to redesign the dust jacket of the original “The Nick Adams Stories”. A cash award of $100 will be awarded the winner and $50 will be awarded to two runner-ups. The judges included Edward Hemingway, Ernest Hemingway’s grandson and a noted book illustrator. Also serving as judges were Steve Klein of Huron River Press and author-artist Joe Borri of the Detroit area. The winners and runner ups will be on display at the BookFest.
As a contrast to the digitally designed book jackets, the BookFest also has confirmed that Ben Burkhart will demonstrate once again the century old art of linotyping at his shop across from the City Market.
Jay Platt of Westside Bookshop and Garrett Scott, local bookseller will conduct appraisals of rare and antique books for Fest goers. Both are members of the American Booksellers Association of America.The BookFest is the largest single day book festival of its type in the nation featuring more than 30 award winning authors and more than 125 exhibitors, book artists, book sellers and demonstrators of the book arts. In addition there are hands-on activities for children to explore the book arts.
The Kerrytown BookFest is sponsored with funding provided by the Michigan Humanities Council, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Contact: Tom Hollander 734-741-7531 or Bill Castanier 517-449-8771
Kerrytown BookFest Issues Limited Edition Hemingway Broadside
The Kerrytown BookFest has created a limited edition broadside of Hemingway’s poem, “Along With Youth’ which was originally printed in 1923 in “Three Stories and Ten Poems”. Until this broadside, the poem has been authorized to be reprinted only once, in “88 Poems,” a collection of Hemingway’s poems published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich in 1979.
The broadside, which measures 10x17 inches, is printed on Hahnemuhle Biblio, a 100 percent cotton rag mould made paper from Germany. The printing was completed in two runs. Chad Pastotnik hand set and printed the text in Garamond and Bernhard Booklet fonts at his Deep Wood Press, situated along the banks of the Cedar River in northern Michigan’s Antrim County. Jim Horton carved and printed the woodcut at his studio in Ann Arbor, Michigan
The collectible broadside was printed in an edition of 125 with only 100 available to the public for $100 each. The other 25 will be presented to Hemingway archives and museums across the United States.
The Hemingway family and the publisher Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, granted the BookFest one-time rights to reprint the poem which is 18 lines and is a laconic, bittersweet goodbye to Hemingway’s youth and to Michigan.“One of the reasons we selected this poem was it specifically speaks to Michigan and its Upper Peninsula,” Tom Hollander, president of the BookFest said. The poem mentions Seney, Michigan where Hemingway spent time during one of his last trips to Michigan following WWI. The broadside can be ordered by calling Motte and Bailey Bookstores at 734-669-0451 or Hollanders at 734-741-7531.
Hollander said some experts believe the poem was Hemingway’s way of saying goodbye to his youth and to Michigan.“The carnage Hemingway witnessed as an ambulance driver may have influenced the poem’s melancholy sense of lost innocence, represented by his bucolic summers in Michigan” Hollander said. It is likely that Hemingway wrote this poem after moving to Paris in the early 1920s.
The woodcut depicts what might be the contents of a young boy’s pocket casually tossed on a wood endcut, symbolizing the life Hemingway left behind as he entered adulthood. The items shown are very typical of the ones the writer himself might have carried including a shell, a firecracker, a pocket knife and a small screw. Even as an adult, Hemingway would pick up small items that would later become personal treasures that would make their way into his novels.
The funds from the sale of the Broadside will be used to underwrite future Kerrytown BookFest programming. The broadside is signed and numbered by the book artists, Pastotnik and Horton. Numbers will be reserved on a first come basis.The Hemingway Broadside is sponsored with funding provided by the Michigan Humanities Council, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Contact: Tom Hollander 734-741-7531 or Bill Castanier 517-449-8771
Kerrytown BookFest Adds New Events to Make it Largest One-day Book Festival
The sixth annual Kerrytown BookFest has added authors, demonstrators and exhibitors to make it the largest, one-day book festival in Michigan. The BookFest will be held 11 a.m. -5 p.m., Sunday, September 7 at the Farmers' Market, North 4th Avenue and Kingsley in Ann Arbor. The BookFest focuses both on those who create books and those who read them, making it unique among book festivals nationwide.
Additional special events this year include, a Design Binding Exhibit with more than 50 decorative and artistic books on display at the downtown branch of the Ann Arbor District Library running through August 28 and a special focus on Hemingway in Michigan which includes a panel of international scholars, a publication of a Hemingway poem in a limited edition broadside and a contest for high school students to redesign the dust jacket of The Nick Adams Stories. Hemingway's grandson, author and illustrator Edward Hemingway, is one of the judges. The BookFest's Hemingway events are made possible by funding from the Michigan Humanities Council, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Tom Hollander, co-owner of Hollander's in Kerrytown and BookFest president, said the primary goal of the event is to highlight the Ann Arbor area's rich heritage in the book and printing arts. The annual Community Book Award will be presented to Barbara Brown at the BookFest. Previous recipients include Josie Parker, director of the Ann Arbor District Library and Jim Craven, local master book binder and conservator. Brown is a long-time advocate of the book arts in Ann Arbor and southeastern Michigan. She has promoted book arts and bookbinding as an instructor, an exhibit curator, and artist.
The BookFest not only showcases local artists, authors and businesses, it also brings nationally and internationally-recognized authors and artists to the event, Hollander said.
Presentations this year include numerous national award-winning authors with a special focus on Native American and African-American writers. As always, special hands-on activities for children focusing on the book arts will be featured. In addition, numerous demonstrations and hands on opportunities to interact with fine binding and book arts' experts will be conducted. Special guests this year are Monique Lallier and Don Etherington who are among the worlds most sought after fine binders and conservators. Etherington was responsible for the restoration of the original Magna Carta. Lallier and Etherington are honorary co-chairs of this year's BookFest.
A complete listing of the program is available at www.kerrytownbookfest.org
Contact: Tom Hollander 734-741-7531 or Bill Castanier 517-449-8771
Books and Bikes
Ann Arbor will be host to both criterium bike racing on its downtown city streets this weekend (Sunday September 7) and the Kerrytown BookFestival, the nation’s largest and most diverse single day book festival.In addition to hundreds of bike racers on Main Street, more than 30 authors and 125 exhibitors, book sellers and book art demonstrators will take over the Ann Arbor City Market which is less than three blocks away.
The bike race is in its first year while the Kerrytown BookFest in its sixth year is known for featuring edgy writers and demonstrators showcasing century old book arts. The Fest also has extensive hands-on children activities.
The Kerrytown BookFest is sponsored with funding provided by the Michigan Humanities Council, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Contact: Tom Hollander 734-741-7531 or Bill Castanier 517-449-8771
Hemingway in Michigan Theme Part of Kerrytown BookFest
The Kerrytown BookFest is using a $7,500 grant from the Michigan Humanities Council an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities to help celebrate Ernest Hemingway, one of Michigan's greatest authors as part of the Council's Great Michigan Read program.
The Great Michigan Read is a statewide program to promote literacy and the reading of great literature. This year, the Council selected Ernest Hemingway's The Nick Adams Stories and more than 500 individual reading-related programs have already been undertaken including everything from Hemingway look-alike contests to a tour by Valerie Hemingway, the daughter in law and former secretary of Hemingway.
Hemingway's The Nick Adams Stories is a collection of short stories, semi-auto biographical in nature, which the author wrote about his coming of age including the 22 summers spent in Michigan. A number (14) of the stories take place in Michigan including "The Big-Two Hearted River" and "The Killers" which are considered classic examples of the art of short story writing.The Kerrytown BookFest will use the grant to conduct several Hemingway-related events at its annual Fest which celebrates both the book arts, books and the authors who write them. The BookFest will be 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Sunday, September 7 at the Farmers' Market, North 4th Avenue and Kingsley, Ann Arbor.
In addition to the Hemingway programs, there are scores of award-winning authors, presenters and exhibitors making the one-day event the largest book festival in Michigan. Two of the world's premier fine binders and conservators, Monique Lallier and Don Etherington will make presentations and demonstrate fine book binding.
High school students have the opportunity to redesign the dust jacket of the original The Nick Adams Stories. A cash award of $100 will be awarded the winner and $50 will be awarded to two runner-ups. The judges included Edward Hemingway, Ernest Hemingway's grandson and a noted book illustrator. Also serving as judges were Steve Klein of Huron River Press and author-artist Joe Borri of the Detroit area. The winners will be announced and on display at the BookFest.
Tom Hollander, president of the BookFest and co-owner of Hollander's said the redesign project focuses on the art of the book which is an important part of every literary project.
"It allows us integrate the Hemingway focus directly into the BookFest," he said.
In addition, Hollander said the BookFest has created a limited edition broadside of Hemingway's poem,"Along With Youth" which was originally printed in 1923 in the pirated book, Three Stories and Ten Poems. Since then it has only been reprinted once in a collection of poetry.
The Broadside was hand typeset with foundry type and printed on handmade paper on a letterpress by Chad Pastotnik of Deep Wood Press in Antrim County. The Broadside includes an original engraving by Jim Horton of Ann Arbor. The collectible broadside was printed in an edition of 125 with only 100 available to the public for $100. The other 25 will be presented to Hemingway archives and museums across the United States.
The Hemingway family and the publisher Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, granted the BookFest one-time rights to reprint the poem which is 18 lines and is a laconic, bittersweet goodbye to Hemingway's youth and to Michigan.
"One of the reasons we selected this poem was it specifically speaks to Michigan and its Upper Peninsula," Hollander said. The poem mentions Seney, Michigan. The broadside can be ordered by calling Motte and Bailey Bookstores at 734-669-0451 or Hollanders at 734-741-7531.
The funds will be used to underwrite future Kerrytown BookFest programming. The broadside is signed and numbered by the book artists, Pastotnik and Horton. Numbers will be reserved on a first come basis.Finally, The BookFest will host a panel of distinguished Hemingway experts who will discuss how Hemingway's writing uniquely reflects his experiences in Michigan.
The panelists are: Michael Federspiel, CMU; Thomas Porter, U-M Flint and Frank Svoboda, U-M Flint. The program will be moderated by Greg Parker of the Michigan Humanities Council.
Federspiel specializes in History Education and includes 18 years as a middle and high school history teacher and 16 years as a K-12 social studies administrator and curriculum specialist. He is the president of the Michigan Hemingway Society.
Frederic Svoboda is Professor of English at the Flint campus of the University of Michigan, where he has taught since 1980, focusing on American Literature and Culture and serving as Chair of English and Director of the Graduate Program in American Culture. He recently served as senior faculty advisor to UM-Flint's chancellor and also recently completed two terms as Treasurer of the Ernest Hemingway Foundation, which sponsors a literary prize in honor of the author, organizes international conferences and is currently involved in publishing a complete edition of Hemingway's collected letters.
Svoboda holds a Ph.D. in English from Michigan State University and studied the publishing industry at Harvard University. He is the author of editor of several books, some on Hemingway. He wrote the catalog that accompanies the current traveling exhibit on Hemingway and Nick Adams.
A complete listing of the program is available at www.kerrytownbookfest.org
Contact: Tom Hollander 734-741-7531 or Bill Castanier 517-449-8771
Kerrytown is Book Heaven for a Day
Thomas Jefferson said, "I can not live without books". He would've been in heaven at the Kerrytown BookFest.
If you are the type of person who can't live without a book; love the way books feel, smell and look and are always on the lookout for a new author or great deal you will want to be in Ann Arbor on Sunday, September 7, Tom Hollander, chair of the BookFest, said.
Scores of authors, exhibitors and demonstrators of book arts will take over the Kerrytown Farmers Market, Kerrytown Concert House and Hollanders from 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Sunday, September 7 for the Sixth Annual Kerrytown BookFest.
Hollander said it is the largest one-day book festival in Michigan with more than 30 award-winning authors, a dozen book artists including the world's premier conservators and 115 exhibitors, book sellers and artisans.
"This mix of authors, book artists and book sellers makes it the most unique book festival in the country," Hollander said. He said each year the BookFest strives to present unique authors and illustrators and this year the Fest is an eclectic mix with "something for everyone."
Author panels include Michigan Notable Book Award Winners; Native American Poetry, the Art of Short Story; Science Fiction; African American Writing; Mystery Fiction; and Fresh Faces in Historical Crime Fiction
Numerous award winning authors are represented including two Edgar Award Winners in the mystery genre, three Michigan Notable Book Authors, science fiction award winners and an Independent Booksellers Award winner.
Award winning playwright Sandra Seaton whose work has been performed at the Kennedy Center and Betty Deramus whose book about the Underground Railroad is in Broadway production, will team up with Belleville writer Beverly Jenkins and Ann Arbor's Cassandra Carter, both romance writers.
The panels also include first-time authors Peter Leonard who is following in his father's profession; Cassandra Carter a 19 year old, writing African American romance, and Joe Borri whose book Eight Dogs Named Jack won several independent publisher awards.
Also, this year several panels will focus on Hemingway in Michigan as part of the Michigan Humanities Council Great Read Program. A panel of international experts will discuss Hemingway's "Nick Adams Stories" and it's relevance to Michigan and the state's impact on his future writing.
Robin Agnew, proprietor of Aunt Agatha's Mystery Bookstore in Kerrytown and chair of the author committee, said she is delighted by the diversity and quality of speakers who are on the schedule this year.
"The panel on Native American Poetry has experts who have skills shared by few others in the country - they'll be singing the poetry both in English and Ojibwe. We have an African American panel with an impressive array of talent; one notable speaker being former Detroit News Columnist Betty DeRamus, whose book about the Underground Railroad is being made into a Broadway Musical."
She also said there in an award-winning group of short story writers, science fiction writers, and Michigan Notable Book Winners, as well as mystery writers who have not only all kinds of awards, but have broken new ground with their writing.
Agnew said two especially interesting mystery writers this year are Theresa Schwegel, who tells her police stories in the first person, and Megan Abbott, who writes 'female noir'. Both have won Edgar Awards.
In addition, two book artists will tell the story about the printing of a unique limited edition broadside of a Hemingway poem "Along With Youth" which was created exclusively for the BookFest. The collector's item is being sold for $100 to help underwrite the BookFest. Local artist Jim Horton did the woodcut for broadside.
Hollanders of Kerrytown also will hold numerous workshops in a special school set up for the event. Workshops include English and French Fine Binding by Don Etherington and Monique Lallier who are co-chairs of the BookFest and considered the world's premier conservators and fine binders. Also several other free workshops will cover spine sewing, book structures, canvas covers and flutter books.
The annual Community Book Award will be presented to Barbara Brown and three winners of the high school book dust jacket design contest will be announced as part of the Michigan Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities underwriting. The students competed in the contest to redesign the original "Nick Adams Stories" dust jacket.
The Children's Tent, one of the most popular aspects of the BookFest, will host hands-on programs on paper marbeling, paper making and storytelling throughout the day and noted children's book illustrator Ruth McNally Barshaw will lead a workshop on cartooning and sketching for children.
"If you want to go to book heaven for a day, Kerrytown BookFest is the place to be," Hollander said. Hollanders is a Kerrytown shop that features supplies for the book arts and offers workshops for book artists at all levels.
A complete listing of the program is available at www.kerrytownbookfest.org
bookfest [at] kerrytown [dot] org