BOOKPATHS

Baltimore Art Museum, Maryland, U.S.

The Baltimore Art Museum’s exhibition, Edgar Allan Poe: a Baltimore Icon, continues through January 17, 2010.   Wouldn’t this be a perfect destination this weekend?

This dramatic exhibition brings together 80 prints, drawings, and illustrated books drawn largely from the BMA’s distinguished collection. These rarely shown works of art explore the enduring legacy of Poe's uniquely dark fiction through the themes of Love & Loss, Fear & Terror, and Madness & Obsession.

See how 'The Raven', 'The Black Cat', 'The Tell-tale Heart', 'The Pit and the Pendulum', and other Poe classics inspired some of the greatest artists of the 19th and 20th centuries. – from the Baltimore Museum of Art Website

Halloween

Benjamin Percy offers 3 terrifying books.

When I was a boy, I would use my allowance to buy 'Tales from the Crypt' comic books. I would sneak Stephen King novels from my parents' bookshelves, and I would ask to sleep over at a buddy's house, because his parents let him rent rated-R horror movies. In many ways, I am still that boy, terribly, wonderfully afraid because of books like these. – from “Devilishly Good Books Terrify…and Delight,” by Benjamin Percy, NPR Website

Cuba; John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.

The “Kennedy Library gets Hemingway papers from Cuba.”

Though the Cuban government did not exactly get along with John F. Kennedy, it has come to an arrangement with the Boston library named for the 35th president to give it copies of thousands of papers from Ernest Hemingway. The Boston Globe reported that Cuba’s Ministry of Culture had given the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum copies of 3,000 letters and documents Hemingway amassed during his years in Cuba, from 1939 to 1960. – from “Kennedy Library Gets Hemingway Papers from Cuba,” by Dave Itzkoff, The New York Times

Scotland

The Undiscovered Scotland website offers an exceptional e-book of The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, by James Boswell, with its “cross linking between the text of the book and features elsewhere on the site, allowing the reader to explore beyond the text itself, finding out more about the places and people mentioned.”

The one location we've not been able to tie down on a modern map is ‘Anoch’, mentioned by both Johnson and Boswell: and neither does it appear on the 1855 OS map. Boswell describes this as 11 miles beyond Fort Augustus  which, following the line of the old military road, would place it near to the junction between the modern A87 and A837 roads. Perhaps it has disappeared as a result of clearance like many Highland settlements: or perhaps there is a link with the nearby Ceannacroc Bridge and Lodge? – from Undiscovered Scotland Website

Afghanistan

The Places in Between, by Rory Stewart (Orlando, FL: Harvest Books, 2006)

The Places in Between is Rory Stewart’s account of his walk across Afghanistan just four months after 9/11.  His descriptions of people and place during his frigid mid-winter journey are enlightening, allowing readers a glimpse into this war torn country.  One emerges from the book hoping, more than ever, for a wise ending to the violence and turmoil.

Just before Christmas 2001, I reached a town in eastern Nepal and heard that the Taliban had fallen.  I decided to return by vehicle to Afghanistan and walk from Heart to Kabul and thus connect my walk in Iran with my walk in Pakistan.  I chose to walk from Herat to Kabul in a straight line through the central mountains.  The normal dogleg through Kandahar was flatter, easier, and free of snow.  But it was also longer and controlled in parts by the Taliban.

The country had been at war for twenty-five years; the new government had been in place for only two weeks; there was no electricity between Herat and Kabul, no television and no T-shirts.  Villages combined medieval etiquette with new political ideologies.  In many houses the only piece of foreign technology was a Kalashnikov, and the only global brand was Islam.  All that had made Afghanistan seem backward, peripheral, and irrelevant now made it the center of the world’s attention.  – from “Preface,” The Places in Between, by Rory Stewart

Related Websites

Rory Stewart Website

Publisher’s Website

The Dylan Thomas Centre, Swansea, Wales

The Dylan Thomas Centre, open from 10:00 until 4:30 p.m. daily, celebrates “Swansea’s world famous poet.”

The Dylan Thomas Centre has a permanent exhibition on Dylan Thomas and his life, as well as a cosy cafe and bookshop stuffed with books, posters and memorabilia.  The Centre is also home to many literary events throughout the year, including the annual Dylan Thomas Festival during October and November. – from The Dylan Thomas Centre Website

England; New England, U.S.; Virginia, U.S.

With Halloween approaching, Laura Miller recalls “three hauntingly unforgettable literary houses.”

Houses can be bought and sold, but if nothing else, the current housing crisis teaches us the danger of treating a house as a mere commodity. Literature is full of reminders that houses have souls, a fact characters forget at their own peril. In some novels, the house is as much a force as any of the people in the story. When that happens, the human characters had better beware. – from NPR Website

Edinburgh, Scotland

Ian Rankin “raises a glass” to Edinburgh.

The Scottish capital is bursting with stories, but sometimes you have to tease them out. Its history seems apparent from the moment you arrive, yet there are things you'll never see unless you know where to look – or get lucky. I've lived here more than half my life, yet can't claim anything close to an encyclopaedic knowledge of the place. – from “Ian Rankin’s Edinburgh,” The Guardian

Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

Julian Guthrie talks with Sara Paretsky, whose 13th book in her Chicago set V. I. Warshawski series, Hardball, was released last month.

‘The summer of 1966 was so pivotal in my life,’ said Paretsky, who was 19 when she arrived in Chicago from a farm in Kansas to do community service work. ‘No one knew how violent it would turn. We were just so hopeful and passionate. We believed that we could end racism and end poverty.’

She said that writing 'Hardball' was a way to revisit events that changed her life and yet felt unfinished. – from “Sara Paretsky’s Lucky 13: Hardball,” by Julian Guthrie, San Francisco Chronicle

November 2009 Literary Events

To read a writer is for me not merely to get an idea of what he says, but to go off with him and travel in his company. -- Andre Gide

Canada

Banff Mountain Book Festival
November 5-8
Banff, Alberta
http://www.banffmountainfestivals.com/festivals/2009/book_fair/

Ottawa Storytelling Festival
November 8
Ottawa, Ontario
http://onceuponastory.squarespace.com/

England

Book Now
November 1-21
Richmond upon Thames
http://www.richmond.gov.uk/home/leisure_and_culture/arts_and_entertainment/home/leisure_and_culture/arts/book_now_literature_festival.htm

Book Now, the much loved annual literary festival for Richmond upon Thames returns this November. Entering its eighteenth year the festival proves to be going from strength to strength. Running throughout November, there is a varied and lively selection of events from which to pick and choose.

Chelsea Book Fair
November 6-7
Chelsea
http://www.chelseabookfair.com/

The ABA Antiquarian Book Fair, Chelsea, is the most visually attractive and undoubtedly the friendliest event in the UK book trade calendar.

Folkestone Book Festival
November 6-14
Folkestone, Kent
http://www.folkestonelitfest.co.uk/

In addition to a spectacular selection of author talks and appearances, we are pleased to bring you a variety of events from film screenings and quizzes to cultural walks and workshops that will guarantee something for everyone this year.

Chorleywood Litfest
November 13-20
Chorleywood
http://www.cwlitfest.org/

Whether you are a budding writer or want to meet your favourite author, we are passionate about inspiring you. We offer a variety of distinctive, good value cultural events featuring top writers and intimate workshops to whet your appetite for words.

Mexico

Guadalajara International Book Fair
November 28-December 6
Guadalajara
http://www.fil.com.mx/ingles/i_index.asp

The most outstanding meeting of the Spanish-language publishing world awaits you at Guadalajara, from November 28th to December 6th, 2009. Authors, literary agents, librarians, booksellers and more than 1,600 publishing houses from 40 countries visit us every year. With them, over half a million visitors will enjoy the world of books and share the very best of Los Angeles’ culture and arts, our 2009 Guest of Honor.

Montserrat

Alliouagana: Festival of the Word
November 13-15
Salem
http://www.litfest.ms/

Montserrat, the small island which Henry Nelson Coleridge, the nephew of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, briefly visited in 1825 “for relief to breathe its air”2 is the birth place of such literary figures as M.P Shiel, the first unofficially acclaimed King of Redonda3, playwright Edgar White and the late poet, novelist and academic, E. Archie Markham. The island will be holding its first literary festival, the Alliouagana Festival of the Word, from November 13 – 15, 2009.

United States

California

L. A. Storytelling Festival: Building Community One Story at a Time
November 14
Los Angeles
http://www.lastorytellingfestival.com/

Many wonderful storytellers share their diverse lives and traditions face to face, heart to heart.

Connecticut

Connecticut Children's Book Fair: Celebrating Children and the Books They Read
November 14-15
Storrs
http://bookfair.uconn.edu/

The Connecticut Children's Book Fair brings together prominent children's authors and illustrators and the general public in an annual event designed to foster the enjoyment of children's literature. The Connecticut Book Fair is available to the public without an entrance fee. Children, parents, grandparents, book collectors, and interested members of the public are welcome to attend.

Florida

Miami Book Fair International
November 8-15
Miami
http://www.miamibookfair.com/

The books are coming.

And the readers and writers will follow, as they do by the hundreds of thousands every year for the Miami Book Fair International, an eight-day literary party in November.

Georgia

Dahlonega Literary Festival and Writer’s Conference
November 6-8
Dahlonega
http://www.dahlonega.org/index.php/festivals/147-dahlonega-literary-festival-a-writers-conference.html

The Dahlonega Literary Festival and Writer’s Conference is a celebration of books, authors and literacy.

Savannah Children’s Book Festival:  the Sixth Annual Festival
November 14
Forsyth Park, Savannah
www.liveoakpl.org/scbf

Celebrate the joy of reading, the power of the written word and the magic of storytelling with children’s book authors and illustrators from around the country. The festival also features dozens of local authors, arts and crafts, food, a variety of entertainment, an international tent, costumed characters, a “teen scene” and more!

Kentucky

Kentucky Book Fair
November 7
Frankfort Convention Center
http://www.kybookfair.org/

Each year approximately 150 authors attend the Book Fair to autograph copies of their latest book, generally published within the 12 months preceding the November Book Fair date.

Maine

Maine Literary Festival
“For This Earth: Visions in Literature”
November 6-7
Camden
http://www.maineliteraryfestival.com/

Massachusetts

Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair
November 13-15
Boston
http://www.bostonbookfair.com/

Join us for an opportunity to view rare books, maps, autographs, and prints. Bring in your books for appraisal by the experts, attend a seminar, or just browse the ‘stacks.’

Nebraska

Nebraska Book Festival
Nebraska Writers: Cultivating Creativity
November 14
Lincoln
http://www.nebraskabookfestival.org/

A selection of Nebraska writers will read from their 2009 works, along with readings from the winners of the Nebraska Book Awards.

Nevada

Vegas Valley Book Festival
November 4-8
Las Vegas
http://www.artslasvegas.org/vvbf/

Plans are now underway to present the annual Vegas Valley Book Festival this coming November. As the largest annual literature event in Las Vegas, the festival is founded on the simple premise of bringing together those who love to write books and those who love to read books. This four-day event will present a full schedule of readings, panel discussions, book signings, workshops, poetry & spoken word performances, exhibitions, children's literature and special events. Most events are free and open to the public.

New York

Rochester Children's Book Festival
November 7
Rochester
http://www.rochesterchildrensbookfestival.org/2009_Rochester_Childrens_Book_Festival_Book_festival,_Reading,_Rochester,_NY,2009_Rochester_Childrens_Book_Festival.html

If you haven’t yet fallen in love with all that books have to offer – this could be the day!

North Carolina

North Carolina Storytelling Guild's Storytelling Festival
November 14
Transylvania County Library, Brevard
http://www.ncstoryguild.org/events.htm

Ohio

The Kenyon Review Literary Festival
November 4-7
Gambier
http://www.kenyonreview.org/programs/litfest.php

Each Autumn, in Gambier, Ohio, The Kenyon Review presents a multi-day celebration of literature featuring readings by local, national, and international authors, workshops, presentations, and more.  This year's recipient of the 2009 Kenyon Review Award for Literary Achievement and the Denham Sutcliffe Memorial Lecture Keynote Speaker is Louise Erdrich.

Buckeye Book Fair
November 7
Wooster
http://www.buckeyebookfair.com/

At the annual Buckeye Book Fair, nearly 100 Ohio authors and illustrators, as well as authors with books on Ohio topics, meet with and autograph copies of their latest works for thousands of eager book lovers.

Oklahoma

Red Dirt Book Festival
Imagine Oklahoma
November 5-7
Shawnee
http://reddirtbookfestival.org/

More than 70 well-known writers, entertainers, and scholars with Oklahoma roots are preparing to be in Shawnee, Okla. on November 6 and 7 to present 40 programs for hundreds of reading enthusiasts and aspiring writers

Oregon

Tapestry of Tales Family Storytelling Festival
November 17-21
Portland
http://www.multcolib.org/events/tales/events.html

Texas

George West Storyfest
November 7
George West
http://www.georgeweststoryfest.org/

Come to The Storytelling Capital of Texas to hear all types of stories, ranging from tall tales to history, folktales to cowboy poetry, and much more.

Texas Book Festival: an Unfolding Narrative
October 21-November 1
State Capitol Building, Austin, Texas
http://www.texasbookfestival.org/

Read books. They are good for us. -- Natalie Goldberg