Saturday, October 27, 2012

Celebration of Books

We started the day early - 7am in Cooke Park setting up the Book Swap Tree, had a lovely breakfast and coffee in town then headed home for a bit. We returned to check out the Children's Treasure hunt, and the 27 local authors signing their books in the main street. Also talked to Susan B who was demonstrating her artists' books and prints. Home again for  a quick lunch then headed back into the Library to see the craft (book marks and door hangers) and to run our Bookmaking for children workshop.  An hour and a half later and Barry and I returned home - to sit quietly and reflect on a busy, beautiful day full of books.

We didn't get the chance to go to the poetry readings last nights; but did hear the young writers from the High School read their work.  Our workshop today clashed with two other events as well (the big book group and the performance about strong women in Australian literature) - but I hope they went really well.

Tomorrow morning we attend a panel discussion about "Do writers really care about their audience?" Should be fabulous.

We had 12 children in the workshops and it was full on fun and busy!  We made an accordion book with pockets and used the marbled paper I made during the Open Studios for covers.  The children made up their own stories; many on luggage tags, and decorated and wrote their books.  The results were stunning and joyful!





The Book Swap Tree was a success - people came and browsed the books and took one home, and swapped one.  They left a book mark in their book, explaining why they liked it. It was great to see new books appearing throughout the day.  It will be there again tomorrow and I hope more books get swapped! It was a lovely honesty thing - none of us were there to supervise during the day; we just watched people poking about or went and had a look ourselves at different times. They are book covers hanging in the trees just to grab attention - the books were in the boxes on the chairs around the tree.  In plastic bags in case it rained.



A couple of children's authors (Judy, Prue and Jill) devised a wonderful Treasure Hunt at the Library. The children were in two teams and had to go hunting for clues - once unearthed, the clue would send them to a book and a page and they had to find the word and build the final answer using these clues. The winners won something; but every child also took home a book or two which was wonderful and generous of our authors.  Our neighbour Gillian generously illustrated the two maps the teams used to find the treasure and they were stunning.




I was particularly fond of the Toilets of doom...

In amongst it all there were fairy stories for little kids and scary stories for bigger kids.


Lots of people have visited the Library to see the artists book display - and people are talking about how fascinating they find it all - great exposure and great for so many more people to come to know and love artists' books.

My sense of it so far is that it has been a great success - lots of people have had an interaction with books or writers and the sheer pleasure of reading has been shared widely.  I think the generosity of the community was also on display and it felt warm and wonderful.  

19 comments:

  1. what a fantastic idea! love it! all of it!

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    1. Yep! All of it was great Ronnie - on so many fronts people were enjoying books and stories...

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  2. This is exactly the sort of community fair I love. And the treasure hunt and story telling is something I used to do.Well, sometimes I still do.
    Congratulations to all involved.

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    1. Thanks Dinah - it was a great day and it felt so good. All those community connections are so good, and we also had lots of visitors to town so the shops and cafes did well as well.

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  3. A wonderful event, I wish I had been there! So rich and endearing.

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  4. Oh the Book Tree is a wonderful idea! .... and sitting nearby watching people come and go must have been fun too. The Go Jimy book is pure delight. I would have enjoyed that workshop!

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    1. Wasn't it great Robyn? Our favourite coffee shop is across the road so we could sticky beak a bit. I love watching kids make things - they have no fear loads of imagination!

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  5. Fantastic! Sounds like a dream [art] festival they will all remember; young and not so young...
    Bravo to all involved!!!

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    1. Thank you Anna - it was a real celebration - art and books, readers and writers - just great fun and inspirational all round.

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    1. Yes Louise bibliophile that you are! You would have had a ball going hither and yon and soaking in books...

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  7. Fiona-This sounds like a fantastic event! I love the children's books...I imagine big proud smiles...and stories shared...
    Thanks for sharing this--Julie

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    1. Thanks Julie - yes the colours were bright and their imaginations wild. I love how they didn't need any guidance or suggestions about stories to write - they all had a story to tell and decorate and draw...just love it.

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  8. "the sheer pleasure of reading". yep!

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    1. I agree totally V - lots of folk experienced that this weekend. Go well.

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  9. F-the children's book making was a great experience to be part of. It was amazing to just see how focussed and dedicate and creative they were. The 1.5 hours just flew - and what treasures they took home with them. B

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    1. Thanks for all your help and support B - it was great to have you along for the ride!! It was actually fun wasn't it??

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  10. What a great sense of community you must have there Fiona. Those little accordion books by the children are fabulous. I bet they just just got stuck in and made them without too much of the 'shall I, shan't I' ritual that adults go through. What a joyous thing to be a part of. Lucky you.

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I appreciate your thoughts and comments; thanks for taking the time.