Tuesday, November 20, 2007

The valley of books

I learned about it firstly from the excellent blog of Larry Portzline, Friends of Indie Bookstores USA The National Council on Bookstore Tourism. Then I ran to open the New York Times and read Roger Mummert's article 'In the Valley of the Literate'.

Mummert bring us the story of Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts, which is a paradise for every avid reader - plenty of independent bookstores, many literature events every day and even loads of authors that live next by ("The Pioneer Valley is arguably the most author-saturated, book-cherishing, literature-celebrating place in the nation. ")

And now there's even more - the valley is in the midst of a five-month festival call BookMarks: A Celebration of the Art of the Book. “BookMarks celebrates the valley’s rich literary pedigree going back to Emily Dickinson, and a plethora of writers live here today,” said Tony Maroulis, of Museums10, a consortium of local museums that sponsors the festival.

I read it and wanted to get immediately on the road and visit all of the places mentioned in the article. I think it's great to see such an area where independent bookstores thrive and literature prosper.

So please check out the article as well as the slideshow on the NYT site that brings you the sights of this unique area.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris