Life is Good in Delaware, Ohio

Sometimes when you plan an event at an independent bookstore in Delaware, Ohio on a Tuesday evening in late September, you think to yourself---It's a good date. What else could possibly be going on?

It turns out there was a lot going on in Delaware last night.  Our event with the poetry group House of Toast was one of 3 other events that I knew of within a 1/2 mile radius of our store (walking distance).  And we had a full house of people listening to an incredible group of poets.

Among the other events were OWU professor Sean Kay, whose book launch of Celtic Revival we hosted back in June with a discussion led by Fred Andrle, who was a featured poet at our House of Toast event last night.  Kay spoke about Africa's Wars and Global Security at OWU's Benes Room for the Sagan National Colloquium, at 7pm.

I also learned that the talented and dynamic OWU music professor Nancy Gamso was giving a performance at Sanborn Hall at 7pm.  She has played at the Beehive many times with groups of her amazing students.

And at Andrews House across the street Alec Johnson, a Beehive customer and supporter, was giving a presentation about his experience with the Tar Sands Activists in Washington DC, at 7pm.

I'm sure that all of these events were as well-attended as ours and I wish I could've been at each one. 

I love that on a cool and misty autumn evening on a Tuesday in a seemingly sleepy little town, that there is a hell of a lot of stuff going on.

If you did miss our poetry event last night, please stop in to check out our selection of books from the poets.

And mark your calendar for our next event with artist Matt Kish on Thursday October 20 at 7pm.  His forthcoming book, Moby-Dick in Pictures, will be published in early October by Tin House.  He started documenting his project on his blog http://everypageofmobydick.blogspot.com/ which we have been following for several years.  Check it out!


posted by Mel

House of Toast September 27 @ 7pm

House of Toast, an eclectic assemblage of Central Ohio poets, will give a poetry reading on Tuesday, Sept. 27 at 7 p.m. at Beehive Books.


Poet and playwright Fred Andrle, the former long-time host of WOSU’s “Open Line” talk show, will be one of the featured poets along with Linda Fuller-Smith, MJ Abel, Jerry Roscoe, Jacquelin Smith and Charlene Fix.

The House of Toast poets have been widely published and have won many literary awards. Members Roscoe and Andrle’s poems have been featured on Garrison Keiller’s public radio series, “The Writer’s Almanac.”  Read their poems here:  Andrle on Writer's Almanac  ;  Roscoe on Writer's Almanac

House of Toast was founded in 1995 as a vehicle to critique and support the members' work and poetry in general. The group has evolved into a troupe of performers known for their engaging, audience-friendly readings.

Andrle’s current poetry collection is "Love Life," published by XOXOX Press in Gambier, Ohio. He has received playwriting and poetry fellowships from the Greater Columbus Arts Council, and his one-act play, “The Eternal Brunch,” was staged by CATCO, the Contemporary American Theater Company (Columbus) in 2000. He has received Ohio Public Broadcasting and Regional Emmy awards . For his radio and television programs and taught courses in mass media at Ohio Wesleyan University and Ohio Dominican University.

Fuller-Smith has been published in The Heartlands Today, Urban Spaghetti, Pudding Magazine and several anthologies.

Abell is a two-time winner of Thurber Treat humorous essay contest and has published a chapbook titled Below the Waterline.

Smith is the author of several books, including My G-Rated Life, which won the Chiron Review Chapbook Contest.

Roscoe’s collection Mirror Lake was published in Two Midwest Voices, which won the 2002 Ohioana Book Award. His poem “Illustration” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and his poems “Adequate Love” and “Bouquet” were read by Garrison Keillor on his show.

Fix is chair of the English and Philosophy department at Columbus College of Art Design. She has won poetry fellowships, and her chapbook Mischief is available from Pudding House.  Read more about Fix and her dog-inspired poetry collection here:  This Week article

Leslie Noyes Mass Book Talk Thursday 9/15 @ 7:00pm

Leslie Noyes Mass author of the newly published book Back To Pakistan: A Fifty-Year Journey will give a presentation about the book Thursday 9/15 @ 7pm at Beehive Books.

In 1962, Mass graduated from college and joined the fledgling Peace Corps. She was assigned to Pakistan to start an educational program in a small Muslim village, where she was the only Westerner and only Peace Corps volunteer. She left after a year, feeling she had not made an impact.


50 years later, she returned to find a much-changed Pakistan and a village that still remembered her. In her book, she deftly interweaves journal entries from her Peace Corps experience with her current volunteer work training female teachers for a Pakistani non-governmental organization.

In a series of interviews with Pakistanis from every social class, Mass gives voice to those who are taking responsibility for their country’s educational problems and addressing challenges within the tradition, culture and religious understanding of their people.

Mass also is the author of “In Beauty May She Walk,” about her experience hiking the Appalachian Trail at age 60. She earned a Ph.D. at Ohio State University in early and middle education and was director of the Early Childhood Center at Ohio Wesleyan University, from which she retired in 2007.

Mass is donating her proceeds from the sale of the book to The Citizens Foundation, a Pakistani NGO that supports education for girls in Pakistan.

Dogs Days of Summer - 2 Free Kids Events in August

Thursday Aug. 4 @ 4pm
Kids Writing Workshop
w/ Author Nancy Roe Pimm
http://beehivebooksdelaware.blogspot.com/2011_07_01_archive.html


Thursday Aug 11 @ 4pm
Reading Dogs
Read with Woofie, Stella, and Aston
for kids 6-12

Reading will go to the dogs at Beehive Books, when specially trained dogs will be paired with children ages 6 to 12 to share a story and practice reading skills. Please call us at 740-363-2337 or e-mail us at readers@beehiveat25.com to reserve a spot for this program. Reservations are requested, but walk-ins are welcomed.

The dog-friendly program will feature Woofie, Stella, Aston and another canine pal, along with their owners. The pets and owners have been trained by Acme Canine of Lewis Center, which is presenting the program.

Laura Pakis, owner of Acme Canine, said, "We've held reading sessions at a number of libraries in Columbus this summer, and it's been a huge hit. Children love spending time with attentive, furry friends who won't judge them if they stumble over a word or don't understand a passage. Reading improves as the child relaxes, and the adults are there to help with pronunciation and comprehension."

For more about Acme Canine go go http://www.acmecanine.com/

FREE WRITING WORKSHOP FOR KIDS OFFERED AUG. 4

We're delighted to welcome local author Nancy Roe Pimm to Beehive Books on Thursday, Aug. 4. Nancy will host a free writing workshop for children ages 7 and over from 4 p.m.-5:30 p.m.  This is a great chance for kids to  learn the key elements of writing and play an interactive game to create their own stories.

Nancy is the popular author of two non-fiction books about animals at the Columbus Zoo as well as books on the Indianapolis 500 race and the Dayton 500 race. She has published articles in Highlights for Children, Boys’ Quest and Guideposts for Kids.

In her dynamic workshop “The Seven Steps of Writing,” Pimm will show young writers how to develop memorable characters, create an interesting plot, write effective dialogue and more. After that, kids will gather in small groups to create their own stories and share them with others.

Nancy will sign copies of her books, which include: Colo’s Story: The Life of One Grand Gorilla (Colo lives at the Columbus Zoo and is the oldest living gorilla in an American zoo), The Heart of the Beast: Eight Great Gorilla Stories, The Indy 500: The Inside Track and The Daytona 500: The Thrill and Thunder of the Great American Race. The books received Junior Library Guild awards.

A resident of Plain City, Nancy lives with her husband, Ed, a retired professional race car driver. She drew from her experiences as a pit crew member for Ed's team to write her racing books and tapped her experience as a docent for the Columbus Zoo to write about animals. For more details, visit her web site at http://www.nancyroepimm.com/.

To sign up for Nancy's workshop, call us at 740-363-2337. Reservations are requested, but walk-ins are welcome. Kids, get ready to go back to school by sharpening your writing skills and having fun!

Posted by Erin

Great Summer Read: The Borrower, by Rebecca Makkai

Funny, touching and heartfelt, The Borrower takes you on a journey with two unlikely travelers. Lucy Hull is a 26-year-old children’s librarian adrift in a small Missouri town. Her strongest connection is to a young patron, 10-year-old Ian Drake, whose overbearing mother censors his book choices and sends him to anti-gay classes.  At first, Lucy’s rebellion is surreptitious – she checks out beloved children’s books on her own card, then slips them to Ian – but it becomes an act of anarchy when she ends up helping Ian to run away.  The two embark on a crazy car trip, supposedly in search of Ian’s grandmother and funded by Lucy’s mysterious Russian-mafia type father.   All of this could have become just too zany, but Makkai keeps it real by creating memorable, rounded characters that you root for. Makkai has a wonderful ability to blend comedy and pathos.  Lucy and Ian encounter many strange companions and learn important lessons in this tale that draws inspiration from the Wizard of Oz, just one of the many literary references in the book.  It’s a winning first novel for author Rebecca Makkai, who lives in Chicago and may make a stop at Beehive Books this fall if we can convince her to take a road trip of her own.  

By: Erin

Outdoor Film Series Friday 7/8 @ 9:30pm

Watch a film

with your community

in your community

about community.

OUTSIDE!

The first in the (socially-conscious) Outdoor Film Series
We’ll be screening the film
The Economics of Happiness
outside behind Beehive Books.

For more about the film, go to http://www.theeconomicsofhappiness.org/

Bring a chair or blanket & a friend, or 2, or 5!