The Kids are Alright
If this week’s events are any guide, there’s a bit of a youth movement afoot in the Atlanta literary scene. First, representin’ the East Side, Russ Marshalek of Wordsmiths Books in Deactur began the week with a piece on the National Book Critics Circle blog. He followed that up by being featured in an Atlanta Journal-Constitution article in the Sunday paper’s book section. Russ waxed philosophical along side prominent southern authors like Roy Blount, Jr. on the joys of reading through the dog days of summer.
Over on the West End, Lain Shakespeare and the Wren’s Nest were the subject of an article in the Grey Lady herself, the New York Times. The focus of the article was Shakespeare’s efforts to revive the stuggling Wren’s Nest (a home/museum of the newspaperman/author Joel Chandler Harris), as well as the reputation of his great-grandfather and the Uncle Remus stories. The article does a nice job of highlighting the obstacles facing Shakespeare.
On the Wren’s Nest blog, Lain wrote a recent post that highlights the relevance of the Uncle Remus stories. He uses a chance encounter with rapper Young Jeezy in a West End cafeteria to show the connection between the archetypal trickster (Br’er Rabbit) and today’s hip hop stars. Honestly, I did not recognize the significance of Eminem’s name in 8-Mile, “B. Rabbit”, until Lane broke it down for me. The post concludes with a picture of Sir Salman Rushdie mugging with the statue of Br’er Rabbit in Milledgeville, GA. Nice play, Shakespeare. (Sorry. I couldn’t resist.)
At 25, Russ is the elder statesman of this two man youth movement (even though he looks 12). Both have apparently endless reservoirs of energy. (I haven’t met Lain, but I’m making my call based on the tone of the Wren’s Nest blog.) Both are all Web 2.0, leveraging the web to get their word out. Both are frequent contributors to, if not the masterminds behind, the blogs of their respective organizations. Wordsmiths has a MySpace page and regularly posts pictures of events to Flickr. The Wren’s Nest has begun to upload video of their storytellers to YouTube. They are probably both Twittering their way to a bleeding edge underground poetry slam that you’ll never know about.
The point is, with enthusiasm like this in our literary scene, things suddenly don’t seem so grim. If there is one thing that I’ve learned from the print media, two data points constitutes a trend. Therefore, we appear to be trending in the right direction. Keep up the good work fellas.
July 2, 2007 7:00 am Other Links to this Post
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Wordsmiths Books » Blog Archive » Flattered into speechlessness…again — July 2, 2007 @ 9:52 am
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The Wren’s Nest » Peter Pan Syndrome — July 2, 2007 @ 3:19 pm
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The Wren’s Nest » WNPCo.! — July 13, 2007 @ 2:19 pm
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By Russ, July 2, 2007 @ 8:41 am
little known fact:
Lain was Wordsmiths Books first real (as in didn’t take a book for free and wasn’t David L Robbins) customer. That’s kismet.
Or just dumb luck because we’re close on Marta.
Also I don’t look like I’m twelve. I didn’t shave today, putting me at a grand old 15.
By Lucy, July 2, 2007 @ 9:07 am
also: that russ guy ain’t too hard on the eyes, either. so i’ve heard.
By Lain, July 2, 2007 @ 11:54 am
Yup. By the way, the first book bought was Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. I hadn’t read it since high school and my copy had disappeared.
Thanks for the kinds words!
By Lain, July 2, 2007 @ 12:01 pm
Kind words. Damn.
By Kelly, July 2, 2007 @ 6:26 pm
Thanks for all the information I wasn’t aware of the movement. The articles were really interesting.
By DJ Cayenne, July 2, 2007 @ 11:03 pm
I don’t know if this is an actual movement… There are no patches or armbands are even meetings. Just two young dudes that are kicking a little butt and deserved some recognition.