It’s been a nuts summer around EAP World Headquarters, what with the sudden development of the (former) Ashland Literary Festival being turned over to us at the Southern Oregon Literary Alliance and Cascadia Publishers, transforming itself into the Ashland Literary Arts Festival. When the infrastructure was offered us by SOU’s Hannon Library, here in beautiful Ashland, of course we jumped at it. Whenever you get an offer of an infrastructure for a literary festival, well, you have to jump on it.
We started out saying it was going to be like that fairy tale, “Stone Soup”: We had a cauldron of boiling water with a big rock in it. Anybody got a carrot? Anybody got a head of garlic? Anybody got some noodles?
Just like in the fairy tale, next thing you know, everybody eats!
Seriously, it was pretty obvious that we here in the Pacific Northwest needed another meeting place for independent publishers, independent stories, and independent thought in general. So while we’re all scrambling to get into our places in time for the day–Saturday, October 28th, from 10 to 4 (and beyond), at the Hannon Library, on the Southern Oregon University campus in beautiful Ashland, Oregon–the day ahead is rich to bursting point with every conceivable literary ingredient. We’ve got workshops (Rethinking Schools! How to Make Your Own Podcast!) We’ve got stories (Southern Oregon! Hugo House in Seattle! Fantasy as Reality!) We’ve got poetry (Oregon’s poet laureate, the wonderful Elizabeth Woody! And poets galore!). We’ve got comics (EAP’s own Mike Madrid!). We’ve got literature (Too many to enumerate). We’ve got cooking (Jam Today and the wonderful Sarah Lemon of the Medford Mail Tribune will cook from a mystery bag of ingredients). We’ve got archaeology (Chelsea Rose!). We’ve got film (Alex Cox’s WALKER, sponsored by the Ashland Independent Film Festival, with a panel after…). We’ve got music (Danbert Nobacon of Chumbawamba plays from his latest album, and signs his EAP book on top of that).
As if that isn’t enough (I’m dizzy even thinking about it), the ever effervescent Laura Kimberly, of the Medford Public Library, has talked me into renting a karaoke machine for a Cosplay Karaoke Contest, followed by a Wonder Woman costume contest. I mean…I mean…
Phew.
Just to tie it in to this EAP: The Magazine issue: ALAF is going to welcome not just our own Mike Madrid, but the poet Charles S. Kraszewski, and David Horowitz, too. I was dying to get Bruce Thompson to bring his Dr. Faustus puppet show, and Ronnie Pontiac and Tamra Lucid to bring themselves, but next time. When we hope we have a budget. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a budget?
When you look at what we’re doing without one, well. With one, the sky is not even the limit.
Welcome back.