BOOKS

Book world, including Cape authors, grapple with COVID-19

Laurie Hertzel
Star Tribune (Minneapolis) (TNS)
St. Paul writer Marlon James reads from "A Brief History of Seven Killings" at Common Good Books (now Next Chapter Booksellers) before social distancing ruled out in-person readings. {FILE PHOTO}

From virtual book launches to emailed writing prompts to Skyped book clubs to videos of authors reading aloud, readers and writers are finding creative, fun and useful ways to stay connected during this weird time of social distance.

Publicists are rescheduling the publication date of some of the big spring books, moving them deeper into the year in hopes that the authors will be able to go on book tour by then. (Minneapolis novelist Peter Geye; publication of his fourth novel, “Northernmost,” has moved from April to some yet to be determined date. On Cape Cod, biographer Larry Tye's "Demagogue: The Life and Long Shadow of Senator Joe McCarthy" was due out next month. Because of the new coronavirus, publication has been delayed until July.

Here are some other things writers and bookish people are doing. This is not a comprehensive list by any means.

Authors reading aloud: The Facebook group Operation Read Aloud features authors and illustrators reading their own children’s books. (Because of copyright rules, it’s problematic for others to read an author’s work and post it on the internet.) Some authors have posted videos elsewhere, such as Kao Kalia Yang reading her picture book, “A Map Into the World,” and Jacqueline West reading from her own books on her website.

Instead of the planned book launch, Duluth, Minn., writer Margi Preus will record readings from her middle-grade book, “The Littlest Voyageur,” which will be posted on Facebook and on the web page of her publisher, Holiday House. She promises “props and costumes and an outrageous French accent.”

Writing classes: Kate DiCamillo is offering free weekly writing classes for adults and children on YouTube. The Loft Literary Center has moved all of its classes to online.

Virtual book festivals: The second Wordplay festival, originally scheduled for May 9, is moving to online and will take place over the months of April and May, in conjunction with other writing festivals nationwide. Last week, The Nantucket Book Foundation announced it was unable to present the 9th annual Nantucket Book Festival in downtown Nantucket from June 18-21. Festival staff and board members are working on producing a “virtual Festival” with opportunities to hear from the lineup, at nantucketbookfestival.org/authors.

Virtual book launches: Some writers and bookstores are experimenting with online book launches. Cape writer Laurn Wolk is working on virtual activities, including virtual classroom discussions (see box) for her newest, "Echo Mountain."

Lunchtime doodles with Mo Willems: The children’s author and illustrator livestreams daily 20-minute segments encouraging kids to doodle and draw. Several Cape Cod libraries are offering children's storytimes. Check your local libraries' website or capecodtimes.com/calendar for listings.

Poetry writing prompts: The group Poetry Asylum posts daily writing prompts on its Facebook page, using poems from Joy Harjo, Robert Hayden and others. 

Book recommendations: Check out the Facebook page of Birchbark Books and Native Arts for recommendations from owner Erdrich. (At the moment, she recommends books by James McBride, Ann Patchett, Luis Alberto Urrea and others.)

Read “War and Peace”: The arts group A Public Space is hosting a virtual book club reading Tolstoy’s “War and Peace,” moderated by poet Yiyun Li. They’ve already started, but you can join at any time — it’s a pretty long book; this will take a while. Search on Twitter for #Tolstoy Together or go to https://apublicspace.org.

And, if nothing else, become a voyeur: The Twitter hashtag #ShowUsYourShelves has people across the globe posting photos of their bookshelves. Browse them awhile, and then post your own. (I did.) Hang in there, folks. Stay home. Read a lot. We can do this.

 Cape Cod Times books editor Gwenn Friss contributed to this report.

Lauren Wolk, whose first young adult book "Wolf Hollow" was nationally acclaimed

When your book arrives with the virus

Three Cape authors share what is happening with their latest books:

Lauren Wolk, director of the Cultural Center of Cape Cod and author of “Echo Mountain": Though I was heartbroken to learn that my national tour would be canceled and all my school visits postponed, I’m very grateful to my team at Penguin for lining up a spectrum of digital materials that will reach students, teachers, librarians and readers everywhere while we’re all in isolation. They’re helping to schedule live on-line sessions with students through Zoom, as well as recorded materials through Loom, plus opportunities through print and broadcast media. But I’ll miss the face-to-face interactions, especially with the kids and their families.

I hope I’ll be able to have some kind of belated launch celebration this summer, when we can gather safely again, but the most satisfying part of a book release is the idea that people are reading it, no matter where they are. That’s why we write: to be read. So I’m incredibly grateful to booksellers everywhere who take such great care to put my work into the hands of readers.

 ***

Peter Abrahams of Falmouth, writer of the Chet and Bernie mystery series including the newest: “Of Mutts and Men, the new Chet and Bernie novel, comes out 7/7/2020. So far that's still the schedule and there will be a tour. But that's of today. Tomorrow never knows, as the Beatles said.

I would certainly do an online tour - I've done Zoom meet-ups with mystery and library groups in different parts of the country and they work pretty well. From what I'm getting on social media I can see that readers seem to find a bit of comfort in the Chet and Bernie adventures, quite humbling to me. Learn more: www.facebook.com/ChetTheDog.

***

Larry Tye of Cotuit, author of "Demagogue: The Life and Long Shadow of Senator Joe McCarthy": My release was slated for early May. When Amazon announced last month that it wouldn't accept new shipments of books until early June — to give itself time to bring on 100,000 new works and focus on Covid-vital stuff — all publishers started pushing back spring releases to fall, winter, 2021, or into the ether.

Mine, thankfully, was delayed just until early July. That's a small burden in this Era of the Virus, when so many are sick or worse. It does, however, mean pushing back scores of radio and TV interviews, published excerpts, and live talks in the 10 or so cities I'm slated to tour — and here on the Cape, where I had four events set. Venues have been amazingly obliging, here and everywhere. Bookstores and libraries have invited me to do virtual talks in places I'd never visit. And the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee, one place I'm due to go, pushed its own date back a month, which will let me go there, then to Chicago, then to Charlotte for the Republican Convention.
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