What do you get when you take a throng of students — aging anywhere from just having finished their first year of school, to being just on the verge of beginning their first year of college — a smattering of wildly excited and supportive parents and teachers, a handful dedicated volunteers, a bit of gentle sax and piano music, and about five-hundred brand new books featuring the works of said students? Well, you’re in luck, because I happen to know what you get: the 826michigan/Neutral Zone book release party for Vacansapaporosophobia!
That’s right — last night saw our second book release in the past month, taking place at the wonderful Neutral Zone space. This time, attendees — and there were a LOT of them — were treated to readings by some of the many incredible authors featured in the literary anthology. Powerful poems left listeners pondering; sensational stories sparked eruptions of laughter; a manifesto on the chicken’s rights rallied everyone to the fowl cause. In addition, the book itself was a huge hit, with copies being bought up faster than we could believe! All in all, the night was an outstanding success: the Neutral Zone was packed, young writers went home as published authors, parents of young writers went home as parents of published authors, and the volunteers went home thinking, “Boy, I sure did get to meet a lot of published authors!”
Of course, no 826michigan blog would be complete without a monstrous helping of thank yous. First and foremost, to our dedicated and hardworking team of editors: Ben (who should also be singled out for his incredible emceeing talents), Kerry, Harper, Molly, Maggie, Maggie, and Carli. Thanks to all the 826 volunteers who showed up: Holly, Sarah, Becca, C Jason, John, Alex, and Michelle. Thanks to the Neutral Zone for partnering up with us on this project. And thank you, thank you, thank you to the amazing writers who continue to astound and inspire us with their talent.
Finally, one person who deserves perhaps the most recognition for her hard work, yet who is usually too busy making the world go round to stop and get it, is Amy Sumerton. While this publication is of course the creation of the many writers involved, such a creation could have never been realized were it not for her endless hours of planning, reading, and organizing (among countless other things). Let’s hear it for Amy!
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What a crowd! |
What’s this? More of the crowd! Boy, this place was packed! |
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Some of the brave, young readers from the night: Evan, Lily, Aja, Emanuel, Jonathon, and Henry. |
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In all its glory. |
Both of our student publications are available from 826michigan, Shaman Drum Bookstore, Barnes & Noble. All proceeds go to fund programming at 826michigan.