Tag: store events

Meet Andrew Simonet, TSKW Artist in Residence, author of Wilder

December 6, 2018

Andrew Simonet, author of debut young adult novel Wilder and current Artist-in-Residence at The Studios of Key West will give a talk Tuesday, December 11, at 6 pm at the store. The presentation “13 Thoughts on Writing and Fighting,” is geared towards teens and adults and will include excerpts from Wilder, stories from Andrew’s life, and reflections on masculinity and violence.

Andrew draws from a wide range of professional and artistic experiences from his work as a writer, choreographer, teacher, documentarian and artist advocate. We recently sat down to talk about writing process and the importance of artists having the skills, knowledge and community to build sustainable lives.

One of Andrew’s projects, Artists U, is a collaborative professional development workshop for and by artists designed to equip them with the tools for the business side of managing an artistic life, including financial and strategic planning. Andrew has written a book called Making Your Life as an Artist and, as part of his Studios residency, is teaching a workshop called “Building a Sustainable Life as an Artist.”

He has had a multifaceted career, running a dance company, teaching high school, building Artists U, and now publishing a YA novel. I asked him how all the pieces fit together and how he ended up following this particular path.

“I started dancing when I was 19 and it changed my life,” Andrew says. He’d always participated in theater and sports. “For me, dance has the physical movement and energy of sports combined with the creativity and artistic expression of theater.”

About 14 years ago, as Andrew was serving as choreographer for his dance company, Headlong Dance Theater, the desire to write “just showed up.” Writing, he says, is very different from the collaborative, social process of dance, but creatively the process felt seamless.

Since leaving the dance company to focus on fiction writing, Andrew has participated in a number of residencies, enjoying the opportunity to meet different artists and experience different communities. He thought spending time in Key West would have the added benefit of helping him flesh out the setting he planned for a follow-up to Wilder, but things didn’t work out quite as expected.

Though he completed the sequel, it didn’t get picked up by his publisher. That’s one of the things you have to know and accept about publishing, he says, “there are a lot of gatekeepers.” Knowing how to deal with rejection and move on to the next project is one of those key skills in building a sustainable life as an artist. “There is value in doing the work. [That project] made me a better writer,” Andrew says.

~ Robin Wood, Associate Manager

A Q&A with Rosalind Brackenbury, author of The Lost Love Letters of Henri Fournier

December 6, 2018

by Robin Wood

If you’ve been keeping up with novelist, poet and short story writer, Rosalind Brackenbury, you might know that she was literary editor at Key West newspaper Solares Hill, and you might know she was Key West’s second Poet Laureate (2014-15), but you probably don’t know that her first job locally was as a deck hand on the Schooner Wolf.

She’s didn’t talk much about her deck hand days, when she and Jessica Argyle, author of No Name Key, got together Dec. 18 2018 to discuss Roz’s new novel The Lost Love Letters of Henri Fournier. But she did answer a few questions for us, including talking about the real-life letters that inspired her new book.

Q: What was the genesis of The Lost Love Letters of Henri Fournier?

A: The Lost Love Letters had its genesis in my finding in a rural used book store in France, a copy of Fournier’s embryo second novel as put together by some Italian academics in a sort of proof-style format.

I’d always loved Le Grand Meaulnes (The Lost Domain) and this got me excited – I hadn’t known he was writing another when he went to war. Reading about him brought me to Pauline Benda, his lover from 1912-1914. A French writer friend sent me in Key West an enormous package of books and photo-copied letters and excerpts of writing by and about Pauline. I read, translated, starting thinking about a novel.

It was far the most difficult one I’ve ever written.

The second “layer” – Seb interviewing the old Pauline – came next, as yes, I am fascinated by old age these days! Then a reader in London suggested a third ‘layer’ with Seb in the present. He was a woman at first, but then I wanted the challenge of a male protagonist. And so on, for years…

What fascinates me about juxtaposing history and contemporary stories is the idea that we do all face very similar challenges in life, when it comes down to it – but deal with them in different ways, because of the times we live in. I’m hooked on writing about war and its aftermath, having been born in the middle of one – but this time it’s World War I. I’m a historian by training but a novelist by choice – a sort of hybrid, I suppose.

Q: What are you working on now?

A: I’ve just finished a lot of edits on a novel coming out next July, called Without Her. Also edits of a poetry collection Invisible Horses, due out in May. So – looking forward to writing rather than editing!

Q: Where are you when not in Key West?

A: I spent most of the summer months in France and/or England and Scotland. Paris, because it’s great for writing and I’ve always loved it. England, Scotland, because my family and old friends are there. I love Key West for winter weather – yes, becoming a snowbird – and so many friends, and our house here in Old Town that my husband has worked endlessly on, and the ocean – and it’s now my “home port.”

Q: How did you end up in Key West?

A: I went to a poetry reading on Caroline Street 25 years ago, met a man – the rest is history.

~ Robin Wood, Associate Manager

Rosalind Brackenbury, author of The Lost Love Letters of Henri Fournier

December 3, 2018

by Robin Wood

Tuesday, December 18, at 6pm, Rosalind Brackenbury in conversation with Jessica Argyle about The Lost Love Letters of Henri Fournier, Brackenbury’s most recent novel.

Intimately epic, The Lost Love Letters of Henri Fournier spans generations to explore every beautiful mystery of falling in love, being in love, and losing a love – and, most important, daring to love again and discovering just how resilient the human heart can be.

Seb Fowler has arrived in Paris to research his literary idol, Henri Fournier. It begins with an interview granted by a woman whose affair with the celebrated writer trails back to World War I. The enchanting Pauline is fragile, but her memories are alive – those of an illicit passion, of the chances she took and never regretted, and of the twists of fate that defined her unforgettable love story.

Through Pauline’s love letters, her secrets, and a lost Fournier manuscript, Seb will come to learn so much more – about Pauline, Henri, and himself. For Seb, every moment of Pauline’s past proves to be more inspiring than he could have imagined. She’s given him the courage to grab hold of whatever life offers, to cherish each risk, and to pursue love in his life.

Rosalind Brackenbury was born in London, England, grew up in the UK and has lived in Scotland and France. She has lived in Key West for 25 years with her husband, Allen Meece.

She has been writing all her life and has published novels and collections of poetry, as well as award-winning short stories. She was literary editor at Solares Hill for ten years and Creative Writing Fellow at the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg VA, in 2006 and 2012. In Key West, she runs yearly poetry and prose workshops at The Studios of Key West and she has been featured both as panelist and moderator at the Key West Literary Seminar. She was Key West’s second Poet Laureate in 2014-15.

Her latest poetry collection Invisible Horses is due out from Hanging Loose Press, NY, in May 2019. Her new novel, Without Her is to be published by Delphinium Books in July 2019.

Rosalind Brackenbury, author of The Lost Love Letters of Henri Fournier

November 18, 2018

by Robin Wood

Tuesday, December 18, at 6pm, Rosalind Brackenbury in conversation with Jessica Argyle about The Lost Love Letters of Henri Fournier, Brackenbury’s most recent novel. She will sign books following the author talk.

Rosalind Brackenbury was born in London, England, grew up in the UK and has lived in Scotland and France. She has lived in Key West for 25 years with her husband, Allen Meece.

Her latest poetry collection Invisible Horses is due out from Hanging Loose Press, NY, in May 2019. Her new novel, Without Her is to be published by Delphinium Books in July 2019.

The Audacious Kwame Alexander

September 28, 2018

by Robin Wood

The audacious, Newbery medal-winning Kwame Alexander wants to introduce you to some people – both in his own work and in his new HMH imprint Versify, which showcases voices underrepresented in publishing.

Swing, co-authored with Mary Rand Hess, is Kwame’s second Young Adult novel-in-verse and tells the story of 17-year-old high school junior Noah, who seeks to make the baseball team and win over the heart of Sam, a girl he’s loved since third grade.

Kwame’s all-ages event at the store (Friday, October 12, 6pm) will feature Randy Preston on guitar and offer a dynamic, inspiring performance. Kwame is already on tour for Swing, but I caught up with him by phone and asked a few questions.

Q: What inspired Swing?

A: It was inspired by remembering how I was in high school, not being cool, liking a particular girl and being afraid to tell her. Finally, I did tell her, and I asked her to the prom – she said she’d think about it ….

[Ed note: They went. Kwame reports having a good time.]

It’s also an ode to jazz music, like Solo was to Rock & Roll.

Look for the first Versify titles coming April 2019

I also wanted to write about social justice. I believe poetry, books, can change minds, change the world. It’s kind of audacious, but I believe I can change the world. I want people to see the value in all our lives. I want people to be able to appreciate and relate to people who have different experiences from them, who are not them.

Q: What’s authentic cool?

A: For me – poetry, tennis, love poems, being a dad.

You gotta find your own authentic cool. Walt (one of the characters in Swing) says he’s looking for his authentic cool, but really he’s already got it – he is unabashedly okay with being himself – obsessed with baseball, possessed of death trivia . . ..

You have to find your authentic cool for yourself, what engages, moves you, whether other people get it or not.

Q: Tell me a little about Versify, your new imprint.

A: Book publishing is an amazing dinner party, but it’s the same people at the table over and over again and there are always some empty seats. I want the table to be packed, just full of interesting people, anyone who can entertain and empower.

Q: What are you working on next?

A: There will be a continuation of the story in The Crossover.

And I’ll be making a big announcement Oct. 13 – maybe, just maybe, I’ll give you all in Key West a hint the night before . . ..

~ Robin Wood, Associate Manager

Wishing our customers, donors, volunteers, neighbors & friends, a joyful holiday season and happy 2019!