 Seven Years Old!
BiblioBuffet was originally conceived out of ashes. I had been books editor for a local weekly almost from its beginning through its demise in early July 2005. I learned a lot about writing on a regular deadline, about column inches, about readers’ reactions, and, in one of the most valuable lessons of my life to date, about what the role of an editor should not encompass. When the paper closed, it wasn’t without warning. It had been rising weakly from its bed for the last six months of its life but it was obvious the patient wasn’t going to get well. A friend began pushing me to consider opening up a website for book reviews, but I resisted. I viewed print as more legitimate, and I wanted another paper home. It’s fortunate I did not find one—though not for lack of trying—for when I began to come around to the idea of my own website I realized that everything I had learned would serve me well. Six months later, it opened with six writers (including myself). Today, I am pleased to say, two of those writers are still with BiblioBuffet: Nicki Leone and Laine Farley. The intervening years have taught me more than I ever could have imagined at the beginning. I took the bad editorialism I saw and felt at the paper and turned it into a nurturing, caring environment, albeit one that required high-quality writing. I provided complete editorial freedom for the writers. They could write whatever they wanted as long as they said it well because I am of the firm belief that if you hire the best you should let them do as they see fit. To that end that are essentially no word count parameters either. My role is to continue to develop the site, to shape its future, and to share via this small letter each week and, when I have the time, a review or essay of my own, my views and thoughts. I am technically the leader because I hold the title of Editor in Chief as well as the domain name, but make no mistake. The BiblioBuffet you read each week is the result of its brilliant writers, and for a large part, of its incredible managing editor, Nicki Leone. For that I thank each of the writers—Elizabeth Creith, Pete Croatto, Laine Farley, Katherine Hauswirth, Gillian Polack, Lev Raphael, and Carl Rollyson in addition to Nicki—and I especially thank you, our readers, for your time and your eyes. From all of us here at BiblioBuffet to all of you: Let’s have some champagne and a fabulous 2012!
Upcoming Book Festivals and Fairs: Location: Austin, Texas The Pub House: The house had its beginnings in 1978 when Barney McKee, then director of the University Press of Mississippi brought home a cookbook that the press couldn’t publish but he thought deserved publication. His wife agreed, and Quail Ridge began with that book on their dining room table. Gwen and her friend and partner Barbara Moseley have, in addition to their Best of the Best State Cookbook Series (covering all fifty states), also offer the Recipe Hall of Fame Series and a choice of other regional and national cookbooks as well as gift, inspiration, and other selections. Those include Fine Dining Tennessee Style, a cookbook and traveling companion with historic landmarks and restaurants as well as recipes from the state’s finest chefs; Roads from the Bottom, a memoir of one family’s determination to prevail over the harsh realities of being black in the 1960s in Vicksburg, Mississippi; and Historic Southern Lighthouses Coloring Book, which mixes fun and facts in one volume for children. Imaging Books & Reading: Of Interest: This exhibition focuses on the time when illustrations were beginning to take their place as a “parallel visual text” alongside the words in North American narratives that range from the high Arctic to the Caribbean. Fans of travel and adventure stories will find a treasure trove here. Until next week, read well, read often and read on!
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On January 8, 2006, BiblioBuffet opened its doors. We didn’t make a loud “bang” at the time we emerged; in fact, we were pretty understated. We thought it better to let our site become known for its quality rather than shouting our own praises from virtual rooftops. And so we have done. Today, we have several thousand readers who come every week to enjoy our writers and their reviews, opinions, humor, and experiences. We may not be the biggest literary site on the web, but I am of the opinion that we are one of the best.