May
May 13, 10 am Wendy visits Waynesboro Book Club, Northern Virginia
May 21, noon CHRISTIANSBURG book club visits Little Bookstore and has a day out in Big Stone Gap.
May 21, 7 pm author Jamie Mason (Three Bags Full, a great debut thriller) speaks and signs at bookstore
May 23, 6 pm Jack and Wendy provide balloon theatre at BSG library – these aren’t fractured fairy tales, they’re popped!
MAY 31 – UVa Wise College Provost Sandy Hugenin moves to the JJ Pickle Campus! (That’s a euphemism for buys the farm in academic-speak.) 7 pm starts Murder in the Bookstore 11: A GOOD GUNMAN IS HARD TO FIND. Whodunnit? And why? Email jbeck69087@aol.com for an interactive role in this wild and wickedly funny murder mystery.
June
June 14-27 Jack leads Scotland and Ireland tour
June 15 (Saturday) Wendy will speak at Mountain Heritage Literary Festival, Lincoln Memorial University, Tennessee.
July
July 12-14, Jack and Wendy are leading workshops and providing music at Whippoorwill Festival, Berea, KY (at HomeGrown Hideaways)
August
Saturday, August 10, WRITE COMES TO THE CUMBERLANDS, a day-long workshop to help you finish (or start) your novel or narrative non-fiction. $140 for day event and all meals, accommodation available. Email eccooperstein@gmail.com for registration details.
2012 and earlier 2013 stuff we did
February
All Tuesdays, 7 pm NEEDLEWORK NIGHT (Jack’s Birthday Feb. 5th)
First Thursday 7 pm LET’S TALK, a discussion group that tackles a different one-word topic each month; February is EDUCATION.
Second Thursday 7 pm MOVIE NIGHT,title tbd but since this is Valentine’s Day, it will be seasonally themed
First Sunday, Quaker Meeting 11 am followed by lunch and open circle music session
First Monday, 7 pm Writing Group; bring your novel, non-fiction, etc. and enjoy the company of other writers
Friday, Feb. 15, 6:30 pm SOUL FOOD OF LOVE gourmet night at the bookstore. $15 per person, limit 12, Shamerine Barber is chef. Menu is fried chicken, cornbread, collard greens, mashed potatoes, and sweet potato pie. Reservation only event.
Thursday, Feb. 21 6:30 pm Big Stone Gap public library, Jack and Wendy will be talking with the Pine Knots book club – oh, this will be fuuuuun! Half the members are in the book. We love a hometown gig. (This was moved from January due to bad weather.)
Friday, Feb. 22 6-8 pm and Saturday Feb. 23 1-6 pm. Learn to make a pinwheel or patchwork quilt with Destiny Gilliam Baker. $25 per person, bring your own sewing machine, batting and thread. Fabric has been donated for the class, but if you want to bring your own as well, feel free. Limit 4 participants, reservation only.
March (unless otherwise specified, events take place in Tales of the Lonesome Pine Used Books and Internet Cafe, aka the Little Bookstore)
All Tuesdays, 7 pm NEEDLEWORK NIGHT
First Thursday 7 pm LET’S TALK, discussion group tackling a different one-word topic each month.
Second Thursday 7 pm MOVIE NIGHT
First Sunday, Quaker Meeting 11 am followed by lunch and open circle music session
First Monday, 7 pm Writing Group; bring your novel, non-fiction, etc. and enjoy the company of other writers
Saturday, March 9th 7 pm, Celtic Ceilidh Community Dance, with Sigean as house band, and Cynthia West as dance caller/instructor. You don’t need to know how to do the dances to attend, and you don’t need a partner, although you are welcome to bring one or several! Weary comfy, light clothing and shoes, and bring yourself some water, or buy a bottle at the church for $1.
March 15-16, Atlanta, GA Wendy and shopsitter Andrew Whalen will be speaking at GABBS about working with SIBA (Southern Independent Booksellers Association) to set up the bookshop sitter network for small mom-n-pop shops
Wednesday, March 20 Wendy (non-fiction) and Lisa Alther (fiction) are the guest speakers at the John Fox Literary Festival here in Big Stone Gap. 10 am, luncheon following
Thursday March 21, Clifton Forge Library (not far from Lynchburg) 6 pm Wendy speaks on The Little Bookstore.
Friday March 22, afternoon (possibly 2 pm?) Charlottesville Public Library, as part of the Virginia Festival of the Book, Wendy speaks on a panel of books about books
March 27, 1 pm University of Virginia’s College at Wise Faculty Lecture series: The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap (Chapel of All Faiths, public welcome)
2012
Sept. 7-8 SIBA (Southern Independent Booksellers Association) Naples, FL – Wendy was on a panel Friday at 11 “Booksellers who Write Books”
Oct. 6 Union Avenue Books, Knoxville 2 pm
Oct. 9 Book People, Richmond, VA 6 pm
Oct. 10 Winchester Book Gallery, Winchester, VA 5 pm
Oct. 18 Spiral Bookcase, Philadelphia 7-9 pm
Oct. 19-21 NYC stuff tbc (look out, world!!!)
Oct. 22 WNBA’s Nat’l Reading Group Month BiblioFeast, Charlotte 6:30 pm
Oct. 28 Malaprop’s, Asheville, NC 3 pm (Jack will be singing)
Oct. 29 The Country Bookshop, Southern Pines, NC 6pm (discussion/workshop on writing, followed by signing)
Nov. 8 Parnassus Books, Nashville 6:30 pm
Nov. 9 Booksellers at Laurelwood, Memphis 6-7 pm
Nov. 14 Joseph-Beth, Lexington, KY 7 pm
Nov. 15 Larry Bowen’s Reader’s Corner, Rolla, Missouri
BLACK FRIDAY – Kingsport Mall outside Moody’s Bookstore, TN (9-11 am)
Nov. 26 noon-2 Fountain Books, Richmond, VA
January
Jan. 10 and 22 – 4 pm Jack will be singing Celtic music for senior citizens in Bristol
Jan. 17, 6:30 pm Big Stone Gap public library, Jack and Wendy will be talking with the Pine Knots book club – oh, this will be fuuuuun! Half the members are in the book. We love a hometown gig.
Jan. 20, 4:30 pm Norton Methodist Church, Jack and Wendy sing for the LESSONS and CAROLS service held there annually. This is such a lovely event, peaceful and deep. Everyone welcome; it’s a big church and usually packed out.
Jan. 24, 7 pm in our very own bookstore, BURNS NIGHT, an annual celebration of Scotland’s most famous Bard, Robert Burns; event is free.
Jan. 25-27, Manassas, VA for the Highlands Festival there. We’ll be singing and telling stories, and conducting a few workshops on the connections between Celtic and Appalachian music. Wendy will be doing the Response from the Lasses and Jack giving the Immortal Memory at the Burns Supper.
Jan. 29, 6 pm PRO ART sponsored writing workshop: how to get started on your memoir, novel, or other writing project. Free. University of Virginia’s College at Wise, Gladeville Room
Jan. 30, 1 pm University of Virginia’s College at Wise Faculty Lecture series: The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap POSTPONED due to gunman hoax on campus; a wild ride for a few days there!
Rats the Left Coast isn’t on your schedule. Well I plan to buy the book anyway.
Oh good! And I can be bribed to head that way, but it takes bookstores to ask. It’s a far piece…. :]
I am reading The Little Bookstore in Big Stone Gap and LOVE, LOVE it and have recommended to my friends. Now I find out you are coming to Nashville! Looking forward to meeting you!
Great! I look forward to meeting you.
I am from the area and am enjoying your book. I just read about the murder mystery events. Do you still have them? If so, I would be VERY interesting in attending one.
We do! Contact Andrew Whalen (our shopsitter) and see if he plans to run one in November. We left it up to him (he’s got a lot on his plate and he’s doing MAGNIFICENT shelf rearrangements for us). If he doesn’t run one in Nov. we will in Jan. Most years they are April and Nov. but the book has knocked a few schedules sideways. :]
I was in Virginia Beach when I read a review of the book and went out and bought it that same night (which I never do – wait to find most books reduced) but loved every page. You described things like the books murmuring to you that I thought only I had felt. What a kindred spirit! I live where you will never visit but I do visit family in NC (Davie County) often and hope to retire there doing book repairs and conservation – what I do for a job now. So I will be in to visit your bookstore next chance I get. By the way I assume you have discovered the blow dryer trick to remove tape… If not, let me know. Anyway plan to use your book as supplemental reading in a course I teach. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Marcia Phillips, Special Collections Librarian, Northland International University
We’re in Southern Pines right now, waiting out the Appalachian Snowpocalypse before heading home tomorrow. Come see us in Big Stone Gap when you can, and thanks for letting me know you liked the book. (Yes, Jack uses the hairdryer trick sometimes. Also the finger roll.)
Thanks for the personal reply. If you ever need any help with book repair or old book questions, please consider me your free resource gal.
I look forward to your coming to Nashville on the 8th. I was born in Stonega – 86 years ago. My parents met in Big Stone Gap. She was from Alabama and he from Scott County, VA. My Alabama grandparents knew friends who lived in Big Stone Gap and were visiting them when my parents met. See you on the 8th.
Looking forward to it!
A few days before Christmas I was lamenting to my husband that our local Barnes & Nobles will be closing in Feb (I was told it was due to a landlord/rent problem). This means we’ve lost all independent and chain book stores in our portion of Fairfax, VA – something I just can’t believe! The economy in northern VA is strong and there are lots of readers; how can this keep happening? My sympathetic husband surprised me with your book for Christmas, which I have inhaled – thank you for your positve energy, love of books and for giving us hope.
Bookstores are smaller, smarter, faster – and still here. If you get down to Richmond, check out Book People (Granite Ave) and Fountain Books (downtown where the cobbled streets are). Book People is run by Ruth and is a lovely, cheerful used books shop. Fountain Books is run by Kelly and is beautiful and sharp and fast new books shop.
I am viewing your blog because I will be reading your book as our next bookclub selection! I see that you are going to Istanbul in April. My daughter lives in Istanbul and she has a blog, also on WordPress, which you may be interested in reading: suncitywill.wordpress.com
Looking forward to you book and enjoy your trip!
I am a former manager of an independent bookstore, now work in nonprofit management. I bought your book last night, sat in my car (in the driveway) reading it until it got dark, then moved indoors and continued reading. I emailed a friend first thing this morning to recommend your book –and she informs me that you and L. Alther will be speakers at the Mar. 20 Fox Lit. Festival at MECC!!!!!! Can’t wait!!!! Also, I see on the calendar that your hubby is performing at an Elderhostel here in Kingsport. We have an Elderhostel?!?! Where?
Katherine
Hi Katherine (Jack here) Wendy got it slightly wrong – it’s the adult learning program run through ETSU Kingsport. It’s called KCAL. Similar to an elderhostel but without the accommodation part.