Pilcrow Recap

Whew. What a weekend. It was a big chore, a huge undertaking, that Pilcrow Lit Fest, but madams Güth and Jones pulled it off with aplomb. Panels were well attended and lively, the NOLA fundraiser was a $mashing $ucce$$ and gobs of fun, and the authors on Sunday trickled back to the homes and cities and airports from whence they came full of smiles and inspiration. [Willy Blackmore's DIY bookbinding demo, along with cues from Tim Schaffert and the Featherproof boys*, got me all riled to start my own boutique press.]

There were photogs and documentarians floating around all four days of the Lit Fest. Some of their great work can be found at the Pilcrow flickr page, or here, or here. More interviews and videos and podcasts and photos to come, surely.

The thank-yous and you-rocks and that-fucking-ruleds are still spawning in inboxes but already talk has turned to Pilcrow '09. It'll be hard to top the inaugural Fest, but whatever plan that Güth hatches is sure to kill.



* I lived in Omaha in the early aughts and what Messinger and Co. are doing—and the hype and groupiedom that follows them—is basically a lit-mirror image of Saddle Creek Records when everyone was fawning over the New Seattle and The New York Times dispatched writers to Nebraska almost monthly to spend weekends profiling Nansel and Oberst. Crazy.