Among the Archives: April 2008 Archives
1990. If ever a year spoke greater optimism, I, only recently turned twelve, was unaware. The eighties were down, and the twentieth century was nearly out. Our promotional literature from that year displays a timely enthusiasm. A sloop sails counter to the prevailing winds betrayed by the bent coconut palm. The postcard, below, has fireworks. And that custom-cut font, running in every direction it can to get away from itself! In the program, David Kaufelt recounts how it all began:
Literary agent Dick Duane and I were schmoozing over Diet Cokes and white meat chicken sandwiches in a Manhattan hotel bar with Rosemary Jones of the Council for Florida Libraries. She was in New York to round up authors for the council's annual lecture series. But New York publishers' publicists were having none of it, fully convinced no one in Florida read, much less bought books.
I said we have so many writers of so many persuasions in Key West, we could have our own literary festival. There was a suden enlightened silence. We could. We should. And we would.
Littoral is the year-round online voice of the Key West Literary Seminar. We write about literature, about Key West, and especially about the authors who have been or will be part of our annual Seminar. Throughout the year on Littoral, you'll find podcasts from our growing audio archives, interviews, book reviews, news about the Seminar, links, commentary, and arcana. To submit a post or idea, to ask a question, please email our editor, Arlo Haskell: arlohaskell at gmail dot com.
