Dublin Seminar

[susanstinson]

There were a bunch of things l loved about The Dublin Seminar on New England and the Carribean this weekend. They included:

• 250 year old wigs! And the little clay items that looked kind of like finger bones that they used as curlers!


• A beautiful bureau with drawers that opened sideways in triangular wedges instead of pulling straight out as rectangles. I had never imagined such a thing.


• Tasting chocolate from a colonial recipe. And salad burnett, which smells like cucumber.


• Talking a little with Anne Farrow, one of the authors of Complicity: How the North Promoted, Prolonged and Profited from Slavery. The book is expanded from a Hartford Courant special report that the Connecticut Department of Education sent to every middle school and high school student in the state. I really liked her thoughtful, open presence, and the things she said about what she's working on now.


That doesn't begin to scratch the surface -- I learned a lot this weekend. I met an entomologist who is an educator around colonial history! That is very exciting, for the novel with all its bugs and spiders.

PS Ever heard of Sylvester House on Shelter Island, Long Island, which was set up as a provisioning planation to support a sugar planation in Barbados in the mid 1600s? I never had -- it's one example of the ways that the economy of the colonial north was profoundly intertwined with and dependent on the slavery.

Comments

[effrontery.livejournal.com]

Hi Susan, we wanted to read Venus of Chalk for our book group at Giovanni's Room in Philly, but they tried to order it through a distributor and weren't able. Was wondering if you'd have any suggestions for the bookstore about where we can get it?

Thanks much!

-J

[susanstinson.livejournal.com]

Very cool that your book group at Giovanni's Room (what a great bookstore) is planning to read Venus of Chalk, and I'm really sorry to hear that the bookstore is having trouble getting it. The best thing would probably be for the bookstore to contact the publisher directly. The contact info (including info about the distributor) is on Firebrand's website, here. (http://www.firebrandbooks.com/about.html#per)

I hope that this works out, and that the group has a good experience with the book.

[susanstinson.livejournal.com]

PS I contacted Fireband about this, and heard back that they've been in touch with Giovanni's Room today and the issue has been resolved. They're using a different distributor than the one listed on the website.

So, I hope that it's all set for the book group to read Venus of Chalk -- it makes me happy to know that is happening!