Form a circle

The reason I keep reading blogs at a time when so many people are abandoning them (reading or writing them - take your pick) is because of posts like this one. Coincidentally the reasons I love working in the field I do, the reasons I used to work in wonderful book shops and most certainly the reasons my most cherished possessions are still literature despite all the gadgets I’m surrounded with can also be found in this post.

my desire to see publishing move with technology and survive as the guardian and helpmate of literature. But it’s also another product of my own ongoing, irresponsible, ever-growing and never-sated love affair with books. I can’t stop reading them, cherishing them, and trying to work with them, and I hope you’ll continue with me on this journey

I’m known James Bridle for a while now. Back when I was with Londonist he’d send me unique books to play with and since then we’ve become real friends thanks to platforms like Twitter, a shared interest in scribbling on paper as well as the Internets and the occasional alcoholic beverage. He’s constantly surprising me, but this project, this Bookkake, takes the soggy biscuit.

It’s brilliant stuff like this and the amazingly talented people behind them that keeps me actively interested in all the great ways the world is changing around us. Where others see doom and gloom the brighter people amongst us see opportunity. And not just for themselves. Individuals finally have the tools to match their skill sets and the passion to make new things happen for all of us.

Bookkake and Someone Once Told Me are the kinds of projects that give me an extra thrill when it comes to working with the ICA. I’ve already been talking to them about putting five or so projects like this up on a stage. Brief presentations, brief Q&A sessions, live streamed and archived in front of a physical and virtual audience that is capable of helping the projects along. Then we hit the bar. Even simply in terms of raising awareness the potential is huge. This is the kind of thing I love discussing both at the Tuttle and Creative Coffee. It’s the reason I’m so interested in a Network of Networks and the reason I’ll always fly the flag for the people around me - these motherfuckers are talented and more people should know about it.