Why Stackscene? Because of the giant stack of books to read on my dining room table (and next to the bed, and in the craft room, and over there. . .), because of the time spent wandering the library stacks, because of the stacks of crafting projects alongside the books; my life is organized in stacks. Shelves are good too, but stacks are clearly where it’s at.
So hi, I’m Emily, I’ll have my resume’ up soon on this blog. This is actually not my only blog. If you want to read about the cool things my friends do and listen to my podcast, that’s over at We Have Thumbs. There might be a little bit of overlap between the two blogs, but this one really is more for me to talk about the books I’m reading/have read, post the text of booktalks I write, and talk about issues in librarianship and literacy.
Who am I and why am I here? I’m a recent graduate of the Simmons Graduate School of Library Science, and I’m currently looking for a job in the greater Boston area (really greater, I’m outside the city and willing to go reasonably far out into the rest of New England), and I’m mostly interested in public library jobs, specifically Young Adult librarianship or technology outreach types of work. I do other things too, including work on literacy and providing access to people with disabilities. You may have gathered that I also like to play with string, in the form of knitting and spinning, and I also like: podcasting, genre fiction in the fantasy and science fiction vein, and going to SF/F conventions. Cons are great for meeting other readers and talking about books, and I also end up meeting new authors to check out (some of whom give me ARCs of their books, which is always awesome), talking about reading and literacy issues, and just generally finding out what’s going on in that world.
As a matter of fact (ooh, busting out the cliches early!), I just got back from the 67th Annual World Science Fiction Convention, Anticipation, held this year in Montreal! I had a great time seeing friends, totally did not stalk Guest of Honor Neil Gaiman, and found new authors to fall in love with. I was on panels about literacy, traditional women’s crafts in fiction, and a few other interesting topics, as well as being staff for the kaffeeklatches with authors. One of the best parts for me was actually going to a kaffeeklatch with Delia Sherman and Ellen Kushner, who as well as being some of my favorite people to talk to at conventions are also excellent writers. I have plans to read Delia’s Changeling series sometime soon, and I can’t wait! If you want to get a taste of her words for free, check out Delia’s story “The Fiddler of Bayou Teche” at Podcastle. I fell completely in love with this story almost from the beginning, and couldn’t wait to get to Worldcon and discuss it with Delia!
Actually, talking about Delia and Ellen reminds me of something *else* I do! The Interstitial Arts Foundation is dedicated to providing a place for art and story that doesn’t fall neatly into marketing categories. Ellen and Delia were involved in founding the IAF, and Delia is currently editing their second anthology, Interfictions 2. The Foundation is doing a really cool art auction to go along with the release of the book, with people making all kinds of things to go with the stories. I’m making art yarn to go with the story a friend of mine, Shira Lipkin, has published in the book! In addition, I’m a volunteer with the IAF and am producing a Boston-area event for them, called the Bryan Slattery Project. This is going to be a really interesting event, with improvisational music, live readings of the stories from the book, visual elements, and more! There will be more information about the event as we get details squared away, but I’m really excited to be working with the IAF and helping with this event.
So that’s me and what I’ll be doing here, I’ll start posting about the books I want to talk about soon!
Stackscene 