What do Reykjavik, Oxford, Caracas, Kigali, Buenos Ares, and Scranton have in common?
Well, in two days you can come learn the answer to this and other mysteries surrounding the Pages & Places Book Festival.
This Thursday, September 24th, at 5:30pm, Anthology Books and Outrageous will play both swami and host at a Pages & Places Happy Hour. Think of this as prelude to a night of high caliber book-related festivities in downtown Scranton, starting with the P&P Happy Hour at 5:30pm and ending at the Scranton Cultural Center, where Titanic-finding, deep-sea diving author Robert Ballard will appear as part of the Lackawanna County Library Lecture Series at 7pm. So, before you go to see Ballard, join us at 515 Center Street, where Anthology & Outrageous will provide wine, cheese, and music by DJ Conor McGugian, while P&P Co-Directors Bill Black and Liz Randol answer all your burning questions about the book festival: what it is, where it is, when it is, and why you should want to attend.
Despite the world class entertainment, this event is free and open to the public.
Anthology and Outrageous are two parts of the same awesome whole in downtown Scranton, where they live in a cozy, historically refurbished building on the cobble-stoned, art-muraled alleyway known as Center Street. Outrageous is known for bringing Canal Street to Northeastern PA – that is, funky, affordable, ridiculously fun and fabulous jewelry, accessories, and gifts that you won’t see anywhere else. We also have a coffee shop that serves up drinks, snacks, and yummy lunches such as our “Peace in the Middle East Platter” or our “E tu, Brute Caesar Salad.” We strive to differentiate ourselves, both by creating a unique experience for our customers, and by providing a fun, playful service that will send you home with the perfect gift and the feeling of a big smooshy hug. That is probably why the people of NEPA have voted us “Best Of” for five years running in our local arts weekly, Electric City.
Anthology Books is Outrageous’s book-nerd sister who lives upstairs. Anthology is an independent bookstore offering 3,000 square feet of new, used, and rare books. We also special order books for individual customers, classrooms, organizations, knitting groups, coffee-drinking groups, penguin-lovers groups, what have you. If you have a group, Anthology probably has a discount for you. We opened in 2007, because we noticed two things: one, that there wasn’t a bookstore in downtown Scranton and two, that the nearest bookstore was one of those huge chain stores that isn’t tailored to take close care of the community it’s housed in. Anthology opened with the intent of bringing Scranton the literary programming that it deserves: author signings, writers groups, poetry readings, art openings, philosophical discussions, and so much more, all in a beautiful atmosphere created to be a booklover’s paradise.
Coming up in October, we have several great events to look forward to: Our First Friday Art Walk event, which takes place in venues all over the downtown and features art openings, live music, interactive art, is just one example. Our art opening at Anthology will feature a show entitled “Shadow and Light,” a collection of photography from the group that meets monthly in our bookstore, called Guerilla Photography Club. We will also have live music from Howlin’ Donnie Kirchner. The festivities take place from 6-9pm and are completely free of charge (like most of our events). On Thursday, October 14th, at 6pm, Vermont-based author Deborah Lee Luskin will be here to read and sign copies of her novel “Into the Wilderness,” labeled as a “fiercely intelligent love story.” It’s garnering great reviews all across New England and we hope to show her a friendly Scranton welcome! On Wednesday, October 20th, from 7-9pm, you can come hear the acclaimed creator of Inner Harmony Wellness Center, Mr. Peter Amato, give a presentation entitled “Moving Toward Awakening-The Journey of Human Consciousness.” There is a $10 fee for this event and we do appreciate registration. Also, on Thursday, October 21st, at 6pm, come out for our Anthology Book Club when we discuss the Scranton Reads selection Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. All are welcome to join this discussion. For a full listing of our events, visit the website. To ensure you receive the events, sign up for our monthly enewsletter!
We here at Anthology and Outrageous like to think that our independent business helps make Scranton a destination point. People usually don’t go to New York City and shout, “Look, honey! A Duane Read! Ooh, quick, take my picture!” Rather, most folks gravitate to the places which offer them something unique, an experience rather than a transaction. In this way and many others too numerous to write in one blog, small, independently-owned businesses have become the backbone of America, bringing people to new places, encouraging them to spend money in ways that help communities grow.
It is in this light that Anthology and Outrageous are taking part in Pages & Places, by hosting the happy hour, offering in-store displays related to the festival, writing in Electric City about the visiting authors, and also, providing publishers who can’t get to Scranton a way to sell their books. The folks at P&P know that indie presses around the country would love to fly into Scranton, meet people, shake hands, and hand-sell their titles, but with small presses who are out of driving distance, it’s often too taxing. That’s where Anthology comes in, willing and able to sell books for people who can’t be here. If you or someone you know wants to be represented at P&P, you can arrange to ship your books here, have Anthology provide great customer service on your behalf, and split the profits. It’s a great idea and we’re looking forward to our second year of co-operative bookselling. Come visit Outrageous & Anthology on Scranton’s Courthouse Square, where we’ll be part of the Book Expo all day long on October 2nd. For more information on co-op bookselling, contact Rory@pagesandplaces.org. For more info on Outrageous and Anthology (and the upcoming Happy Hour), please visit www.outrageousonline.com or www.scranthology.com or call us at (570)341-1443.