June 2006

Greetings from Inkberry!

A million years ago (in nonprofit years — they’re kind of like dog years, but they go faster) Emily, Sandy, and I stepped into what was then called 55 Main for a celebratory bottle of champagne. We were a little bit giddy, if memory serves. We poured our three flutes of bubbly and toasted each other. We had just taught our first-ever writing workshop; after months of planning, Inkberry was a reality, and we were staggered.

This coming weekend we’re doing it again — celebrating Inkberry, I mean — and as I look back on what the last five years have brought, I’m pretty staggered again.

I still remember our first reading, our tenth, visits from luminaries like Mark Doty and Bob Hicok and Alicia Ostriker. The workshop we taught at the Contemporary Artists’ Center our first summer, around that scarred wooden table. The erotica workshop Hanne Blank taught for us, one hot summer day in the old Inkberry space. The huge circle of chairs we made when we launched “The Bible As,” a book discussion group that packed the house. The nearly one hundred authors who have graced our lectern, winners of almost every major literary award on the books — and the emerging writers who took their first classes at our table or on our couch who have since gone on to create works of beauty, humor, and value. The last five years have been an unbelievable ride.

We’ve done some terrific things. We’ve met some wonderful people. And in a few days, it will be time to pause in our labors to toast who we are, what we’ve done, the relationships we’ve formed, the words we’ve written and read and savored, and every single one of you who helped make Inkberry a reality.

So come one, come all, to the Cup and Saucer (the restaurant formerly known as the Appalachian Bean) this coming Saturday, June 10th, for…

INKSTRAVAGANZA!

What: A celebration of Inkberry’s first five years

The party will feature comestibles and tasty wine (provided by Nejaime’s, who did the wine for Drinkberry — mmm); things to snack on; a variety of word games including Boggle, Scrabble, and Balderdash; a giant magnetic poetry board where we can cocreate glorious verse; an art auction featuring some truly spectacular works of art inspired by the alphabet (donated by artists ranging from Ed Epping to Sharon Carson to Howard Cruse); a raffle (with awesome prizes, which you can see here); the ceremonial reading of a couple of poems celebrating Inkberry and its storied history; the chance to mingle with some of the literary luminaries who’ve made our last five years great (among them Bernice Lewis, Maureen Howard, Andrea Barrett, and Jim and Karen Shepard)…and, above all, the chance to clink glasses in celebration of a really incredible thing, which couldn’t have come into being without all of you. So please join us.

Tickets cost $30 per person (or $50 for two, if you buy them in advance.) You can buy them online in our secure store (http://www.inkberry.org/store/), or at Papyri Books in North Adams, or by stopping in to Inkberry this week to grab one in person.

Join us in celebration of Inkberry…and in toasting the years to come.

— Rachel