Call for interviewees

Hi. My name is Adrienne, and I'm a typer noob. I'm also a freelance writer and the Managing Editor of Writer's Digest magazine. I'm currently working on an essay about typewriter enthusiasts—how you share your collections, enthusiasm and thoughts, and how being part of the typewriter insurgency has changed your ideas about object permanence and communication. 

These are really informal back-and-forth conversations; I won't grill you about the history of the Underwood #5 or ask you which typewriter Cormac McCarthy still uses. (But if you know these things, feel free to share them.)

If you have one or more functional manual typewriters, and attend or organize typewriter-related events (like this months' type-in here in Cincinnati), and would like to answer some questions via email (or, in Cincy metro, in person), then please contact me via email at a.m.crezo@gmail.com. Include your name and "Typewriter Interview" in the subject of your email. 

I look forward to hearing from you. Happy typing!

Type-ins! Basel, Riverside, Portland, Cincinnati

Three Upcoming Type-ins!

1. Basel, Switzerland, March 30:

It's spring again, Basel is calling upon the typosphere! See (some of) you, and stay tuned for our report.
 

2. Riverside, California, March 30:

3. Portland, Oregon, April 5:

Join other typewriter enthusiasts for an afternoon of analog fun. Meet interesting people. Share stories. Write letters and poems. Win modest door prizes. Bring your machines, have a drink, and celebrate the age of mechanical writing.

Saturday, April 5, noon-3 pm at Velo Cult, 1969 NE 42nd Ave., Portland, OR

4. Cincinnati, Ohio, April 26:

Saturday, April 26, 2014
 Sitwell's Coffeehouse
 324 Ludlow Ave, Cincinnati, OH 45220
 12 - 4 pm
 Questions? email brian.brumfield@mac.com
 Please reach out if you have any questions. An "RSVP" would be awesome, to give us an idea of who might show up. At the very least it looks like the coordinators (Bryan Sherwood and myself) and Richard Polt has marked his calendar as well. Join us for some savory nectar of the bean, and some awesome machines!

First Intercontinental Type-In Basel

It's spring again, Basel is calling upon the typosphere! See (some of) you, and stay tuned for our report.
Update March 30: report.

The soul of a city, typewritten

Hey typospherians,

It’s time for us to pitch in for another worthy cause. St. Louis poet Henry Goldkamp set up 40 typewriters around the city last year to collect the outpourings of its citizens. The project got national attention and now Henry’s ready to collect the results in a book. Let’s help him out, and let’s hope that this is just the beginning of a trend for cities around the world.

—Richard P.

PRESS RELEASE FROM HENRY GOLDKAMP:

“I love this town and don’t deserve anything that it does for me.” Though I will never know the person who submitted this powerful sentence, I do know what they mean. And I’m here to ask for one more undeserved thing.

After much sweat and ink has dripped from our hands, the time has finally come to reveal the results of What the Hell is Saint Louis Thinking—but we need your help. Through the generous hearts of friends, family, and strangers, WTH was able to do something here in St. Louis that had never been done before. This project, along with so many other awesome happenings in the city, was one of many drawing even more national attention to the place we all love and admire. One submission states: “Could it be that there is a revolution going on in this fine city? The beginning of something bigger than anything that has ever happened to the people?” We believe there is. Let’s continue this revolution. Let’s put St. Louis on their bookshelves.

The submissions from the project are loud as hell. They are shrill, strange cries of virtue and pain. They are blunt advisors on how to live your life. They are baptized in beer. They are one thousand steeples peering down at you making you consider death on a beautiful spring day. They are inspiring & they are heartbreaking. With all this said, the only way you will get to see this is if you donate. So let the generosity flow from the tips of your fingers. Share. Talk about it in bars. Tell your mother.

Let’s finish this.   Finally publish "What the Hell is Saint Louis Thinking?"  You can also find us on facebook and @WTHSTL on twitter.

Sincerely,

Henry Goldkamp

314.599.1045

Stephen King tweets with a typewriter

Unplug & Type-In L.A. March 8

Experience the Unplug & Type-In on March 8th from 12-4 pm, in conjunction with the National Day of Unplugging. It is free and fun for all ages!

• Type your own letter, poem, or whatnot.
• Bring your overdue Thank You note and let Erica Di Bona of ArtofThankYou.com help you Type it out!
• Request Topacia Althaus of Poem Corner, to type a poem just for you.
• Enter the Word Play Photo Booth and enter our Raffle for typewriter inspired gifts.
• See new "Famous TypOwriters," art featuring the personal writing tools of Ray Bradbury and Orson Welles!
• Ask Ermanno of Star Office Machines or Ruben of US Office Machines, about supplies or repairs for your machine.
• Relish the memories, history and Tell Your Typewriter Story (you're invited to share your story on video if you like.)

L.A. Marler Studio, 3000 Airport Avenue, Santa Monica, CA 90405
310-204-0452

Type Rider II

A new project from Maya Stein, with two typewriters and two poets, helping to build Little Free Libraries in small towns.

Support it on Kickstarter!

The Lost Ancestors of ASCII Art, in the Atlantic

Here's a piece in The Atlantic about pre-ASCII (digital character-based) art, of course featuring some typewriter art and a number of samples. I'm taken by the sample of the concrete/art piece Carnival, one panel of which is shown here.



Of course, Typospherians know that typewriter art is still alive and well, based on the articles that we've posted here. Why not celebrate ITAM* with a little type-art of your own?


* International Typewriter Appreciation Month, of course, all February long!

A typewriting journalist in Geneva

A seldom-heard noise is emanating from a small cubicle at the far end of Press Room One at the Palace of Nations, the imposing home of the United Nations in Geneva.

It's the sound of metal keys clattering against paper, punctuated frequently by the muted ping of a small steel bell.

Gordon Martin, UN Correspondent for Vatican Radio, is writing his latest dispatch on the day's developments at the Geneva 2 peace talks on a 40-year-old Remington Performer manual typewriter.

Full BBC story here.