2016 ISLAND LITERARY FESTIVAL LINE-UP

Washington Island, Wisconsin -

The list of authors and poets is set, for both presentations and workshops, for the 4th Washington Island Literary Festival.  

The invited authors have each written and published one or more works that reflect this year's theme: MYSTERY AND MISTIQUE OF THE MIDWEST.     Not all are writers of mystery, although that genre dominates this year.  

In non-fiction, author Michael McCarthy's book Ashes Under Water is about the Eastland disaster in the Chicago River of a century ago.  This maritime event that shook not only Chicago but the entire nation, a milestone disaster that set a course for federal laws for improved passenger vessel design and operation.  The poems of Wisconsin Poet Laureate Kimberly Blaeser reflect the mystique of living in Wisconsin.

 

A variety of writing and poetry workshops will begin Friday morning, September 16, and there will be a Festival opening reception at the Farm Museum Barn that same evening for all registrants.  A panel discussion will begin Saturday's program at the TPAC, followed by individual author presentations, interspersed by opportunities for the purchase and signing of books backstage.   Dinner Saturday evening will be at Karly's, featuring readings by Poet Laureate Blaeser.   Sunday morning's author presentations will once again be held at the TPAC.  

Registrations are now being taken, both online at the Literary Festival page within the Trueblood Performing Art Center website (www.truebloodpac.com).    Deb Wayman will also help to sign you up at her Fair Isle Bookstore, adjacent to Red Cup.

For more details on authors and events, please go to the Literary Festival website at:  
washingtonislandliteraryfestival.com

-  Dick Purinton

AMERICAN GIRL BOOK LAUNCH

Jim Anderson signed books for the many well-wishers who
came to the Ferry Terminal lobby, Saturday.

Washington Island, Wisconsin -

There were many who were interested in learning more about a chapter in Island history, about the Anderson family's freighting with the American Girl.   But it also appeared that those who gathered wanted to meet and visit with Jim Anderson, the former manager of the Island Outpost store at Lobdell Point, something they remembered and missed from the years past.

The Island Outpost was Jim's business for 43 seasons and a point of personal connection with many who were not only shoppers, but boaters, sportsmen and Island visitors.

Mike Berger, a close friend of Jim's, said, "Jim has an uncanny knack, like no one else I know, for remembering the names of people.  And the names of their dogs, too."

After several hours of non-stop signing of his new book, Memories of the American Girl, Stories of a Washington Island  family freighting business, Jim admitted he was deeply touched by the well-wishers, some of whom had traveled a distance to be there, many whom he hadn't seen in a number of years.

Official delivery of Jim Anderson's book at Seaway
Printing in Green Bay.

His book reflects the same care for people as did his opportunity for personal contact Saturday.  

Publication by Seaway Printing of Green Bay was completed in timely fashion Thursday afternoon.  The books were picked up Friday morning, July 15, and a box holder notice was delivered that same day.  It was close and fortunate timing for a signing event Saturday afternoon.

-  Dick Purinton

While their wives chatted, Al Thiele and Butch Jess wasted
no time previewing Jim's book. (photo by Barbara Greenfeldt)

NEW BOOK BY JIM ANDERSON OUT SOON!

Washington Island, Wisconsin -

Jim Anderson has written a book about his family's freighting business, carrying goods to and from Washington Island with the American Girl, often with the petroleum products tanker Oil Queen in tow.

We may know Jim as a lifelong Island resident, and perhaps even better as the friendly owner and ever-present manager of the Island Outpost retail shop.  But, less known at least to members of the most recent generations, was Jim's involvement in his family's business, Anderson Transit Company.

From the time when ice left the harbor to when winter set in again, the Andersons hauled fuel, freight - anything that needed to be transported by water.  From his days as a young man, Jim worked alongside his Grandpa Jack, Uncle Jackie, and his dad, Cecil.  Their business required daily attention, with very few days, or even partial days, given to relaxing before having to prepare for another trip, generally to and from Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Jim writes with intimacy about those times during the1950s through the early 1970s, when the bulk of Island goods - for Island stores, service providers, farmers and fishermen, came or left by freight boat.  The American Girl was 25 years old when the Andersons brought her to Detroit Harbor, and she was sailed and used extensively through 1971, when it was sold with tanker barge to a new owner on Beaver Island. A great part of the book is about the operation of that vessel, a commercial tug that is still in operation and closing in on 100 years of service on the Great Lakes.

The stories Jim tells, some of them written down almost 40 years ago when the details were still fresh in his mind, take us back to a time when plenty of physical labor was necessary in loading and unloading their vessel.  Freight was not yet palletized (or if it was, it had to be broken down into smaller packages anyway, for stowing on board).

The times were different, for certain, and the efforts expended by the Andersons to service the Island community were considerable.  Delivery trucks with regular routes to the end of Hwy. 42 in northern Door County were minimal then.  There were no daily package shipment services, such as Fed Ex or UPS, bringing household or business items to the Island.  The American Girl was of utmost importance in keeping the community going.

Although that period of time remembered by Jim was approximately 50 years ago, so much has changed since then.  But that change, looking back, is only part of what makes his stories interesting.  There are the close relationships of the men in his family as they worked together.  Jim was the youngest member of the crew, and his heart was in his family's work from an early age.

You'll see this setting through his eyes and words:  heartfelt, humorous at times.  And it reads easily, the sort of book I've always found to be highly entertaining.

Working closely with Jim to bring his stories to publication, I am now expecting his finished product (96 pages; $17.00) will be available by the weekend of July 16-17.

Within a day or so, it will be possible to place advance orders online at RichardPurinton.com    If you can, stop by to visit with Jim at his book launch (date + location soon to be announced).  Or, pick up a copy of his book when it arrives at your local Island bookstore, or at the Ferry Terminal.

 -  Dick Purinton