The readiness is all

I was asked to be a panelist at the yearly conference of the Association of Writers & Writing Programs, and because I had to be a member to participate, I signed up for a year to see what it was like.  (Many universities have institutional memberships, but not mine)  I'll be talking about new fairy tales, along with Jane Yolen and Kelly Link and others,  That's March 7 in Boston.

Meanwhile, as a perq (yes we've had that discussion), I get a subscription to the association's journal, the Writer's Chronicle, wherein I got news of a Kickstarter program that might interest you.  It's a "choose-your-own-way edition" of  Hamlet (or, not wanting to exclude anyone whose interest might be aroused, the site calls "Shakespeare's tragic play, Hamlet").  Ryan North went to Kickstarter to raise money for an illustrated book featuring different ways for the various characters to die, or not, each illustration by a different artist,  "You can do a lot in a book like this," North says.  "This is a book written for adults who like only the most awesome of things."

So fine.  The remarkable thing is that North, who hoped for $20,000 for his project from Kickstarter to pay for a small edition and have it illustrated, has now got $300,000 and counting.  I haven't visited the site page  ("To Be or Not to Be, That is the Adventure" if you want to contribute).