Fire Readings A collection of Contemporary Writing from the Shakespeare &Company Benefit Readings

Fire Readings A collection of Contemporary Writing from the Shakespeare &Company Benefit Readings published by A-L Books is a book wanted and created for giving to the reader an idea of what happened in the literary world when writers discovered that on July 1990 a fire broke out on Shakespeare and Company damaging various locals and a lot of books of the beloved bookstore.
A devastated George Whitman, per decades owner of the store, went to bed too exhausted for thinking but brilliantly vigil once returned to work.
Being a beloved place, a nest for writers, aspiring writers, for young, for people in search of answers, of course the literary world expressed immense solidarity organizing literary events for earn money in grade to permit to Whitman to restore his bookstore more beauty than before.

And they reached this goal.

Paris, London, New York and Boston, the book is divided in four sections: you will start reading a contribution by George Whitman and then to follow you will discover David Applefield, Jim, Haynes,  Ken Smith, Allen Ginsberg, Patrick McGrath, and in Boston Edward Barrett, Pamela Alexander, and many many more.
They read poems or short tales during these events, and each of them have a great emotive impact. I was impressed by Jim Haynes Thanks for Coming about the editorial world.

A poet wrote
...

There Lingers a nameless melancholy in any aftermath
when a war's been won, a contest drawn, a dream tested
a comma is redundant perhaps the phrase is finished
since it seems nothing lies past the absolute
except craving more nevers
for the children of excess

Carol Ann Duffy's poems are spectaculars. This one my favorite.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti the creator of City Lights a bookstore located in San Francisco and great friend of George Whitman, penned ironically the "Fireword."
In the introduction, I won't return there because I think the past reviews have been exhaustive, you find all the entire story of this iconic, wonderful bookstore where Whitman realized his idea of living peacefully in a commune.
The book is also comprehensive of a lot of pictures.

Highly recommended.
No sure if the book is still available new.

I bought an used copy and look, there is the famous print of the bookstore!
Someone bought it directly in Paris and in the bookstore of Shakespeare and Company.

Anna Maria Polidori