Saturday, March 2, 2013

Litchfield Books and the Moveable Feast at Pawleys Island

Carol from Litchfield Books and Linda Ketron founder of the Moveable Feast


Joe and I have just returned from Pauleys Island, South Carolina, where I was invited to speak at The Moveable Feast. This event has become a real attraction to Pawleys Island for those looking for a place to retire or just vacation and do something more than walk the beach. The concept began with Linda Ketron who owns Art Works gallery in the Litchfield Exchange and runs CLASS (Community Learning About Special Subjects), a continuing education program with classes on a wide variety of subjects. The Moveable Feast lunch and cultural lecture series is part of the diverse CLASS program of arts and humanities courses. The Moveable Feast turned out to be a boon to local restaurants as well. Most had been closing in the off season, but as the result of the success of the cultural and lecture series, those restaurants found a reason to remain open.

When Tom Warner and his wife Vickie (Crafton) Warner purchased Litchfield Books, Tom immediately realized the benefit of joining forces with Linda, booking authors for the event. The rest is history. Tom is one of those folks who cannot stay idle. Though I'm sure he thought Pawleys Island would be a great place to retire, he wound up putting his experience as a CEO of major businesses into making Litchfield Books a major player on the literary landscape. Publishing houses call Tom requesting bookings for their major authors. 

Sometimes he is kind enough to include a new author with a debut novel (me!).

An invitation to The Moveable Feast is as coveted in literary circles as an invitation to the White House might be for politicians or an invitation to Oscar Night for those involved in the film industry. A devoted nucleus of folks excited about meeting authors attend these events making the event memorable for each author who speaks. The venue changes with each event inspiring the name The Moveable Feast which Linda says is a nod to Hemingway's book of short stories.
Anne Potterfield Pauleys Island, SC


The delightful Anne Potterfield is a regular at The Moveable Feast. Each charm on her long gold necklace has a story as do the rings on the shorter necklace. Visiting authors have found inspiration in the stories of those rings. Bojinka Bishop, a former professor who now edits/publishes the website FlyingHighSolo.com just happened to find out about the Moveable Feast while vacationing and joined us at our table. 

 


Tom invited me back with the next novel. I look forward to visiting with this wonderful group of folks once again. http://litchfieldbooks.com/
For more information on The Moveable Feast:  http://www.classatpawleys.com/feast.php