|
Marysville Becoming Literary Mecca |
|
|
|
Literary Lessons in Marysville
By Kyle Buis/Appeal-Democrat
July 30, 2007 -Amicus Books promoting arts writing, learning
When is a bookstore more than just a bookstore? When it pulls in the past and hooks the community on writing.
 Amicus Books, at 413 D St. in downtown Marysville, has a give-and-take
relationship with Yuba and Sutter counties. Kara and James Davis have
owned Amicus Books for more than three years. They started in Yuba
City, then moved to their current location a year and a half ago. The
store sells mostly used books and some new books.
The books they sell and donations from the community help fund the
literary arts center that gives back to local authors and the rest of
the community.
The Literary Lounge is a program Amicus Books hosts to give authors a
way to get their works published. In exchange for shelf space, literary
materials and events to promote their books, authors who seek out the
program promote each other’s works. The profits from the books go
directly to the authors, Kara Davis said.
“It’s a great way to introduce people to the publishing process,” she said.
Part of the promotion process through Amicus is a section of
www.amicusbooks.com dedicated to local  authors. On that Web page,
authors are given a chance to share a little bit about their lives in
short biographies A table at the front of the store is dedicated to
local authors. Some are just starting out on their writing careers, and
the beginning can be daunting to some.
“We want to be very supportive and encourage people to follow their
desire,” Davis said, “to give the community something that raises the
bar.”
But writing isn’t all about trying to make a quick buck off a few
thousand words on paper; it’s also about history. Only a small section
in the back of the second floor of Amicus Books has fiction. The rest
is dedicated to some form of helping people improve themselves through
learning about the world around them.
The literary center hosts a plethora of events to reach out and bring
in the community. Wordshops are events geared toward pushing people
into the world of words. The Art of Transforming a Life into Stories
program revolves around preserving family histories by showing people
how easy it can be to move their family history from oral history to
written history. Origami Zone gives kids an environment to find their
groove in writing.
Every month, Amicus Books helps organize the Downtown Marysville
Chautauqua, an event that shows off the arts and history of the city.
For the event itself, authors and artists are brought in for lectures
about their works and book signings. Saturdays bring history lessons
from historian Henry Delamere about the times when Marysville was the
third largest town in California.
The goal of Amicus Books is to expose people to the hidden wonders and
history of the area to give the community something to be proud of,
Davis said.
“People come in and are surprised to see something this beautiful,” she
said, “and we show them tons of other beautiful things about the area
they wouldn’t have known about.”
Appeal Democrat intern Kyle Buis can be reached at 741-2400 or
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
|
