Open Book television premiere bridges lit, theater and film

May 12, 8:56 PMChicago Literary Scene ExaminerRobert Duffer

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Tired of hearing about the demise of literature and the death of print? Tune in to Open Book, a new half-hour documentary art television show that is restoring literature to its mantle of cultural eminence.

"Open Books celebrates the lIterary lions and emerging artists whose work reminds us that we all have the power to reinvent the world we live in, starting with the stories we have to tell and the communities we inhabit," says Ina Howard-Parker, the host, founder and Executive Producer of Open Book TV, and the founder and director of Represent Agency, a social justice public relations firm and media production company. The weekly half-hour program  (available any time on LinkTV, the peerless and unbiased international news and culture non-profit network) brings together writers, actors and musicians to celebrate the literature--both historic and contemporary--of a specific location somewhere on earth. The  premiere episode focused on Howard-Parker's home of Ft. Greene, Brooklyn.

Make no mistake: this is not a broadcast of a writer reading in a muffled public library. Weaving a narrative through four to five minute profiles, Open Book tells the story of a place and how its writers and artists are affected by it. Interviews, performances, sequences of artists in their milieu, and more--all scored to music and produced, filmed and directed by an award-winning team of filmmakers and creatives, evokes the person and the writer, giving a unique view into their processes and lives. On both sides of the camera are a team of artistic standouts working together to "bring extra richness and color into all of our lives."

Ishmael Beah, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier about fighting in the war in Sierra Leone as a twelve-year old, discusses the differences of his home in Ft. Greene and his homeland of Sierra Leone and how writing, for him, bridges those worlds. Musician Bill Lee (father of Spike Lee) recites the Eight P's, the responsibilities of the artist to his community. Novelist Jennifer Egan strolls through a navy yard in Brooklyn researching an oral-history project about woman who worked in the navy yard during WWII. Moustafa Bayoumi discusses and reads from How Does it Feel to Be a Problem: Being Young and Arab in America. The mellifluous Carl Hancock-Rux reads from Richard Wright's Black Boy. Def Jam star and Palestinian poet Suheir Hammad performs in an empty Masonic Temple. Walt Whitman is incarnated--and embodied by--Darrell Blaine Ford, then actor Jeffery Wright reads "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" on location from the Walt Whitman Projects. Musician Nucomme closes the show.

Open Book encourages viewers to share their stories and videos at the Open Book website, and counts viewer interaction as part of its success.The scope and precision of Open Book is awesome; this is not just about a book or a place, but about the humanity we all share. It's a work of art in itself, and a testament to the enduring power of the written word.

Open Book TV: Jeffrey Wright reads Walt Whitman from Open Book TV on Vimeo.