Before my husband and I went on vacation to the Ozarks, we celebrated the 25th Anniversary of Eighth Day Books with a reading and party and sale at that great bookstore. I read from my submission to the festschrift for Warren Farha and his store, along with 13 other customers and friends to whom Eighth Day Books is more than a bookstore. Some of the presentations and essays were deeply moving, some were funny, but all showed what a special person Warren Farha is and what a special place Eighth Day Books is, as a bricks-and-mortar bookstore, as an on-line presence, and as a travelling book seller.
More about Timely . . . Timeless from the Eighth Day Books website:
Conceived as a way to honor the store’s place in the world, Timely…Timeless serves the equally important purpose of honoring Eighth Day’s loyal and enthusiastic customers—friends we’ve been honored to know and serve. The book’s essays, poems, and photographs celebrate this mutual affection.
Named “one of the best religious bookstores in the country” by Publisher’s Weekly, Eighth Day was founded in 1988 by Warren Farha, whose essay on the store’s founding joins the work of other notable contributors including: Kansas Poet Laureate Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, University of Missouri professor Scott Cairns, Newbery award-winner Clare Vanderpool, and Wichita writers Stephanie Mann, Roy Beckemeyer, Bo Bonner, and Arlice Davenport.
Carolyn Ballinger of Kingman, KS, calls the store “a haven of peace in a world of sensory overload.” Notre Dame’s Joshua Seachris likens Eighth Day to “a sanctuary filled with cloth and paper treasures,” while John Traffas, Atchison, KS, describes the “happy combination of a pub and a chapel.”
Eighth Day is even extending the opportunity to celebrate the anniversary by posting additional reflections on its blog:
In the coming weeks, we will be posting micro-essays submitted by you—our friends and customers—about what Eighth Day Books means to you.
Our published collection (Timely…Timeless) is available online, but for those of you who missed the submission deadline, we would like to extend our invitation through the end of the year. Everyone who has crossed paths with Eighth Day—whether in Wichita, on the road, or in virtual fashion via the internet or telephone—is invited to contribute. Share reminiscences, humorous moments, epic sagas, paens (sic), poetic waxings and/or love letters.
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