BCinDC & the 2011 Convention

Archive for the ‘BookCrossing Convention 2011’ Category

This post is part 13 of our Wednesday Adventure Series. Each week we will highlight something different in the Washington, D.C., Metro Area, many of which will be options for part of your own BookCrossing Journey. With so many things to see and do, how will you choose?

REMINDER: There is still time to send us books or other items for the convention!

BCinDC already has hundreds of books collected for the 2011 BookCrossing Convention book buffets. Yes, you read that right: book buffets plural! In fact, we will have 5 different book buffets at the convention.

#1: The Main Book Buffet

There will be a main book buffet where you can leave, browse, and take books. This will be stocked with books of all shapes and sizes that may interest convention attendees. This book buffet will be in a publicly accessible area 24 hours a day during the convention and can be used by all convention attendees as well as other hotel guests, visitors and staff.

#2: BookCrossers Only – Please Don’t Wild Release Immediately

For books that you want someone to enjoy before it launches into the wild. Leave a book on this table if you want a BookCrosser to enjoy it before it continues its travels. Looking for a good read? This will be a great buffet to search for books especially recommended by other BookCrossers.

#3: Local Interest and Themed Releases Look on this table for books that have to do with the Washington, D.C., Metro area and books that will be suitable for a themed release in the area. Hint: This may be a good place to look for books needed to complete the reverse scavenger hunt.

#4: Wrap-It-Up This is a fun game BCinDC likes to play at local meetups. Before you leave a book here, write the first sentence of the book on a scrap of paper, with no other information about the book or its author. Then gift-wrap the book and tape the first sentence to the outside. When you browse through the books on this buffet, all you’ll be able to see of each book is its first sentence. When you read a first line that really grabs your attention, select the book and unwrap it. (Because it is inadvisable to travel on public transportation with wrapped packages, we will provide materials so you can wrap your books after you arrive.)

#5: Conventions Past and Future Here you will find books about or set in all the locations of BookCrossing Conventions and UnConventions, including Dublin in 2012 and the locations that are bidding for 2013! For a full list of locations, please see the excellent list put together by the Boston 2010 UnConvention Team.

Release Notes

We suggest you use the following when wild releasing books to any of the convention book buffets:
Country: USA
State / Province: Virginia
City: Mail or by hand-rings, RABCK, meetings, etc.
Crossing Zone: 2011 BookCrossing Convention

Sending Us Books

If you cannot attend the convention, maybe you would like your books to join in on the fun. Or maybe you’ll be attending but can’t afford to bring all your books with you in your suitcase. You can send books to us for the book buffets:
BCinDC c/o Kate McDevitt
P.O. Box 343
Fairfax Station, VA 22039
USA

This post is part 12 of our Wednesday Adventure Series. Each week we will highlight something different in the Washington, D.C., Metro Area, many of which will be options for part of your own BookCrossing Journey. With so many things to see and do, how will you choose?

REMINDER: There are fewer than 100 days until the 10th Anniversary BookCrossing Convention. Have you registered yet?

Crystal City is a neighborhood within Arlington, Virginia, just 2 Metro stops from Washington, D.C., and in April it will become the central location for the 2011 BookCrossing Convention!

The Sheraton Crystal City hotel is our main venue, so we thought you might like to get to know it a little bit better before you arrive. The hotel has:

• guest rooms, all updated in 2008
• an in-house restaurant, 18 Eads Bistro
• a fitness facility and sauna for guests
• an ATM
• a gift shop
• luggage storage
• a lounge for SPG club members
• a 24-hour front desk staffed by courteous employees

The features BookCrossers might be most interested in, however, include:

• free wireless high speed internet access in the lobby, guest rooms, and convention areas (a special deal for our convention)
• a business center in the lobby with computers & printers you can use (for a fee)
• an in-house bar, 18 Eads Lounge
• free airport shuttle leaving every 30 minutes from 6am to 11pm (see our getting there page for more info)
• newly renovated (finished January 2011) meetings rooms
• an OBCZ bookshelf beside the check-in desk

BookCrossers will take over much of the second floor of the Sheraton during our convention. You’ll want to head up to the second floor (by way of stairs or elevators) to check in for registration. The beautiful second floor atrium is where we’ll have our main book buffet and the large room behind it will be where all our big events take place, including the exciting kickoff reception with snacks Friday evening, the banquet dinner with speakers and quiz night on Saturday, and the breakfasts on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Some of our smaller activities and four other book buffets will be in the smaller meeting rooms also on the second floor.

The hotel is conveniently located right across the street from the Crystal City Metro station (Metro train and bus service), down the street from the Crystal City VRE train station, and just 5 minutes away from the airport by car (or shuttle). There is limited metered street parking outside the hotel (free only on weekends) and there is a parking garage at the Crystal City Shops (free after 4pm on week days and all day on weekends). Catty-corner from the main entrance to the Sheraton is a post office, convenient for mailing books home to yourself (or friends and family) if they won’t all fit in your luggage.

Metro Station

Post Office

VRE Station

There are still rooms available at the Sheraton during the convention dates, at a special discounted rate of $99 a night. The Sheraton hotel parking garage is only $15 for BookCrossing convention attendees (see the hotel page for more information).

The area around the Sheraton is worth a look as well. At first glance, it looks like a typical “urban village” with high-rises, hotels, apartment complexes, and office buildings everywhere. But there’s actually more to Crystal City than that. A 2008 project entitled “Art Walls” turned a few of the neighborhood’s buildings, walls, and streets into canvases. There are nine small gardens/parks nearby as well. Our favorite is “The Water Park,” a lovely area just beside the VRE station where there are trees, benches, a small café, and a 1-story high water fountain. While you’re walking around, looking at the art and parks, be on the lookout for free “Crystal Wi-Fi” signals, available in most of the popular park areas. You could release a book there and use your laptop or mobile device to make release notes in real-time!

Water Park

Crystal City Shops

Water Park Cafe

In addition to all the beauty of the neighborhood outside, there are some indoor shopping opportunities as well. The Crystal City Shops are just across the street from the Sheraton, connected to the Metro station underground. There are more than 100 stores, shops, and eateries there. Whether you’re hunting for a good cup of coffee or looking for souvenirs, sitting down for dinner or popping in to the convenient store for an item you forgot to pack, you’ll find it there. If you like art, you won’t want to miss the 2010 FotoWeek award winning photographs on display in the interior concourse from the Metro station to Au Bon Pain. On the Friday of the convention we’ll be having dinner on Friday at some of the restaurants here and down the street from the Sheraton.

You can choose to check out Crystal City on your own throughout the weekend. And you can choose to join us on the early morning release walk around Crystal City before breakfast on the Sunday of our convention.

Wondering how to get to the main convention venue for the 2011 BookCrossing Convention? Check out our brand new page for an area map and directions: http://www.bcindc.zoiks.org/?page_id=668

Need more information? Let us know and we’ll provide it there.

This post is part 11 of our Wednesday Adventure Series. Each week we will highlight something different in the Washington, D.C., Metro Area, many of which will be options for part of your own BookCrossing Journey. With so many things to see and do, how will you choose?

NOTICE: There’s a new special deal in place for just the month of January. Buy one convention shirt and be entered to win a convention sweatshirt!

Photo from the Kensington Book Festival

The Kensington Day of the Book Festival in Old Town Kensington, Maryland, is a street festival with live music, author readings & signings, storytellers, booksellers, publishers, and literary groups like BCinDC! It is organized each year by Eli, book-lover and owner of the Kensington Row Bookshop. This year, the festival will feature the Nighthawks Band with special guest mystery/crime writer George Pelecanos, who will read from his new book, The Cut.

The festival celebrates books by paying tribute to literature on an international level. The festival usually takes place on the Sunday closest to April 23, which is the International Day of the Book or World Book and Copyright Day. This was first celebrated in 1995 by UNESCO to promote reading, publishing, and copyright issues. This date holds literary significance in many different countries: the birth and death of William Shakespeare; the deaths of Miguel de Cervantes (author of Don Quixote), Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, and Josep Pla; and the births of Maurice Druon, Vladimir Nabokov, Manuel Mejía Vallejo, and Halldór Laxness. April 23 is also Saint George’s Day, which is traditionally celebrated by men giving roses to their lovers, inspired by the rosebush that sprouted from the dragon Saint George slew. Women give books to their lovers in return.

Though there are often roses at the Kensington Day of the Book Festival, there are far more books. Some other common sights at the festival:

• Local authors reading from their works (visit the website for an ongoing listing of this year’s lineup; last year there were more than 60 authors)
• Author panels (discussing their works, genres, writing process, and more)
• Local artists and book illustrators
• Storytellers and characters in costume (we’ve met Sherlock Holmes and Long John Silver at previous festivals)
• Live music (so far this year includes The Nighthawks, J.P. McDermott & Western Bop, & Doris Justis)
• A chess master (if you win or draw against him, you get a prize)
• Festival foods as well as great shops on the historical avenue and nearby
• Booksellers and publishers (lots of info about upcoming books and the opportunity to buy as many books as you can carry)
• Open poetry mic (hear poets read their works or sign up for a 5 minute slot to share your own)
• Local community groups, charities, schools, and more

What else could you find at previous Kensington Day of the Book Festivals? BCinDC! We have had a table at the festival since 2006, where our local group has given away free books and introduced festival attendees to the fun hobby that is BookCrossing. One year, we gave away more than 1000 books! We’ve even had a few festival authors give us copies of their books to be registered and turned into bookrays.

Luckily, this year’s Kensington Day of the Book Festival takes place on the Sunday of our Convention. If you’d like to join this celebration of literature, sign up for this choice in the Add-ons form.

Regular registration for the 2011 BookCrossing Convention in Washington, D.C. is now open! If you didn’t register as an early bird, don’t worry; you still have until March 15 to register at the price of $175 (but after that, the price will rise again). There are still a few spots left before we hit 100 registered attendees, and these attendees get a limited edition Bally 10th Birthday label, so act now!

There’s also a brand new Special Deal available through January 31. If you want your own convention t-shirt to wear at the convention or to commemorate the 10th birthday convention, this is the time to buy it because you’ll be entered into a drawing for a free convention sweatshirt. Please note: everyone who has already purchased a shirt is automatically eligible for this promotion. Why should you buy a convention t-shirt? This comic should answer your question.