Reading at Speakeasy

Last Thursday evening here in Danville, Indiana, Speakeasy Books and More held their inaugural reading, and I was privileged to be one the four authors who read. There were thirty or forty readers who stopped in to listen and to chat afterward. Celebrating this new indie bookstore and the power of story, in a live environment, was oxygen. Thank you to the readers who attended and made this happen. 

There is an axiom among writers, “readers finish books.” This means a reader completes a book by translating it into their imagination and integrating it into their personal experience. A book isn’t meeting its potential except when it’s being read. 

This is doubly true at a live reading. Readers turned listeners, gather to hear an author read, and become a creative jury. They listen to and judge the story—it’s truth laid bare for their consideration. The story is brought before the public square and when readers engage with the author, it becomes a collaboration like none other. The story is finished in these moments.

Until just three or four hundred years ago, when European readers began to read silently to themselves, reading aloud was the primary way in which writing was consumed. Readers (author or reader) read writing aloud. This was a social activity, it was the way reading happened––just as it did Thursday evening at Speakeasy.

For this writer, few aspects of the writing life bring more joy than spending an evening with readers maintaining this ancient tradition.