Margaret Atwood on Inventing the Longpen
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 11.20.07
The Longpen, an invention that allows books signings to take place without the need for an author to travel miles, has graced our pages many times before. From the Longpen Bookfest at the Green Living Show, to keeping Conrad Black out of jail, the concept has been saving emissions and opening minds all over the place. We’ve just come across an interview with the pen’s inventor Margaret Atwood, over at the Friends of the Earth UK website, explaining her motivations behind its creation, and the reasons she won’t be flying to the UK for the Cheltenham Literary Festival:
It's a two-way transatlantic flight for just one event. These days Graeme and I are cutting down on flying, grouping our events, taking the train when possible, and offsetting as well.
We certainly applaud Margaret’s environmental sensibilities, and we were encouraged by the figures on the Longpen website that claim a 48.95 ton reduction in CO2 emissions through Longpen usage since August 2007 alone! Of course those figures refer to author's individual carbon footprints, and don't necessarily translate to actual emissions reductions as the planes involved probably flew anyway. However, in a world of supply and demand, anything we can do to reduce our reliance on fossil-fuel hungry travel options will hopefully lead to reduced emissions in the future. Who says we can’t do things differently? ::Longpen::via Friends of the Earth UK::
This is a immensely stupid idea. We can all save energy if we're all dead too. A large part of a book signing is meeting the author in the flesh.
LA: I have used it and while one is meeting the author on screen, the author is talking to you and interacting with you. It is not as good as the real thing but then neither is the telephone and I am sure you use it.
I have to agree - Author signings are just that - AUTHOR signings! No machine can ever replace the thrill of a reader meeting the author of his favourite book. And the Carbon footprint here is probably largely negated by the fabrication of the machinery! Far better to get executives to meet in virtual space rather than real space.
maybe this manner of book signing can save energy and reduce carbon dioxide emission to make some contributions to the environment by cutting down on flying and taking the train to take part in the meeting,but after all,people are emotional animals,interacting with other people by signing on the spot can add pleasure and happiness to the meeting face by face.don't depend on the machine although on some point it is a progress,however it don't suit for anyone,real thing produces real response from heart,no part of that invention can take the place of real people.
Must be awfully tempting to (once the machine has your signature) just pump out tons of the same ones, a la photocopier. Or get the machine to inject slight variation in the signature, so it looks like a genuine one.
Heck, she could still be signing books after she's dead!
I think this is great. Yes it is good to meet authors in the flesh but I think Atwood has a very valid point - it is a two way transatlantic flight for one event.
Everyone has to make changes in their lives - I think it is fantastic she has risen to the challenge.
I didn't know book signings were such a big whoop. I read books, but to have the autor sign it? This must be one of the baseball card collector things.
The drawback I see is that the author cannot sign my boobs with this machine.
Personally, I love the idea of the Longpen. It seems to facilitate a lovely personal kind of interaction. I am sure that in-the-flesh meetings will become more rare and you cannot really expect an author to travel all over the globe just to shake your hand. I would rather read the next book of my favourite authors a little sooner.
The Longpen must be great for signing contracts too!
What isn't mentioned is that the machine(s) needs to be shipped around the world since there isn't one in every bookstore or library where the author might do the "signing". Also requires someone, who may have to travel, to set it up and run it. So while the author may be leaving no carbon footprint, there's still a footprint.
---------
Author's Comment
True - good point. But presumably there will be a number of venues and/or major literary events/festivals that have book signings regularly enough to justify a machine in that location. I'd imagine most major cities could have a machine, or even a unmbe rof machines, that are moved between locations locally. Would be interesting to know how they are currently doing it though...