Washington Irving Society

BY TRACY HOFFMAN
President of the Washington Irving Society

We have a blogging opportunity on the Washington Irving Society page, so as the president of the author society, I’m giving this option a whirl.

Even though I’ve been told many times “anybody who’s anybody has a blog,” I’ve never really taken this message to heart since I’m not especially concerned about being a “somebody.”

As a writer and English instructor, though, I can see the benefits of blogging if it helps hone my craft. The daily discipline of writing and publishing a blog also makes sense to the former journalist in me. Most importantly, I want to do what I can for the Washington Irving Society. If posting frequent blogs gets the “good news” out about Irving, then I’m happy to oblige.

So, here we go. On Thursday, July 19, 2018, the main thoughts I have about the Society is our need for a conference. All of the other author societies I’ve chatted with have encouraged the WIS to have a conference where we can all get together; something beyond the American Literature Association gathering.

The Sketch Book (1819-1820) will soon be celebrating 200 years. Serially published in 1819 and then the full book in 1820, Irving’s famous first set of sketches deserves some attention.

My grand vision would be to have the conference near Irving’s Sunnyside Estate in New York during October of 2020. That’s only two years away, but certainly manageable. Upcoming blogs will no doubt delve into this idea.

And that’s all I have to say today about the Father of American Literature.