Hoban 2005: Ten year special - the 80! booklet online

The Russell Hoban Some-Poasyum (aka Hoban 2005) was the world's first and so far only international Russell Hoban fan convention. Taking place in the UK on the weekend of 11-13 February 2005, a few days after Hoban turned 80, the faithful gathered for a tour of "Hoban's London", a reading and Q&A session by the author himself and a visit to Canterbury Cathedral (inspiration for the classic novel Riddley Walker). Accompanying the event was "80!", a 50-page booklet featuring contributions from many of Russell Hoban's friends and associates, as well as fans. To celebrate 10 years since the convention, the booklet is today being published online for the first time.

The Some-Poasyum was a unique event, fondly remembered by all who attended, and the Celebratory Booklet was a memento that truly did justice to the occasion. A beautiful piece of very hard work by editor Chris Bell and designer Elisa Bowman, it brought together some wonderful tributes from the great and the good, including a new drawing by Sir Quentin Blake, a handwritten letter from Glenda Jackson and an amazing essay by novelist David Mitchell on the importance of Riddley Walker to his life and to his bestselling novel Cloud Atlas.

As the webmaster of russellhoban.org and principal organiser of the convention I've done my best to, in turn, do the booklet justice, converting the articles to web pages which you can either read in a vertical scroll or by clicking on individual articles of interest. However you read it, I hope you enjoy it and agree with me that bringing these articles and images online after 10 years adds something very special to this site and the ever-growing archive of content related to a much-loved and vastly under-appreciated writer.

- Richard Cooper, 11th February 2015

See more details of the convention itself on the official website http://hoban2005.thoughtcat.com

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