Yet Another Title to be Added to the Schlegel Collection

In my continuing efforts to get Chillicotheans interested in G. K. Chesterton, I have left nine free copies of the Dover edition of Favorite Father Brown Stories on the bookshelf at Schlegel's Coffee House for taking/borrowing by interested readers. I have some Chillicothe Chesterton Society cards in them, so that if after reading the stories someone wants to join the Society (no dues) they'll have the necessary info available.

Dramatic Reading of Chesterton's "Manalive"

I had the good fortune to be able to purchase a copy of Kevin O'Brien's dramatic reading of Chesterton's Manalive at the recent Chesterton Conference. Also, as you can see, Kevin was kind enough to autograph the CD cover for me. The really valuable autograph, however, is on the back side of the box. It says "Whatever" signed Stanford Nutting.

Kevin O'Brien's Comments on The Chesterton Conference

Kevin O'Brien has some nice things to say, in the Saint Austin Review, about the recent Chesterton Conference held in Seattle, WA.

GKC Makes Cover of "The Weekly Standard"

Imagine my surprise when I checked my mail box and found my latest issue of The Weekly Standard had a caricature of Chesterton on the cover! I immediately posted the info on my Facebook page on and Facebook's Chesterton Fan page. The article on GKC is by Chuck Chalberg. It's a review of William Oddie's new book, Chesterton and the Romance of Orthodoxy.

Dr. Oddie spoke at last year's Chesterton Conference, noting that he was working on a book. We now have the book. I guess I'll just have to get Oddie's book, right after I finish reading Maisie Ward's biography of Chesterton.

Clerihews, What are They?

Per Wikipedia, Edmond Clerihew Bentley (10 July 1875 - 30 Mach 1956) was a popular English novelist and humorist of the early twentieth century, and the inventor of the clerihew, an irregular form of humorous verse on biographical topics. And of course a very close friend of G. K. Chesterton.

A clerihew is a whimsical, four-line biographical poem invented by Edmond Clerihew Bentley. The lines are comically irregular in length, and the rhymes, often contrived, are structured AABB.

Here's one I wrote:

Gier Hasnes
About Chesterton he does obsess.
The stories of his quests are legion.
What else would you expect of the world’s greatest living Norwegian?

I hope to write more during this coming year and submit them for judging at the next Chesterton Conference Clerihew Contest.

2009 Chesterton Conference, Seattle, WA

The 2009 Chesterton Conference was excellent, as expected. You can check out the Society Blog for great descriptions of each of the presentations. There are lots of pictures available, too. I've also posted my pictures of the conference on Facebook, so you can look at those, too. Among the many firsts at the conference, we had the World Premiere of The Honour of Israel Gow, A Father Brown Mystery, starring Kevin O'Brien. The Premiere was followed by a Q&A session with the cast and crew. And, of course, the DVD is available from the Chesterton Society, as well as EWTN.