A Life In Books

Excerpts of Warren Lehrer's LIVE presentation of A LIFE IN BOOKS (4:49) This reel presents videotaped clips of Warren Lehrer’s live performance/readings of his illuminated novel—A LIFE IN BOOKS: The Rise and Fall of Bleu Mobley. Performances were filmed at The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space at WNYC, PS1 MoMA, The LaGuardia Performing Art Center in LIC, and the Classic Stage Company Theater in NYC. 
 
A LIFE IN BOOKS: The Rise and Fall of Bleu Mobley is an illuminated novel that contains 101 books within it, all written by a controversial author who finds himself in prison looking back on his life and career. 
 
In his funny and thought provoking performance/readings, Warren Lehrer presents an overview of Bleu Mobley's life in books via many of Mobley's book cover designs, book-like objects, and other biographical materials including animations and video performances of Mobley book excerpts by the band BETTY, actress/poet La Bruja, and (whenever possible) live cameo appearance by actress/author Judith Sloan. The resulting retrospective explores the creative process of a writer/artist, as it reflects upon a half century of American/global events, and grapples with the future of the book as a medium, and the lines that separate and blur truth, myth, and fiction. 
 
In A LIFE IN BOOKS, Bleu Mobley's autobiography/apologia is paired with a review of all 101 of his books, each represented by its first-edition cover design and catalog copy, and more than a third of his books are excerpted. 
 
Written and designed by author/designer/performer Warren Lehrer, acclaimed as a pioneer in the fields of visual literature and design authorship; A Life In Books is Lehrer’s 10th book; his first novel. 
 
A LIFE IN BOOKS is the winner of the 2014 IPPY (Independent Publishers) Outstanding Book of the Year Award for Most Original Concept. It also won a 2014 Next Generation Indie Book Award, a 2014 National Indie Book Award, and a 2014 CBAA Exhibition Prize (College Book Art Association). 
 
The 380 page, 4 color novel is published by Goff Books. 
ORDER A COPY NOW: tinyurl.com/m6aelpz 
 
If you’re interested in Warren Lehrer presenting A LIFE IN BOOKS at your university, conference, art or literary center, bookstore, reading or performance series, contact: warren@earsay.org 
 
For further info about the BOOK, Warren Lehrer's tour dates, videos, press materials, study guide, contests: alifeinbooks.net
Warren Lehrer's A-LIFE-IN-BOOKS — Book 14: PRECIPICE A LIFE IN BOOKS: The Rise and Fall of Bleu Mobley is an illuminated novel written and designed by Warren Lehrer (2013, Goff Books). The novel includes 101 books within it all written by Lehrer’s protagonist—Bleu Mobley—who finds himself in prison looking back on his life and career. This video provides a glimpse into Bleu Mobley’s 14th book, Precipice. 
 
Soon after the birth of their first daughter, Bleu and his wife Aconsha move from their Lower East Side walkup to a split-level rental house on Long Island that was listed WATER VIEW, though you could only see the faraway swath of the blue-gray Long Island Sound in the winter when the leaves were down, and only if you stood on the toilet in the upstairs bathroom and pressed your head against the window. Riddled with mixed feelings about living in the suburbs, Bleu writes Precipice, a cautionary novel set at a time in the not-so-distant future when oil supplies have peaked in the Middle East and America finds itself thoroughly unprepared. With nowhere else to turn for its oil fix, and hardly any back-up systems in place, most suburban localities are imploding. Despite pleas for calm by politicians, chaos reigns. The few pockets of hope—community villages sprouting up in abandoned superstores. 
 
Purchase a copy of the book and read more about Bleu Mobley’s life and books: 
http://www.amazon.com/Life-Books-Rise-Fall-Mobley/dp/193962102X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1376504745&sr=1-1&keywords=a+life+in+books%2C+warren+lehrer 
 
Find out more about the A Life In Books project, Warren Lehrer, performance/reading tour, contests, etc: 
http://www.alifeinbooks.net/ 
 
Animation by Warren Lehrer in collaboration with Brandon Campbell, Mark T. Saintonge and Jillian Egan.
Warren Lehrer's A-LIFE-IN-BOOKS — Book 41: No More Mrs. Niceguy: Confessions of a Nice Catholic Girl Excerpt performed by Caridad De La Luz (a.k.a. La Bruja.) 
Written and Directed by Warren Lehrer 
Filmed and Edited by Robert Winn 
Assistant Directors: Judith Sloan & Claire Lebowitz 
Second Camera/Film Crew: Brandon Knopp 
 
A LIFE IN BOOKS: The Rise and Fall of Bleu Mobley is an illuminated novel written and designed by Warren Lehrer (2013, Goff Books). The novel includes 101 books within it all written by Lehrer’s protagonist—Bleu Mobley—who finds himself in prison looking back on his life and career. The novel pairs Bleu’s confessional memoir with a retrospective monograph of all his books which are represented by their first edition cover designs, catalogue descriptions, and selected excerpts (that read like short stories). 
 
This short film is based on an except of Bleu Mobley’s 41st book, No More Mrs. Niceguy: Confessions of a Nice Catholic Girl. In it, Paul Martinez, a dutiful, God-fearing daughter, wife, mother, and church member, is diagnosed with cancer. She soon discovers her own voice through the transformative power of hard-earned rage. 
 
Mobley wrote No More Mrs. Niceguy out of his own experience with his daughter, who at 11 years old was diagnosed with a rare and potentially deadly blood disease known as ITP. After three years—going to scores of doctors, dozens of labs, too many clinics, treatment centers, and hospitals—Frida became an expert at waiting her turn, but impatient when it came to being bullshitted. 
 
Read more about Bleu Mobley’s family and their influence on his writing by purchasing a copy of A Life In Books: 
amazon.com/Life-Books-Rise-Fall-Mobley/dp/193962102X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1376504745&sr=1-1&keywords=a+life+in+books%2C+warren+lehrer 
 
Find out more about the A Life In Books project, Warren Lehrer, performance/reading tour, other videos, the writing contests, etc: 
alifeinbooks.net/ 
 
For further information email: info@alifeinbooks.net
Warren Lehrer's A-LIFE-IN-BOOKS — Book 95: Illuminated Manuscripts A LIFE IN BOOKS: The Rise and Fall of Bleu Mobley is an illuminated novel written and designed by Warren Lehrer (2013, Goff Books). The novel includes 101 books within it all written by Lehrer’s protagonist—Bleu Mobley—who finds himself in prison looking back on his life and career. This video provides a glimpse into Bleu Mobley’s 95th book (project)—The Illuminated Manuscripts—a line of book lamps produced by Mobley and his team of assistants. 
 
At a certain point in his life/career (and in the novel), Mobley senses that he’s living in a world where books are not central to people’s lives like they once were—that reading, deep, long-form contemplative reading is very likely an endangered species. In 2006, he officially quits writing and turns his writing factory (a story in itself) into a laboratory for exploring and entrepreneuring ways to preserve and advance the legacy of the book as a vehicle for telling stories and as a physical object. The Illuminated Manuscript book lamps is one of the product lines that resulted from this effort. Even if you’re not reading books, the lamps help light up a room and evoke a warm, literary feeling as they evoke a variety of metaphorical connections to the experience of reading, writing and sharing stories. 
 
Purchase a copy of the book and read more about Bleu Mobley’s life and books: 
http://www.amazon.com/Life-Books-Rise-Fall-Mobley/dp/193962102X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1376504745&sr=1-1&keywords=a+life+in+books%2C+warren+lehrer 
 
And find out more about the A Life In Books project, Warren Lehrer, performance/reading tour, contests, Goff Books, etc: 
http://www.alifeinbooks.net/ 
 
Animation by Warren Lehrer in collaboration with Brandon Campbell and Mark T. Saintonge.
Warren Lehrer’s A-LIFE-IN-BOOKS — Book 3: Narcissistic Planet Disorder You can purchase a copy of A Life In Books: The Rise and Fall of Bleu Mobley here: http://tinyurl.com/m6aelpz 
A LIFE IN BOOKS: The Rise and Fall of Bleu Mobley is an illuminated novel written and designed by Warren Lehrer (2013, Goff Books). The novel includes 101 books within it all written by Lehrer’s protagonist—Bleu Mobley—who finds himself in prison looking back on his life and career. This video provides a glimpse into Bleu Mobley’s 3rd book, Narcissistic Planet Disorder. 
 
Published in 1981, Bleu was inspired to write Narcissistic Planet Disorder as talk of extending the Cold War into the heavens was ratcheting up. It’s also highly likely that Bleu’s experience growing up the only child of a mother with severe bipolar disorder influenced his approach to writing and designing this oversized book. 
 
Find out more about the A Life In Books project, Warren Lehrer, performance/reading tour, contests, etc: 
alifeinbooks.net/ 
Purchase a copy of A Life In Books and read more about Bleu Mobley’s life and books: http://tinyurl.com/m6aelpz 
 
Animation by Warren Lehrer in collaboration with Mark T. Saintonge and Julie Verardi.
Warren Lehrer's A-LIFE-IN-BOOKS — Book 45: How Bad People Go Bye Bye A LIFE IN BOOKS: The Rise and Fall of Bleu Mobley is an illuminated novel written and designed by Warren Lehrer (2013, Goff Books). The novel includes 101 books within it all written by Lehrer’s protagonist—Bleu Mobley—who finds himself in prison looking back on his life and career. This video provides a glimpse into Bleu Mobley’s 14th book, Precipice. 
 
Bleu's pull-out, pop up book on the history of capital punishment—How Bad People Go Bye Bye—was a flop until the cable news programs turned it into a controversy. Within two months the book was banned in school libraries in every state of the Union (except Massachusetts), and it became the top grossing children’s book of 1998, and Bleu’s first number one bestseller. 
 
During this time, Bleu became a frequent guest on tv talk shows and was accused of being a pornographer, a propagandist (for both sides of the issue), a sly manipulator of the media, a truth teller, the devil’s accomplice and God’s accomplice. 
 
Purchase a copy of A Life In Books and read more about Bleu Mobley’s life and books: 
amazon.com/Life-Books-Rise-Fall-Mobley/dp/193962102X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1376504745&sr=1-1&keywords=a+life+in+books%2C+warren+lehrer 
 
Find out more about the A Life In Books project, Warren Lehrer, performance/reading tour, contests, etc: 
alifeinbooks.net/ 
 
Animation by Warren Lehrer in collaboration with Brandon Campbell, Mark T. Saintonge and Julie Verardi.
Warren Lehrer's A-LIFE-IN-BOOKS — Book 1: The Switch A LIFE IN BOOKS: The Rise and Fall of Bleu Mobley is an illuminated novel written and designed by Warren Lehrer (2013, Goff Books). The novel includes 101 books within it all written by Lehrer’s protagonist—Bleu Mobley—who finds himself in prison looking back on his life and career. This video provides a glimpse into Bleu Mobley’s first novel —The Switch—about a day on earth when everyone is switched with their number one nemesis. 
 
Bleu wrote The Switch in 1979 after returning from a two year stint as a foreign correspondent reporting on undeclared wars in the Middle East and Central and South America (he quit before being fired for non-objective reporting). As a journalist, it was his job to cover what is. As an ex-journalist, he felt free to imagine what if. He wondered about the blood-boiling enmity of polar opposites that he kept finding in nearly every sphere of life, not only in the war zones he had recently come home from, but in politics, in workplaces, and in families. What if all these “enemies” somehow got their wires crossed, even for only one day? What if flashes of light lit up pockets of acrimony and misunderstanding around the world? Could embittered hearts be opened, or would it make no difference at all? The Switch chronicles three pairs of enemies who come face-to-face every day, and two pairs who have never met but despise the very thought of each other. 
 
Purchase a copy of the book and read more about Bleu Mobley’s life and books: 
http://www.amazon.com/Life-Books-Rise-Fall-Mobley/dp/193962102X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1376504745&sr=1-1&keywords=a+life+in+books%2C+warren+lehrer 
 
And find out more about the A Life In Books project, Warren Lehrer, performance/reading tour, contests, etc.: 
http://www.alifeinbooks.net/ 
 
Animation by Warren Lehrer in collaboration with Mark T. Saintonge.
Warren Lehrer's A-LIFE-IN-BOOKS — Book 10: The Phenomenolgy of Lint You can purchase a copy of A Life In Books: The Rise and Fall of Bleu Mobley here: http://tinyurl.com/m6aelpz

A LIFE IN BOOKS: The Rise and Fall of Bleu Mobley is an illuminated novel written and designed by Warren Lehrer (2013, Goff Books). The novel includes 101 books within it all written by Lehrer's protagonist—Bleu Mobley—who finds himself in prison looking back on his life and career. This video provides a glimpse into Bleu Mobley's 10th book, The Phenomenology of Lint.

In order to increase his chances of getting tenure at the state college, Bleu decides to go for a doctoral degree at a University Without Walls. He wrote The Phenomenolgy of Lint shortly after completing his PhD and his most immersive period within the world of academia. The premise of his protagonist's doctoral degree: if a society can be judged by the way it treats its prisoners, perhaps an individual, family, or even an apartment building can be better understood by its laundry lint. Using volunteer residents of her apartment complex (in Queens, NY) as her population base, Sultana Farook compares lint specimens with oral histories only to discover hidden truths and unexpected friendships.

Purchase a copy of the book and read more about Bleu Mobley's life and books:
http://tinyurl.com/m6aelpz

Find out more about the A Life In Books project, Warren Lehrer, performance/reading tour, contests, etc:
http://www.alifeinbooks.net/

Animation by Warren Lehrer in collaboration with Mark T. Saintonge and Julie Verardi.
Warren Lehrer's A-LIFE-IN-BOOKS — Book 101: Cell By Cell You can purchase a copy of A Life In Books: The Rise and Fall of Bleu Mobley here: tinyurl.com/m6aelpz

Written and Directed by Warren Lehrer. This video features beatbox artist Chesney Snow performing the poem "If This Scar Were A Ladder" from Bleu Mobley's very last book, Cell By Cell. Filmed and Edited by Robert Winn. Second Camera/Film Crew: Brandon Knopp

A LIFE IN BOOKS: The Rise and Fall of Bleu Mobley is an illuminated novel written and designed by Warren Lehrer (2013, Goff Books). The novel includes 101 books within it all written by Lehrer's protagnist—Bleu Mobley—who finds himself in prison looking back on his life and career. The novel pairs Bleu's confessional memoir with a retrospective monograph of all his books which are represented by their first edition cover designs, catalog descriptions, and selected excerpts (that read like short stories).

This short film is based on an except from the book Cell by Cell, edited by Bleu Mobley in prison, featuring the writings of his fellow inmates. In prison, Bleu starts a "literacy program" as a means of survival. He grows to love the men in his prison writing workshops and admire the heart, soul and wisdom he finds in their writings. A Life In Books reprints the section on scars which includes "If This Scar Were A Ladder" by Cashman Woodard.

Read how and why Mobley ended up in prison, and other writings from his fellow inmates by purchasing a copy of A Life In Books:
Support Independent Media by buying through Viper Records Store:
http://store.viperrecords.com/product_p/bluemobley.htm

Or you can purchase through Amazon: tinyurl.com/m6aelpz

Find out more about the A Life In Books project, Warren Lehrer, performance/reading tour, other videos, the writing contests, etc: alifeinbooks.net/

For further information email: info@alifeinbooks.net

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