Out of the Book State by State: Coming to Bookstores This Fall

This September, just as the presidential race reaches fever pitch, Powell's Books will release State by State: Out of the Book, Volume 3, a documentary inspired by State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America, a collection of original essays on all 50 states, edited by Matt Weiland and Sean Wilsey (Ecco). The film will include interviews with Weiland, Wilsey, and several of the book's contributors, as well as archival footage.

"It's a natural for bookstores," said Dave Weich, Powell's director of marketing and development and co-producer of the film. "Booksellers can show the 40-minute film and then have someone read the chapter on their state. It's perfect for discussion -- it's so widely relevant and timely."

State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America, in stores in September, harkens back to the Federal Writers' Project, created by the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s, which commissioned some of America's top writers to describe their states.

"Both the book and the film can be used as a conversation-starter to talk more meaningfully about the country and its distinctive regions," said Weich. "Booksellers can let the film spark conversation with an audience whether it's at a theater, or bookstore, or at a book club meeting."

The film will be available free to independent bookstores that would like to arrange screenings. "We're hoping to get 75 to 100 cities on board, which is entirely reasonable given how turnkey of a project this is," Weich added. "It's 40 minutes of entertainment with a great opportunity for discussion."

Powell's created the Out of the Book series to broaden marketing strategies for books via a non-text-based format. The first volume launched in 2007 with a short film about Ian McEwan and his Booker Prize-nominated novel, On Chesil Beach (Nan A. Talese). The second in the series documented David Halberstam's life and last work, The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War (Hyperion).

State by State, which will be filmed in New York in June, will feature several essay contributors, who will read short passages from the book. Carrie Brownstein, who wrote the Washington chapter and played for years in the band Sleater Kinney, has agreed to develop the music for the film.

State by State: Out of the Book, Volume 3 will premiere on August 24, at Bookmark, a literary festival in Nantucket, Massachusetts, that will be wholly devoted to the book and the documentary.

As with The Coldest Winter: David Halberstam, the book prompted the film project, Weich explained, adding "This one's a bit different in that it's obviously not based on a single author. It has a lot of great contributors, like Josh Ferris, Dave Eggers, Susan Orlean, Sarah Vowel, and the material is fantastic. Each state has a little map and info about the state bird, state flower.... There also tables like states ranked by the percentage of the number of toothless residents, by suicide rate, it's a fun book."

The film will be available to booksellers to coordinate with the September 16 pub date of State by State and is timed to allow booksellers to create pre-election events. "What's really great about the collection is that the writers are not political strategists or historians," said Weich. "So, at a time when everyone's thinking about the election and the country, and the media is radically oversimplifying the red and blue divide, the book's contributors break through that surface level of discussion."

Booksellers interested in participating in the project, and those who would like to order DVDs, should e-mail ootb@powells.com. The films for screening purposes, as well as supporting materials, are free to booksellers. All three DVDs will be available for purchase from Ingram in the fall for bookstores that would like to sell them as stand-alone DVDs or to package with books. --Karen Schechner