![\"\"](\"http:\/\/wordpress.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/IMG_1006-1.jpg\")
The view out my hotel window.<\/p><\/div>
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The mighty Mississippi River!<\/p><\/div> Sneaking in a self-guided mini tour of the city in half a day, I found inspiration and a few surprises.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24306\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nOnce the ABA’s Winter Institute for booksellers begins, there isn’t\u00a0much time\u00a0to explore the world outside the convention center. The\u00a0conference is a fabulous whirlwind of educational sessions and panels for booksellers and a cornucopia of books, authors, publishers, and vendors, with back-to-back events from 7:45 am until around 11 pm. So I flew in a day early to sneak in a little discovery time. Memphis is a new city to me, so I spent time walking around downtown yesterday. This year marks a powerful anniversary, the 50th year since Martin Luther King, Jr., was murdered here in Memphis at the Lorraine Motel on April 4, 1968. The city has been preparing to honor\u00a0his life and legacy in a number of ways.
\nThere are banners all over downtown. My favorite is the one saying, WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?, which is the title of an amazing-sounding symposium<\/a> happening April 2 and \u00a0 3. ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/wordpress.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/IMG_0991-1.jpg\")
\nI would give anything to be at the April 4 Evening of Storytelling<\/a>, featuring Civil Rights icons\u00a0John Lewis, Marian Wright Edelman, Diane Nash, Clarence Jones, Mike Cody, and Elaine Turner, along with five New Movement leaders, Bree Newsome, Alicia Garza, Nicole Porter, Quentin James, and Tami Sawyer.
\nThe National Civil Rights Museum<\/a> at the Lorraine Motel has been observing a year of commemoration that began last April 4 and continues through the anniversary this year. The building behind the\u00a0museum\u00a0seem as though it’s somberly observing, bearing silent witness to the past.
\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/wordpress.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/IMG_1009-1-1.png\")
\nMemphis is of course also legendary for its music scene. I got a daytime peek at Beale Street:
\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/wordpress.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/IMG_0995-1.jpg\")
\nAnd passed by the Memphis Music Hall of Fame:
\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/wordpress.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/IMG_1011-1.png\")
And the Gibson Factory:
\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/wordpress.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/IMG_0996-1-1.jpg\")
\nAnd the site of\u00a0WLOK, the city’s first African-American owned radio station:
\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/wordpress.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/IMG_1016-1.jpg\")
\nHad\u00a0some darned good\u00a0pulled pork\u00a0at the legendary Central BBQ<\/a>, and then it was back to headquarters to rest up for the rest of the week!
\nAs a side note, I am\u00a0amused\u00a0that a piece of art in my room (which is also on the wall of\u00a0every single hotel\u00a0room\u00a0in this\u00a0huge Sheraton) has a typo in it. Can you spot it? You have to look very closely.
\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/wordpress.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/IMG_1014-1-1.jpg\")
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\nNow do you see it?
\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/wordpress.publishersweekly.com\/blogs\/shelftalker\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/IMG_1015-1.jpg\")
\nHow did no one catch\u00a0“percusion” before it\u00a0found its way onto\u00a0hundreds of walls? Funny.
\nAnd now it’s time for me to turn in, because there are authors to meet and publicists to woo and books to learn about and topics to inspire conversation! I’m very happy to be blogging in Memphis.
\nP.S. You’re more than welcome for the earworm<\/a> this post’s title may have put into your heads. Let’s add\u00a0a little Memphis Slim<\/a>, Isaac Hayes<\/a>, Aretha Franklin<\/a>\u00a0(if you haven’t heard “Trouble in Mind,” do click on her link),\u00a0Koko Taylor<\/a>, Booker T. Jones<\/a>,\u00a0Lil Hardin Armstrong<\/a>, and Johnny Cash<\/a>, who all hailed from Memphis.\u00a0Oh yeah, and that other fella, Elvis P<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"