Friday 19 to Sunday 21 April 2013 I spent the week end attending the annual bookcrossing convention, which this year took place in Gothenburg. This was my very first bookcrossing convention, and I must admit that I felt quite clueless, as I had no idea what usually happened at bookcrossing conventions. It was no surprise that they are a bit different from the science fiction or gaming conventions I’ve been to before, but that is to be expected.
Friday
I arrived in Gothenburg, and after checking in at the hotel, I headed to the venue at Norges hus. I got my name tags at the registration, and greeted some familiar, and some unfamiliar, faces.
After hanging around for a while, there was an informal opening of the convention, and there was a bingo going on. I didn’t bother to run around crossing out questions, but was more than happy to give my name to the ones looking for a librarian, a Norwegian, or just someone who’d read Astrid Lindgren’s Pippi Longstocking.
There was also a quiz, that my team didn’t win, and in general a lot of fun and chatting.
We were also served some yummy food (with a vegetarian option), and we even got to learn some Swedish folk dance. Some of the dances were familiar, as we have the same ones in Norway (with different names). It was a lot of fun!
Friday was also the day where I learnt that it was usual to have a gift table on bookcrossing conventions. I had neither expected, nor brought, any gifts, simply because I had no idea there would be one. If I am to put my finger on something that might have been a minus to my experience, it is that I wish some of these things would have been explained on beforehand. I did actually look for information on the bookcrossing forum before the con… Needless to say, I was very surprised to see a couple of books for me on the gift table. Both of the books were from my wishlist on bookcrossing, and one of them was a book I recently got from another bookcrosser by mail (I just had forgotten to remove it from my list). This book did not come with me home, but I released it at the Gardermoen airport on my way home.
Saturday
To start the day with having breakfast with other bookcrossers was delightful! It was nice to chat and eat and have a soft start of the day, before heading back to the venue. I managed to catch the interesting talk about translating books in the morning, before I ran off to meet up with an old friend of mine, to have lunch with him and his wife and daughter.
Saturday was also the day for the release walk, where we wandered the streets of Gothenburg and left books all around. The people of the city would be able to find books in many funny places, I guess, like hanging from trees as well at on the statues and benches.
We also had a flash mob in Bältesspännarparken, starting with elis-fromSweden walking to a spot, picking up a book and read. Then most of the other bookcrossers went up to stand beside her, one by one, and formed a line, ending with beson. elis-fromSweden then went up to one of the strangers staning by, watching, and handed her a book, before walking away. The flash mob is included in the video below.
After the flash mob, people spread to all directions, mostly in groups, and went for a treasure hunt and lunch. We ended the day by going to different restaurants in town. I had signed up with the group to go to Masala, a really nice Indian place not far from the Poseidon. The food there was really yummy!
Sunday
At the last day of the convention, it was time to hear the bid for the convention in 2015. Only Oxford placed a bit, and we all cheered wen it went through. There was also a presentation of next year’s convention in Australia, by discoverylover and Skyring.
The convention ended with the raffle, which is a sort of lottery. I had put almost all my tickets into the Harry Potter prize, and didn’t win. Oh well, I wouldn’t have had room for it anyway. 😉
Then it was time to say good bye, and “see you in Oxford 2015!”
Awww, a convirgin!!! I’m so glad you had a good time, hopefully I’ll see you in Oxford in 2 years! Or possibly Leeds in September?
I am certainly planning on Oxford in 2015. Leeds in September is a no-can-do, I’m afraid.
So many of the people at the convention are repeat attenders. That’s because these things are loads of fun. And a great source of new books.
But best of all are the BookCrossers – quirky, clever, creative, generous people. No wonder we all smile all the time!
I have actually been to quite a few meet ups. I was in the group that started the first Oslo meet ups, and am now attending the ones here in the Stavanger area (though, we’re not many, yet). I’ve also been to meet ups in London, Gothenburg (a few years ago), Manchester and Dublin, and I managed to meet up with one of the very few bookcrossers in Iceland when I was there in 2010! Much fun!
Thank you for the video. It’s lovely to be able to peer at it and try and work out who everybody is. Also, it was nice to be able to see a little of the folk dancing and the talks.
It was such a great con!
Thank you for the wonderful video record of the convention. I so wish I could have been there, but it was lovely to see some of my friends from New Zealand and Australia and of course the UK who were able to make it.
I will be in Queenstown for the Uncon in October, Melbourne in 2014 and fingers crossed Oxford in 2015.
I will not be able to go to Australia next year, but Oxford should work for me. I hope you’ll be able to attend the con there as well!
Very sloppy camerawork – why didn’t you get the one moment of the Swedish folk dancing when I was in step with the other dancers? 🙂
And yes, the children doing the dances they had learnt, clad in traditional dress, was a highlight of a superb convention.
So much fun all round. I enjoyed myself immensely, singing happily to myself at the flashmob, opening up the book I’d selected to release – some Swedish thriller – and opening it up to read it quietly. “This is SO not in English!” I said, giggling.
Sorry, I should have been filming when I was dancing! What on Earth was I thinking? 😉
Ha ha, no, Swedish is quite different from English, that is true.
Glad you enjoyed Scandinavia!
Hi there, this sounds like a lot of fun. I recently joined bookcrossing and am looking forward to Leeds in September. As a Swede it was extra fun to watch the video. Thanks for sharing.
You should come to the Scandinavian forum on the Bookcrossing web page! 🙂