Keeping up with Mark Dawidziak

A striking photo of Mark Dawidziak in the Beacon Journal prompted this update on the former BJ staffer who is now the Plain Dealer TV critic.

This is about Mark’s serious writing which is largely theatrical and literary.

His next book has a June publication date. The title is "The Bedside, Bathtub and Armchair Companion to Dracula," and the publisher is Continuum, a New York-London company that specializes in literary studies. The first half of the book focuses on Bram Stoker and his Dracula novel. The second half looks at the character's cultural impact, examining the plays, movies and everything from Count Chocula cereal to the number-obsessed Count on "Sesame Street."

It is 192 pages. The list price is $19.95 but you can find it online for $16.95

And now, on to Mark Twain. Dawidziak fans have followed his Largely Literary Society for six years as they performed the three-person presentation of
of 'A Christmas Carol' at Stan Hywet Hall, Coach House Theatre, Greystone, the Kent Stage and various other area locations.

The next performance of the society is what prompted th BJ publication of the Mark Twain photo. A Largely Literary Evening dinner and play fund-raiser in support of Copley Township residents Hilda and Kurt Bromley's Books for Africa Library Project is set for 5:30 p.m. Saturday, May 17, at the St. Bernard Catholic Church social hall in downtown Akron.

The event, hosted by the Largely Literary Theater Company, will feature a program of Mark Twain sketches and poems by Robert Louis Stevenson. Admission is free but donations are encouraged to support the Bromleys in their effort to establish libraries in Ghana and Liberia.

For information, call 330-666-6816.

In the meantime, the Bromleys would like to remind you of a Mark Twain quote:

''When I am king, they shall not have bread and shelter only, but also . . . books, for a full belly is little worth where the mind is starved.''

Dawidziak keeps in touch with many current BJ folk, and former BJ staffers, many in the PD newsroom.

Note: The photo used by the Beacon Journal was cropped for emphasis. The uncropped version is shown here.