It has been 50 years since Jack Kerouac published “On the Road,” which was typed on one continuous 120-foot scroll in three weeks. Join Blue Bicycle Books this Saturday, September 22st for a commemorative event for “On the Road” and a book release party for “Kakalak: An Anthology of Carolina Poets.”

The event will start at 5 p.m. with a wine and cheese reception and a book signing. Bookstore owner Jonathan Sanchez who just happens to be a very gifted author himself, came up a little short on the cash in his quest to purchase the original Kerouac scroll, which sold for a mere $2.4 million in 2002, so Blue Bicycle Books commissioned a community creative writing project. Kerouac fans were invited to re-create their own story on a communal scroll. Like Kerouac’s famous story, the scroll will begin: “He rolled into town on the back of a flatbed truck, smelling of tobacco and crushed grapes …” The Scroll went up Saturday, Sept. 1, and as of Tuesday the 18th it is 70 feet long, with about 30 or 40 authors. Can't wait to see it when it's done. The Scroll will be on display all month so even if you can't make it to this event, stop by and take a look. It's pretty impressive.

At 6 p.m. the party will move next door to the French Hare Gallery and Galleria for a poetry reading.

The release party for Kakalak 2007: Anthology of Carolina Poets, is also this Saturday Sept. 22, 5 – 8:30 pm at Blue Bicycle Books, 420 King St., and next door at the French Hare Gallery and Galleria, 418 King. Kakalak is a terrific upstart publication out of Charlotte.

The reading starts at 6 pm -- celebrating Jack Kerouac on the 50th Anniversary of his breakout novel On the Road and featuring poems from Kakalak contributors Heather Collings, Diana Pinckney, Denny Stiles, Gil Allen, Prudence Greene, Kit Loney, S. Craig Renfroe, Jr., Jonathan Sanchez, Donna Goodman, Heather Dearmon, Eric Rogers and Deborah Lawson Scott. 

For more information, call (843) 722-2666.