Casual photographers know this phenomenon too well: you set what seems to be a perfect scene, positioning a loved one right there, before a landmark or a sunlit vista. But when the image comes back to you, the composition reveals its betrayal, with a leafy palm or cathedral spire seeming to grow right out of your true subject's head.
Were you to take a picture of Alex George upstairs at Skylark Bookshop on a recent Friday afternoon, the spectacle would be unavoidable. Books emerging over George like a crown; books around his shoulders like a consoling cloak; books radiating every direction.
And, in this case, George would have it no other way.
Over the past 20 years, the British transplant has grown into his place as one of Columbia's true men of letters. An accomplished novelist (most recently of "The Paris Hours") and founder of the annual Unbound Book Festival, he dispatches words away from and draws words to Columbia.
At a moment of great change, George made it crystal clear that starting and sustaining Skylark alongside co-owner Carrie Koepke is his Columbia legacy.
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"Doing anything really, really well is cool. And when it happens to be a bookshop, what’s not to like? ... It’s been the privilege of a lifetime to do this, and to start from scratch — down to the kind of wood we had for the tables," George said, gesturing to the space, intimate yet somehow expanding around him.
And Skylark, with its traffic of words and people, will be what George misses most about our city.
He will move to Boston this weekend, joining his wife Alexandra Socarides, who recently began her role as provost of Emerson College. On a recent and bittersweet Friday afternoon, George sat down in the shop's poetry section to reflect on what has been —and will be —in his relationship with Columbia.
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A good —and brand-new —American
George moved to Columbia in 2003, already a published novelist and young father. Beyond his family, the only known in his new life —a known that's accompanied him nearly all his life —was writing. But he didn't only want to write.
In London, he practiced law at a renowned firm. Recalling his first day on the job, senior partners gathered their new hires in a great room, laying out the rest of their lives. George and his peers had been hired with expectations they would remain at the firm till retirement, they said.
Whatever he thought then, George now believes he already housed the sparks of his true future; had you interrupted those senior lawyers to tell him at 22 what he would doing 30 years later, he "would have been thrilled," he said.
"I feel unbelievably lucky to have had this life, and for the turns and twists that it’s taken," George said.
Those plot twists included a short stint as a substitute elementary-school teacher —as in a single day (the kids assumed George was related either to the queen or Harry Potter, he remembered with a laugh, evidence they hadn't yet divided stories into fiction and non-fiction); and running a central Missouri waterpark.
The waterpark still runs ads featuring George inside a man-sized shark suit, he said, with moments from that experience informing scenes in his 2017 novel "Setting Free the Kites."
George eventually built the fulcrum that allowed him to practice law and write fiction. His 2012 novel "A Good American" took place in an invented Missouri community, and his work continued to deepen its hold and widen its reach from his new hometown.
"You always ponder the road not taken —but I don’t do much of that," George said of his former life in London, before drawing his words up into another question with a clear answer.
"Because what could be better than this?"
Setting free the writers
George's literary life eventually crescendoed into Unbound, which will enjoy its tenth edition in April. The festival has gathered an array of literary talent, from keynote speakers such as Salman Rushdie, George Saunders, Zadie Smith and Emily St. John Mandel to writers of international, national, regional and hyperlocal import.
Unbound also offers singular experiences: the chance to hear Ross Gay read a transcendent book-length poem about basketball in a local hair salon or to eavesdrop on a live recording of your favorite literary podcast.
In its way, Unbound birthed Skylark —which is completely backwards, George said. But growing enthusiasm around the yearly gathering elucidated the need for a space where that enthusiasm could live every day.
Since George announced his move, he's fielded the natural questions about the futures of both Skylark and Unbound. Plans are for their continued flourishing, as George works with his partners and collaborators to refine his future roles and responsibilities.
Not showing up to Skylark every day lands hard, George said. But he will remain deeply involved from a distance: meeting with Koepke, furthering conversations on the store's social media accounts, organizing events and even making book picks via a miniature Alex perched on store shelves.
And he will return to the store, for key events, to fill in for Koepke during seasons of travel.
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"Clean breaks are not really a thing —especially when you’re still involved in the business," George said in a sing-song voice.
Similarly, a team that George described as young, dynamic and committed, is preparing the next season of Unbound. He will work with a to-be-announced co-director to shepherd next year's festival, before settling into a sweet spot of advising and assisting future efforts.
George never intended to be the face of Unbound, he said, and sounds sure about the future of what he's started, in part because he takes relatively little credit.
Koepke is "the genius behind it all" at Skylark, and he can't imagine having pulled off either venture without the support of his wife.
The Columbia hours
George "did all (this work) on the assumption that I’d be here," he said. The here of course is Columbia, but wrapped in that small word is a literary community that only continues to reveal its beauty and resilience.
Columbia's writers and readers taught George not simply the value of community but of "a community," he said. The empathy and exchanges shared here rank among his literary influences, he testified.
There are knowns and unknowns about George's next chapter in Boston. The greatest known is Socarides, and there are strong prospects already in place for him to teach creative writing.
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Straddling the line between known and unknown: the way he will move through a new city. George is sure it won't be like here, where every walk down the street or morning run means stopping to chat with friends and neighbors.
But he counts himself lucky to see new adventures on the horizon, the possibilities tucked into this literary life he's been fortunate to know, he said.
Depending on when you read this sentence and the next, Alex George is already headed north and east. With his faithful dog Theo in tow —they have been living like "two old bachelors" in Socarides' absence —he planned to leave Sunday, counting the miles to Boston by car.
But in the days before Columbia would fill his rearview mirror, George had beautiful notions of both the future and present tenses. He has long wanted to be among the authors whose "about" page mentions dividing time between cities, he half-joked, and now he will be.
And soaking up all the ink and chatter and atmosphere of a Friday at Skylark, a sort of tearful gratitude marked the moments.
"You take things for granted —and now I’m not," George said. "In a way, that’s a wonderful place to exist in, just relishing every second of it for what it is."
Aarik Danielsen is the features and culture editor for the Tribune. Contact him at adanielsen@columbiatribune.com or by calling 573-815-1731.He's on Twitter/X @aarikdanielsen.
