A good forty-five years ago, long before The Wiz, Wicked, and Straight Outta Oz, the Oz Club’s own Dick Martin announced that the Baum Bugle should cease publication because there simply couldn’t be anything more to write about. Amusing fellow, our Dick.
Not only has more and more been discovered about the early years of Oz, about Oz and Baum bibliography and related biography, but there has been a steady stream of new Oz that’s been informed and inspired by the foundation of Baum’s original work. There have been Broadway plays and feature films, an endless stream of collectibles, graphic novels, Oz destinations for fans to visit, festivals to attend, and so very many books for eager readers.
Today we hear it in country songs and television commercials, stream Oz digital productions, and form online Oz communities. From The Woodsman to Ages of Oz, fresh new interpretations appear year after year. Oz toys that even millennials played with are hot collectibles.
How much longer this growth of Oz will carry on lies in the hands of creative Oz fans. Every last bit of the Oz that’s developed over the years began in the imagination of creative thinkers like writers, illustrators, and researchers. The performers and dreamers who are encouraged to take an idea they have and mold it into something worth sharing are the future of Oz.
Our Club wants to encourage that future by encouraging fans – you – to write, illustrate and research. We have always wanted The Baum Bugle and Oziana to provide space for creative expression and thoughtful study. The contests are our way to offer just a touch of motivation. Please join us by encouraging those you know to enter, or by dusting off that idea you keep pondering and getting it on paper. (OK, on “screen.” You know what I mean; now get started!)
All the details are just a click away…. https://www.ozclub.org/oz-club-contests/
