Kitty Burns Florey

In the digital age, do we still need legible handwriting? If so, how is that being taught in schools today? If not, what are we replacing it with? What happened to the Palmer Method of my own childhood, drilled into us by Sister Victorine in third grade? Who was Palmer, anyway, and how does he fit into the history of handwriting? Who invented the printing we learned in first grade? What happened to fountain pens? How did my once-artistic script degenerate into scrawls and scribbles? And should I do something about it?

Determined to find out the answers to these questions, I began a year-long journey into the wonders of handwriting, from the Phoenicians to the Bic -- and beyond. I was thrilled to discover a whole new world – of medieval monks toiling in their scriptoria, of the script Shakespeare wrote, of Dickens and his quill, of the far-from-dead art of Spencerian flourishes, of typewriter fanatics and pencil collectors. Perhaps best of all was what happened to my own handwriting in the course of my researches. And, by the time I was done, I found out that the position of handwriting in today's world isn't quite what I expected!

This new book is in the tradition of Sister Bernadette’s Barking Dog: part history, part memoir, and part examination of a fascinating – and surprisingly crucial – 21st-century controversy.

UPDATE
Script and Scribble really touched a nerve! I've had close to 50 interviews on everything from Air America (The Lionel Show) and NPR's Weekend Edition (with Liane Hansen) to radio stations in Wales, Ireland, England, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. The book has been widely reviewed, both in print and on air. Cullen Murphy in the Wall Street Journal called it "a witty and readable (and fetchingly illustrated and glossed) excursion [that] covers a lot of ground," and Michael Dirda in the (now sadly defunct) Washington Post Book World wrote, "Because [Florey] is witty and endearingly autobiographical (she includes illustrations from her third-grade writing workbook) the reader is happy to follow her into any byway of penmanship." New York magazine's reviewer said, "Certain vestigial urges have been awakened, deep in the muscles of my fingers and wrists, by Script and Scribble....Florey, a nun-educated 'scriptomaniac,' lovingly traces the history of handwriting [and] rounds up some fascinating arcana." Albert Mobilio in Bookforum said, "Florey makes a solid case for handwriting as a social indicator, and her affection for its art is thoughtful and aesthetically informed." For Maud Newton, in NPR's online Books We Like column, "Script and Scribble is "an unusual, compelling blend of retrospective, lamentation and advocacy." The Financial Times called it "a charming, illustrated eulogy." I've had a lot of fun writing and promoting this book and have met a lot of great people (and seen a lot of amazing handwriting). Thanks to all!

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Note: I was pleased that, in the movie DOUBT, not only was there an accurate sentence diagram on the blackboard in one scene, but Meryl Streep in her role as Sister Aloysius came out against ballpoint pens (see SCRIPT AND SCRIBBLE, p. 17) and uttered the immortal line "Penmanship is dying across the country." So true, Sister....

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"What in God's name has happened to penmanship? What used to be a craft at which everyone was proficient has degenerated to a little-used arsenal of nearly illegible scrawls and chicken-scratches. It's easy to blame the computer, but, as Kitty Burns Florey demonstrates in her thoughtful, witty and sensible book, the story goes far deeper than that. It touches on the way we think, the way we write, and the way we lead our lives. Read Script & Scribble and be enlightened."
-- Ben Yagoda, author of If You Catch an Adjective, Kill It!