10h
A young Senegalese writer, Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, has been awarded the 2018 World Literature Prize by the French Development Agency for his work Silence du Choeur. In this book, the writer sets the scene in a Sicilian village where 72 young people, migrants or refugees, are placed under house arrest. The 2018 International World Literature Prize was awarded to Icelandic writer Einar Már Guðmundsson for Íslenskir kóngar (The Kings of Iceland), which tells the saga of an Icelandic family.
Agence France Presse, May 19
10h
ASCLA has selected Greg Pronevitz, executive director of the Massachusetts Library System, for its 2018 Leadership and Professional Achievement Award. Pronevitz was cited for his work in establishing a network of critical library services for more than 300 academic, public, school, and special libraries.
ASCLA, May 21
10h
Chantry Westwell writes: “The wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on May 19 at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, included centuries-old royal traditions and ceremonial. To celebrate this happy occasion, we are displaying two medieval manuscripts with stunning images of royal weddings in our Treasures Gallery at the British Library. Let’s look at some of the similarities and differences between weddings then and now.”
British Library: Medieval Manuscripts Blog, May 19
12h
Becca Munson writes: “I had a library blog a few years ago. I would post projects, ideas, photos, videos, and more. When I started focusing on Twitter, I lost my desire to post articles. I mean, who wants to read a blog post with lots of words when reading a tweet takes seconds? Well, I do. I love reading this Knowledge Quest blog for ideas and importantly, I love searching the blog when needing an idea. The blog can become a place for professional reflection and demonstration.”
Knwoledge Quest blog, May 21
12h
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America on May 19 announced the 2018 winners of its Nebula Awards. N. K. Jemisin’s The Stone Sky won the award for best novel. It’s the final installment of her Broken Earth trilogy, about a far-future Earth that experiences periodic, devastating apocalyptic events. Sam J. Miller’s The Art of Starving earned the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy, and The Last Unicorn author Peter S. Beagle won the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award.
The Verge, May 20
12h
Aïda Amer writes: “Roy Stryker, head of the Information Division and manager of the Farm Security Administration’s photo-documentary project in the 1930s, was known for two things: preserving thousands of photographs from being destroyed for political reasons, and for ‘killing’ many photos himself. Negatives he liked were selected to be printed. Those he didn’t were met with the business end of hole punch, which left gaping black voids in place of hog’s bellys, industrial landscapes, and the faces of farmworkers.”
Atlas Obscura, May 9
12h
Sophie Yeo writes: “Centuries of written history are at risk of being damaged by climate change. Yet archivists, the stewards of this history, have sometimes been slow to wake up to the danger. This history is kept in expensive, well-ventilated university collections; it is tucked in crumpling cardboard boxes under the desks of local librarians; it sits crammed into the storage cupboards of city governments. Some documents attract scholars from around the world, while others hold scant interest beyond hobbyist historians. Many are irreplaceable.”
Pacific Standard, May 11
