You have published work in so many formats: novels, books of essays and short stories, a comic book (Marvel’s Black Panther: World of Wakanda, with Ta-Nehisi Coates and Yona Harvey), plus an upcoming memoir and a screenplay. What are the different challenges and rewards of working in each medium? Storytelling is storytelling, I have learned, … Continue reading Newsmaker: Roxane Gay
The Soufrière Young Authors project has published six books since its first workshop in April 2016. Its goal is to produce all of its students’ books and distribute them widely on the 27-mile-long island. Peace Corps volunteer Grace Kilbane and Soufrière Public Library Librarian Catherine Prospere developed the project as a way to increase literacy … Continue reading Soufrière Young Authors Project
Librarians work with students at an early age to teach the importance of documenting sources and not plagiarizing others’ work. Teaching Plagiarism Prevention to College Students: An Ethics-Based Approach, by Connie Strittmatter and Virginia K. Bratton, presents a model to address intentional plagiarism. This model does not address how to cite properly but rather seeks … Continue reading On Writing
How did you get involved with the Hogarth Shakespeare project? I got an email, of course—all of these things start that way. This email was from Becky Hardy, the Hogarth Shakespeare editor. She asked what play I would choose to do, and I said The Tempest. What was it about The Tempest that appealed to … Continue reading Newsmaker: Margaret Atwood
This year’s Collaborative Summer Library Program (CSLP) theme is “On Your Mark, Get Set … Read!”, and two-time Newbery Medal–winner Kate DiCamillo is the 2016 CSLP National Summer Reading Champion. DiCamillo is the bestselling author of numerous books, including Because of Winn-Dixie and The Tale of Despereaux. DiCamillo also served as the first National Summer … Continue reading Newsmaker: Kate DiCamillo
Nathalia Holt gives a voice to the seldom-recognized female mathematicians and scientists who shaped NASA in its earliest years and beyond, in her new book, Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us from Missiles to the Moon to Mars (Little, Brown & Company, April 2016). American Libraries recently spoke with Holt, herself … Continue reading Newsmaker: Nathalia Holt
Jonathan Zittrain, Harvard Law School professor and cofounder of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, urged attendees to first define the core purpose of libraries in his “Creativity, Innovation, and Change: Libraries Transform in the Digital Age” presentation. “The book as we know it, as an artifact,” he declared, “is on its way out.” … Continue reading Midwinter 2016 Wrap-Up
The Marquis de Lafayette, a French aristocrat who fought for the US in the American Revolutionary War, is a ubiquitous but overlooked character in American history. He touched many significant events, people, and places: the Revolution, Herman Melville, Marie Antoinette, and also our modern parks, cities, and roads. The name “Lafayette” is everywhere in the US, … Continue reading On the Road with Lafayette
Your most recent book is a fascinating look at the Underground Railroad and antislavery networks of pre–Civil War New York City. Explain how you came across the document that shed new light on these events. ERIC FONER: It was totally accidental. Madeline Lewis, an undergraduate history major at Columbia who also worked for my family … Continue reading Newsmaker: Eric Foner
American Libraries: How significant were libraries when you were growing up in Ohio? JON MUTH: The local library was on the way to my elementary school, about two blocks from my house. I would go every Thursday with my class, but my mother and great-grandmother would also take me on other days, and then sometimes … Continue reading Zen and the Art of Jon Muth
Art historian, curator, and Harvard professor Sarah Lewis began her keynote to the roomful of librarians by saying that at age 8, she and her sister “Dewey decimaled” the entire collection of books at their apartment while their mom had stepped out. Lewis, author of the acclaimed debut book The Rise: Creativity, the Gift of … Continue reading Sarah Lewis: The Art of Striving
