The Bank of England announced last week that beginning in 2017 Jane Austen will replace Charles Darwin on the 10-pound note. The Times asks the question: which American authors would you choose to grace the dollar bill? You might want to start with a perusal of the Library’s Books That Shaped America beforehand. Wouldn’t want to make any rash decisions.
You may have heard about the documentary Plimpton! based on the life of Paris Review editor George Plimpton, but did you know that Little, Brown has scheduled seven of his books to be republished in 2015? Galleycat has the scoop here, but you could always check out Paper Lion and Mad Ducks and Bears (before you see the documentary) at the Library. That is only if you promise not to judge them by their same old covers.
Speaking of the many things you can find in the Library, the New Yorker Page Turner’s This Week in Fiction is about author Shirley Jackson, whose son recounts the story of rediscovering his mother’s work at the Library of Congress, where it was sent by her husband upon her death. If you’re curious about the Manuscript Division’s collection of Shirley Jackson’s work, here’s a start.
Finally, we should always start the week with a little poetry. The Poetry Foundation is featuring an interview with office favorite Maurice Manning. He’s been at the Library a number of times, and most recently he read as part of the Poetry and Literature Center’s Literary Birthday Celebration: Robert Penn Warren event. Here he is representing Kentucky in 2008!