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Posted by: Robert Casper
The following is a guest post by staffer and blogger Caitlin Rizzo, who is on vacation this week. My family has a long history in Washington, D.C. My maternal grandmother and grandfather spent their early years as a family in Anacostia; my paternal grandfather was an Emmy-winning TV news editor for the local Fox 5 …
Posted in: News and Events
Posted by: Caitlin Rizzo
Salon has published a list of Six Most Influential Women Writers You’ve Never Heard Of. You may have a hard time tracking down these ladies in a books store (true to advertisement, I had never read any of their works), but a quick perusal through our catalog showed that they live on in our collections. …
Posted in: Uncategorized
Posted by: Caitlin Rizzo
According to the Smithsonian’s “Surprising Science” blog, a life of reading and writing can help you stave off mental decline as you age. This is fantastic news for us at the Poetry and Literature Center, or was until we read the part about reaching peak mental agility at 22. On the plus side, our non-peak …
Posted in: News and Events
Posted by: Robert Casper
For this 4th of July post, I would like to begin by saluting former Poet Laureate Billy Collins. Since the beginning of June Billy has served as the summer host for Garrison Keillor’s daily radio feature The Writer’s Almanac. Billy’s project as Laureate, “Poetry 180,” was a huge success, and we still get calls and …
Posted in: Poets Laureate
Posted by: Caitlin Rizzo
Last Friday, Julio Cortazar’s groundbreaking novel Hopscotch turned 50. For a slightly late Monday morning celebration, Cortazar fans should head to the Los Angeles Review of Books to read Ted Gioia’s essay “How to Win at Hopscotch.” Of course, if you’ve only read Cortazar’s short story collection you received for Christmas two years ago, you …
Posted in: Collections, News and Events, Poets Laureate
Posted by: Peter Armenti
Paul Laurence Dunbar, one of the first African-Americans to develop a national reputation for his poetry, was born on this day in 1872. To celebrate his life and work, the Library held a literary birthday reading earlier today featuring noted poets Holly Bass and Al Young, who read selections from Dunbar’s poetry and discussed his …
Posted in: Collections
Posted by: Caitlin Rizzo
In case you missed it, Bookriot’s Sunday Diversion “Guess These Books by the Catalog Cards” featured Library of Congress subject headings in a game to test your literary chops. Check out the Library’s catalog to create your own literary diversions. The New Yorker’s PageTurner announced last week that Tom Wolfe’s upcoming book will be based …
Posted in: Collections, News and Events, Poets Laureate
Posted by: Caitlin Rizzo
Last Thursday, second lady Jill Biden came to the Library of Congress to read her children’s book Don’t Forget, God Bless Our Troops to the sons and daughters of military families. I usually spend my time at the Library focusing on promoting literature to adults, but on that day I thought about its impact on …
Posted in: News and Events
Posted by: Caitlin Rizzo
Were she alive, today would have been the 202nd birthday of one of our nation’s most important cultural figures: Harriet Beecher Stowe. Stowe is best known for writing Uncle Tom’s Cabin, an incredibly popular novel that challenged the nation’s understanding of the effects of slavery and the importance of the abolitionist movement. Legend has it …
Posted in: Collections, News and Events