The following post by John Sayers, a public affairs specialist in the Library’s Office of Communications, originally appeared on the Library of Congress Blog.
Today we launched our newest podcast series, “La Biblioteca” (The Library), in celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month. Every Thursday for the next eight weeks, Library specialists will explore the Library’s rich collections that focus on the cultures of Spain, Portugal, Latin America and the Hispanic community in the United States.
Catalina Gómez and Talía Guzmán-González, reference librarians in our Hispanic Division, have planned a fascinating series. In the first installment, titled “Listening to the Archive of Hispanic Literature on Tape,” they speak with Georgette Dorn, the longtime curator of this historic archive, housed here at the Library. It has captured the voices of some of the most prominent poets and prose writers of the Luso-Hispanic world. Dorn shares anecdotes about interviewing Julio Cortázar in the 1970s and about meeting Pablo Neruda and Jorge Luis Borges.
In subsequent podcasts, Gómez and Guzmán-González will chat with contemporary authors, scholars and other experts on our collections and initiatives that pertain to the Luso-Hispanic world. The line-up of invited guests include literary critic and translator Anna Deeny; writer and journalist Marie Arana; Vivaldo Andrade dos Santos, professor of Portuguese at Georgetown University; Wellesley College literature professor and poet Marjorie Agosín; and former U.S. poet laureate Juan Felipe Herrera.
Although some podcasts contain Spanish-language audio excerpts, all of the conversations and interviews in the series are in English and meant for a global audience.