Rebecca Newland, former Teacher in Residence at the Library of Congress, discusses the platform ("GRAB THE MIC: Tell Your Story") of the new National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, Jason Reynolds. She offers ideas on how teachers can extend Reynolds' platform among students and the larger school community so everyone has an opportunity to tell their story.
On February 6, National Book Festival Presents launched its winter/spring season with "Fearless: A Tribute to Irish American Women," featuring award-winning novelist Alice McDermott, Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, and CBS anchor Margaret Brennan. As part of the event programming, staff from four Library divisions developed a display of items highlighting the impact of women of Irish heritage in the Americas.
Poet Maya Angelou’s debut memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, is her most famous work, yet its title is not original to Angelou: She borrowed it from a poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar that he composed, at least in part, in response to his employment at the Library of Congress.