This “Literary Treasures” post, written by intern Megan Jenkins, examines an audio recording from the Archive of Recorded Poetry and Literature featuring Lucille Clifton reading her poems at the Library of Congress on December 2, 1999.
In commemoration of Juneteenth, Manuscript Division curator Barbara Bair explores Ralph Ellison's unfinished second novel. First published posthumously in 1999 as "Juneteenth," and a decade later (in 2010) as "Three Days Before the Shooting...," Ellison's novel takes a deep dive into the complexities of race and violence and prices of transformation in America.
Looking forward to the 2020 National Book Festival? In the meantime, you can watch past festival presentations by exploring our full National Book Festival video collection—which includes this video of poet Kevin Young reading and discussing his poems on the Poetry & Prose stage at the 2015 festival.
The Library of Congress, through its Center for the Book, has affiliates in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Now, you can learn about your local Center for the Book’s public programs in one place: Our newly launched Calendar of Events tells you what your state or territory is doing as well as the activities of other Affiliate Centers. And, through the beauty of the internet, you can be a part of programs from just about any state, as the current pandemic has forced almost all programs to go online.