Tuesday, October 10, 2017, 11 a.m.
Hispanic Reading Room Research Orientation
Sign up for our research orientation and learn about the Hispanic Reading Room services and collections. Orientations are offered to the public the second Tuesday of every month from 11 a.m. – 12 p.m. Those attending should obtain a Library of Congress Reader Identification Card prior to the session. For more information about reader’s cards, see here.
Location: Hispanic Reading Room, Thomas Jefferson Building, LJ-240. Attendees should use the First Street Carriage Entrance of the Jefferson Building. Contact: [email protected]
Request ADA accommodations five days in advance at (202) 707-6362 or [email protected]
Thursday, October 12, 2017, noon – 1 p.m.
Book Talk: “When in the Arab World: An Insider’s Guide to Living and Working with Arab Culture” by Rana F. Nejem
The Near East Section, African and Middle East Division of the Library of Congress invite you to a talk and book signing on “When in the Arab World: An Insider’s Guide to Living and Working with Arab Culture” by Rana F. Nejem. Author, Social & Cultural Intelligence Coach Rana Nejem worked as a broadcast journalist with Jordan TV and CNN during the first Gulf war; Foreign Press Secretary for HM the late King Hussein of Jordan; then a lead on all the communications and public diplomacy work of the British Embassy in Amman. Rana founded her own company in 2013 – Yarnu – an Arabic word meaning to look towards, to aspire. She has since been coaching, training and advising business executives, diplomats and officials, on refining their professional profile, increasing the impact of their personal presence and raising their inter-cultural intelligence. Free and Open to the Public. Please allow time to clear security.
Location: African and Middle Eastern Division Reading Room, LJ-220, 2nd floor, Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First Street SE, Washington, DC 20540. Metro stop: Capitol South.
Contact: Nawal Kawar, (202) 707-4708, [email protected]
Request ADA accommodations five business days in advance at (202) 707-6362 (Voice/TTY) or email [email protected]
Wednesday, October 18, 2017, noon – 1:30 p.m.
Lecture: Experimental Shadow Theater in Contemporary Bali, Indonesia
The Asian Division and the Indonesian Embassy, Education and Culture Section offer the Library a special lecture with shadow puppets. In recent years, several dalang (shadow masters) in both Bali and Java have presented reinterpreted performances of ancient Indonesian texts as part of considering religious pluralism and tolerance. It is within these texts, which were produced between 1100 and 1400 AD by the Javanese Hindu-Buddhist sages Mpu Kunturan and Mpu Tantular that the Indonesian national motto bhineka tunggal ika (unity in diversity) first appeared. The speaker will be Gusti Sudarta, a Balinese shadow master, musician, composer, dancer, and choreographer. He is a renowned performer of Balinese traditional forms and is at the forefront of contemporary experimentation. The translator will be Dr. Andy McGraw, an associate professor of music at the University of Richmond, Virginia. He has published extensively on traditional and experimental music in Southeast Asia.
Please allow time to clear security.
Location: Montpelier Room (LM 619), 6th floor, Madison Building, 101 Independence Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20540. Metro stop: Capitol South.
Contact: Hong Ta-Moore, (202) 707-3734, [email protected]
Request ADA accommodations five business days in advance at (202) 707-6362 (Voice/TTY) or email[email protected]
Wednesday, October 18, 2017, 3 – 4 p.m.
Book Talk: The Book Thieves: The Nazi Looting of Europe’s Libraries and the Race to Return a Literary Inheritance
The Library of Congress European Division in partnership with the Embassy of Sweden presents “The Book Thieves: The Nazi Looting of Europe’s Libraries and the Race to Return a Literary Inheritance” by Anders Rydell. It tells the story of the Nazis’ systematic pillaging of Europe’s libraries, and the small team of heroic librarians now working to return the stolen books to their rightful owners.
Through extensive new research, Anders Rydell reveals the untold story of how the Nazis began to compile libraries of their own that were used to wage an intellectual war on their enemies. In this secret war, the libraries of Jews, communists, liberal politicians, LGBT activists, Catholics, Freemasons, and many other opposition groups were appropriated for Nazi research, and used as an intellectual weapon against their owners.
Anders Rydell is an established journalist, editor, and author of nonfiction. His works on the Nazi looting of art and books have been translated into 19 languages, among them German, Italian, Russian, and Chinese. The Book Thieves (Viking, 2017) is his first book in English. Book signing to follow.
Location: Thomas Jefferson Building, Room LJ-119, located on First Street, SE, between Independence Avenue and East Capitol Street. Metro stop: Capitol South.
Contact: Taru Spiegel at [email protected], 202-707-9814.
Request ASL and ADA accommodation five days in advance at 202-707-6362, or at [email protected].
Thursday, October 19, 2017, noon – 1 p.m.
Persian Book Lecture Series
Lecture: The Genesis of Print in Afghanistan During the Reign of Amir Sher Ali Khan (1871-77)
The Near East Section, African and Middle East Division of the Library of Congress invite you to a lecture, “The Genesis of Print in Afghanistan During the Reign of Amir Sher Ali Khan (1871-77),” by Elham Bakhtary, Doctoral Candidate, George Washington University and Mellon Fellow. This program is part of the Persian Book Lecture Series. Free and Open to the Public. Please allow time to clear security.
Location: African and Middle Eastern Division Reading Room, LJ-220, 2nd floor, Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First Street SE, Washington, DC 20540. Metro stop: Capitol South.
Contact: Hirad Dinavari, (202) 707-4518, [email protected]
Request ADA accommodations five business days in advance at (202) 707-6362 (Voice/TTY) or email [email protected]
Thursday, October 19, 2017, 10 a.m. – noon
Symposium: History and Future of the Finnish Language
The Library of Congress European Division together with the Embassy of Finland invite you to celebrate 100 years of Finnish Independence at a Symposium on the “History and Future of the Finnish Language.” Coffee service to begin at 9:30 a.m. Opening remarks by the Ambassador of Finland, Kirsti Kauppi. Panelists include: Aili Flint, Senior Lecturer in Finnish, Emerita, Columbia University; Daniel Karvonen, Senior Lecturer, Finnish and Linguistics, University of Minnesota; and Hilary Virtanen, Assistant Professor of Finnish and Nordic Studies, Finlandia University.
Location: Whittall Pavilion, Ground Floor, Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 Independence Avenue, SE, Washington, DC 20540. Metro stop: Capitol South.
Contact: Taru Spiegel at [email protected], 202-707-9814.
Please Request ADA accommodations five business days in advance at (202) 707-6362 or [email protected].
Monday, October 30, 2017, noon – 1 p.m.
Lecture: Goodly Treasures New and Old: A Lecture on the Song of Songs
by Gary A. Rendsburg, Blanche and Irving Laurie Professor of Jewish History, Rutgers University
The Hebraic Section, African and Middle East Division of the Library of Congress presents “Goodly Treasures New and Old: A Lecture on the Song of Songs,” by Gary A. Rendsburg, Blanche and Irving Laurie Professor of Jewish History, Rutgers University. Following the talk there will be a Display of Rare Books (new and old!) from the collections of the Library of Congress.
Location: African and Middle Eastern Division Reading Room, LJ-220, 2nd floor, Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First Street SE, Washington, DC 20540. Metro stop: Capitol South.
Contact: Ann Brener, (202) 707-4186, [email protected]
Request ADA accommodations five business days in advance at (202) 707-6362 (Voice/TTY) or email [email protected]
NATIONAL HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH 2017 (September 15 – October 15)
Wednesday, October 11, 2017, 3 p.m.
Lecture: Francisco De Miranda and the United States
Art historian Claudia Isabel Navas will deliver the lecture “Francisco de Miranda and the United States.” The talk will focus on the Hispanic revolutionary and his involvement in the United States Battle of Pensacola of 1782. Cosponsored by the Hispanic Division of the Library of Congress, and presented in collaboration with the Embassy of Colombia.
Location: Whittall Pavilion, Thomas Jefferson Building, ground floor.
Free tickets available
Contact: [email protected]
Thursday, October 12, 2017, noon
Book Talk: Mexico’s Nobodies: The Cultural Legacy of the Soldadera and Afro-Mexican Women
Professor Chrissy Arce (University of Miami) will present her new book, “Mexico’s Nobodies: The Cultural Legacy of the Soldadera and Afro-Mexican Women” (State University of New York Press, 2017) The book examines key figures of Mexican history that have remained anonymous despite their proliferation in the arts: soldaderas and Afro-Mexicans. Cosponsored by the Hispanic Division and the Hispanic Cultural Society of the Library of Congress.
Location: Mary Pickford Theater, James Madison Memorial Building, 3rd floor.
Free tickets available
Contact: [email protected]
Friday, October 13, 2017, noon
Medialogies: Reading Reality in the Age of Inflationary Media
by David R. Castillo (SUNY at Buffalo) and William Egginton (Johns Hopkins University)
A moderated conversation with Professor Patricia Vieira (Georgetown University). Medialogies offers a highly innovative approach to the contemporary construction of reality in cultural, political, and economic domains. The book invites us to reconsider the way reality is constructed, and how truth, sovereignty, agency and authority are understood from the everyday, philosophical, and political points of view. The discussion include discussions on Cervantes and the problem of truth in the digital era, Hollywood films, and mass media phenomena. There will be a display of treasures from the Library of Congress’ collections. Book signing after the event.
Location: Mary Pickford Theater, James Madison Memorial Building, 3rd floor.
Free and open to the public.
Contact: [email protected]
Friday, October 13, 2017, 7 p.m.
Film Screening: Selena (1997)
Biographical musical-drama about the life and career of the late Tejano music star Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, a recording artist well known in the Mexican American and Hispanic communities in the United States and Mexico before she was murdered by Yolanda Saldívar, the president of her fan club, at the age of 23. Cosponsored by the Hispanic Division and the Hispanic Cultural Society of the Library of Congress.
Location: Mary Pickford Theater, James Madison Memorial Building, 3rd floor.
Free tickets available
Contact: [email protected]