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Posted by: Jennifer Gavin
The author Pat Mora has a word for it: Bookjoy. If you’re a lover of books, you won’t have to look that up in a dictionary – you’ll just know, instinctively, what it is. But where were you when you first experienced the joy of books? Odds are it was on your mom’s, dad’s or …
Posted in: Books, Capitol Hill, Education, Events, LC Web site, Libraries, Poetry, Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington DC
Posted by: Jennifer Gavin
It’s no great surprise that Carole King has become the first woman to win the prestigious Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song– what a talent. She was co-writing hits that got huge airplay when she was still a teen in bobby sox: “Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” “Take Good Care of My Baby,” …
Posted in: Uncategorized
Posted by: Jennifer Gavin
It’s the year 1933. There’s a 13-year-old kid in the front row at the movie palace. He’s watching “King Kong,” completely transfixed. And there, in the flickering light of the screen, in the roar of the soundtrack, a famous career is born – as a youngster named Ray, already obsessed with dinosaurs, tells himself “Wow. …
Posted in: Audiovisual, Blogging, Film, Uncategorized
Posted by: Jennifer Gavin
Authors and poets Margaret Atwood, Marie Arana, Taylor Branch, Don DeLillo, Khaled Hosseini, Barbara Kingsolver, Brad Meltzer, Joyce Carol Oates, Katherine Paterson and U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey will be among more than 100 writers speaking at the 13th annual Library of Congress National Book Festival, on Saturday, Sept. 21 and Sunday, Sept. 22, 2013, …
Posted in: Books, Capitol Hill, Events, LC Web site, National Book Festival, Podcasts, Poetry, Uncategorized, Washington DC
Posted by: Jennifer Gavin
Duke Ellington has been famously quoted as saying: “If it sounds good, it is good.” Which brings us to Topic A of today: What’s the greatest scream in rock ‘n’ roll history? In my own mind, it’s a tossup which of these is No. 1 — Janis Joplin’s soul-scraping vocalization at the end of “Piece …
Posted in: Uncategorized
Posted by: Jennifer Gavin
You’ve heard, no doubt, about the Great Library of Alexandria, Egypt, which was destroyed in a fire back in antiquity. (There are still debates about who torched it and why. We’ll probably never know.) You may also have heard that the national library of Egypt – the Bibliotheca Alexandrina – was rebuilt in an architecturally …
Posted in: Books, Capitol Hill, Education, Events, Libraries, Preservation, Science, Technology, Thomas Jefferson Building, Washington DC
Posted by: Jennifer Gavin
There’s news on two fronts for you book-lovers out there: first, the 13th annual Library of Congress National Book Festival will be held on the National Mall between 9th and 14th Streets on Saturday, Sept. 21, 2013, from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2013 from noon to 5:30 p.m., rain …
Posted in: Books, Capitol Hill, Education, Events, LC Web site, Libraries, National Book Festival, News, Washington DC
Posted by: Jennifer Gavin
The wonders of modern science were used to positively identify a set of human bones found under an asphalt parking lot in England (site of a former church) as those of Richard III – a former king of England and one of Shakespeare’s most memorable villains. The world was fascinated – it isn’t every day …
Posted in: Collections, LC Web site, Libraries, Photos, Poetry, Science, Social Media, Technology
Posted by: Jennifer Gavin
On Thursday evening, a very nice gift was given, and received, in an ornate room at the U.S. Department of State. Afghan President Hamid Karzai was the recipient – on behalf of several libraries and research institutions in his nation – of a trove of digitized treasures from the Library of Congress and its associated …
Posted in: Books, Capitol Hill, Collections, Film, Libraries, Manuscripts, Maps, News, Photos, Poetry, Preservation, Uncategorized, Washington DC