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Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

A Valentine for the Ages: The Biblical “Song of Songs”

Posted by: Erin Allen

(The following post is by Ann Brener, Hebraic area specialist in the Library’s African and Middle Eastern Division.) With its rich nature imagery and enigmatic dream-like sequences, the “Song of Songs” (also known as the “Songs of Solomon”) is surely one of the world’s great love poems and one of the most popular books in …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

He Came From the Near East

Posted by: Erin Allen

(The following is a guest post written by Anchi Hoh, a program specialist in the African and Middle Eastern Division.) If you read last month’s Christmas-related blog post “An Armenian ‘Three Magi’ at the Library of Congress” by Levon Avdoyan, you may be wondering how the Library’s African and Middle Eastern Division acquired some of …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Pic of the Week: Gene Luen Yang

Posted by: Erin Allen

During a special ceremony yesterday, the Library welcomed comic book author and graphic novelist Gene Luen Yang as the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. The National Ambassador is selected for his or her contributions to young people’s literature, the ability to relate to kids and teens, and a dedication to fostering children’s literacy as a whole. The …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

A New Ambassador for Reading

Posted by: Mark Hartsell

There’s something special, author Gene Luen Yang says, about the first time a reader encounters a literary character that shares the same cultural background. In his case, the character was Jubilation Lee, an X-Men comic-book figure who, like Yang, was a Chinese-American with immigrant parents but who, unlike Yang, could release explosive plasmoids and detonate …

Image of an ornate clock showing 2:05 with sculpted male figures sitting on each side of the clock face

Library in the News: December 2015 Edition

Posted by: Erin Allen

While the new year is upon us, the Library’s headlines in December are worth looking back on. Topping the news was the announcement of the new selections to the National Film Registry. Outlets noted recognizable films such as “Ghostbusters” and “Top Gun” along with some of the list’s more obscure titles. “If there are any …