Top of page
Posted by: Brett Zongker
The Library's 2024 National Book Festival will be August 24, featuring writers and personalities across the humanities including James McBride, Renee Fleming, James Patterson, Marie Arana and many others.
Posted in: Books, Drink, Events, Hispanic and Latino, LGBTQ, Library Work and Employees, Literacy, National Book Festival, Poetry, Washington DC, Writers
Posted by: Wendi Maloney
Bernie Taupin took the stage recently to speak with Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden about his songwriting journey with Elton John. The pair are the 2024 Gershwin Prize for Popular Song winners and their award concert will be broadcast on PBS April 8.
Posted in: Concerts, Events, Gazette, Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, Library Work and Employees, Music, Performing Arts, Writers
Posted by: Neely Tucker
George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” a rapturous burst of music that has become a motif of the nation’s creative spirit, turns 100 today. It was first performed in New York on the snowy Tuesday afternoon of Feb. 12, 1924. Commissioned and premiered by the popular conductor Paul Whiteman at a concert designed to showcase high-minded …
Posted in: Events, Library Work and Employees, Music, Performing Arts, Today in History, Video
Posted by: Wendi Maloney
Jessica Castelo is a museum technician in the Visitor Engagement Office. Here, she answers a short Q&A session about her work and life outside the office.
Posted in: Events, Gazette, Library Work and Employees, My Job, New Visitors Experience
Posted by: Neely Tucker
Mariah Carey surprised a festive crowd during the Library’s Santa Claus edition of “Live! At the Library“ last night, making an entrance as her signature hit, “All I Want For Christmas Is You” played in the Great Hall. Decked out in a stage-worthy sparkling dress and pink high heels, she picked up the song's framed certificate of induction from the National Recording Registry from Librarian Carla Hayden and - like most everyone else at the party - posed for a couple of pictures by the Christmas tree.
Posted in: Christmas, Curators, Events, Library Work and Employees, Music, National Recording Registry, News, Performing Arts, Social Media
Posted by: Neely Tucker
Pop hits, R&B grooves and Broadway anthems thumped through the Coolidge Auditorium Wednesday night as the We Write the Songs concert burst back into life for the first time in four years, featuring songwriters such as Jermaine Dupri, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Madison Love and Matthew West. The 90-minute showcase is an annual event (save for the recent COVID-caused gap) by the Library and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Foundation. It demonstrates to an audience heavy with members of Congress and Capitol Hill staffers, often in danceable fashion, why the rights of creative artists have to be protected.
Posted in: Concerts, Congress, Events, Music, Performing Arts
Posted by: Neely Tucker
Novelist, short-story writer and essayist George Saunders was awarded the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction Saturday evening in one of the final sessions of the 2023 National Book Festival, conferring a lifetime honor on a versatile writer whose most famous book cast one of Washington's most famous residents in a surreal light. Saunders' 2017 novel "Lincoln in the Bardo" took a fantastical look at the visit President Abraham Lincoln paid to his young son's tomb in a Georgetown cemetery one night in 1862.
Posted in: Abraham Lincoln, Civil War, Events, Gazette, Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction, Library Work and Employees, National Book Festival, Washington DC, Writers
Posted by: Wendi Maloney
The Libarary's 2023 National Book Festival on August 12 features a stunning array literary stars including Amor Towls, Beverly Gage, Victor Lavelle, Elizabeth Acevedo, Rebecca Makkai, David Grann, S.A. Crosby, Cheuk Kwan and Tahir Hamut Izgil. Librarian of Congress will present the Prize for American Fiction to novelist George Saunders at day's end.
Posted in: Events, Kids, Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction, Library Work and Employees, National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, National Book Festival, Writers
Posted by: Neely Tucker
Danny Elfman has composed or produced scores for more than 100 films, including blockbusters such as “Batman” and “Men in Black.” He’s composed themes for TV hits, as classic as “The Simpsons” and as recent as “Wednesday.” He was at the Library this week to present something more subtle: the world premiere of his latest classical work. “Suite for Chamber Orchestra,” commissioned by the LIbrary, debuted Thursday night at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in D.C. In this interview, he talks about his cinema and classical works, as well as original rock band, Oingo Boingo.
Posted in: Concerts, Events, Film, Library Work and Employees, Music, Performing Arts