Essay Photo by Miko Guziuk / Unsplash In his newest book, What Is American Literature? (Oxford University Press, 2022), award-winning cultural commentator, translator, and editor Ilan Stavans, the publisher of Restless Books and the Lewis-Sebring Professor of Humanities and Latin American and Latino Culture at Amherst College, rereads an assortment of American literary classics through the prism of the Trump years, from the poems of Phillis Wheatley to Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are. In the primer, written during the presidential election won by Joe Biden—and before the January 6, 2021, sedition instigated by Donald Trump—he also reflects on the role public libraries play in disseminating the nation’s literature, the art of teaching it to new generations of students, and the future of the book as an artifact disseminating knowledge in our graphic-driven age. The volume closes with an epistolary account, in Stavans’s words, of “the Second American Civil War.” What follows is the section on teaching. American literature starts and ends in the classroom. It starts there because whoever is a writer-to-be is likely to discover the magic of literature as an assignment, or else in response to the tedium that comes from feeling disengaged with the educational purpose. And it ends in the classroom because, at a time of precipitous declines in reading habits, books have their largest audiences among students enrolled in... Continue reading at 'World Literature Today'
[ World Literature Today | 2022-02-02 19:59:22 UTC ]
Patmos Public Library is finally being funded after two previous losses and Pella Public Library retains its independence. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-11-08 15:08:37 UTC ]
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World Literature Today to Co-host Online “RESISTIR Latin America” Poetry Event News and Events [email protected] Mon, 10/30/2023 - 15:47 On Saturday, November 18 at 10am cst, the “RESISTIR Groupe” of Latin American PEN Centers, World Literature... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2023-10-30 20:47:30 UTC ]
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World Literature Today to Co-host Online “RESISTIR Latin America” Poetry Event and Call for Peace News and Events [email protected] Mon, 10/30/2023 - 15:47 On Saturday, November 18 at 12pm cst, the “RESISTIR Groupe” of Latin American PEN Centers,... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2023-10-30 20:47:30 UTC ]
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The ghost story is one of the most vibrant modes in U.S. American literature today. But why are ghost stories still relevant? Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-10-26 10:35:00 UTC ]
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A comprehensive guide to the public libraries offering free access to banned books. Here's where and how. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-10-23 10:40:00 UTC ]
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When I first encountered the work of Henry Dumas, I was very nearly finished with my undergraduate degree in English. I favored American literature in my time studying, and was lucky to have access to syllabi that spanned a more diverse array of writers. The Black writers I would come to know... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2023-10-13 11:15:00 UTC ]
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When I first encountered the work of Henry Dumas, I was very nearly finished with my undergraduate degree in English. I favored American literature in my time studying, and was lucky to have access to syllabi that spanned a more diverse array of writers. The Black writers I would come to know... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2023-10-13 11:15:00 UTC ]
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Among the week's headlines: Alabama Governor Kay Ivey questions the work of public libraries in her state; the political attacks on the ALA continue; the Senate finally confirms a fifth FCC commissioner, breaking a years-long partisan deadlock; and paying tribute to the first Black librarian in... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-09-08 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Dolby has announced a new Atmos feature to pair your TV speakers with any wireless speakers you have in the room. Officially dubbed Dolby Atmos FlexConnect, the tech will appear first on 2024 TCL TVs.It’s not completely new ground: Samsung has Q-Symphony and Sony has Acoustic Center Sync, for... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-08-29 11:15:03 UTC ]
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A library card is one of the most useful things you can have in your wallet. Libby offers free access to ebooks and audiobooks if you have a supported library card (some 90 percent of public libraries in North America now use OverDrive's app). Not only that, you can also use Libby to read a host... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2023-08-28 17:00:30 UTC ]
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Seven suburban Chicago public libraries received bomb threats in the last month. That, plus this week's book censorship news. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-08-25 10:40:00 UTC ]
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An upcoming national survey on the parental perceptions of public libraries will launch in early September. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-08-15 13:09:24 UTC ]
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Historically, public libraries have been targets for fascists, and today's libraries are inherently against what fascism stands for. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-07-31 10:30:00 UTC ]
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Gene Luen Yang to Headline 2023 Neustadt Lit Fest at OU News and Events [email protected] Fri, 07/28/2023 - 10:38 World Literature Today, the University of Oklahoma’s award-winning magazine of international literature and culture, will award the... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2023-07-28 15:38:00 UTC ]
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It isn’t unusual for libraries to feature prominently in novels; novelists, after all, are merely adult versions of the little people who fell in love with books at public libraries. But what of librarians? The keepers of the books, the ones who know you prefer romance, science fiction, or... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2023-07-20 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Long, long ago, a 1937 first edition of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit was forged by a printing press and sold. For a time, it was lost to man, buried in the piles of donated inventory at the Cancer Research UK superstore in Dundee, Scotland, until manager Adam Carsley spotted the worn copy on the... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-07-12 15:27:21 UTC ]
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As more Quebecers come to libraries for services not found on the shelf, some librarians are calling for Montreal to follow the lead of other Canadian cities and hire social workers. Continue reading at CBC
[ CBC | 2023-07-10 08:00:00 UTC ]
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Public libraries in Mississippi have cut off access to digital platforms like Overdrive and Hoopla to those under 18. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-07-07 15:33:07 UTC ]
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Pulitzer Prize-winning author Cormac McCarthy, who wrote nihilistic and violent tales of the American frontier and post-apocalyptic worlds that enthralled and appalled readers, died on Tuesday at the age of 89, his representative confirmed to CBC... Continue reading at CBC
[ CBC | 2023-06-13 20:01:40 UTC ]
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Kirk Cameron is encouraging a national story time event in US public libraries August 5. Here's what library workers need to know. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-06-05 10:37:00 UTC ]
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