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 ]
Governor JB Pritzker expected to sign bill that would block state funding for public libraries and schools that ban booksGovernor JB Pritzker is expected to sign a bill that would make Illinois the first state to legislate to end book bans – by punishing publicly-funded institutions that attempt... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-05-30 10:00:33 UTC ]
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Today, the American Library Association has published its annual list of the Most Challenged Books—those most often targeted for banning in schools and public libraries. As you may already know if you’ve been paying even the slightest bit of attention, book banning efforts are in high gear right... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-04-24 14:24:23 UTC ]
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The Boston Public Library is the latest in a string of public libraries to plan to incorporate affordable housing into its buildings. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-04-19 18:13:54 UTC ]
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After garnering national headlines, a group of Llano county commissioners on Thursday voted to table the idea of closing its public libraries. But as a federal lawsuit over the library's illegal removal of books it deemed offensive continues, library supporters say the library's future remains... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-04-14 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Libraries are increasingly being targeted by local and state legislators and protestors trying to ban books and block LGBTQ content. How is that affecting the people who work in them? Scratch nearly any kind of story—political, social, economic, cultural, and so on—and you’ll find a labor... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2023-04-14 03:00:00 UTC ]
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Officials in Llano County considered closing the entire library system in lieu of returning challenged titles to its shelves. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-04-13 23:55:21 UTC ]
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A Lesson for Dr. Freud: Dominique Fabre’s Psychoanalysis of the Everyday and Everyman, by Alice-Catherine Carls Book Reviews [email protected] Mon, 04/10/2023 - 15:41 And these things, that live by going away, know that you praise them;... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2023-04-10 20:41:34 UTC ]
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What states spend the most money on their public libraries and what states see the most use per person? Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-04-06 11:21:40 UTC ]
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Among the week's headlines: bomb threats over Juno Dawson's 'This Book Is Gay' highlight the increasing threat level librarians and teachers are facing; Missouri lawmakers vote to defund the state's public libraries; and PEN America's Nadine Farid Johnson tells Congress that the country is... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-03-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Among the week's headlines: Congress passes a 'parental rights' bill; Illinois advances its bill to prohibit book banning; Missouri lawmakers seek to pull funding from public libraries in the state; and Julie Stivers has been named School Library Journal's 2023 School Librarian of the Year. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-03-24 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Data from the IMLS show gate counts and circulation have been falling for more than a decade. U.K.-based library advocate Tim Coates says print books hold the key to reversing the trend. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-03-10 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Amid criticism, Puffin revises its plan to soften some of the language in Roald Dahl's classic works; North Dakota passes a new law that wou ban sexually explicit materials in public libraries; and Library Futures releases a policy paper on digital ownership. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-02-24 05:00:00 UTC ]
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A photo essay celebrating the versatility of public libraries prompted an outpouring of enthusiasm from card-carrying book lovers. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-02-19 10:00:09 UTC ]
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A celebration of community libraries and their expanding role, and a look at the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Paul Harding. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-02-17 17:56:54 UTC ]
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A Kenyan nonprofit is restoring iconic public libraries, leaving behind a segregated past and turning them into inclusive spaces. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2023-02-04 10:00:30 UTC ]
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Growing up, the library was not just Amanda Oliver’s favorite place but also her “first beloved destination, first embodied center… it was absolutely sacred.” However, soon after Oliver began her career as a librarian at a Title I school and then in the D.C. public library system, she witnessed... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2023-01-05 12:00:00 UTC ]
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What gets included in public libraries has been discussed more and more these days. Here is why Christmas trees should stay out. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-12-07 11:33:00 UTC ]
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Here are the most popular, in-demand books across US public libraries between July and September 2022. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-11-02 10:39:00 UTC ]
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This week's book censorship news, plus a look at US public libraries declaring themselves upholders of the First Amendment Rights of all. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2022-10-14 10:40:00 UTC ]
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In a predictable—but nevertheless horrifying—extension of the ongoing wave of book bans across the country (not to mention the bomb threats to a children’s hospital for providing gender-affirming healthcare), Motherboard has reported that at least a dozen public libraries across the country have... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-09-30 16:07:29 UTC ]
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