February 24, 2010
Thursday, February 25, 2010 marks a very special occasion. Sometime tomorrow, one lucky patron will check out the 1,000,000th item to circulate at the library this year. For the first time ever we’re going to hit the one million (!) mark for items checked out from Evanston’s three libraries (North, South, and Main Branches) in […]
February 20, 2010
A few years back Elmore Leonard wrote a brief piece for the New York Times (later published as a short book) detailing his 10 Rules of Writing. His list included many practical tips: avoid prologues, keep your exclamation points under control, try to leave out the parts that readers tend to skip. Inspired by his list, the […]
February 20, 2010
This post was originally published in the February 2010 issue of LibrarySparks. I met Sharon Draper in a utility closet. Maya Angelou, Angela Johnson, and Jacqueline Woodson were there, too. I talked to Kadir Nelson, Ashley Bryan, and Walter Dean Myers. Yes, and even Christopher Paul Curtis. Can you guess the common thread that led […]
February 19, 2010
My daughter and I flew to New York City last week to visit my ailing sister. For the flight I had picked up Gone to New York, a collection of short non-fiction by the contemporary humorist Ian Frazier. Two-time winner of the James Thurber prize, Ian Frazier is a comic writer with a great heart, just […]
February 18, 2010
Gwendolyn Brooks was known for poetry, but she wrote a novel, too Gwendolyn Brooks is known as a great poet. Poet Laureate of Illinois from 1968 until her death in 2000, she won the Pulitzer Prize for “Annie Allen” in 1950. She was the first African-American to win the prize and continued to collect accolades […]
February 17, 2010
In celebration of Black History Month, we invite you to learn about American master, Gordon Parks (1912-2006), whose huge talents in various fields of the arts brought truth, clarity, and beauty to the lives of many Americans. His photography career began at age 25 when he was inspired by photos of migrant workers. Parks documented […]
February 16, 2010
Caught up with New Year’s resolutions? It’s time to broaden your literary horizon! Salon’s Laura Miller explains how… SR
February 15, 2010
You kids today with your iTunes and your iPods and your customized playlists, burned CDs, and superslick Photoshoped homemade CD covers think you’re pretty hip, eh? Well nobody will ever out-hip Mr. Louis Armstrong who was making and decorating mix tapes before such a thing even existed. As if Satchmo needed one more claim to greatness, […]
February 15, 2010
Think you spend too much on books? In Peru, a book can cost as much as 20 percent of an average workers weekly salary, and library funding is near non-existent. It’s resulted in a big market for cheap and illegal books. Underground publishing thrives in Peru …complete with its own version of the book mafia…and […]
February 12, 2010
Lost is one of those TV shows you either love or hate. The haters can stop reading this post now. However, if you love Lost and are looking for a way to fuel your obsession with the show, why not pick up one of the books featured on it? Perhaps doing so will enable you to […]
