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Authors

Video: Multiracial Coalitions in the Civil Rights Era

The Poor People’s Campaign, held in Washington, D.C., during the spring of 1968, has long been overshadowed by the assassination of its architect, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and the political turmoil of that year.

But while the campaign did not achieve its lofty goals — including a rededication to the War on Poverty and an end to rampant police brutality — it did prove to be an illustrative moment of a “long” civil rights movement that highlighted the essential yet oft-forgotten objective of economic justice and everything that entailed. This multiracial campaign also shed lights on the interdependent relationship between racial identity and political coalition among African Americans and Mexican Americans. While the fight against poverty held great potential for Black-Latino cooperation, such efforts also exposed the complex dynamics between the nation’s two largest minority groups.

Presenter Gordon K. Mantler is Executive Director of the University Writing Program and Associate Professor of Writing and of History at the George Washington University. Mantler has taught writing and history since 2006 at GW, Duke University, and Guilford College in North Carolina. Since 1999, Mantler has specialized in the history and rhetoric of 20th century social justice movements and the African American and Latino experience in the United States, as well as public, oral, and film history. He has received numerous awards and grants, including financial support from the Mellon Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Black Metropolis Research Consortium, and the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library.

January 12, 2021 by Web Editor

Filed Under: App, Authors

Video: Elaine Weiss, Author of “The Woman’s Hour”

October 1, 2020 by Web Editor

Filed Under: Arlington Reads, Authors, News

Jesmyn Ward Offers Insight, Hope to Arlington Reads Audiences

National Book Award Winner Jesmyn Ward stressed the importance of dialogue both locally and nationally during two Arlington Reads 2015 appearances April 8. DKimage

Speaking first to students at Marymount University, Ward said “hope” was the key to confronting each new day despite the weight of the latest tragic headlines stemming from the issues of race and poverty she has written so much about.

The theme of Arlington Reads 2015 is “#BlackLivesMatter: Two Remarkable Writers on Being Black in America.”

Addressing an evening standing-room only crowd at Central Library, Ward said she had at one point considered abandoning her writing for a career in nursing but found that the process of sharing her thoughts and stories helped her as much as it reached others.

At Ms. Ward’s request, her presentations were not recorded but readers are encouraged to watch Ward’s 2013 PBS NewsHour interview that led to her “Men We Reaped” being chosen for Arlington Reads.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urNJGdtc1Sg[/youtube]

Arlington Reads 2015 presents featured fiction author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on May 7 at Central Library.

April 9, 2015 by Web Editor

Filed Under: Arlington Reads, Authors, News

Win Jesmyn Ward's Powerful Memoir; Hear Her April 8 for Arlington Reads

National Book Award Winner Will Visit Central Library April 8

Jesmyn Ward will discuss her memoir “Men We Reaped” on Wednesday, April 8, 7 p.m. for Arlington Reads 2015, “#Blacklivesmatter: Two Remarkable Writers on Being Black in America.” 

wardbookcloseup

Ward’s acclaimed 2013 memoir focuses on five young black men lost to drugs, accidents, murder and suicide in her small hometown of DeLisle, Miss. The dead include her younger brother, killed by a drunk driver.

“Time” magazine says “Men We Reaped” is [l]avishly endowed with literary craft and hard-earned wisdom. Ward, an English professor at Tulane University, won the 2011 National Book Award for her novel “Salvage the Bones.”

 

Now you can win a copy of “Men We Reaped.”

Use the comments space below to tell us in a few sentences what books best speak to you on race and the African American experience.

Winners will be contacted by March 18 20. Winning copies will be available for pick-up at Central Library.

On Thursday, May 7, 7 p.m., Arlington Reads 2015 featured fiction writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie speaks at Central Library on her funny, powerful “Americanah,” named one of the Ten Best Books of 2013 by the New York Times.

Admission and parking are free for Arlington Reads events. Seating is limited and on a first-come, first-served basis. Copies of the authors’ books will also be sold the night of their appearances, courtesy of Barnes & Noble, Clarendon.

 

Arlington Reads is made possible through the generous support of the Friends of the Arlington Public Library.

 

February 25, 2015 by Web Editor

Filed Under: Arlington Reads, Authors, News

Arlington Reads 2015: Jesmyn Ward and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Two Remarkable Young Writers on Being Black in America

This year, Arlington Public Library’s annual one-theme, one-community read focuses on race in America, as seen through the works of Jesmyn Ward and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – one born in the United States and the other who still calls Africa home.
Arlington Reads 2015 copy

On Wednesday, April 8, Ward, a National Book Award winner, will discuss her acclaimed “Men We Reaped” at Central Library.

The 2013 memoir focuses on five young black men lost to drugs, accidents, murder and suicide in her small hometown of DeLisle, Miss. The dead include her younger brother, killed by a drunk driver. “Time” magazine says “Men We Reaped” is “[l]avishly endowed with literary craft and hard-earned wisdom.” Ward is an English professor at Tulane University.

On Thursday, May 7, MacArthur Fellow and featured fiction writer Adichie discusses her third novel, the funny, intergenerational “Americanah” at Central Library.

It’s the story of a Nigerian college student who rises to blogger fame describing what she calls the “Racial Disorder Syndrome” of her new American life. The New York Times named “Americanah” one of the Ten Best Books of 2013 and the Boston Globe called it “utterly transfixing… [u]nforgettable.” Adichie can be heard reading her essay “We Should All Be Feminists” on the recent Beyoncé track, “Flawless.”

Following news headlines from Ferguson, Mo., New York, Cleveland and other cities in 2014, the social media hashtag “#Blacklivesmatter” was named Word of the Year by the American Dialect Society.

 

Arlington Reads 2015 author events are free and begin at 7 p.m. in Arlington Central Library Auditorium, 1015 N. Quincy St., Arlington, Va. Seating is limited and on a first-come, first-served basis.

 

February 24, 2015 by Web Editor

Filed Under: Arlington Reads, Authors, News

Rainbow Rowell Rocked the House for Banned Books Week

Printz Honor Award Winning Author Delights Arlington Audiences

The fabulous YA and adult author Rainbow Rowell spent Monday morning talking to students at W-L.

They asked excellent questions, including whether “Rainbow” is her real name. (Answer: If you were going to make up a pen name, would you choose Rainbow?)

In the evening, adults and teens packed the Central Library auditorium to hear Rowell read from her books (via an eBook on her phone) and talk about her experience being dis-invited to speak at Anoka County Library last year, after complaints that her book “Eleanor & Park” was “pornographic,” “sexually explicit” and too controversial for even a teenage audience. 

Some attendees were also photographed reading their favorite Banned or Challenged books, for this year’s Banned Books Week mugshots.

But best of all, Rowell talked about writing.

Her quotable (and tweetable) statements included “I have to write to get the words off from around my neck” and “We have a lot of librarians and teachers here tonight. I can tell by your cardigans.” In fact, Rowell’s appearance was one of the most highly-tweeted and instagrammed programs we’ve done so far.

 

Rainbow Rowell tweetDanielle and Lelia from One More Page Books were also on hand for anyone who wanted to buy copies of Rowell’s books.

And after her talk the author signed books and spoke to many attendees.

 

We are so happy Rainbow Rowell could join us – it was a hilarious, fabulous night!

 

 

 

 

 

September 23, 2014 by Web Editor

Filed Under: Authors, News

Announcing Arlington Reads 2014

Dazed and Confused: Two Great Writers on Boomer Angst

Arlington Reads 2014 page header2

Arlington Reads 2014 takes on a complicated generation with “Dazed and Confused: Two Great Writers on Boomer Angst,” featuring two authors noted for an economy of words and a keen realism.

This spring Arlington Public Library’s annual one-theme, one-community initiative will focus on novels by Ann Beattie and Richard Ford, authors who explore seemingly unremarkable situations with characters who share an underlying ambivalence about commitments, careers, relationships and themselves.

Irony and disappointment may never be far off but the storytelling is always compassionate, always intelligent, always inspiring.

  • Thursday, April 10, 7:00 p.m. – Ann Beattie will speak at Central Library
  • Thursday, April 24, 7:00 p.m. – Richard Ford will speak at Central Library

 

New Yorker Stories

Ann Beattie’s “The New Yorker Stories” collects legendary works from the previous four decades for which she won the PEN/Malamud Award for achievement in the short story form and the Rea Award for the Short Story.

The New York Times Book Review calls Beattie “a national treasure, the author of short stories that will endure and continue to inspire.”

She will be on stage for a conversation with Library Director Diane Kresh at Central Library Auditorium the evening of April 10 at 7 p.m.

 

 

The Sportwriter

Richard Ford has published seven novels and four collections of stories. His “Independence Day” was the first book ever awarded both the Pulitzer Prize and the Pen/Faulkner Award for Fiction. His Arlington Reads featured title, “The Sportswriter,” established and shared with “Independence Day” the yearning, anguished “everyman” character Frank Bascombe for an eventual trilogy. Time named “The Sportswriter” one of the 100 best novels published since the magazine’s founding.

Richard Ford will be interviewed at Central Library Auditorium by Jeffrey Brown of the “PBS NewsHour” the evening of April 24 at 7 p.m.

 

 

Arlington Reads is made possible through the generous support of the Friends of the Arlington Public Library.

 

March 4, 2014 by Web Editor

Filed Under: Arlington Reads, Authors, News

Arlington Reads 2013: Our Brief, Wondrous Time with Junot Díaz

Pulitzer Prize winner Junot Díaz captivated not one but two packed audiences as he brought Arlington Reads 2013 to a close with frank, vibrant talk of his life as a writer and immigrant in 21st century America.

In the afternoon, Díaz spoke to Marymount University and Arlington high school students:
author junot diaz at Marymount


That evening, he filled the Central Library Auditorium, inviting members of the overflow crowd to find space on the stage with him:
author Junot Diaz at Central

Díaz, who compared his success to winning a lottery, said the best art can only be created for itself and not as a commodity and he told admiring readers that he is willing to spend years refining an unpublished work if that’s what it deserves.

At Mr. Díaz’s request, his appearances in Arlington were not recorded and will not be available on the Library website. We do have a number of photographs available.

 

April 30, 2013 by Web Editor

Filed Under: Arlington Reads, Authors, News

Students Help Michael Northrop Write New Story

Wacky, Collaborative Creativity

On Friday, Dec. 7, Michael Northrop, author of the YA novels Trapped, Plunked, and Gentlemen, spoke with almost 200 middle school students at Thomas Jefferson Middle School for All TAB 2012.

During the talk, students and Mr. Northrop created a story about a Polish girl named Katya, held captive by Santa at the North Pole…

When a hobbit enters the room (but is secretly Wolverine in disguise), he defeats the other elves, and then takes on Santa in a giant battle. When only Wolverine and Rudolph are left standing, suddenly Blitzen enters the battle… But, oh no! Blitzen double crosses Rudolph and comes to Wolverine’s aid!

The event was very silly and lots of fun, and we still can’t decide whether the students were more entertained by Mr. Northrop, or vice versa.

Don’t know anything about Michael Northrop?

Check out our interview on the Teen Blog: Author Michael Northrop Talks Snow, The Red Sox and Waterskiing Squirrels. Then read our reviews of Gentlemen, Trapped and Plunked.

 

TAB is a reading program for Arlington’s middle and high schoolers, in which students meet during their school lunch periods to discuss new books, and vote on their top books of each year. All TAB is an annual gathering where middle school students get to meet and speak with an author.

TAB is a partnership between Arlington Public School’s middle school librarians, and the Arlington Public Library Youth Services librarians.

 

December 12, 2012 by Web Editor

Filed Under: Authors, News

Bradbury Remembered

Master science fiction author Ray Bradbury has died at the age of 91.

Besides his impressive body of work, we remember him for his love of libraries, as reported by the New York Times in 2009:

“Libraries raised me,” Mr. Bradbury said. “I don’t believe in colleges and universities. I believe in libraries because most students don’t have any money. When I graduated from high school, it was  during the Depression and we had no money. I couldn’t go to college, so I went to the library three days a week for 10 years.”

Thank you Mr. Bradbury. Rest in peace.

 

June 6, 2012 by Web Editor

Filed Under: Authors, News

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