This attractive new literary map of metropolitan Washington, D.C., authored by Martha Hopkins and published as a joint project of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress and the Washington chapter of the Women's National Book Association, is available for $7.95.
The Center for the Book and the Washington Chapter of the Women's National Book Association (WNBA) have produced a new literary map of Metropolitan Washington that locates more than 90 sites associated with authors who have lived in the Washington area. Martha Hopkins of the Library's Interpretive Programs Office is the map's author. Its publication continues a Center for the Book project launched in 1992 to promote literary maps as valuable educational tools.
The new map includes portraits of Rachel Carson, Frederick Douglass, Paul Laurence Dunbar, Langston Hughes, Sinclair Lewis, Clare Boothe Luce, Archibald MacLeish, Katherine Anne Porter, Ezra Pound, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Mark Twain, Walt Whitman and Eleanor Wylie. Additional information on the map is divided into these categories: "Biographical Information on Authors," "Authors Born in the Area," "Authors Buried in Washington and Vicinity," "Other Places with Literary Connections," "A Selective List of Books Set in Washington" and "Sources."
A Literary Map of Metropolitan Washington, D.C. was previewed on Nov. 1 at a Library of Congress program sponsored by the Center for the Book, the WNBA Washington Chapter and the new District of Columbia Center for the Book, located at the Martin Luther King Jr. Library. Featured speaker Martha Hopkins used illustrations from the book Language of the Land: The Library of Congress Book of Literary Maps (Library of Congress, 1999) to discuss literary maps as a genre and introduce the Washington, D.C., map. Prior to the program, WNBA Washington Chapter President Eileen Hanning and Sheila Harrington of Studio Five, who designed and illustrated the map, presented Center for the Book Director John Y. Cole with the original artwork. Mr. Cole said the artwork would be added to the Library's collections and also noted that the Washington map was the fourth new literary map added to the collections since the publication of the book Language of the Land, by Ms. Hopkins and Michael Buscher of the Geography and Map Division. The other maps are the Kentucky Literary Map, produced by the Kentucky Council Teachers of English/Language Arts and the Kentucky Center for the Book at the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives; Montana's Millennial Literary Map, produced by the Montana Association of Teachers of English Language Arts, with partial funding from the Montana Center for the Book and the Montana Humanities Committee; and A Reader's Map of Rhode Island, by C.D. Wright.
A Literary Map of Metropolitan Washington, D.C. is 26-by-19 inches and printed on both sides. It costs $7.95 and is available in the Library of Congress Sales Shop (credit card orders: 202-707-0204) and in bookstores and museum shops throughout the Washington area.
Left, American Library Association President Nancy Kranich is interviewed by a reporter at the Sept. 25 "Freedom to Read" event hosted by the Center for the Book; right, "Banned Books Week heroes" accept their honors in front of the statue of James Madison in the Library's Madison Memorial Hall. They are (from left): Nancy Zennie, Julia Mayebohn, Billy Smith and Mary Dana. - John Y. Cole and Lynn Dykstra, Focused Image Photography
Celebrating the Freedom to Read
"Banned Books WeekâCelebrating the Freedom to Read," the annual observance that reminds Americans not to take the freedom to read for granted," was launched in the Library's Madison Hall on Sept. 25. The program, sponsored by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, featured remarks by Dr. Billington; former Rep. Patricia Schroeder, president of the Association of American Publishers (AAP); Nancy Kranich, president of the American Library Association (ALA); and Chris Finan of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression. A highlight was the presentation by Pat Schroeder of medals to four "Banned Books Week Heroes," two adults and two young people, who were lauded for opposing challenges in their communities to the popular Harry Potter book series. The heroes program was created by AAP, ALA and the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression.
This year's Banned Books Week theme was "Fish in the River of Knowledge." Across the nation, many bookstores, schools and libraries presented special displays and events featuring the theme and readings from banned or challenged books. The American Library Association's Office of Intellectual Freedom published a list of the 100 most frequently challenged books of the decade. For more information visit the American Library Association's Web site at www.ala.org/bbooks.
Favorite Poem Update
Through its networks of affiliated state centers and national reading promotion partners, the Center for the Book continues to support "Favorite Poem" readings at libraries around the country. On June 14, the national center, the Chicago Public Library and the Illinois Center for the Book sponsored a favorite poem reading at the Chicago Public Library. Organized by Library of Congress Witter Bynner fellow Joshua Weiner, the program featured readings by 14 Chicagoans, including Studs Terkel, Chicago Public Library Commissioner Mary Dempsey, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times and representatives from Young Chicago Authors, the Operation Push Coalition, the Mexican Fine Arts Center and the Neighborhood Writing Alliance.
San Antonio author and poet Naomi Shihab Nye, the Library of Congress's other Witter Bynner fellow for 2000, hosted a Favorite Poem reading at the San Antonio Public Library on Nov. 9. The Texas Center for the Book was one of the sponsors. More than a dozen residents of San Antonio read and talked about their favorite poems, which included song lyrics, a Shakespeare sonnet, verse in Spanish and Bangladeshi, poems from the Texas Hill Country and a selection of "favorite lines" from Emily Dickinson.
The evening closed with a selection from the Favorite Poem video produced by former Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky and seen both on the "Jim Lehrer NewsHour" on PBS Television and at the presentation of the Favorite Poem videos and tapes to the Library of Congress on April 3, 2000 (see the Information Bulletin, May 2000). Center for the Book Director John Y. Cole introduced the programs in both Chicago and San Antonio.
Utah Book Awards
On Nov. 17 at the Salt Lake City Public Library, Center for the Book Director John Y. Cole announced the winners of the Annual Utah Book Awards. The awards program, now in its second year, is a project of the Utah Center for the Book. The winners were: Nonfiction, Leap, by Terry Tempest Williams; Fiction, The Time of the Little Black Bird, by Helen Papanikolas; and Poetry, Easing into the Light, by Kollete Montague. The Salt Lake City Public Library is the home of the Utah Center for the Book, and staff member Debra Olson serves as the center's coordinator. The center's advisory board includes representatives from the Utah Arts Council, the Utah Humanities Council, the Utah State Library, the University of Utah's Marriott Library and Utah's community of writers, book sellers and publishers.
