February 3, 2021 Library Announces Literary Series Programs for February, March 2021

Important new books on Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Eleanor Roosevelt and on humanity’s inclination to war will headline the winter literary season of the Library of Congress. The Library will also feature a conversation with the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature and a symposium on diversity in books for young people.

All programs will be virtual and premiere on the Library's Facebook page and its YouTube site (with captions). These presentations will be available for viewing afterward at those sites and on the Library’s website at loc.gov/collections/event-videos/.

Additional programs in the Library’s literary series will be announced as they are scheduled. To receive news of Library events, sign up for notifications here or subscribe to Library blogs and news feeds at loc.gov/subscribe/.

Programs for February and March are as follows:

• Thursday, Feb. 18, 7 p.m.: “Giants of Racial Justice,” part of the ongoing series National Book Festival Presents, will focus on the paths of Malcolm X and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in seeking racial equality. Authors Peniel Joseph (“The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.”) and Tamara Payne (“The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X,” co-written with her father, Les Payne) will discuss the lives of these two towering figures with Eric Deggans, NPR’s TV critic and media analyst-contributor for MSNBC and NBC News.

• Thursday, Feb. 25, 4 p.m.: “On the Road with Jason Reynolds” features National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature Jason Reynolds in conversation with Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. Hayden will interview Reynolds about his term as ambassador, including his recent virtual visits to seven rural and underserved schools in various regions of the country.

• Friday, March 12, 1 p.m.: 2021 Diversity in Children's Literature Symposium: “Listening, Learning, Creating Communities,” followed by the Walter Dean Myers Awards for Outstanding Children's Literature. This event, co-hosted by We Need Diverse Books, will demonstrate how diversity in children’s books helps us better understand each other, resulting in a stronger sense of community. The symposium will be followed by the conferring of the Walter Awards, named for the late Myers, former National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. Deborah D. Taylor, the Coretta Scott King/Virginia Hamilton Lifetime Achievement award-winning librarian and educator, will moderate this sixth annual symposium. It will include authors Traci Chee (“We Are Not Free”), Robin Ha (“Almost American Girl”), Daniel Nayeri (“Everything Sad Is Untrue”) and Kacen Callender (“King and the Dragonflies”).

• Thursday, March 18, 7 p.m.: “Rediscovering Eleanor Roosevelt” is the first event in a new series called “Made at the Library,” which focuses on books that have been substantially written using the Library of Congress’ extraordinary collections. Author David Michaelis’ “Eleanor” is a major biography of America’s longest-serving first lady. Much of the research was conducted in the Library’s Manuscript Division, including the papers of the NAACP and the National Women’s Trade League, as well as the personal papers of Kermit and Belle Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt Jr. and Edith Bolling Galt Wilson, second wife of President Wilson. Colleen Shogan, senior vice president and director of the David M. Rubenstein Center at the White House Historical Association, will talk to Michaelis and Manuscript Division staff about the book and its creation.

• Thursday, March 25, 7 p.m.: “War, Combat and the American Soldier” features two of the most prominent historians of war, Margaret MacMillan (“War: How Conflict Shaped Us”) and Rick Atkinson (“The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777”). In this National Book Festival Presents event, the authors will be in conversation with philanthropist David M. Rubenstein.

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