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Wed, October 26, 2011
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One Book, One Philadelphia 2012 is here! And although the season doesn’t get into full swing until January, we’re too excited to keep quiet about this year’s selection, Create Dangerously: The Immigrant Artist at Work, and the 10th anniversary of the One Book, One Philadelphia program. So keep tuned to our blog throughout the season, as we’ll keep you posted on everything One Book and its 10th anniversary!
Our inaugural post celebrates the author of Create Dangerously, Edwidge Danticat. Winner of a MacArthur Genius Grant in 2009, Danticat has penned novels, memoirs, children’s books, and essays, in addition to contributing to numerous anthologies. Her award-winning writing often focuses on her homeland of Haiti, and the diaspora of its people.
Danticat was born in Haiti and lived in Port-au-Prince until the age of 12, when she moved to Brooklyn to live with her parents, who had previously immigrated to New York. Danticat graduated from Barnard College with a degree in French Literature and later went on to receive her MFA from Brown University.
Throughout her life, Danticat has kept close to her Haitian family, visiting often. In Create Dangerously, her pride and strong connection to Haiti shine through her rich, beautiful evocations of her homeland. The book, a collection of essays and memoir, makes an impassioned case for immigrant writers, like Danticat, to bear witness against oppression, sometimes imperiling their own and their readers' lives.
In celebration of Create Dangerously being picked as Philadelphia’s One Book selection, Edwidge will visit the Free Library in March to speak about her book and will also participate in select events within the city.
Be sure to join the Free Library, One Book, One Philadelphia, and Edwidge Danticat and start reading today! Check out a copy of Create Dangerously here.
Tags:
One Book One Philadelphia
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Fri, October 21, 2011
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Pumpkin Heads! by Wendell Minor |
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A page from Ghosts in the House |
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Skeleton Hiccups by Margery Cuyler |
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Our Children's Librarians recently asked each other for lists of our favorite Halloween books to share in spooky storytimes and to recommend to little goblins to take home and read with their families. Here is the list we came up with.
From picture books that will make you laugh to sinister poetry you better read with the lights on, this list has something for everyone.
What are your favorite books for this time of year? Come on down to one our storytimes and tell us what you like to read during those long fall nights with the wind howling and the skeleton fingers of bare branches knocking at your window?
Tags:
Children's books,
Holidays,
Pre-K,
Recommendations
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Fri, October 21, 2011
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Hindu and Muslim Scholars Translate the Mahabharata from Sanskrit into Persian |
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Among the many treasures of the John Fredrick Lewis Collection in the Free Library of Philadelphia are twenty-five elaborately illustrated folios from a single Mughal manuscript, the Razmnama (literally, "Book of War"), dated to 1598–99. This entire collection will be on display for a limited time only.
The manuscript that contained the Free Library's pages was created during the reign of the great Mughal Emperor Akbar (reigned 1556–1605). Although the Razmnama is written in Persian, its subject does not emerge from the Persian literary tradition. Rather, it is a translation of the Mahabharata, one of the great epics of Hinduism.
This Razmnama includes many exquisite and elaborate illustrations that reveal Indian, Persian, central Asian, and even European elements speaking to the diverse cultural, religious, and linguistic character of the Mughal court. Although pages of this Razmnama, originally numbering in the hundreds, are now dispersed in collections around the world, they were once bound into a single book.
The imperial Mughal painting workshop was established by two master artists brought to India from the Persian Safavid court by the Emperor Akbar’s father, Humayun (ruled 1530–40 and 1555–56). In his zeal to create a world-class painting atelier, Akbar subsequently recruited many Indian-born artists trained in the various local traditions that had thrived in the subcontinent for centuries under Jain, Hindu, and Islamic patronage. Over Akbar’s half-century reign, his workshop gradually developed a new and distinctive style of painting that included the ideas, techniques, and materials brought by these regionally and religiously diverse artists.
In both text and illustrations, the Razmnama speaks to the diverse cultural, religious, and linguistic character of the Mughal court. The text represents the effort of a Muslim ruler to understand the foundations of Hinduism, so deeply rooted in his kingdom; the images herald the creation of a new artistic language.
This exhibition was originally curated by Yael Rice, an art historian at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The display is timed to coincide with this year’s Schoenberg Symposium, “Writing the East: History and New Technologies in the Study of Asian Manuscript Traditions” (http://www.library.upenn.edu/exhibits/lectures/ljs_symposium4.html). The Free Library’s Razmnama leaves were exhibited at the Museum in 2007. Here is a link to the past exhibition: http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/267.html
Viewable in the Rare Book Department on the third floor of the Parkway Central Library. Open Monday-Friday, 9 AM-5 PM.
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The Monkeys and Bears Construct a Bridge to Lanka |
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Thu, October 20, 2011
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Calling all parents and caregivers! Want to learn some new techniques for fostering literacy skills in young children? Consider registering for the Books Aloud! program. This program offers a series of workshops which focus on the importance of early literacy. Each workshop is full of ideas and activities for sharing books with children.
Books Aloud! is being held at the Parkway Central Library, as well as Blackwell Regional, Coleman Regional and Northeast Regional.
Click here for more information on the Books Aloud! Program.
Sign up for the Books Aloud! email list in order to receive an informative newsletter!
For the Books Aloud! Schedule, click here!
To register for the current month, please call 215-686-5372.
Tags:
Books Aloud,
Pre-K,
early literacy
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Books Aloud! Workshop |
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Tue, October 18, 2011
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This weekend, the Free Library of Philadelphia opened a new photography exhibition in the West Gallery of the Parkway Central Library. Running through November 27, “Celebrate Philadelphia Performers” features iconic images of Philadelphia-area vocalists, musicians, and bands from a wide range of musical genres, from blues to classical to New Orleans funk and more. Curated by Sabina Clarke with photographs by Katharine Gilbert, “Celebrate Philadelphia Performers” illuminates the lives and craft of these diverse and talented musicians and entertainers.
After you check out the exhibition, why not stop by Parkway Central's Music Department, which has a large number of CDs, LPs, and books about music and dance, as well as musical scores ranging from classical to contemporary pop music. In addition, it houses four large special collections: the Drinker Library of Choral Music; the Chamber Music Collection; the Sheet Music Collection; and the Edwin A. Fleisher Collection of Orchestral Music, which is the largest lending library of orchestral music in the world.
Tags:
Exhibitions
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