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A kickboxing NYPL librarian? Believe it or not, it is true! Courtney Castellane, who is the Library Manager of the awesome Tottenville Library in Staten Island, was profiled in The New York Post this morning about her dual careers. As Courtney has said, by day she is working out people’s minds and by night she is working out their bodies! And just a little trivia about the Tottenville Library, did you know it is the oldest library on Staten Island?
Today would have been the 77th birthday for music icon and legend Roy Orbison. You want to read about Roy’s life? You want to listen to his solo albums? Or how about checking out the great Traveling Wilbury’s album that Roy was a part of? Well as Roy would say, YOU GOT IT! Or in this case, the NYPL has all of your Roy Orbison materials available at your local branch. Happy birthday Roy!
Next week one of the most anticipated films of the year, Les Miserables, opens in theaters. In celebration of the film’s release Doug Reside, our Digital Curator of Performing Arts at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, has written a wonderful blog about his long anticipation to see a film adaptation of Les Miserables: The Musical. He also has been able to digitize and post on his blog some great photographs of the early cast from the show. And of course you can find all of your Les Miserables needs from soundtracks to films to books throughout branches of The New York Public Library.
Happy 100th birthday to the late great Julia Child!!! In October of 2007, The New York Public Library’s Cullman Center for Writers and Scholars held the special program JULIA CHILD IN AMERICAN in which a group of Culinary historians came together to discuss the complex legacy of Ms. Child. Above is the audio from that program. Bon Appetit!
Happy birthday to legendary writer Ernest Hemingway … and happy Caturday to you! The author of classics such as “The Old Man And The Sea” and “A Farewell To Arms” was a known cat fanatic, who once said “One cat just leads to another.” The photo above from the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum shows Hemingway hanging with one of his cats in his home in Cuba (we have Hemingway photos, too, but alas, not with his kitties). The Hemingway Home and Museum in Key West is also known for its cats, which roam the premises freely and are descendents of Hemingway’s six-toed cat Snowball. There’s even a book called “Hemingway’s Cats,” which we have in our research collection. We also have plenty of books written by him, so check one out in his honor! Happy Caturday, and happy birthday, Hemingway!
Read Frankenstein like you’ve never read or explored it before in our new free iPad app, which is now ALIVE, er, live. Check out the web component or download the app here. The second edition of Biblion (which follows last year’s World’s Fair app, named one of Apple’s top education apps for iPad for 2011) is focused onFrankenstein and other works by the Shelleys and their circle. It features digitized original documents (such as the original Frankenstein manuscript, which you can compare to the version we all know now, a book of Percy Shelley’s poetry, and much, much more), original essays by students, staff, scholars and others on topics related toFrankenstein, and an Ask Biblion feature that allows users to answer questions and see answers from others. There’s a lot to explore, so download it and start!
The New York Public Library has announced the finalists for the twelfth-annual Young Lions Fiction Award. The award honors the works of young authors carving deep impressions in the literary world. The winning writer will be awarded a $10,000 prize at a ceremony on May 14.
Congrats to our finalists!
Shelley’s Ghost: The Afterlife of a Poet opens today. Head over to the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building to check out Mary’s Shelley’s original draft of Frankenstein, Percy Bysshe Shelley’s baby rattle, and much more. Some of the artifacts and manuscripts have never been displayed in the United States before, so don’t miss this chance to see them!
For today’s Mustache Monday, we present Ivan Turgenev, a Russian novelist whom everyone should read.
But don’t take our word for it — what does William Dean Howells have to say?
I cannot describe the satisfaction his work gave me; I can only impart some sense of it, perhaps, by saying that it was like a happiness I had been waiting for all my life, and now that it had come, I was richly content forever. (From On Turgenev)
Start with the classic Fathers and Sons; NYPL has 171 copies just waiting for you.
