1. thepenguinpress: Famous writers and their typewriters.

    thepenguinpress:

    Famous writers and their typewriters.

  2. RIP Ray Bradbury, one of the great ones. We’re even more convinced after watching this 1963 television documentary, “The Story of a Writer,” which the Library for the Performing Arts has on 16mm. The film “reveals the working habits of creative writers by showing how the American science-fiction writer Ray Bradbury conceives and finally produces his various stories.” It’s a great short film on the mechanics of writing, as well as a look back into Bradbury’s world at the time. You can watch it online via archive.org.

    RIP Ray Bradbury, one of the great ones. We’re even more convinced after watching this 1963 television documentary, “The Story of a Writer,” which the Library for the Performing Arts has on 16mm. The film “reveals the working habits of creative writers by showing how the American science-fiction writer Ray Bradbury conceives and finally produces his various stories.”

    It’s a great short film on the mechanics of writing, as well as a look back into Bradbury’s world at the time.

    You can watch it online via archive.org.

  3. Unsolicited: MFA Mingle →

    We’re very excited to share with you an exciting event this Thursday by our friends at Writer’s Bloq:

    Unsolicited: An MFA Mingle, at the Strand on May 3rd will feature a reading for the top five writers on the Bloq, as decided by the registered community. Interested in reading at the event, discovering the work of fellow writers, or showcasing your own skills?… writer’s block isn’t always a bad thing.

  4. Writing your memoir? We can help. →

  5. What do Sam Shepard, Bernadette Peters, Edward Albee and Al Pacino all have in common? It was called the Caffe Cino and it is credited as the birthplace of the Off Off Broadway theater movement in the nineteen sixties. The New York Times writes about the new and fascinating Caffe Cino collection that was recently donated to The Billy Rose Theatre Division of The  New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Read all about it here 

    What do Sam Shepard, Bernadette Peters, Edward Albee and Al Pacino all have in common? It was called the Caffe Cino and it is credited as the birthplace of the Off Off Broadway theater movement in the nineteen sixties. The New York Times writes about the new and fascinating Caffe Cino collection that was recently donated to The Billy Rose Theatre Division of The  New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Read all about it here 

  6. Looking For Something To Do Tonight?

    Internationally acclaimed writer Ariel Dorfman will be at our Stephen A. Schwarzman Building at 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue tonight to discuss his time as an exile from Pinochet’s Chile, a time he discussed in his memoir Feeding on Dreams. So pick up a ticket and come on down! It’s guaranteed to be fascinating! And while you’re at it, check out the rest of our season - we’ve got John Lithgow, Diane Keaton, Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin. Hope to see you!

  7. The Tale Of A Nobel Winner And NYPL (Complete With A Fight, A Bar Called O’Casey’s and A Christmas Carol)

    Mario Vargas Llosa, this year’s Nobel Prize winner for literature, has been a longtime visitor to our landmark 42 Street building, often just sitting in the Rose Main Reading Room for hours and just, well, reading. “I’d never seen anybody who was able to read for such long periods of time without fidgeting or nodding off or being distracted by the activity around them or getting up every fifteen minutes to stretch their legs or go to the bathroom,” writes Bob Dumont, a retired NYPLer who worked in the General Research Division. In honor of Vargas Llosa’s accomplishment, Dumont wrote a brilliant blog entry detailing Vargas Llosa’s long relationship with the Library, reminiscing about the day Vargas Llosa witnessed a screaming match between an 80-year-old and another man, the day Vargas Llosa and he toasted literature at O’Casey’s bar and the day Vargas Llosa visited the Berg Collection and saw a host of goodies, from the prompt copy of A Christmas Carol to Charles Dickens’ writing desk. Read the blog. It’s awesome. Then read other ones. We have a bunch.