Today is National Grammar Day!
It’s a celebratory event, not a day to go around glowering while correcting your local teen from saying “me and Josh are going out,” or from sending off incensed emails to editorial departments for the incorrect usage of “who” and “whom.” Rather, it’s a day to rejoice in the beauty of proper lan
guage and to encourage everyone to write well and speak well. Of course, there’s more information on Grammar Girl’s (Mignon Fogarty) National Grammar Day website–fun activities, contests, the Grammar Day theme song (titled “March Forth”), and more. Fogarty is the author of Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tricks for Better Writing.
A number of bloggers and newspapers also reported on this event.
The White Board blog offered this homage to Dr. Seuss.
The Baltimore Sun is hosting a “Grammarnoir” writing competition.
The Chicago Tribune reported on some of the day’s activites and showed some lapses in grammar.
Here is Gord Robert’s winning entry in the 2011 Haiku contest:
Spell-checkers won’t catch
You’re mistaken homophones
Scattered hear and their
And, here is the 2011 entry from Nancy Wright in the Parts-of Speech Poetry contest:
I love the King of Ing
He makes me want to sing
Add him to an action word
And it’s a gerund… now a thing!
Barbara L.
Local Art @ EPL
We are very happy to introduce painter and photographer Alice Sharie-Revelski as the latest artist in our ongoing exhibition series Local Art @ EPL. From now through March 31st, her collection A Glimpse of Galapagos will be on display on the 2nd floor of EPL’s Main Branch. Captured during a 2011 trip to the Galapagos Islands, her photographs explore the diverse plant and animal life found on the islands including the Darwin finch and the great tortoise (pictured).
Jan Berenstain, Co-author of Berenstain Bears, Dead at 88
I owe a debt of gratitude to the Berenstain family for keeping my family occupied for hours over many years. We literally have copies that are tattered, and yet my daughter cherishes them too much to toss. In addition, there was enough humor and content to keep me satisfied or entertained while reading one of their stories out loud for the umpteenth time. Thanks, Jan (and Stan) for all the adventures of Mama, Papa, Sister, and Brother Bear!
Shira S.
A “Novel” Idea at Chicago’s Lyric Opera
A newly-commissioned opera based on Ann Patchetts’ novel Bel Canto will have its world premiere at Chicago’s Lyric Opera during the 2015-16 season. Opera star Renee Fleming said she selected her friend Ann Patchett’s book as the subject for the Lyric commission because she was moved by it and found it “opera-worthy.” “It’s about terrorism, on one level, but it’s also about what happens when people are forced to live together for a long time, and how art can raise their level of humanity as a group.” Read the entire article in this Arts & Entertainment section of the Chicago Tribune.
Laura
Librotraficante Caravan
Read about the ”underground” libraries developing in Houston, San Antonio, Albuquerque and Tucson,
In response to the alleged banning of books from Mexican-American Studies programs by the Tucson Unified School District, ”underground” libraries are developing in Houston, San Antonio, Albuquerque, and Tucson. “Read-easies” will be organized with donations from various authors whose books have been banned. Go here to learn more.
Breaking News: JK Rowling Signs Deal for New Adult Book
At least two sources are reporting that the author of the Harry Potter series has agreed to a contract with Little, Brown for an adult book. Details are not very clear– just that she has signed for book, e-book, and audiobook rights with this company. According to Rowling, “Although I’ve enjoyed writing it every bit as much, my next book will be very different to the Harry Potter series….”
Presently the work has no title and the publisher will announce more information later in the year.
Shira S.
For your next plane trip: Learning to Love Airport Lit
Need the right kind of good book for your next flight? Dominique Browning says forget Great Literature, and don’t stoop too low with ultimately unsatisfying junk. In this NYT article, she offers numerous suggestions that may just become your ticket to travel. Happy flying!
Susan R.
A Valentine to Libraries
Huffington Post recently asked for 
people’s attitudes toward their libraries. They assembled a collection of affectionate tweets explaining just what they love about their local library. One comment I especially liked: “…the quiet mystery of absorbed & oblivious readers.” In a world where many are concerned about people becoming oblivious and indifferent to each other, a common theme was the view of a library as a public place to mingle with different types. Would you care to add a tweet of your own?
Shira S.
Remedies for Downton Abbey Withdrawal
Worried about how to cope now that the second season of Downton Abbey is over? You can always play with dolls. There’s actually a set of printable paper dolls based on the show, posted by New York Magazine’s Vulture blog. Dolls include Maggie Smith’s character dowager countess Violet Crawley with a bustled dress and multiple facial expressions, youngest daughter Sybil Crawley wearing a NOW t-shirt, footman Thomas Barrow with an “evil” mask and cape, and of course Matthew and Mary. Along with books (check out the reading list here), YouTube parodies, even needlepoint pillows, you’ll be able to make it through until season three begins. Read more about the paper dolls in this NYT article.
Laura
An Interview with Kevin Wilson
"The Family Fang" author Kevin Wilson
Kevin Wilson has the book world buzzing for a reason. A pair of them, actually. Back in 2009, the Tennessee native hit the lit scene with Tunneling to the Center of the Earth, an artful, mischievous short-story collection that nabbed him a 2010 Alex Award. Now Wilson is back with his first novel The Family Fang, and the critics are raving. Comic, tragic, and endlessly inventive, The Family Fang tells the madcap tale of siblings Annie and Buster as they return to their childhood home after years spent avoiding their performance artist parents Caleb and Camille. For Annie – a movie actress shamed by an Internet nudity scandal – and Buster – a novelist nearly brained in a potato gun mishap - their reluctant homecoming is born from a desperate need to nurse their wounds in seclusion. Their parents, however, couldn’t be happier to have them back. After years of casting their kids as the stars in their Candid Camera-style stunts, Caleb and Camille have plans for one final family performance that might not actually be a performance at all. Named a Top Ten Book of 2011 by TIME Magazine, Esquire, and Booklist, The Family Fang has been described by Ann Patchett as “a tour-de-force examination of what it means to make art and survive your family… I have never seen anything like it before. The best single word description would be genius.” Mr. Wilson recently spoke with us via email about the positive response to The Family Fang, novels vs. short stories, the tricky business of parenting, “true” art, Nicole Kidman as Camille Fang, and, of course, potato guns.
