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CNN’s Road Warriors series features
Stories in Education/literacy:
Bringing books to the poorest corners of the globe
Someone to see: upcoming author events
Ray Bradbury will discuss “The Future of Libraries and the Importance of Books” at an event in support of the beleaguered Long Beach Library. 2 pm, Saturday, September 6 in the Main Library Auditorium, 101 Pacific Avenue, Long Beach. [map]
Author Deanne Stillman, photographer Elissa Kline and wild horse conservationist Neda de Mayo will discuss “The [...]
Time Palin backgrounder: She wanted to ban books
Sigh. From Time:
[Former Wassilla Mayor John] Stein says that as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. “She asked the library how she could go about banning books,” he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. “The librarian was aghast.” That woman, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn’t [...]
Gioia: Why having books at home matters
The Indianapolis Star features an interesting column about Dana Gioia, the Los Angeles-born poet who has dedicated his NEA tenure to getting American’s reading again. Russ Pulliam writes:
With his working-class background in California, Dana Gioia didn’t look destined to lead a national literacy movement. Of Sicilian descent, his father seldom read books. Nor did his [...]
A California dream weekend
This weekend, the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas hosts a summertime fiesta that explores Nobel Prize-winner John Steinbeck’s connection to Mexico in his travels and writings (such as Log from the Sea of Cortez, The Pearl, and Tortilla Flat). Monterey County Herald.
On Saturday: Big Sur celebrates the publication of Ping•Pong, the Literary Magazine of the [...]
Bradbury: Is Long Beach at war with books?
Ray Bradbury writes in the Press-Telegram:
A few weeks ago I was in your city to mourn the pending forced closure of Acres of Books. Since 1934 this unique cultural heritage landmark bookstore has been a destination for book lovers from around the world with its inventory of over 1 million books. The current city leadership [...]
Notebook: Smut, honors, anger, hope and business
Sunday in San Francisco: Dirty Words: Litquake’s Tribute to Smut, “a giddy homage to titillation and obscenity … a fundraiser starring a who’s who of Bay Area writers.” Details.
Congratulations to Heyday Books founder Malcolm Margolin on his San Francisco Foundation’s Community Leadership Award. From the Heyday newsletter: “The Helen Crocker Russell Award recognizes individuals and [...]
Notebook: fREADom, “real” literacy and black humor
About Uncle Bobby: In Uncle Bobby’s Wedding a niece worries that her uncle’s upcoming wedding will change her relationship with him. P.S. The characters are guinea pigs. P.P.S. Uncle Bobby is gay. One Colorado library patron wrote the local paper to say the children’s picture book was a “slap in [her] face” and urged other [...]
Paging the new American Idol
How cool that self-described “word nerd” rocker David Cook claimed the American Idol crown last night. Remember when Simon Cowell rolled his eyes and berated Cook back in February after the singer revealed that he enjoys crossword puzzles in between performances?
Last night the smart kid with a heart of gold pulled off the biggest upset [...]
Safe havens under siege
Los Angeles leaders faced an outcry from residents and city workers this week over proposals to slash library services and park rangers. As the LA Daily News reports, “In a budget focused on public safety and boosting the police department, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has recommended slashing the library system’s book-buying budget by $2 million, closing [...]
Treasures from the East
This week UC Berkeley opened the $46 million C.V. Starr East Asian Library. Its vast collection includes: Ancient Chinese oracle bones inscribed with pictographs that evolved into Chinese writing. Thousand-year-old Chinese books printed by woodblock, centuries before Gutenberg. More than two thousand historic Japanese maps said to be the most comprehensive outside of Japan. An [...]
Performance art
Roshawnda Bettencourt, a student at Placer County’s Oakmont High, captured first place in California’s Poetry Out Loud state finals. She recited “Sympathy” by Paul Laurence Dunbar.
I know what the caged bird feels, alas!
When the sun is bright on the upland slopes;
When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass,
And the river flows [...]
Going the extra (seven thousand) miles
Long Beach Librarian Susan Taylor had a hard time finding books in Khmer for the city’s growing Cambodian community, now estimated at 50,000 to 60,000. So Taylor went shopping this month — in Phnom Penh.
Eight boxes and 1,105 new Khmer books later — half of them for children — Taylor and (library [...]
Tough month for academic freedom
“The best that can be said about the University of California’s leaders,” says Peter Scheer of the California First Amendment Coalition, “is that they are neutral in their spinelessness.”
More on Literacy Month
Donna’s update: I spent Monday evening at the Downey Public Library talking about My California with a very enthusiastic group that included many of the city’s volunteer reading tutors.
Librarian Claudia Dailey mentioned a surprising statistic: that 27 percent of adults in Los Angeles County are not fully literate. So Claudia and her wonderful [...]
Tonight
The Downey Public Library celebrates National Literacy Month by reading My California: Journeys by Great Writers. Join Donna, the editor of My California, at 7 p.m. for a book talk and signing. Details.
We don’t need no stinkin’ journalists… in the journalism department
From the Daily Forty-Niner student newspaper at Cal State Long Beach:
College of Liberal Arts Dean Gerry Riposa walked out of a meeting Friday morning with journalism department faculty rather than talk to students and press who were present regarding a proposed feasibility study of putting the Daily Forty-Niner online only.
“I thought I was [...]
Aloud resumes
Downtown News features the Los Angeles Central Library’s popular Aloud program, which ended its monthlong hiatus this week. Poet Marisela Norte calls the author lecture series “one of the last bastions of civilization in the city.” Read more.
No magic spell
In a story on the popularity of Harry Potter, The Boston Globe previews an upcoming fall report on children’s reading by the National Endowment for the Arts that offers dismal news on the state of teen reading.
“Reading scores and rates seem to be going up in the age 7-11 range,” NEA Chairman Dana [...]
Bringing books to the poorest corners of the globe
Someone to see: upcoming author events
Ray Bradbury will discuss “The Future of Libraries and the Importance of Books” at an event in support of the beleaguered Long Beach Library. 2 pm, Saturday, September 6 in the Main Library Auditorium, 101 Pacific Avenue, Long Beach. [map]
Author Deanne Stillman, photographer Elissa Kline and wild horse conservationist Neda de Mayo will discuss “The [...]
Time Palin backgrounder: She wanted to ban books
Sigh. From Time:
[Former Wassilla Mayor John] Stein says that as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. “She asked the library how she could go about banning books,” he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. “The librarian was aghast.” That woman, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn’t [...]
Gioia: Why having books at home matters
The Indianapolis Star features an interesting column about Dana Gioia, the Los Angeles-born poet who has dedicated his NEA tenure to getting American’s reading again. Russ Pulliam writes:
With his working-class background in California, Dana Gioia didn’t look destined to lead a national literacy movement. Of Sicilian descent, his father seldom read books. Nor did his [...]
A California dream weekend
This weekend, the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas hosts a summertime fiesta that explores Nobel Prize-winner John Steinbeck’s connection to Mexico in his travels and writings (such as Log from the Sea of Cortez, The Pearl, and Tortilla Flat). Monterey County Herald.
On Saturday: Big Sur celebrates the publication of Ping•Pong, the Literary Magazine of the [...]
Bradbury: Is Long Beach at war with books?
Ray Bradbury writes in the Press-Telegram:
A few weeks ago I was in your city to mourn the pending forced closure of Acres of Books. Since 1934 this unique cultural heritage landmark bookstore has been a destination for book lovers from around the world with its inventory of over 1 million books. The current city leadership [...]
Notebook: Smut, honors, anger, hope and business
Sunday in San Francisco: Dirty Words: Litquake’s Tribute to Smut, “a giddy homage to titillation and obscenity … a fundraiser starring a who’s who of Bay Area writers.” Details.
Congratulations to Heyday Books founder Malcolm Margolin on his San Francisco Foundation’s Community Leadership Award. From the Heyday newsletter: “The Helen Crocker Russell Award recognizes individuals and [...]
Notebook: fREADom, “real” literacy and black humor
About Uncle Bobby: In Uncle Bobby’s Wedding a niece worries that her uncle’s upcoming wedding will change her relationship with him. P.S. The characters are guinea pigs. P.P.S. Uncle Bobby is gay. One Colorado library patron wrote the local paper to say the children’s picture book was a “slap in [her] face” and urged other [...]
Paging the new American Idol
How cool that self-described “word nerd” rocker David Cook claimed the American Idol crown last night. Remember when Simon Cowell rolled his eyes and berated Cook back in February after the singer revealed that he enjoys crossword puzzles in between performances?
Last night the smart kid with a heart of gold pulled off the biggest upset [...]
Safe havens under siege
Los Angeles leaders faced an outcry from residents and city workers this week over proposals to slash library services and park rangers. As the LA Daily News reports, “In a budget focused on public safety and boosting the police department, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has recommended slashing the library system’s book-buying budget by $2 million, closing [...]
Treasures from the East
This week UC Berkeley opened the $46 million C.V. Starr East Asian Library. Its vast collection includes: Ancient Chinese oracle bones inscribed with pictographs that evolved into Chinese writing. Thousand-year-old Chinese books printed by woodblock, centuries before Gutenberg. More than two thousand historic Japanese maps said to be the most comprehensive outside of Japan. An [...]
Performance art
Roshawnda Bettencourt, a student at Placer County’s Oakmont High, captured first place in California’s Poetry Out Loud state finals. She recited “Sympathy” by Paul Laurence Dunbar.
I know what the caged bird feels, alas!
When the sun is bright on the upland slopes;
When the wind stirs soft through the springing grass,
And the river flows [...]
Going the extra (seven thousand) miles
Long Beach Librarian Susan Taylor had a hard time finding books in Khmer for the city’s growing Cambodian community, now estimated at 50,000 to 60,000. So Taylor went shopping this month — in Phnom Penh.
Eight boxes and 1,105 new Khmer books later — half of them for children — Taylor and (library [...]
Tough month for academic freedom
“The best that can be said about the University of California’s leaders,” says Peter Scheer of the California First Amendment Coalition, “is that they are neutral in their spinelessness.”
More on Literacy Month
Donna’s update: I spent Monday evening at the Downey Public Library talking about My California with a very enthusiastic group that included many of the city’s volunteer reading tutors.
Librarian Claudia Dailey mentioned a surprising statistic: that 27 percent of adults in Los Angeles County are not fully literate. So Claudia and her wonderful [...]
Tonight
The Downey Public Library celebrates National Literacy Month by reading My California: Journeys by Great Writers. Join Donna, the editor of My California, at 7 p.m. for a book talk and signing. Details.
We don’t need no stinkin’ journalists… in the journalism department
From the Daily Forty-Niner student newspaper at Cal State Long Beach:
College of Liberal Arts Dean Gerry Riposa walked out of a meeting Friday morning with journalism department faculty rather than talk to students and press who were present regarding a proposed feasibility study of putting the Daily Forty-Niner online only.
“I thought I was [...]
Aloud resumes
Downtown News features the Los Angeles Central Library’s popular Aloud program, which ended its monthlong hiatus this week. Poet Marisela Norte calls the author lecture series “one of the last bastions of civilization in the city.” Read more.
No magic spell
In a story on the popularity of Harry Potter, The Boston Globe previews an upcoming fall report on children’s reading by the National Endowment for the Arts that offers dismal news on the state of teen reading.
“Reading scores and rates seem to be going up in the age 7-11 range,” NEA Chairman Dana [...]
Meet the authors of the California Authors Directory. Visit the directory to discover writers like Christina Meldrum, a Bay Area attorney whose book Madapple was just released this month. “In debut novelist Christina Meldrum's mesmerizing literary mystery, 
You can shop online from your local independent booksellers. 
July briefs: censorship, fires, new fiction and a b-day
No room for Freedom in Perry, Indiana. A veteran high school teacher in Perry, Indiana has been suspended without pay for teaching The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them. The book by Long Beach, California teacher/author Erin Gruwell and her students [...]
File under: Author profile, Bookbloggery, Booksellers, Commentary, Education/literacy, Fiction, Freedom to read, Interviews, Jobs/labor relations, Libraries, Movies, Museums, New Release 2008, Nonfiction, Politics/government, Sad, San Francisco, Schools, Short stories, Writing