Sheridan library one of 65 chosen nationally to host Civil War program

The Sheridan County Fulmer Public Library is one of 65 libraries selected to host a new program entitled "Let's Talk About it: Making Sense of the American Civil War." Here are the details:


The American Library Association (ALA) Public Programs Office and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) announced that 65 public, academic and community college libraries will receive Let’s Talk About It: Making Sense of the American Civil War reading and discussion program grants. A complete list of the selected libraries is available at www.ala.org/civilwarprograms.


Let’s Talk About It: Making Sense of the American Civil War follows the popular Let’s Talk About It model, which engages participants in discussion of a set of common texts selected by a nationally known scholar for their relevance to a larger, overarching theme. As a part of the grant, the 65 selected libraries will receive:

• A $3,000 grant from NEH to support program-related expenses.
• Fifty sets of three titles:  including “March” by Geraldine Brooks (Penguin, 2006), “Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam” by James McPherson (Oxford University Press, 2002) and a forthcoming Civil War anthology of historical fiction, speeches, diaries, memoirs, biography and short stories, edited by national project scholar Edward L. Ayers and co-published by NEH and ALA.
• Promotional materials, including posters, bookmarks and folders, to support local audience recruitment.
• Training for the library project director at a national workshop, where they will hear from the project scholar, expert librarians and organizers and receive a program planning guide, materials and ideas. As part of the grant,NEH will pay for two nights of lodging in Chicago for the library project director.

Funding for this program was provided by a grant from NEH to the ALA Public Programs Office. Let’s Talk About It: Making Sense of the American Civil War is supported by NEH’s We the People initiative, which aims to stimulate and enhance the teaching, study and understanding of American history and culture.

The ALA Public Programs Office promotes cultural and community programming as an essential part of library service in all types and sizes of libraries. Successful library programming initiatives have included Let’s Talk About It reading and discussion series, traveling exhibitions, film discussion programs, the Great Stories CLUB, LIVE! @ your library and more. Recently, the ALA Public Programs Office developed www.ProgrammingLibrarian.org, an online resource center bringing librarians timely and valuable information to support them in the creation of high-quality cultural programs for their communities. For more information about the ALA Public Programs Office, visit www.ala.org/publicprograms.

Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports learning in history, literature, philosophy and other areas of the humanities.  NEH grants enrich classroom learning, create and preserve knowledge and bring ideas to life through public television, radio, new technologies, exhibitions and programs in libraries, museums and other community places.  Additional information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and its grant programs is available at www.neh.gov.

Call for entries: PEN American Center

The PEN American Center, the U.S. branch of the world’s oldest international literary and human rights organization, annually awards over $100,000 in literary awards, including the $5,000 PEN/Phyllis Naylor Working Writer Fellowship to an author working on a piece of children's or young-adult fiction. This fellowship honors a writer whose work is of high literary caliber, but who may not yet have attracted a broad readership, to pursue long-term or book-length projects that might not otherwise be possible. Eligible writers have two published works and must be nominated by PEN members. Click here for full guidelines and nomination procedures. Deadline Feb. 3.

88 more love poems

Saratoga poet Sophia Puccini's second book of 88 more love poems is out. Titled Il Lupa (iUniverse), part of the dedication is "Love is always wild."

From the book jacket:

The mysteries of the heart continue to intrigue, surprise, and warm the soul of Sophia Puccini--a woman who once dreamed of marrying The Gypsy Kings and running away with flamenco dancers. In her second collection of love poems, PUccinin shares her reflections on love written in both the U.S. and Italy during a three period.

Here is #50:

None of my explanations have satisfied you
I brace myself for my fate
The sun's rotation sprays plasma
Across the universe

I listen to the water laughing all around me
The sky is my dance
And twists the sea into waves
Curling in the light

One hundred million movements of water and sun
The truth I wanted to discuss
Has adapted to magnetic field lines and solitude
And everything keeps moving

Letters about Literature writing contest

First and foremost, LAL is a writing contest for young readers in grades 4 - 12. How has an author's work--novel, nonfiction, poetry--changed your view of the world or yourself? That's the LAL writing challenge. Don't write a book report, we tell our young readers. The author already wrote the book and knows what it is about. What the author does not know is how YOU responded to his or her work. Write about that--your personal reader's response!
We challenge young readers to write a personal letter to an author describing how that author's work changed the readers' view of themselves or their world. Last year, 70,000 young readers entered but of those--just under 150 were from Wyoming children! We think it isn't that the program lacks value or even interest. The numbers from other states convince us that this is a good program. But we do think we may be having trouble getting the word out to the teachers and librarians.

Please go to http://www.lettersaboutliterature.org/ for more information about this program.

There is thousands in prize money to be awarded at the state and national level.

Deadline is December 10, 2010.