| Happy Birthday Margaret Mitchell Margaret Mitchell was born in Atlanta, Georgia on November 8, 1900 into a notably rich and politically prominent family. Her father was a lawyer and historian. Mitchell's mother was a suffragist. Mitchell spent a happy and active childhood and developed the habit of reading from an early age. Upon graduating from Washington Seminary, which was an elitist private girl's school, in 1918, Mitchell moved on to study medicine at Smith College where she adopted the name ‘Peggy' for herself, after the mythological character Pegasus that inspires poets. Peggy began a career in journalism, writing for the Atlanta Journal Sunday magazine for six years. She quit after an ankle injury limited her mobility, and she devoted herself to her novel about the South during and after the Civil War. Her tale of Scarlett O'Hara, the shallow Southern belle transformed into ruthless survivor during the war, became the biggest American publishing sensation of its day, and took home the 1937 Pulitzer. The book sold 1 million copies in its first six months in print, and at least 30 million more to date. During World War II, Mitchell had no time to write, as she worked for the American Red Cross. On August 11, 1949, she was struck by a car while crossing a street and died five days later. Learn more and check out these titles |
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| Books on the Air An overview of talked-about books and authors. This weekly update, published every Friday, provides descriptions of recent TV and radio appearances by authors and their recently released books. See the hot titles from the media this week. |
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| In Memoriam-Ernest J. Gaines Ernest J. Gaines, award-winning novelist and author of the acclaimed The Autobiography of Jane Pittman, and a MacArthur Foundation "genius" grant recipient, died of a heart attack while sleeping at his home in Oscar, La. He was 86. A member of a longtime family of Louisiana sharecroppers, Gaines was born in poverty on the River Lake Plantation near False River. He was schooled on the plantation by seasonal visiting teachers and eventually moved to California at the age of 15 (schooling for African American kids ended at the 8th grade). Gaines attended San Francisco State University, and served two years in the Army, before winning a writing fellowship to Stanford University. In addition to works of nonfiction and multiple collections of short stories, Gaines published nine novels over his long career. Check out his titles here. |
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| Library Reads November 2019 Library Reads harnesses the value of “library staff picks” into a single nation-wide discovery tool, a monthly list of ten newly released must reads. Check out the top ten books -with the addition of Hall of Fame authors-published this month that librarians across the country love. |
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| Nietzsche said without music, life would be a mistake. To me, without books, life would be a mistake.-Ernest J. Gaines
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