And the Award Goes To… Library Foundation Recognized with 4-Star Rating!

As Hollywood wraps up a star-studded award season, there’s one more prize that all of Los Angeles can take pride in: for the fourth consecutive year, the Library Foundation of Los Angeles has been awarded 4 stars by Charity Navigator, America’s largest and most-utilized independent evaluator of charities. The 4-star rating is the highest possible rating and it demonstrates strong financial health and a commitment to accountability and transparency.

“This prestigious award honors how the Library Foundation uses overall best practices to execute our mission to support and enrich the capabilities, resources, and services of the Los Angeles Public Library in the most financially efficient way,” says Ken Brecher, the president of the Library Foundation. Brecher also learned through a letter from Charity Navigator President and CEO Michael Thatcher that only 13% of the charities evaluated have received at least 4 consecutive 4-star ratings, “indicating that Library Foundation of Los Angeles outperforms most other charities in America.”

Since 1992, the Library Foundation has worked to raise private sector support to benefit the entire Library system through fundraising, advocacy, and innovative programs that benefit L.A.’s diverse community and promote greater awareness of the Library’s valuable resources. The Foundation’s support complements, but does not supplant, the City’s responsibility for funding the Los Angeles Public Library’s operations. To date, the Library Foundation has raised more than $75 million for the LAPL.

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For All Angelenos to See: LAPL Shines a Light on African American Heritage

African American Heritage Month is underway and to celebrate a special traveling exhibit recently opened at Central Library’s Getty Gallery. For All the World to See: Visual Culture and the Struggle for Civil Rights explores the major role imagery played in the fight for racial and social equality from the 1940s through the 1970s.

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From photographs to television clips to ephemera and other historic artifacts, the exhibit showcases the cultural and historical power of visual imagery as it influenced key civil rights events. Also currently on view at Central Library, a companion exhibit of photographs from the Los Angeles Public Library’s photo collection focuses on L.A.’s role in the civil rights movement. Learn more about these exhibits and check out all of the LAPL’s rich visual collections as part of your own observation of African American Heritage Month—including these groundbreaking films below that illuminate a larger narrative of African American history.

Stormy Weather, directed by Andrew L. Stone, 1943
Built around the premise of a Big Stage Show, Stormy Weather affords rare “mainstream” leading roles to some of the era’s greatest African-American entertainers Lena Horne, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Dooley Wilson, Cab Calloway, Katherine Dunham, Fats Waller, and the Nicholas Brothers.

The Defiant Ones, directed by Stanley Kramer, 1958
Convicts Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier escape from a chain gang. Curtis’ character, John “Joker” Jackson, hates blacks, while Poitier’s character, Noah Cullen, hates whites. However, the men are manacled together, forced to rely on each other to survive.

Shadows, directed by John Cassavetes, 1959
John Cassavetes’ first film tells a gripping story of racism set against a New York background in the 1950s. Lelia, a light-skinned black woman living in New York with her two brothers, has an affair with a white man. But when her lover meets one of Lelia’s brothers and discovers she is black, a painful and emotional eruption occurs.

Cotton Comes to Harlem, directed by Ossie Davis, 1970
Ossie Davis makes his directorial debut a smashing success in the trend-setting action crime comedy Cotton Comes To Harlem. Coffin Ed (Raymond St. Jacques) and Grave Digger Jones (Godfrey Cambridge), two plainclothesmen on the Harlem detail, are assigned to investigate the goings-on of suspicious local preacher Deke O’Malley (Calvin Lockhart), whose “Back to Africa” political movement turns out to be a scam.

Killer of Sheep, directed by Charles Burnett, 1977
“One of the essential films of American cinema,” an African-American slaughterhouse worker searches for tiny moments of beauty in his predominantly bleak life.

Daughters of the Dust, directed by Julie Dash, 1991
At the turn of the century, West African slaves were brought to a small island near South Carolina to labor in the indigo trade. Isolated in the swampy atmosphere, the Gullah community was built based on ancient Yoruba traditions. This unique community is explored in Julie Dash’s debut feature, a costume drama about the Peazant family, a fictional group of Gullah natives living on Ido Landing.

Malcolm X, directed by Spike Lee, 1992
Writer-director Spike Lee’s epic portrayal of the life and times of the slain civil rights leader Malcolm X, who through his religious conversion to Islam, found the strength to rise up from a criminal past to become an influential civil rights leader.

Browse thousands of other films available for free streaming on the Library’s streaming services, including, Pioneers of African American Cinema–a special series of newly restored films from the 1920s-’40s that not only starred African Americans but were funded, written, produced, directed, distributed, and often exhibited by people of color.

 

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The Library Store Loves You Lots

The Library Store has you sealed with a kiss this Valentine’s season! With gifts, cards, and all types of unique goodies for everyone on your kiss list–from the love of your life to the love of your week–stop by Central Library to check out The Library Store or browse the “For My Valentine” items online, including these lovely items below. And your Valentine will love to know that proceeds from their gift benefit the Los Angeles Public Library!

Love you Lots Dish
For the love of your life, there are small things that can be given that say a lot about your love, and this little trinket dish is one of those things. Ideal for holding small pieces of jewelry, such as rings and earrings, this little heart-shaped dish is painted in a lovely array of pinks, blue, and yellow, with a golden accented lip and words reading “Love you lots” across the plate. Give a little gift this Valentine’s Day that shows the lots of love you have to give!

 

Shark Valentine Card Set
Celebrate Valentine’s Day with a smile using these jolly shark Valentine’s Day cards, plus temporary tattoo set! With 24 total die-cut cards, each shaped in the form of one of four different shark designs, and an equal amount of temporary tattoos, this box set of Valentine’s Day cards even includes matching envelopes in an ocean blue or sea-foam white! Each card is blank on the back, perfect for personalizing each Valentine’s Day message per recipient.

 

Check You Out
For the love of the book lover in your life, this blank greeting card will let them know how much you’d come back for them. With an illustrated due date card printed on the cover, proudly proclaiming “I could check you out forever!,” this card is perfect for any occasion where it’s appropriate to proclaim your love. A complementary baby blue envelope is included.

 

I Heart Books Pennant
Celebrate your love for books with this sturdy, felt pennant. Decorate your favorite space with this pennant that features: sturdy felt construction, tie-anywhere tassels, and bold felt letters and bright red heart. Decorate your favorite reading corner with this pennant and let the world know: You heart books!

Shop The Library Store now!

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“Visualizing Language: Oaxaca in L.A.” Extended By Popular Demand!

“I see myself in your work. It reaches my soul and fills it with pride and love for all my people, our people, the people.”

“Felicidades! The best of L.A., celebrating the richness of cultures and bringing people together in shared appreciation and wonder.”

Such overwhelming positive responses from visitors to the Visualizing Language: Oaxaca in L.A. exhibition have helped to make possible the exciting announcement from the Library Foundation of Los Angeles and Los Angeles Public Library: the murals in the Central Library’s Rotunda will remain through August 31, 2018. Originally slated to be removed at the end of January 2018, extending the exhibition at the Central Library provides the public a prolonged opportunity for everyone to see the dynamic work by Oaxacan artist collective Tlacolulokos before the murals are moved to new location.

“People from all over the city have left heart-felt comments, varying in perspective, about this poignant work, says Library Foundation of Los Angeles President Ken Brecher. “This exhibition not only inspires contemplation but also speaks to the power of libraries, specifically at this moment in our country, to be centers of democracy.”

Mayor Eric Garcetti takes in the murals at Central Library.
Mayor Eric Garcetti takes in the murals at Central Library.

Since the exhibition opened in September 2017, it has welcomed approximately 30,000 visitors to the Central Library’s Rotunda and over 2,000 guests at the more than 60 exhibition-related programs held at 14 participating neighborhood branch libraries. Upcoming programs include a bilingual teen hip hop workshop with Oaxacan DJ Survive and Inner City Dwellers on January 25 at the Cypress Park Branch Library and an Oaxacan food demonstration and tasting with Rocio Camacho on January 30 at the Junipero Serra Branch Library.

“We’re thrilled to be extending this provocative exhibition, which captures the shared experience between Mexico and Los Angeles and celebrates the historic mix of Oaxacan and California culture,” says City Librarian John F. Szabo. “I hope everyone will take the opportunity to see the exhibition for the first time or to see it again.”

A special thanks goes to the generous donation of Zapotec language materials donated by artist and philanthropist Francisco Toledo and his team at CaSA (Centro de las Artes San Agustín) and IAGO (Instituto de Artes Graficas de Oaxaca).

VL Photo Mosaic

Learn more about Visualizing Language: Oaxaca in L.A at lfla.org/oaxaca and check out the commemorative exhibition catalogue now available for purchase at The Library Store.

 

 

 

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Shining Light on Civil Rights

This January, the Los Angeles Public Library is paying tribute to the incredible legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. through special programming across branch libraries from peace-themed craft projects for kids at the Benjamin Franklin Branch to exploring King’s life in books at the John Muir Branch. To shed light on another important story of the civil rights movement, ALOUD will welcome historian Heather Ann Thompson to the Central Library on Thursday, January 18. Thompson will share from her Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy, which chronicles the atrocities that led to 1,300 prisoners taking over the upstate New York correctional facility and how the state violently retook the prison—killing thirty-nine men and severely wounding more than a hundred others.


Her sweeping work explores the long-term implications of how this notorious prison riot was handled and offers new proof that the state of New York purposely concealed evidence and misrepresented the facts of the case to the public. Before Thompson takes the ALOUD stage, we spoke to her about the historic consequences of Attica’s narrative and what this tragedy can teach us about racial conflict, failures in mass incarceration, and police brutality in America today.

It’s always interesting to hear about an author’s research, but yours is especially important as the research itself became a crucial part of the story. Can you talk about this process?

Thompson: Virtually all of the files I wanted to see were either non-disclosable or had been moved to an off-site facility, and officially you could get them through the Freedom of Information Act, which I certainly tried to do, but the state [of New York] had absolutely no interest in providing public access to the story. I had to come at the story upside down, from the side, and backwards so that I could reconstruct what had happened. It was a journey that took me 13 years.

It was ultimately possible to tell the story from a combination of recreating an archive from disparate and unexpected sources, but also relying heavily on the survivors of Attica, as well as the judges, and lawyers, and reporters to share their stories with me. Ultimately, I could not have told the smoking gun parts of this story—I would not have known this was really a story of actual cover-up—had I not happened upon a whole cache of records [at the Erie County courthouse in Buffalo, New York] that I don’t think the state of New York knew was there.


Many individuals suffered tremendously from this cover-up, but what were the bigger historical consequences of this one falsely presented story?

Thompson: The micro answer is about the people who are most directly impacted by Attica. It destroyed lives quite literally. The macro cost of getting history wrong was devastating for all of us—for the nation. There was an entire generation of voters who in 1971 had been quite sympathetic to the idea of prison reforms. As a country we had turned against the death penalty and we had decided that prisons were too aggressive and brutal and large and we needed to think about community corrections.

Because we were told what had happened at Attica was that the prisoners had killed the hostages and that the prisoners had committed all of the harm—all of those horrific lies were printed on the front pages of The New York Times, The L.A. Times, over the AP and in every small town newspaper in America—the nation was sold a false bill of goods and became punitive. Politicians started using Attica as a symbolic way to get tougher on crime policy. Of course it turns out that the violence of Attica was because law enforcement was out of control, but we didn’t get that narrative and the national consequences have been devastating.

Recently at ALOUD, we’ve heard from other authors like Danielle Allen and James Foreman, Jr. who are also confronting the failures of the criminal justice system and the culture of secrecy around prisons. With more public discourse around these issues, do you think we’re at a tipping point for change?

Thompson: I am privileged to be part of this new wave of folks who are relentlessly and unapologetically talking about the fact that we have a crisis in our criminal justice system. Many people are working very hard to understand how we got here and to rally for something quite different and to suggest we don’t have to do it this way. We have a critical mass of people who are not going away—not just scholars—but we are being pushed and driven and informed by formerly incarcerated folks themselves. This is a crisis we know about because people on the inside are insisting we listen. For me, I feel hopeful, but I’m also deeply cautious because I know that we have zero transparency in our nation’s prisons.

It sounds like for you there’s a direct connection between transparency and change?

Thompson: Absolutely. The whole thrust of Blood in the Water is to say we need to look inside these institutions because the people inside of them—no matter what they did that got them there—they remain human beings. The story of Attica is fundamentally a story about humanizing the now more than 2.5 million people who are locked up in America or the 7.5 million under correctional control. It’s imperative to listen to prisoners.

 

Reservations: lfla.org/aloud
Thursday, January 18, 7:30 PM
Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy
Heather Ann Thompson

In conversation with Professor Kelly Lytle Hernandez,
Director of the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA

 

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You Heard Them First at ALOUD: Best Reads of 2017

‘Tis the time of year when critics, editors, librarians, and book lovers alike compile their favorite reads of the year. Ranging from urgent topics like the environment and politics to lyrical stories that take us into never-seen-before worlds, we’ve noticed one reoccurring theme on these “best of” lists for 2017: many of these authors have visited ALOUD.

ALOUD audiences hear from Roxane Gay about her latest book Hunger: A Memoir of (MY) Body.
ALOUD audiences hear from Roxane Gay about her latest book Hunger: A Memoir of (MY) Body.

Here’s our own compilation of best books where the esteemed authors took the ALOUD stage before topping this year’s favorites. Listen again or for the first time to these fascinating conversations, and check out their work at the Los Angeles Public Library—or look for a signed copy of some of these books at The Library Store.

From the 10 Best Books of The New York Times Book Review:

Jesmyn Ward’s Sing, Unburied, Sing
“Achieving a level of empathy that is all too often impossible to muster in real life, but that is genuine and inevitable in the hands of a writer of such lyric imagination,” the winner of the 2017 National Book Award for fiction can be seen on almost everyone’s best books list this year. Ward visited ALOUD in 2014 to discuss her previous award-winning novel Salvage the Bones.

 

James Forman Jr.’s Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America
“A masterly account of how a generation of black officials, beginning in the 1970s, wrestled with recurring crises of violence and drug use in the nation’s capital,” Foreman discussed this urgent work at ALOUD this fall. Listen to the podcast.

Richard O. Prum’s The Evolution of Beauty: How Darwin’s Forgotten Theory of Mate Choice Shapes the Animal World — and Us
“A passionate plea that begins with birds and ends with humans and will help you finally understand, among other things, how in the world we have an animal like the peacock,” Prum shared this fascinating scientific story with ALOUD this past spring. Listen to the podcast.

From The Washington Post’s 10 Best Books of 2017:

George Saunders’ Lincoln in the Bardo
“Everything about Saunders’s first novel, which won the Man Booker Prize, confounds our expectations of what a novel should look and sound like. It’s composed entirely of brief quotations — some real, some imagined — from people who worked for the president, his friends, colleagues, enemies, biographers and, most strikingly, ghosts trapped in Georgetown’s Oak Hill Cemetery…” Another book you’ll see on many lists this year, Saunders visited ALOUD for the second time last winter to discuss his novel. Listen to the podcast.

Robert Sapolsky’s Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst
“For any layperson who wants to understand why we behave the way we do, Sapolsky has created an immensely readable, often hilarious, romp through the worlds of psychology, primatology, sociology and neurobiology.” Sapolsky visited ALOUD in May. Listen to the podcast.

From Time’s Top 10 Novels of 2017:

Jennifer Egan’s Manhattan Beach
“The book’s heroine, Anna Kerrigan, is a character perfectly calibrated for Hollywood, with verve, vulnerability, and a tough-as-nails glamour that transitions from her job as the first female diver to work on war ships to her nights in gangster-filled night clubs.” Pulitzer Prize winner Egan visited ALOUD this fall. Listen to the podcast.

Kirkus’ Best of 2017:

Roxane Gay’s Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body
“An intense, unsparingly honest portrait of childhood crisis and its enduring aftermath.” Gay talked about this deeply personal work at a special off-site event this summer.

Ta-Nehisi Coates’ We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy
“Emotionally charged, deftly crafted, and urgently relevant essays.” Coates visited ALOUD in 2015 to discuss Between the World and Me.

 

From LA Times’ Best Books of 2017:

Nathan Englander’s Dinner at the Center of the Earth
“The fourth book from Pulitzer Prize finalist Englander is a heart-wrenching political fable that takes on the decades-long conflict between Israel and Palestine.” Englander has shared from previous collections at two past visits to ALOUD. Listen to a podcast.

Percival Everett’s So Much Blue
Prolific author and USC professor Everett’s latest novel is one of his best.” Everett is a frequent visitor to ALOUD.

 

Masha Gessen’s The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia
“The winner of the 2017 National Book Award for nonfiction, Gessen’s book tracks the lives of four Russians coming of age in a new Russia and three of an older generation from sudden liberalization through the rise of Putin.” Gessen has visited ALOUD twice in the past to discuss her previous books, including a talk about Pussy Riot. Listen to the podcast.

 

From The Guardian’s Best Fiction of 2017:

Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
“A sprawling, kaleidoscopic fable about love and resistance in modern India.” Roy took part in a special off-site program at the Aratani Theatre in May.

 

From NPR’s 2017’s Great Reads:

Layli Long Soldier’s WHEREAS: Poems
“Thrillingly, we seem to be upon a moment in contemporary poetry wherein young women of color feel empowered to gather the forms, sounds and spirits of their ancient languages and rework them into pieces of weaponry.” Soldier recently shared the ALOUD stage with two other Indigenous poets. Listen to the podcast.

David Owen’s Where The Water Goes: Life And Death Along The Colorado River
“It’s a restless travelogue of human impact on the natural world and how politics and economics have as much to do with redirecting rivers as any earthwork.” Owen visited ALOUD in the spring. Listen to the podcast.

 

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A New Catalogue to Commemorate Visualizing Language

“To recognize an image or likeness of yourself in a poem or mural, to have your existence—your present being—acknowledged, even celebrated, can awaken a pride,” writes Mojave poet and language activist Natalie Diaz in the newly released catalogue for Visualizing Language: Oaxaca in L.A. Diaz’s powerful voice is just one of many comprising this bilingual project catalogue, which in itself is a work of art—an assemblage of poetry, imagery, essays, and insights into Indigenous art and representation as well as an in-depth look at the Los Angeles Public Library’s current exhibition, Visualizing Language: Oaxaca in L.A.

Visualizing Language Catalogue photos by Gary Leonard.

Anchored by beautiful images of Oaxacan artist collective Tlacolulokos’ commissioned murals, the catalogue features an essay by project curator Amanda de la Garza, which contextualizes the vibrant new murals installed on the walls of the Central Library’s Rotunda beneath Dean Cornwell’s existing murals from 1933. De la Garza’s essay shines a light on the historical and cultural juxtapositions between the two murals, as she explains, “The Tlacolulokos construct a story, an alternate history, and at the same time an alternate present.”

Visualizing Language exhibition in Central Library's Rotunda. Photo by Jeff McLane.
Visualizing Language exhibition in Central Library’s Rotunda. Photo by Jeff McLane.

The catalogue takes readers behind-the-scenes of this vast project with Library Foundation producers Maureen Moore and Louise Steinman, as well as a dialogue between the artists themselves, and an essay by project consultant Xóchitl Flores-Marcial. Poetry also features prominently in the book, with selections in English, Spanish, and Zapotec from Natalie Diaz, Layli Long Solder, Natalia Toledo, and forthcoming ALOUD participants Víctor Terán and Jane Hirshfield. Edited by David Shook and published by the independent publisher Phoneme Media, the catalogue can be checked out from the Los Angeles Public Library starting in December or purchased now from The Library Store for $15 + tax.

Guests of the ALOUD evening featuring Indigenous poetry from the Americas received a copy of the project catalogue. ALOUD supporter Rosalinda Meza, exhibition producer Maureen Moore, and Library Foundation colleague Jorge Martinez. Photo by Gary Leonard.

You can also find a special selection of other Visualizing Language merchandise at The Store, including items with designs by Tlacolulokos like temporary tattoos tees, tanks, and tote bags with images from the murals. The Store also worked directly with local artisans to offer one-of-a-kind Oaxacan items, like chocolates, jewelry, and handmade embroidered dolls.

Dolls
Dolls are made by Rosa Gómez of the Zapotec community in San Bartolomé Quilana in Oaxaca.

Visualizing Language is on view at Central Library until January 31. Learn more about Visualizing Language or shop The Library Store.

 

 

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Giving Thanks for the Los Angeles Public Library

We are grateful for the free educational and cultural programs of the Los Angeles Public Library every day of the year, but as we approach Thanksgiving there are a few special happenings that we can really give thanks for. From Thanksgiving storytimes to crafting festive flying turkeys, check out some of these upcoming Thanksgiving-themed programs taking place at branches throughout the city.

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Thanksgiving meal photo from the LAPL Photo Collection, November 24, 1965.

Thanksgiving Storytime
Vernon – Leon H. Washington Jr. Memorial Branch Library
November 16, 3:30 PM
Join us for for a special storytime and craft to celebrate Thanksgiving.

Make a Mini Pumpkin Turkey!
Benjamin Franklin Branch Library
November 16, 4:00 PM
Give thanks this wonderful Thanksgiving by making a pumpkin turkey! All materials will be provided.

KidCraft: Thanksgiving Wreath
Will & Ariel Durant Branch Library
November 16, 2017 4:00 to 5:00 PM
Celebrate Thanksgiving with us by making a leaves wreath and writing on each leaf or several leaves, all that you are grateful for. Then take the wreath home and maybe place it on your door in time for Thanksgiving!

Make-It Monday: Thanksgiving Storytime and Craft
Arroyo Seco Regional Library
November 20, 4:00 PM
Celebrate Thanksgiving with friends, stories, songs, and crafting a Thankful Turkey book!

Thanksgiving Storytime and Craft
Junipero Serra Branch Library
November 21, 4:00 PM
Listen to stories all about Thanksgiving and make delicious holiday pie in a cup.

Teen Thanksgiving Celebration
Los Feliz Branch Library
November 21, 4:00 PM
It’s Thanksgiving time.  Let’s do crafts and eat snacks.  Make new friends.

Flying Turkey Craft
John Muir Branch Library
November 21, 4:00 to 5:00 PM
Join us and create festive flying turkeys.  Watch your turkeys soar.  Happy Thanksgiving!

If you are feeling thankful for the Los Angeles Public Library this season, become a Member of the Library Foundation to support the civic, cultural, and educational core of our community.

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Janet Fitch’s Revolutionary Russia

“Rocking on the razor-musseled bay, lulled by the sleepy toll of buoy bells, the music of rigging, the eloquent stanzas of the waves, I wait for news from the sea,” begins Janet Fitch’s new novel. After this rhythmically-charged opening, it’s no shock that this story centers around a poet, but it may surprise fans of Fitch’s past work (White Oleander and Paint It Black) that her new book, The Revolution of Marina M., is an 800-page sweeping historical saga set during the Russian Revolution. Fitch, who was born and raised in Los Angeles, grew up an avid reader under the spell of Dostoyevsky. After the wild success of her bestselling books that have been translated into 28 languages and made into feature films, Fitch harkens back to her first literary love for her latest work.

Author Janet Fitch

Marina M. begins on New Year’s Eve in 1916 St. Petersburg, and follows a young woman of privilege who aches to break free of the constraints of her genteel life, a life about to be violently upended by the vast forces of history. Before Fitch visits ALOUD on November 16, we spoke about how history, poetry, and a fierce female protagonist fueled this powerful epic.

Your new book travels to a far and distant place in time. What first inspired you to go on this journey?
Fitch:
It was born when I was in junior high here [Los Angeles]—I went to John Burroughs Middle School. Back then the boys got to read 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and the girls got Cress Delehanty and Cherry Ames, Student Nurse. I came home devastated that they thought this was all we were good for. I was so upset and my father went to our shelf at home and pulled out a book and it was Crime and Punishment—and there was my junior high world with the angst and the guilt and the sudden ill-planned actions. The book exploded in my hands, and for me that was what a novel should be. So I took Russian in high school and when I went to college I majored in history and Russian history was my field. I often have Russian characters in my books because Russian literature was everything to me.

It’s always challenging to write something influenced by the great literature you love, but especially so when that model is epic in scope. You worked on this book for 10 years—what was that process like?
Fitch:
I had written a story about a woman who had been an émigré from the Russian Revolution, set in L.A. in the early 20s, called “Room 721.” When I tried to write more about her, I realized I needed to go back and live through the Revolution with her to see the forces that shaped her. The Revolution is not something that people write about very much—they write more about the Second World War. Once I started researching, I realized why—there aren’t clear good guys and bad guys and there are all kinds of issues in a great vortex of social and personal issues. For me, history is most interesting when seen through the eyes of somebody living through it rather than someone who is at the top and making policy and looking down.

There’s a large presence of poetry in your books through your attentive ear to language. In this book, the main character is actually a poet and we get to read her poems. As a fiction writer, how has poetry influenced you?
Fitch:
I think poetry is the crown of language. We prose writers tell stories and we incorporate language as we do it, hopefully in a very dedicated way, but poets are the standard bearers of what language can do. In a revolutionary time, when things change so quickly, you get poetry because poets can respond to dramatic sudden change that fiction generally can’t. There’s an immediacy to it that I really like.

Although the subject matter here is very different from your other books, they all feature very strong female characters. How does character development shape your writing?
Fitch:
I’m very interested in individuals in difficult situations that gives them a chance to discover who they really are and how they are going to understand their situation. Are they going to let it submerge them? Or are they going to try to find their way through? Each character that I use as a protagonist has to have certain qualities—they have to be the equal of their situation. A character that capitulates easily doesn’t make a good protagonist. In this one, I had to create a character ready to live through a revolutionary age.

The Revolution of Marina M

Thursday, November 16, 7:15 PM
The Revolution of Marina M.

Janet Fitch
In conversation with Boris Dralyuk, Executive Editor of the Los Angeles Review of Books
Reservations: lfla.org/aloud

 

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Five Innovative Ways the Library Supports Veterans

As we get ready to honor those who have served our country on Veterans Day next week, the Los Angeles Public Library supports veterans in a variety of ways all year long. We checked in with Principal Librarian Alicia Moguel and her team who run these crucial programs for veterans–both by providing access to services online and in person. Here are a few innovative ways the Library works to support veterans through collaborative partnerships.
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“A military tank drives down Broadway as part of the Armistice Day celebration.” November 11, 1947, from LAPL’s Photo Collection.
LAPL, with support from the California State Library, is host to VetNow, a website service which connects veterans with easy-to-access benefits counselors as well as job coaches and tutors. This is a new way for veterans to learn about their benefits, and LAPL was the first library system in the country to go live with this valuable service and serve as a pilot.
Veterans are able to take interactive online courses and practice exams in a wide range of topics through LAPL Online Resources for both personal enrichment and professional development. LearningExpress LibraryLynda.com and Universal Class are just a few examples. 
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“Veterans observance – Legionnaires carry flags of their units as they pass spectators in a Veterans Day parade in Studio City.” November 11, 1963, from LAPL’s Photo Collection.
 3. Voyant
Voyant, one of LAPL’s online resources for users to research job opportunities, allows veterans to use military code to search for jobs. Veterans will be able to translate job skills, find opportunities, reach out to employers and manage the application process to make the most of every career opportunity.
One particularly successful partnership is the Veterans Make Movies grant from Institute of Museum and Library Services along with LAPL and LACMA. This has been a successful three year grant in which veterans have attended 8-week film making classes at one of the four Veterans Resource Centers at the Library. While the grant is coming to close, it has offered many veterans a unique and powerful storytelling opportunity and almost 80 films were made.
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“Members of the U.S. Marine Corps, resplendent in dress uniform, provide precision marching in parade observing the twenty-ninth anniversary of World War I armistice.” November 11, 1947, from LAPL’s Photo Collection.
The LAPL has four Veterans Resource Centers and each provides veterans with in-person guidance from volunteers who can deeply listen and provide the best and most appropriate resources to veterans and their family members seeking assistance from education, employment, housing, health to other benefits for which they may be eligible. Since their inception in 2013, Veterans Resource Centers, which are supported through a grant from the California State Library have helped more than 4,000 veterans.

Although the Library will be closed this Saturday, November 11 for Veterans Day,  you can still access our Media Archive with videos and podcasts from past ALOUD programs. To commemorate Veterans Day, listen to a podcast with Norman Davies looking back at World War II, or a talk with David Finkel on returning from deployment, or watch this video on stories from war:

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