Join us in room 400 of the John T. Richardson Library for a brown bag lunch with author and DePaul professor Achy Obejas at noon on Thursday, June 5th. Ms. Obejas will talk about her writing and read from a selection of her work.

Dessert will be provided!

Achy Obejas is the Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz chair in the Latin American and Latino Studies Program and the department of English. She is a writer of impressive range and accomplishment, having written a number of novels, short fiction, poetry, and translations and published award-winning journalism.

 

May is Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month, a celebration of Asian and Pacific Islanders in the United States.  The broad designation "Asian/Pacific" encompasses the entire continent of Asia as well as the Pacific Islands.  The origin of the commemorative month began as a congressional bill.  In 1978 President Jimmy Carter declared the first ten days of May as Asian/Pacific Heritage Week and in 1992, President George H.W. Bush signed an extension turning the week-long celebration into a month-long celebration. 

This year's theme for Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month is "Leadership, Diversity and Harmony-Gateway to Success" in honor of the contributions to America from citizens with Asian or Pacific Island ancestry.¹  To learn more about the Asian-American experience, check out one these books or search our catalog to locate information on specific topics.

Happy Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month from the DePaul University Libraries!

1. "About Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month." Library of Congress. 25 April 2008. <http://www.loc.gov/topics/asianpacific/about/>.

* Warrior Riding a White Cow. Library of Congress, Asian Division, Washington, D.C.

 

Help us celebrate National Library Week!

April 13th-19th, 2008

Become a fan of the John T. Richardson library or the DePaul Center Library on Facebook, and then stop by either library reference desk for a small, sweet token of our appreciation!

 

If CTA construction is getting you down, stop by the Barnes & Noble DePaul Center this Thursday, April 17, at 5:30 to find out how you can become your own alternative transportation. J. Harry Wray, professor of political science at DePaul, will discuss and sign his new book "Pedal Power: The Quiet Rise of the Bicycle in American Public Life" (LPC 388.34720973 W943p2008), which grew out of the Discover Chicago course he's taught for several years. Wray shows how "politics, economics, and the environment combine to affect culture and be affected by it," and how a bike seat can be the best place to experience that.

Then, if you ride north fast enough, you'll be in time for Steve Almond's reading here at 7 pm in room 300 of Richardson Library. Almond first gained attention with the story collection "My Life in Heavy Metal." He followed that up with "Candyfreak: A Journey through the Chocolate Underbelly of America" (LPC 338.47664153 A452c2004) and a co-authored novel with confessional narrators alternating by chapter. His newest offering is "(Not That You Asked): Rants, Exploits, and Obsessions," a collection of essays with "biting humor, honesty, smarts and heart," according to Kirkus Reviews.

The Academy of American Poets (http://www.poets.org) cites compelling (and somewhat sobering) examples of April in verse:

April is the cruelest month

-- T.S. Eliot

Whan that April with his showres soote
The droughte of March hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veine in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendred is the flowr

-- Geoffrey Chaucer,

To what purpose, April, do you return again?

-- Edna St. Vincent Millay

Overcome the year’s dreary passage to spring with the gripping images and enlightening reflections of poetry. Join the month’s celebration at DePaul by attending a reading by Dr. Bernardo Navia, assistant professor in Modern Languages. Stay tuned for details.

Among the authors visiting Chicago in April are poets, novelists, and essayists, as well as winners of the Pulitzer Prize, Chicago Heartland Prize, and National Book Award. Here are some of the month’s highlights:
 
Mary Oliver, who won the Pulitzer Prize for her poetry collection American Primitive (811.54 O48a), speaks at Rubloff Auditorium, 280 S. Columbus Dr., on Wednesday, April 2, at 6:30 pm. The Poetry Center sponsors this event, which is free for members and costs $10 for nonmembers and $8 for students. http://www.poetrycenter.org/reading/index.html 
 
The Chicago Public Library hosts essayist and novelist Pico Iyer, author of Sun after Dark: Flights into the Foreign (910.4 I97s2004) and Video Night in Kathmandu: And Other Reports from the Not-So-Far East (950.42 I97V) to discuss his new book The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama on Wednesday, April 16, at 6:00 pm at the Auditorium of the Harold Washington Library Center (400 S. State Street) in their free author series. http://www.chipublib.org/events/details/id/5035/

On Sunday, April 20, at noon, Elizabeth Strout, author of Amy and Isabelle (813.54 S925a1998), joins Victoria Lautman for WFMT’s Writers on the Record series at the Lookingglass Theatre. Tickets are free, but reservations are recommended. http://www.wfmt.com/main.taf?p=1,1,41,23