Read Local Book Festival – This Weekend!

Whether you’re taking summer classes or celebrating the first week of summer vacation, take a few moments (heck, maybe even give it a few hours!) this weekend to check out the Read Local Book Festival in downtown Durham from Friday, May 15 – Sunday, May 17.  

Read Local Book Festival logoThe festival will feature authors and publishers local to Durham (meaning: Durham County and the nearest surrounding counties, including Orange, Wake, Chatham, Person, and Granville).

Check out the list of participants— you may see a familiar Durham Tech face!

Events vary from writing workshops to cookbook “rodeo”s to an exhibitor fair to reading performances.  Look at the schedule of events to find something that fits you!

 

2014 Nobel Peace Prize Winners

The Nobel Peace Prize for 2014 was awarded to Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai for their advocacy for children’s rights.

Photographs of Kailash Satyarthi on the left and of Malala Yousafzai on the right.

Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai were picked as winners for their struggle against the oppression of children and their right to education. Photograph: Reuters (Source Guardian.com)

Here is background information about Mr. Satyarthi and Miss Yousafzai from the New York Times, “In India, Mr. Satyarthi, a former engineer, has long been associated with the struggle to free bonded laborers, some born into their condition and others lured into servitude. For decades, he has sought to rid India of child slavery and has liberated more than 75,000 bonded and child laborers in the country.  Mr. Satyarthi began working for children’s rights in 1980 as the general secretary of the Bonded Labor Liberation Front, an organization dedicated to freeing bonded laborers forced to work to pay off debts, real or imagined. He also founded the Bachpan Bachao Andolan, or Save the Children Mission, an organization dedicated to ending bonded labor and saving children from trafficking. ” (http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/10/nobel-peace-prize-awarded-to-defenders-of-childrens-rights/)

“Ms. Yousafzai began campaigning for girls’ education at the age of 11, three years before she was shot by the Taliban. She was so young that some observers questioned how well equipped a child of that age could be to put her own safety on the line and commit to a life of activism. The prize she received on Friday validates what she has taken on, but also underscores the disproportionate expectations that trail her: Can she truly influence the culture of her home country of Pakistan, which she cannot even visit because of threats to her safety, and where many revile her as a tool of the West? Ms. Yousafzai may be an Anne Frank-like figure who defied terror, showed extraordinary courage and inspires hope, but how much can one teenager accomplish?” (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/11/world/asia/malala-yousafzai-youngest-nobel-peace-prize-winner-adds-to-her-achievements-and-expectations.html)

 The library has a copy of Malala Yousafzai’s inspiring memoir available for checkout:  LC 2330 .Y69 2013

Photograph of Malala Yousafzai

Book Cover photo: www.hachettebookgroup.com

For further reading, photos, and videos:

Nobel Announcement
Washington Post
The Guardian

Cool author alert! Science writer Mary Roach is coming to Durham

The Dr. Charles Sanders President’s Lecture Series at Durham Tech

presents

Mary Roach

Sunday, April 13th  7:00 p.m. Carolina Theatre, Downtown Durham

Author Mary Roach leans in a doorway

Mary Roach, from
http://www.maryroach.net/maryroach.html

Read more about the author and her fascinating books on her website.  Members of our library staff have read and enjoyed her books immensely and look forward to seeing her.
The subjects of her highly entertaining and well researched books include:  space exploration, the afterlife, sex research, human cadavers, and the digestive system!
Shows the feet of a corpse with a label, "Stiff"
An astronaut floats in space with a suitcase. Title says, "Packing for Mars"

NDC Librarian Toshi Shonek publishes third book of poetry

Santosh 'Toshi' Shonek

Santosh ‘Toshi’ Shonek

Our NDC librarian, Santosh ‘Toshi’ Shonek, has published her third volume of poetry, called Take My Love for Granted, which is now available for checkout from the libraries.  Toshi’s daughter created the art work for each of her book covers.

Toshi has worked at Durham Tech for about thirteen years.  Before Durham Tech, she was a librarian at Duke University.

Toshi recalls how she began writing poetry, “One day in August of 1997, while sitting at work in the Perkins Library of Duke University, some feelings came over me and I had to put them down on paper. Things which were always there became important.  Writing gave me a voice and courage to express what I felt. Poetry is a necessity like breathing. It happens…  I write when the urge is so strong. Poetry is a miracle and a blessing in my life and I am grateful.”

Book cover has the text "Take My Love for Granted" and has a mostly red illustration of a woman with her eyes closed.

Borrow one of Toshi’s books today!

Take My Love for Granted, PK 2097 .S566 T6 2012
Windows to My Heart, PK 2097 .S566 W5 2001
Remembering My Spirit, PK 2097 .S56 R4 1999

Maurice Sendak and Where the Wild Things Are

Photograph from PBS.org of Maurice Sendak with a picture of one of the creatures from Where the Wild Things Are behind him

Image of Maurice Sendak from PBS.org

Do you remember reading the book Where the Wild Things Are?

Maurice Sendak, author and illustrator, died on May 8, 2012, in Danbury, CT, at the age of 83.

Maurice Sendak received the Caldecott Medal in 1964 as the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.

Read more about the man and his work in the following New York Times article.

http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA289048261&v=2.1&u=durham_tccl&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w

In September 2011, Bumble-Ardy, written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak, was published.  A posthumous book, My Brother’s Book, is scheduled to be published in February 2013.

The Durham Tech main campus library has books written/illustrated by Maurice Sendak.

PZ 7 .S47 In 1995  In the Night Kitchen

PZ 8.3 .S4684 We 1993x  We Are All in the Dumps with Jack and Guy : two nursery rhymes with pictures

PZ 7 .D3675 Wg 1972  The Wheel on the School

PZ 8 .S3294 Wh 1963  Where the Wild Things Are

Remembering Science Fiction Author Ray Bradbury

Cover of the book Fahrenheit 451 showing a manlike figure on fire

Image from readingnow.wordpress.com

The following books are available from the Main Campus Library:

  • Conversations with Ray BradburyPS 3503 .R167 Z466 2004
  • Dandelion WinePS 3503 .R167 D26 1976
  • Fahrenheit 451,  PS 3503 .R167 F3 1982
  • The Martian ChroniclesPS 3503 .R167 M3 1954
  • The Illustrated Man,   PS 3503 .R167 I44 1967

Here is a link to a nice article from the NY Times about Bradbury’s life and work:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/07/books/ray-bradbury-popularizer-of-science-fiction-dies-at-91.html?pagewanted=all

Here is a short essay written by Bradbury published in the New Yorker, June 4, 2o12:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/06/04/120604fa_fact_bradbury

Visit the author’s website : http://www.raybradbury.com/