Category Archives: General

CMLE Recap: An Evening with Joyce Carol Oates

Angie’s recap:

On Tuesday night (just in time before our latest snowstorm hit) a large group of Central Minnesotan readers and book lovers gathered in the Escher Auditorium at the College of St. Ben’s to hear from distinguished author Joyce Carol Oates.

I was very excited to hear from her, especially because of the enormous body of work she’s created! We enjoyed hearing about the similarities between her hometown in upstate New York and Central Minnesota, mainly that they both get a lot of snow. She shared that she was first in her family to graduate high school and that getting a college degree was extremely rare, especially for a woman. She talked a lot about the changing roles in society for women and girls and how important it is for everyone to have access to education and to travel.

She read from a few different selections. Her first reading was about “Mr. Rooster” and the impact that caring for her family’s chickens had on her as a young girl. She said that caring for the rooster, in particular, was a learning experience that stuck with her throughout life. Some people just aren’t going to like us, no matter what we do! She had a quiet sense of humor and shared several pictures of roosters with us, just in case we needed a reminder of what they looked like. 🙂

Next she talked about behavioral psychology and the experiments that used to be conducted before there were ethical guidelines scientists needed to follow. She read from a poem she’d written about “Little Albert,” a real-life baby test subject.

She also talked about her latest book, The Hazards of Time Travel, and read a few small selections from the book. Finally, she answered audience questions. I found what she had to say about Twitter very interesting, especially since she’s been a Twitter user since the platform began.

It was so great to see so many members and other library people at this event! Thanks to St. Ben’s for providing a lovely evening!

Lydia’s recap:

What a great opportunity to be able to see such a distinguished author here so close to home. I love going to see authors when I get the chance and Joyce Carol Oates gave an excellent talk.

She is such an articulate speaker, which makes sense for someone who has published over one hundred books.

Her readings were excellent but I loved the way she would digress from her prepared material and speak extemporaneously about our current time and political situation, the changes she has seen since she began writing and her thoughts on a wide variety of subjects. Often times authors will just stand and read but she jumped around and commented on her work as she went which I found really interesting.

The theater was wonderful and I was lucky enough to have a great seat near the front and right in the middle so I really had a wonderful time and I hope that we can attract more and more great talent to visit us here in central Minnesota. I hope Ms. Oates wasn’t delayed by the storm but hopefully those in line to get books signed were able to. I always enjoy visiting St Ben’s and I have seen many great performances and presentations there.

Literary Valentines!

 

Sure, we understand that Valentine’s Day is not everyone’s cup of tea. That is very OK with us. However, if you could use a chuckle, we encourage you to check out these articles of assorted literary valentines. And yes, there are so many with library themes!

And if you’re feeling extra festive today, why don’t you send a message to a library stakeholder (a principal/Board Member/legislator, etc) and tell them how much you love your library? If you need suggestions on what to say, we’ve got you covered!

Come see Joyce Carol Oates with CMLE!

CMLE members, we are so excited about this event! We hope you can join us on Tuesday, Feb. 19th at 7pm to attend “An Evening with Joyce Carol Oates” at St. Ben’s!

We’re getting together a group of members to attend the event together because library people at an author event is a guaranteed great time!

In fact, we even have THREE EXTRA TICKETS to give to the first three members that RSVP! We’ll be sitting together and are looking forward to a great evening. (RSVP at the bottom of this post).

Get more information and purchase your own tickets from the St. Ben’s website:

“Joyce Carol Oates is the author of multiple best-selling novels and critically-acclaimed collections of short fiction, as well as essays, plays, poetry, and a memoir.  Writing in The Nation, critic Henry Louis Gates Jr. said, “A future archeologist equipped only with her oeuvre could easily piece together the whole of postwar America.”

She is the Roger S. Berlind Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Princeton University, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.  In 2010, President Obama awarded her the National Humanities Medal.”

We hope you can join us at this event! RSVP below:

Interested in a free ticket?

The Cool Way This English Department Encourages Kids to Read!

So many of our school libraries are designing fun and unique book displays to get students excited about reading. At this high school in Illinois, the whole English department got into it and decked out their entire hallway!

“When the students of Mundelein High School in Mundelein, Illinois returned to school from winter break there was something different about the hallways of the English department.

Six floor-to-ceiling vinyl prints of book covers had been installed while they were away in the hopes that it would encourage students to talk more about their reading life.”

See the pictures and rest of the article here!

Breakfast with Books Event

This event coming up in February sounds really fun and would be perfectly suited to our members! You will get to chat with authors and illustrators, play trivia, hear some Book Talks, win door prizes, plus enjoy a sit-down breakfast!

Tickets to the event do include 4 CEU hours. As a reminder, if you need a scholarship to attend an event like this, apply now!

Check out their website and take a look at all the authors and illustrators that will be in attendance!

Are you a Minnesota educator, librarian, bookseller, or publishing professional? You’re invited to join us at Books for Breakfast, celebrating its 25th anniversary!

On Saturday, February 2, 2019, from 8:00 am to 12:30 pm, at the Rush Creek Golf Club in Maple Grove, Minnesota, we’ll gather to learn, greet old and new friends, and enjoy a morning of books, books, books!

Our theme this year is “My Reading Community, Our Reading Community,” based on the six books writen by Lisa Bullard and illustrated by Christine M. Schneider, Renée Kurilla, Paula Becker, and Holli Conger (Lerner Publishing Group).

Red Wagon Books will be selling books. Authors and illustrators will be available to sign your books from 12:00 to 12:30 pm. Please support the Breakfast by purchasing your books at the event.

You may buy as many tickets as you like: bring your colleagues! Seating capacity is limited, so we suggest you buy your tickets soon.