Happy Birthday, Adelaide Procter!

We’ve all heard of poets like Robert Frost, EE Cummings, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and many other popular names that seem to fill the English class curricula. Unless you study Victorian poetry, though, you may not have heard of Adelaide Procter.

Born October 30, 1825, Adelaide Procter was the extremely gifted daughter of poet Bryan Waller Procter (a.k.a. “Barry Cornwall”), and Anne Skepper. Her parents were friends with Charles Dickens, and so Adelaide was raised in a distinguished literary circle.

She began having her work published when she was only eighteen years old. In 1853, she contributed to Book of Beauty and Household Words under the pseudonym Mary Berwick so the publisher, Charles Dickens, would publish her poetry based on its merit and not based on his relationship with her family.

Adelaide’s poems continued to be published in magazines and books. She published Legends and Lyrics, the first series of her principal work, in 1858. Nine editions of Legends and Lyrics were published in seven years. Charles Dickens eventually, and accidentally, discovered her identity and wrote an introduction for the edition published in 1866.

In addition to being a poet, Adelaide was a true women’s rights activist. She wrote about and advocated for women’s rights and to further women’s education and employment until her death. She died of tuberculosis on February 2, 1864, at just 38 years old.

Check out some of Adelaide Procter’s poems at http://www.poemhunter.com/adelaide-a-procter/. You can also go to the Rohrbach Library catalog and do an author search for “Procter, Adelaide.”

Happy birthday, Adelaide!

-CS

Information taken from http://gerald-massey.org.uk/procter/index.htm.

Happy Birthday, E.E. Cummings!

“here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or the mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)”

“anyone lived in a pretty how town
(with up so floating many bells down)
spring summer autumn winter
he sang his didn’t he danced his did”

Those famous stanzas can be credited to Edward Estlin (E.E.) Cummings, who was born on October 14, 1894, in Cambridge, Mass. Cummings began to write poems in 1902. He then attended Harvard for his bachelor’s and master’s degree, earning his master’s in 1916. His first published poems appeared in the Eight Harvard Poets anthology.

As many of us studied in our literature classes, Cummings is known for the loose grammar and punctuation style of his poems which are often littered with metaphors. His style often makes his poetry challenging to read, but it also leaves his work open to many interpretations.

Rohrbach Library has plenty of E.E. Cummings books to help celebrate his birthday. So check out a few and join us in saying, “Happy Birthday, E.E. Cummings!”

-CS

Beloved Children’s Books Hit the Silver Screen

The following is part of an article from The Salt Lake Tribune.
(See full article at: http://www.sltrib.com/themix/ci_13301208)

Between now and Thanksgiving, four major adaptations of much-beloved children’s books are hitting theaters:

“Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” » Judi and Ron Barnett’s 1982 picture book about an imaginary land of Chewandswallow, where food rains down on the population — being turned into a computer-animated comedy. (Sept. 18)

“Where the Wild Things Are” » Maurice Sendak’s 1963 classic picture story of Max, a naughty boy who magically travels to a land of wild things, adapted into live action by director Spike Jonze (“Being John Malkovich”). (Oct. 16)

“A Christmas Carol” » The oft-filmed Charles Dickens tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, this time computer-animated by Robert Zemeckis (“The Polar Express,” “Beowulf”) with Jim Carrey donning a motion-capture suit to portray Scrooge and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come. (Nov. 6)

“Fantastic Mr. Fox” » Roald Dahl’s 1970 chapter book about a resourceful fox outsmarting three nearby farmers, adapted in stop-motion animation by director Wes Anderson (“The Royal Tenenbaums”), with a voice cast led by George Clooney and Meryl Streep as Mr. and Mrs. Fox. (Nov. 13)

Happy Birthday Chris Van Allsburg

June 18th marks the birthday of celebrated author Chris Van Allsburg. If his name sounds familiar but you just can’t place him, think Jumanji, Zathura, or The Polar Express just to name a few.

Here is a list of some of his other books:
Bad Day at Riverbend © 1995
Ben’s Dream © 1982
A City in Winter by Mark Helprin © 1996-Illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg
The Garden of Abdul Gasazi © 1979
Just a Dream © 1990
The Mysteries of Harris Burdick © 1984
The Mysteries of Harris Burdick © 1994 (Portfolio Edition)
The Stranger © 1986
Swan Lake by Mark Helprin © 1989-Illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg
The Sweetest Fig © 1993
Two Bad Ants © 1988
The Veil of Snows by Mark Helprin © 1993-Illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg
The Widow’s Broom © 1992
The Wreck of the Zephyr © 1983
The Wretched Stone © 1991
The Z Was Zapped © 1987

You can click on the link below to see a list of his works that we have in our library’s collection. (We have most of the ones listed above.)
Rohrbach Library Online Catalog Results for author Chris Van Allsburg

To check out his own Website with loads of interesting information, go to:
http://www.chrisvanallsburg.com

Today: Leo Lionni’s Birthday

Today we celebrate Leo Lionni’s birthday.

According to Random House’s Website, “Leo Lionni wrote and illustrated more than 40 highly acclaimed children’s books. He received the 1984 American Institute of Graphic Arts Gold Medal and was a four-time Caldecott Honor Winner–for Inch by Inch, Frederick, Swimmy, and Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse. Leo Lionni died in October of 1999 at his home in Tuscany, Italy, at the age of 89.”  For the rest of the information on this acclaimed author/illustrator, see:
http://www.randomhouse.com/kids/lionni/author.html

Happy Birthday Gabriel Garcia Marquez!

Author Gabriel Garcia Marquez was born in Arataca, Colombia on this day in 1928.  He composed great novels such as Love in the Time of Cholera and One Hundred Years of Solitude.  He also composed a great number of short stories in his lifetime.

Celebrate this fantastic author’s birthday by checking out our library catalog’s search results.  Several of Marquez’s works are available in both English and Spanish.

E.M. Forster Travels to India

On this day in 1921, British author E.M. Forster embarked on his second journey to India.  Forster would later turn his experiences into his fifth novel, A Passage to India, which was released in 1924.

Check out his works and what critics have to say about this author in our library catalog’s search results.

Happy Birthday John Steinbeck!

Author John Steinbeck was born on this day in 1902, in Salinas Valley, California.  He published great works such as Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath.

Check out our library catalog search results to read his works.

Many years ago on this day…

Renaissance poet and playwright Christopher Marlowe was baptized on February 26th, 1564.  Just two months later, his fellow playwright William Shakespeare was born.

Marlowe’s work is often overshadowed by the more well-known Shakespeare, but his work is certainly no less interesting or influential.    He is as well known for his blank verse and overbearing protagonists, as he is for his untimely death in 1593.   Marlowe’s most famous plays include Dr. Faustus and The Jew of Malta.

Want to check out some of Marlowe’s work?  Click here to view our library catalog’s search results, and stop by this website to learn more about his life and work.

Happy Birthday Victor Hugo!

Author Victor Hugo was born on this day in Besancon, France in 1821.  He is the writer of well known works such as Les Miserables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Check out his works, as well as works about this well-known author, in our library catalog search results.