The Library will award the 2024 Prize for American Fiction to novelist and author James McBride, Librarian Carla Hayden announced today. McBride, 66, is the author of the hugely popular memoir "The Color of Water," novels such as “The Good Lord Bird” (winner of the 2013 National Book Award for Fiction) and, most recently "The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store," which received the 2023 Kirkus Prize for Fiction and was named Barnes and Noble’s 2023 Book of the Year. In 2016, he was awarded the the National Humanities Medal. He will be awarded the Prize for Fiction at the 2024 National Book Festival.
My Job is a recurring feature, presenting a Q&A with Library employees. This week, we chat with Mineeya Miles, a special assistant to the Health Services Division’s Wellness Program.
The Library's custom-designed multitracking studio at National Audio-Visual Conservation Center was built to house and preserve the collections of guitarist and audio-engineering innovator Les Paul. But it's also used to convert, preserve and save recordings made on formats that may not last. It's one of several labs that use cutting-edge technology to save the nation's recorded sound history.
Cormac Ó hAodha, a resident fellow in the John W. Kluge Center, is taking a deep dive into the Library's Alan Lomax Collection. Lomax, a major figure in 20th-century folklore and ethnomusicology, made field recordings in the Múscraí region of County Cork, Ireland, in the early 1950s. Ó hAodha is using those recordings as part of his Ph. D studies at the University College Cork into the history of the Múscraí song tradition.
-This is a guest post by Jennifer Harbster, head of the science section. The year was 1939. Pan American Airways’ Yankee Clipper made its first transatlantic passenger flight. The technology company Hewlett-Packard was founded in a garage in Palo Alto, California. Scientists at Iowa State College developed the prototype for the first digital computer. And …
Alan Gevinson will retire this spring as special assistant to the chief of the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center. Here, he shares some of his best memories at the Library, including moments with Rep. John Lewis, Bill Moyers ... and his future wife.
Bernie Taupin took the stage recently to speak with Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden about his songwriting journey with Elton John. The pair are the 2024 Gershwin Prize for Popular Song winners and their award concert will be broadcast on PBS April 8.
Monica Smith, chief of the Library's informal learning office, talks about her work and the goals of the program. She joined the Library in 2023 after three decades at the Smithsonian; she's also a veteran world traveler.
Since a disastrous 1966 flood in Florence, Italy, Library conservation specialists have advised disaster victims around the world about how to salvage their damaged books and artifacts. One of the most recent emergencies was a 2023 flood in Vermont. A Library team spent just over two weeks in the region.
