Birmingham Public Library Blog

Just Kids Patti Smith In the mid-sixties musical artist, poet and punk icon Patti Smith and photographer Robert Mapplethorpe , still in their teens, are strolling through Washington Square on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Seeing them, a tourist lady turns to her husband saying, “Look, they’re artists!” Her husband replies, “Aw, they’re just kids.” Thus comes the title of this National Book Award-winning memoir of Smith and Mapplethorpe’s friendship, love, and their fierce artistic alliance. Immensely entertaining and chock full of anecdotes from the fabled young avant-garde of New York of that era, Just Kids , is nonetheless a deeply intimate portrayal of a struggle to survive, to eat, to sleep inside, and to advance their art. Reading Just Kids , we hang out with Patti and Robert at Max’s Kansas City, perform before Andy Warhol at the early CBGB and live at the Chelsea Hotel. Allen Ginsburg makes a play for Smith at the automat, thinking she’s a young man. She has an affair with S...

The Alabama Architectural Foundation recently honored the Linn-Henley Research Library with their 2014 Significant Building Award. We are proud of this designation and are thrilled that such a distinguished group recognizes our beloved “Old Library.” I spoke with the current president of the Alabama Architectural Foundation, Mr. Jamie Aycock, and learned that the award is given annually to a public building that has been in service for at least 25 years and has had a significant impact on the community. Nominations are submitted by the 5 Alabama chapters of the American Institute of Architects and are then voted on by that group’s board of directors. I was thrilled to learn that this year’s vote was unanimous in favor of the Linn-Henley Library.  Significant Building Award Click to enlarge We are in good company. Previous recipients include the Rosenbaum House in Florence (Alabama’s only building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright), the 16th Street Baptist Church, an...

Enjoying Downton Abbey ? When the season is over, you may enjoy some other PBS Masterpiece productions. Did you know that BPL has several PBS and BBC programs in our DVD collection? I thought that I would spotlight programs that you may not have heard of and the books that made some of these television programs possible. DVDs Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple Call the Midwife ,  Seasons 1 and 2 Downton Abbey , Seasons 1, 2 and 3 Endeavour , Season 1 (Colin Dexter’s Inspector Morse Series) Garrow’s Law , Seasons 1 and 2 (Inspired by real life British barrister William Garrow, 1760-1840.) I, Claudius (A wonderful miniseries that tells the history of Rome through the eyes of the elderly Caesar Tiberius Claudius, played by Derek Jacoby.) Last Tango in Halifax Luther ,  Seasons 1, 2, and 3 Page Eight Sherlock ,  Seasons 1 and 2 Silk ,  Season 1 Vera ,  Seasons 1 and 2 Wallander , Seasons 1, 2 and 3 Zen (Italian detective A...

When the Birmingham Holocaust Education Center started in 2002, there were about 35 Holocaust survivors living in Birmingham. Today, there are about 16 in Birmingham. Just a few days ago, the oldest known-living Holocaust survivor died at the age of 110 in London. The Birmingham Holocaust Education Center and the Birmingham Public Library realize the last-living Holocaust survivors are dying more and more every year, which is why they continue to keep survivors and their stories before the public. Every Wednesday in March at 12 p.m., the two groups will present a Holocaust lecture in the Arrington Auditorium of the Linn-Henley Research Library, 2100 Park Place. The lectures are free. “We are doing what we can to preserve the history and the knowledge,’’ says Phyllis Weinstein, president of the Birmingham Holocaust Education Center. “Even people who feel like they know about the Holocaust can always learn something new.’’ (The Birmingham Holocaust Education Center is a nonprofit or...

wake up! wake up! let’s be friends, sleeping butterfly - Matsuo Bashō Corresponding with the Sakura Cherry Blossom Festival to be held at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens, the Birmingham Public Library is celebrating the haiku with several events: the Haiku contest , Bards, Brews, and Haikus , and a Haiku workshop . The history of the modern haiku dates back to the thirteenth century when poets would write rengas or “linked verse” together. “It became the fashion, after some hours of deep poetic concentration on their individual works, to relax by writing a humorous renga together,” notes William Higginson in The Haiku Handbook. The haiku eventually evolved into a being independent from these collaborations and stood alone with rules and structure that are still in debate today, but generally recognized, the criteria are as follows: A kigo , or season reference is used. This word or phrase helps the reader identify the feeling associated with the season. There are a list ...

The Central Library's Fiction Department hosts the next Bards & Brews Open Mic event on Friday, March 7, 2014 . The event will include haiku, sake tasting, and a Japanese craft sale along with the standard offering. The craft sale will raise funds to restore Miss Iwate, the Japanese Friendship Doll residing at BPL since 1928. Music by Andy Harris is from 6:30-7:00 p.m.; performances start at 7:00. The event is free to attend and is open to the public. Must be 18 and up to attend and 21 to participate. ID required. Refreshments will be served. For more info, call 205-226-3670 or email hm@bham.lib.al.us.

Three Birmingham Public Libraries will be celebrating Dr. Seuss' 110 birthday with treats, crafts, and readings. March 3 Central Library/Youth Department/Story Castle 3:30-4:30 p.m. Central Library's Youth Department will celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday with crafts, activities, Dr. Seuss Bingo, and Dr. Seuss cupcakes. Smithfield Library 4:00-5:00 p.m. Members of the Links Inc. Birmingham Chapter will read to children as part of Read Across America and Dr.Seuss' birthday. Refreshments will be served. March 6 North Birmingham Library 4:00-5:00 p.m. The North Birmingham Library will celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday with cake, crafts, and a movie.

  The Birmingham Public Library is marking its ten-year partnership with the Birmingham Holocaust Education Center in presenting Remembering the Holocaust , presentations by Birmingham residents  sharing their experiences and perspectives. The programs are held every Wednesday in March at noon in the Arrington Auditorium of the Central Library and are free and open to the public. Remembering the Holocaust - A High School Holocaust Studies Teacher Perspective March 5 Amy McDonald, history teacher and chair of the Social Studies Department at Shades Valley High School, recently received the Robert I. Goldman Award for Excellence in Holocaust Education from the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous at their Annual Dinner in N.Y. She will share her deep commitment and reasons for teaching the Holocaust that brought her to the attention of this prestigious organization. Remembering the Holocaust - A Conversation with a Holocaust Survivor March 12 Dr. Robert May, who with h...