The town of Shutesbury, in rural western Massachusetts, needs a new public library to replace their tiny, antiquated one (there’s no running water!). The state will cover 60% of the cost—IF the town can raise $1.4 million by June 30. Shutesbury has made this adorable video explaning the situation and making the case [...]
Do you have a cell phone?
Of course you do. Everyone does. So what will become of all those public pay phone booths that no one needs anymore?
Columbia architecture grad John Locke has an idea: turn them into public bookshelves. Reports The Atlantic Cities:
[I]n the past few months, the Columbia architecture grad has slipped around Manhattan [...]
Writers are sometimes a shy bunch, but two recent writing-related mysteries take that to a new level. Call it “stealth lit,” maybe.
Case #1: The Mysterious Incident of the Sculptures in the Libraries
Intricate sculptures carved from books have been appearing in Scottish libraries. Way back in March, the Guardian reported on the first [...]
We’re delighted to present the following post by Nicole Aber, our FWR editorial intern. Enjoy!
Last summer, I worked a few blocks away from the regal main branch of the New York Public Library near Bryant Park. During the interlude between the end of the work day and the start of a class I was [...]
Speaking of judging books by their covers, one branch of the New York Public Library recently asked readers to do just that. The NYPL blog explains:
At the Webster Branch, we recently put up a display with all of the books covered in brown paper. Above it there is a sign that reads: “Do [...]
This post stems from a conversation with my brother – who recently moved to Chile – about what he’d loaded onto his Kindle. As a recent college grad, with limited disposable income, he was pretty stringent in choosing the books he bought. But he’s a voracious reader. His solution: he loaded up his e-reader with [...]
n an article about the growing trend of private takeovers of public library systems, David Streitfeld of the New York Times poses the question:
Can a municipal service like a library hold so central a place that it should be entrusted to a profit-driven contractor only as a last resort — and maybe not even then? [...]
At FWR, we’ve long admired ReadThis, an all-volunteer organization of writers and editors devoted to promoting access to books and reading wherever needed: to public schools, troops overseas, hospital pediatric wards, and homeless shelters.
One of the organization’s recent and ongoing efforts has been to help rebuild the library of St. Bernard Parish’s recently reopened [...]
Lots of love for libraries recently. First, The Old Spice Guy (yeah, that Old Spice Guy) hilariously celebrates libraries in his typical stream-of-consciousness, non-sequitur fashion:
(Confused? It’s part of a social media campaign in which the Old Spice Guy answers questions from fans, explains GalleyCat.)
Next, a dead-on parody of the Old Spice commercial encourages [...]
The Boston Public Library is now accepting applications for its Children’s Writer-in-Residence Fellowship, a little-known but wonderful opportunity for children’s and YA writers. The fellowship, offered to one writer per year, is intended to “provide an emerging children’s writer with the financial and administrative support needed to complete one literary work” and offers a [...]
