Mark Your Meeting Maker: Alice Walker Reading Scheduled

Pulitzer Prize-winner Alice Walker is scheduled to offer a reading at 6 p.m. March 25 in the Glenn Memorial Auditorium. This will be Walker’s celebratory first visit to campus since she placed her archive with Emory in December. Details are forthcoming, so keep an eye on your e-mail inbox.

In 1983, Walker became the first African-American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, which honored her novel “The Color Purple.” Other honors bestowed upon Walker and her writing include the 1983 National Book Award, also for “The Color Purple;” the 1973 Lillian Smith Award from the National Endowment for the Arts for “Revolutionary Petunias and Other Poems;” the Rosenthal Award from the National Institute of Arts & Letters; and Radcliff Institute, Merrill and Guggenheim fellowships.

Tuesday, Jan. 15-Friday, May 23, 2008 — “Visions and Revisions: An Exhibition of Poems in Process”
MARBL, Level 10, Robert W. Woodruff Library

Monday, Mar. 3, 2008 — Dorothy Allison Reception and Reading
6 p.m., Jones Room, Robert W. Woodruff Library

Saturday, Mar. 15-Monday, May 26, 2008 — “Democratic Vistas: Exploring the Danowski Poetry Library”
Schatten Gallery, Level 3, Robert W. Woodruff Library

Tuesday, Mar. 18, 2008 — “State and Fate of Literary Reviewing”
Time TBD, Jones Room, Robert W. Woodruff Library

Tuesday, Mar. 18, 2008 — “The Video Diaries of George Kuchar”
8 p.m., 206 White Hall. NOTE: This and the following two events listed below are sponsored in part by the Marian K. Heilbrun Music and Media Library and organized by Andy Ditzler, library specialist, and James Steffen, film studies and media liaison

Thursday, Mar. 20, 2008 — “Stormy Weather: George Kuchar and the Elements”
8 p.m., 101 White Hall – Filmmaker George Kuchar attends in person.

Friday, Mar. 21, 2008 — “A Zest for Life: Classic Early Films by the Kuchar”
8 p.m. at Eyedrum, Inc., Suite 8, 290 MLK Jr. Drive S.E., Atlanta, Ga. 30312. Filmmaker George Kuchar attends in person.

Wednesday, Mar. 25, 2008 — Alice Walker Reading
6 p.m., Glenn Memorial Auditorium

Wednesday, April 2-Friday, April 4, 2008 — “A Fine Excess: A Three-Day Celebration of Poetry”
Most events in Jones Room, Robert W. Woodruff Library

Sunday, June 1-Sunday, July 20, 2008 — “Nubian Dreams: Images of the Sudan by Chester Higgins”
Schatten Gallery, Level 3, Robert W. Woodruff Library

Plugged In: After Hours
A Library of Science and Life

Photo #1: Cloud-shrouded landscape. Photo by Eran Tomer.

“Where does one begin a search?” inquires the visitor, surrounded by intimidating complexity. Discovery routes are frequently obscure and the objectives remain elusive. Print and electronic resources are harnessed, one heads upstairs and exploration commences.

Details continue emerging as items are examined closely one after another. One fascinating observation leads to another, answers generate further questions, and one may lose track of time wandering through a maze that engages all senses, superbly organized yet untamed. Both surprise and danger may lie around each corner at this tranquil setting, rooted in the ground though full of portals to other worlds. One's eyes open to gain an understanding of the past, intriguing insights about the present and a vision for the future, beyond the green summits.

While it faces serious space problems despite acquisitions, the ancient library that is Southern Appalachia never closes. Its special biological collections are unique not only in the Southeast and North America but globally, thus attracting numerous visitors and scholars. Discoveries never cease in this splendid wonderland of multiple floors and endless subjects. Exhibitions include spectacular forest galleries and imposing, cloud-shrouded landscapes [photo #1 top]. Its halls, decorated by azalea [photo #2], rhododendron, mountain laurel and wildflowers, resonate with captivating sounds such as spring peepers calling in numbers. Winter wren, veery, barred owl and Louisiana waterthrush all contribute to its rich, spellbinding music collection. Its unrivaled art holdings include hooded, Blackburnian and black-throated blue warblers, scarlet tanagers, Yonahlossee salamanders, brook trout and countless fungi [photo #3], lichens and insects. The residents may be specialized selectors such as red crossbill and dance fly or as cross-disciplinary as black bear and ruffed grouse.

As a habitual library dweller since fourth grade, a naturalist through life and a nature photographer, I keep returning to the Southern mountains. With photo gear, field notebooks and logs I document wild hikes in depth to preserve the experience thenceforth.

Surely, libraries are vital in both senses of the word.