Blogger Daren Wang’s recommended book-related events are regularly broadcast on local radio station WABE as part of its “City Cafe” program. Wang has begun posting these heads-ups at the Decatur-based blog called Verb; you can read his first batch of alerts here.
Literary Birthdays
Dr. Johnson on Reading
Today is the 300th anniversary of the birth of Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), who said: “A man ought to read just as inclination leads him; for what he reads as a task will do him little good.”
Interested in Johnson? You might consider borrowing from the library Peter Martin’s Samuel Johnson: A Biography (Belknap Press, 2008), the first full-length biographical treatment in several decades. Martin was one of the authors featured at this month’s Decatur Book Festival.
WPA’s Birthday is Today
Older booklovers will remember that some of the most famous and beloved U.S. writers of the 20th Century were once employed by the the Depression-era Works Progress Administration.
Today, National Public Radio’s Writer’s Almanac mentions some of those writers in its marking of the WPA’s founding on April 8, 1935.
In May, author Mark Kurlansky will appear at the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library’s Central Library to discuss his new book about the WPA’s Writer’s Project, The Food of a Younger Land. (Stay tuned for details.)
Contributed by Ponce staffer Anne Vagts
Atlanta Booklover's Blog 