Laura Hand Receives Muriel Koretz Award

The Friends of the Central Library (FOCL), producers of the Rosamond Gifford Lecture Series presented the Muriel Koretz award on stage last night at the Abraham Verghese lecture. The purpose of the award is to honor an individual within the community who has made a positive impact on young people’s reading in Central New York.  The Friends were delighted to present the award to Laura Hand of CNY Central.

The first award was presented in 2001 to Muriel Koretz who guided parents and teachers to the best books for children for over thirty years through her children’s book review column in the Syracuse Post Standard.  The award was named in her honor in recognition of her dedication to children’s literature.

Laura Hand was nominated by colleagues who raved about the work she has done within the Central New York community encouraging a love of reading in young children.  For the past 25 years Hand has coordinated Book Breaks a summertime reading program throughout the libraries in Onondaga County.  “The People We see on TV” visit between 15 and 20 libraries each July and August reading to children and fostering a love of reading.  The program also helps children to build reading skills during vacation from the classroom.  In addition, Laura is often a guest reader in local classrooms encouraging students to ask family members to read to them or to read to younger brothers and sisters. 

Laura received the award on stage just prior to the Abraham Verghese lecture.  She publically thanked her staff, librarians, and the Friends of the Central Library.  Her name will be added to a plaque at the Central Library in the Children’s Department, and books in her honor will be added to the Muriel Koretz collection at the Central Library. 

Rosamond Gifford Lecture Series 2012-2013 Season

Isabel Wilkerson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, and the author of The New York Times’ bestseller, The Warmth of Other Suns which won seven awards including the 2010 National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction.  Wilkerson won the Pulitzer Prize for her work as Chicago Bureau Chief of The New York Times in 1994, making her the first black woman in the history of American journalism to win a Pulitzer Prize and the first African American to win for individual reporting.  She speaks on topics such as migration, social injustice, urban affairs and 20th Century history.  Wilkerson also won the George Polk Award, a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, and was named the Journalist of the Year by the National Association of Black Journalists.  The lecture is scheduled for October 3, 2012.

Tim Egan is a columnist and author.  His recent book, The Big Burn – Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America, was a New York Times Bestseller and winner of the 2009 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award.  In 2006 he won the 2006 National Book Award for nonfiction with his book The Worst Hard Time.  He also shares the Pulitzer Prize, from 2001, with a team of New York Times reporters for their series, “How Race is Lived in America.”  Egan worked as a national correspondent for the Times covering stories from the Exxon Valdez oil spill, to the O.J. Simpson trial, to the collapse of small town America in the Great Plains.  The lecture is scheduled for November 12, 2012.

T.C. Boyle, named T. Coraghessan Boyle, is the author of 22 books of fiction.  He received a Ph.D. in Nineteenth Century British Literature from the University of Iowa, an M.F.A. from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and his B.A. in English and History from SUNY Potsdam.  He has been a member of the English Department at the University of Southern California since 1978, where he is a professor of English.  His stories have appeared in most major American magazines including The New Yorker, Harper’s, Esquire, and GQ to name only a few.   He received the PEN/Faulkner for best novel of the year in 1988 with his book, World’s End.  He also received the PEN/Malamud Prize for the short story (T.C.Boyle’s Stories in 1999), and the Prix Medicis Etranger for The Tortilla Curtain, best foreign novel in France. The lecture is scheduled for December 10, 2012.

Jacqueline Woodson is a multi award-winning author of young adult fiction.  She was raised and educated in Greenville, South Carolina, and Brooklyn, New York.  She graduated from college with a B.A. in English and worked in New York City as a drama therapist for runaway and homeless teens and children. Her stories often include characters who feel out of place and face difficulties that young children can relate to.  She won a Newbery Honor in 2006 for the book Show Way. Her book Locomotion was a National Book Award finalist, and she won the Corretta Scott King Honor in 2001 and 2004.  Woodson received the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Miracle’s Boys, which was later made into a mini-series, and she won the Margaret A. Edwards Award for lifetime achievement in writing for young adults from the Young Adult Library Services Association.  She lives and writes full-time in Brooklyn.  The lecture is scheduled for March 4, 2013.

Lisa See is often referred to as a “book club favorite” but her writing and work about her Chinese heritage go far beyond that realm.  She has done extensive civic work winning her the honor of National Woman of the Year by the Organization of Chinese American Women in 2001, and was the recipient of the Chinese American Museum’s History Maker Award in 2003.  Her first book, On Gold Mountain (1995) was a national bestseller and a New York Times Notable Book.  It traced the journey of her great-grandfather Fong See, who overcame obstacles to become the 100 year old godfather of Los Angeles’ Chinatown and patriarch of his sprawling family.  From her international bestseller Snow Flower and the Secret Fan to her bestseller, Shanghai Girls, See’s novels are heavily influenced by her Chinese heritage and fascination with what she refers to as “forgotten history.”  She has served as guest curator for an exhibit on the Chinese-American experience for the Autry Museum of Western Heritage and the Smithsonian.  She also helped to develop an interactive space for children at the Autry Museum that focuses on her biracial, bicultural family as seen through the eyes of her father as a seven year old child.  She developed a walking tour of L.A.’s Chinatown and helped to create the inaugural exhibition for the Chinese American Museum in Los Angeles.  Lisa See’s lecture is scheduled for April 1, 2013.

Jennifer Egan was born in Chicago and raised in San Francisco.  Egan has received numerous literary awards including a Pulitzer Prize.  In 2001 her novel, The Invisible Circus, became a feature film staring Cameron Diaz. Her book Look at Me was a finalist for the National Book Award in fiction and The Keep was also listed as a national bestseller.  Her short stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Harpers, Granta, and other magazines.  She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Fiction, and a Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Fellowship at the New York Public Library.  Her 2002 cover story on homeless children received the Carroll Kowal Journalism Award, and her article “The Bipolar Kid” received a 2009 NAMI Outstanding Media Award for Science and Health Reporting from the National Alliance on Mental Illness.  Her most recent novel A Visit from the Goon Squad won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, and the LA Times Book Prize.  Egan’s lecture will take place on May 15, 2013.

Lunch Hour With Laurie King

Sharing Books with World Book Night

At the Laurie R. King Lecture FOCL board president Jeff Meltzer mentioned a book sharing program.  The program is called "World Book Night."  It's a celebration of reading and books.  Tens of thousands of people will share books with others in their community on April 23rd.  To learn more about World Book Night and to find out how you can participate in next year's program visit www.us.worldbooknight.org.

FOCL Donates $45,000 to Library!

The Friends of the Central Library (FOCL) kicked off the 2011-2012 Rosamond Gifford Lecture Series on Tuesday, October 11th by presenting a $45,000 check to the Onondaga County Public Library.  The check was presented on stage just prior to the Jonathan Franzen lecture.

Dr. Jeffrey Meltzer, FOCL board president, gave the check to the library's Executive Director Elizabeth Dailey, and library board member Robert Manning.  The money will be used to purchase items to benefit library users throughout the county. 

The mission of the Friends group is "To champion the Central Library as a vital community resource through fundraising and public advocacy."  

Oneida Nation Donates to FOCL

August 4, 2011

The Friends of the Central Library (FOCL), producers of the Rosamond Gifford Lecture Series, received a $5,000 sponsorship from the Oneida Nation Foundation for the upcoming 2011-2012 lecture series season. The mission of the Oneida Nation Foundation is to "promote education, understanding and a higher quality of life for Oneida Members, American Indians, and society at large."The Foundation supports charitable and civic causes, and allows the Nation and its partners to make meaningful contributions to the betterment of the world. The sponsorship was in support of one of the upcoming visiting authors of the season.

Author Sherman Alexie, a Spokane/Coeur d'Alene Indian, grew up on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Wellpinit, WA. His first novel, Reservation Blues, won Booklist's Editors Choice Award for Fiction. Indian Killer was a New York Times Notable Book. The Toughest Indian in the World won the 2001 PEN/Malamud Award, honoring excellence in the art of storytelling. Ten Little Indians was a 2003 national bestseller and Publishers Weekly Book of the Year.  His latest books include Flight, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, a 2007 National Book Award winner in Young People's Literature, and Face, his his first full collection of poems in nine years. His collection of short stories, War Dances, was released in Fall '09. Alexie will appear at the John H. Mulroy Civic Center at 7:30 PM on March 27, 2012.

"This sponsorship opens the door to a new partnership with the Oneida Nation Foundation," said Denise Headd, Executive Director of the Rosamond Gifford Lecture Series. It's so important to continuously move forward by creating new partners and new relationships.  We are delighted to be working with the Oneida Nation this season, and very grateful for the generous sponsorship."

FOCL donates the profits from the lecture series to the Onondaga County Public Library. Books and materials are purchased with the funds, and children's programming is also made possible through the donation.

Tickets for the 2011-2012 lecture series season go on sale after Labor Day. Individual tickets are $31, a series subscription is $150, and patron level tickets are available at $250. Contact the Oncenter Box Office at 435-2121 for ticket information. For questions relating to the series contact the FOCL office at 435-1832.

Do you know someone who fosters the love of reading in young people?

Application

The Muriel Koretz Award for Fostering Young Readers

Nomination Form 

Purpose: To honor an individual who has made a positive impact on young people's reading in Central New York.

Nominating Information:

Your name _______________________________________

Address _______________________________________

Phone _______________________________________

Relationship to Nominee: _______________________________________

Nominee Information:

Nominee's name _________________________________

Address __________________________________________

Phone ______________________

Occupation ___________________________________________________

Please attach a description of your nominee's contribution to young people's reading.  Include a beginning date and, if applicable, an ending date for the time period of the contribution.

Attach a letter of support from one other person regarding your candidate's contribution.

Send this form and your attachments to Friends of the Central Library, The Galleries of Syracuse, 447 South Salina Street, 5th Floor, Syracuse, NY 13202, Attn: Denise Headd.  Nominations are due no later than April 1, 2012. Recipient will be notified by April 16, 2012.