Bloomsday Celebration at Mike 'N' Molly's

The Rare Book & Manuscript Library will be sponsoring a Bloomsday celebration at Mike ‘N’ Molly’s this Saturday, June 16th.

The events at Mike ‘N’ Molly’s, from 5 to 8 p.m., will include Irish music, readings of Joyce and of original work by local poets, and more. Mike ‘N’ Molly’s is located at 105 N. Market Street in downtown Champaign.

Bloomsday is the annual literary celebration of James Joyce’s life and work – taking its name from Leopold Bloom, the protagonist of Ulysses, whose travels in Dublin on June 16th, 1904, form the substance of the novel. Check out our library’s Ulysses-related holdings for more information on Bloomsday and the novel in general.

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Amelia Gray reads at Author's Corner April 18th

photo credit: http://ameliagray.com/AGRAY.jpgAs part of the Carr Reading Series, Amelia Gray will be reading her work at the Author’s Corner at Illini Union Bookstore this Wednesday, April 18th, at 4:30 p.m.

Gray’s most recent book is the novel Threats; she is also the author of two collections of stories, AM/PM and Museum of the Weird.

Gray blogs at ameliagray.com. Her site includes links to her stories on the Web, as well as interviews and reviews of her work.

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Our Town and Thornton Wilder

Thornton Wilder’s classic play Our Town will be performed at Krannert Performing Arts Center from April 12 – April 22 (view a schedule of performances here). Wilder, three-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize, wrote this and other works that have become classics of American literature.

Wilder is perhaps best known for his ambitious dramas – the most prominent are Our Town (1938) and The Skin of Our Teeth (1942), both of which won the Pulitzer Prize – but he is also known for his novels, which included The Bridge of San Luis ReyThe Ides of March, and The Eighth Day. Wilder also co-wrote the screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt.

The UIUC Libraries hold many books by and about Wilder, and here are some more resources on Thornton Wilder and his work:

  • Chadwyck-Healey’s Twentieth-Century Drama collection includes full-text for a number of Wilder’s plays, including Our Town.
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Midwest Symposium in German Studies 2012

The annual Midwest Symposium in German Studies will be taking place at UIUC on April 13-14. The Symposium will be held at Levis Faculty Center.

A conference program is available at the Symposium’s website, listing speakers and their topics. The Symposium is free and open to the public, and no registration is necessary.

Sponsors of the Symposium are the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures, the School of Literatures, Cultures, and Linguistics, the Center for Advanced Study, the Department of History, the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory, and the European Union Center.

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Graduate student panel: "Technology in Theory and Practice"

This evening at the IPRH Building from 8-10 p.m., there will be a graduate student panel, “Technology in Theory and Practice,” presented by the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory.

Speakers will include:

  • Mel Stanfill, “In Defense of Data Analysis Software, Or How to Not Drown in an Archive”
  • Mark Keitges, “Ill-Structured Designs for Dialogic Learning”
  • Safiya U. Noble, “Searching for Black Girls: Old Traditions in New Media”
  • Faculty respondent Ted Underwood from the English Department.
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Intensive Foreign Language Instruction Program (IFLIP)

UIUC’s School of Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics has announced the schedule for this spring’s Intensive Foreign Language Instruction Program. IFLIP is an opportunity for intensive language learning, introducing you to basic grammar, conversational skills and common vocabulary.

Languages offered by IFLIP include several Romance languages, German, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Greek, and Latin.

Classes will take place May 14-25, 9 a.m.-noon (unless otherwise indicated)

Participation in the program costs $100 for UIUC students, $125 for faculty, staff, and retirees, and $150 for members of the public.

You can read more about the program, view a list of languages offered, and register at the School of Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics’ IFLIP page.

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"The Ends of History": Winter Symposium

This Friday the 10th, a Winter Symposium co-organized by UIUC’s Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory and the Trowbridge Office on American Literature, Culture and Society will take place. The theme of the symposium is The Ends of History.

The events will be held 9:30 – 5 at Levis Faculty Center. You can view a full schedule for the symposium here. Additionally, a list of optional background readings is available here.

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French Online Film Festival Taking Place January 2012

The French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs and the Institut Francais, its operator for French culture abroad, have announced the second edition of My French Film Festival, an online film festival accessible in 14 languages, organized by Unifrance.

The films (twenty feature and eleven short films) will be available to Internet users worldwide from January 12 to February 1st 2012. Viewers from the United States will only need to pay a small rental fee to view them. All the films are from January 2010 or after.

This year’s selection highlights the new generation of young actors (Lea Seydoux, Anais Demoustier, Marmai Pio, Laura Smet … ) and filmmakers (Valérie Donzelli, Xabi Molia, Katell Quillévéré) whosefilms have traveled in many international festivals without going into theaters abroad.

In connection with the Institut Francais, teaching kits, produced by journalists Mathieu Macheret and Charlotte Garson, are available online for the following films: Enre nos mains, La Reine de pommes. There is also one available for the short film Cul de bouteille.

For more information on My French Film Festival, check out the full details on its website.

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Scandinavian Crime Fiction in English Translation

If you’re itching for more Scandinavian crime fiction after seeing The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo over Winter Break, we’ve got you covered: there are many more works of translated Scandinavian crime fiction beyond Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy and you can find them on our shelves!

Many of these books were written as series and later turned into films or television shows. Check out our holdings of these selected authors:

  • Henning Mankell– Swedish, best known for his Kurt Wallander mysteries.
  • Karin Fossum – Norwegian, best known for the Inspector Sejer Series.
  • Jo Nesbø– Norwegian, best known for his crime novels about Detective Harry Hole.
  • Arnaldur Indriðason – Icelandic, winner of multiple crime fiction awards.
  • Yrsa Sigurðardóttir – Icelandic, crime fiction that centers around the fictional lawyer Thóra Gudmundsdóttir.
  • Stieg Larsson– Swedish, best known for the Millennium Trilogy.

To find more information about Scandinavian crime fiction, take a look at these resources:

Check out these fan sites for the latest news (and reviews) about Scandinavian crime fiction in English translation:

For help with finding the books or doing research on Scandinavian crime fiction, just contact us at litlan@library.illinois.edu or stop by 200 South Main Library!

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