A couple of weeks ago the Man Booker Prize for Fiction shortlist was announced. The list includes six titles selected from the previous “long list” of 13. This year’s competition is significant because it is the first year in which works by American authors, in fact any authors writing in English worldwide and published in… Continue reading Man Booker Prize Shortlist Announced
Author: Rebecca Tull
Pop in to the Pop-Up Book Fair
Looking for something fun to do tomorrow? What better way to spend a Saturday in spring than in Oak Park at Curbside Splendor’s Annual Pop-Up Book Fair! Not only will you be able to meet independent publishers and authors, but comic book artist Chris Ware will be there conversing with literary scholar Hilary Chute, William… Continue reading Pop in to the Pop-Up Book Fair
The Power of Music
Alice Herz-Sommer won’t know whether the film of her life, The Lady in Number Six, receives the Oscar for Best Documentary Short this Sunday but hopefully she had more than an inkling of the indelible mark she left on the world. The oldest living Holocaust survivor and renowned concert pianist died yesterday at the age… Continue reading The Power of Music
Veterans’ Stories
Since 2008, more than one million veterans have returned home to pursue post-secondary education or a certificate (MVCC’s Veterans Information webpage has helpful information for student veterans). This Fresh Air interview with Iraq War veterans Roy Scranton and Jacob Siegel, editors and contributors to the new fiction anthology Fire and Forget: Short Stories from the… Continue reading Veterans’ Stories
Food and Democracy
As part of its continuing Democracy Commitment, the college will present the upcoming panel presentation “The Politics of Food: Building Community Through Local and Sustainable Food,” on Wednesday, October 23, 2013, from 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. in Moraine Room 2. Speakers include local growers, farmers, and activists focusing on sustainable food systems, agriculture, and… Continue reading Food and Democracy
Burgers or Wheatgrass on Monday? It May Depend on the Bears
You may have heard this story on NPR this morning, but it just seemed too good to not post. Especially with the Bears playing Pittsburgh this weekend. Researchers at INSEAD, the business school in France, “tracked the eating behavior of people in cities with NFL teams and measured how eating changed after victories and defeats.”… Continue reading Burgers or Wheatgrass on Monday? It May Depend on the Bears
Angels in America This Weekend
This weekend Angels in America opens at the Moraine Valley Fine & Performing Arts Center, twenty years after Tony Kushner’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama debuted on Broadway. The play, which runs this weekend and next, is set in the 1980s, against a backdrop of “greed, conservatism, sexual politics, religious identity and the discovery of an awful… Continue reading Angels in America This Weekend
Eat Right, Starting This Month!
The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has declared March National Nutrition Month. The theme of the education and information campaign is “Eat Right, Your Way, Every Day.” You can find tips and resources on healthy eating on the Academy’s web site, but the Moraine Valley Library also has resources that not only may help you… Continue reading Eat Right, Starting This Month!
West Side Story Redux
In case our resident film blogger Sarah Ando’s Valentine’s Day post on big-screen love stories left you pining for a larger “West Side Story” experience than what our DVD allows, Chicago’s Music Box Theater has you covered. The historic Southport theater kicks off its 70mm Film Festival tonight with a showing of Hitchcock’s “Vertigo.” “West… Continue reading West Side Story Redux
The Writing Behind the Writing of “Lincoln”
With Tony Kushner’s recent Academy Award nomination for best adapted screenplay for “Lincoln,” there have been numerous media references to its only official source, Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. But some critics have pointed out that the overlap between the book and the movie is only slight. So,… Continue reading The Writing Behind the Writing of “Lincoln”