Jennifer Michelle

Recent Posts:

Astrid Lindgren: Good-Natured Housewife, Accidental Revolutionary

By Jennifer Michelle. Nov 14, 2013. 9:30 AM.

Topics: Legendary Authors, Children's Books

Astrid Lindgren (November 14, 1907 - January 28, 2002) was a friendly housewife who wrote children’s tales such as Pippi Longstocking, while also speaking out about animal welfare, children’s rights, racism, and taxation. From her humble beginnings in the Alps of Sweden, she is now the eighteent most-translated author in history, has sold 145 million copies of her work, and is the namesake of the most lucrative award offered in children’s literature worldwide.

     
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Albert Camus, The Stranger Among Friends

By Jennifer Michelle. Nov 7, 2013. 1:02 PM.

Topics: Legendary Authors

Today we celebrate the troubled life and complex literary contributions of French journalist, playwright, and philosopher Albert Camus (7 November 1913 - 4 January 1960).  He died during a car crash when he was just 46, but managed in his short career to define a major philosophical movement, become a household name, and earn the Nobel Prize.

     
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History of Children's Literature: Politics and Pinocchio

By Jennifer Michelle. Oct 13, 2013. 9:00 AM.

Topics: Umberto Eco, Children's Books

If necessity is the mother of invention and diligence the mother of good luck, then the father of Pinocchio was a benefactor of both. Carlo Collodi was a fiery Florentine political activist who wrote The Story of a Puppet begrudgingly as a magazine series. In its original form, La Storia di un Burattino (1881) is a fast-paced, real-world, often cruel tale of the peril and spite of young Pinocchio. Collodi is said to have disliked children and had none of his own; the Pinocchio he originally wrote and the Disney film we are most familiar with are strikingly different.

     
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Celebrating Nobel Laureate Rudyard Kipling

Joseph Rudyard Kipling (30 Dec 1865 - 18 Jan 1936) died in England at the age of 70, the most famous and highly paid writer of his time. Born to Victorian parents who named him after Staffordshire's Rudyard Lake, Kipling split his boyhood between the markets of Bombay India and an abusive English foster home. His life of travel and tragedy led to two near nervous breakdowns, but made his creative work accessible to both the aristocracy and the everyman.

     
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Sully Prudhomme: First Nobel Laureate in Literature

By Jennifer Michelle. Oct 6, 2013. 10:33 AM.

Topics: Legendary Authors, Nobel Prize Winners, Book News

Excitement has been building about this year's Nobel Prize in Literature! The winner is traditionally announced the second week of October. The Nobel Prize is certainly the most prestigious award in literature, and it's been conferred on the world's best authors since 1901.

     
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How can I identify a first edition? Where do I learn about caring for books? How should I start collecting? Hear from librarians about amazing collections, learn about historic bindings or printing techniques, get to know other collectors. Whether you are just starting or looking for expert advice, chances are, you'll find something of interest on blogis librorum.

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