Author Archives: mgtlibrary
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Splish Splash: Clean Water Celebration (Morgantown)
Leave a CommentMake a splash on Tuesday, May 7th from 6:00-7:30pm in Meeting Room A at the Morgantown Public Library as we explore the importance of water conservation and restoration in our wild and wonderful state.
During this event, we will share why clean water is important in our community to go along with the WV Rivers‘ Clean Water for All Mural, which will be at the Morgantown Public Library from April 15th – May 10th. Enjoy light refreshments, a drawing for a State Park gift card, an Enviroscape demonstration, and a success story from the Friends of Deckers Creek!
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Fiction 101: Poetry
Leave a CommentThe (Not-Tortured) Poetry Blog
by Shelby D., Evening SupervisorWelcome back to Fiction 101! Fiction 101 is our monthly blog where we talk about different book genres — we’ll provide an overview of the style and some book recommendations to go along with it to jumpstart your own exploration of the genre. This month’s Fiction 101 theme is poetry to celebrate National Poetry Month (and the release of Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department album)!
Poets use different forms to help convey their message, which leads to many different types of poetry. One popular style is free verse which often follows patterns of speech rather than a set meter (meter is a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables). An example of free verse poetry is E.E. Cummings “[i carry your heart with me(i carry it in],” which is one of my personal favorite poems.
Sonnets are another prominent form of poetry — this style is characterized by having 14 lines and follows a specific meter. For example, sonnets typically focus on a specific theme or idea that is usually resolved at the end after the poetic turn, or volta. You might recognize this famous Sonnet (below) by William Shakespeare — check out the rhyming pattern! Shakespearean sonnets have a rhyming scheme of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG and are most commonly written in iambic pentameter (lines of ten syllables with five metrical feet of unstressed and stressed syllables).
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? (A)
Thou art more lovely and more temperate: (B)
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, (A)
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date; (B)
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, (C)
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; (D)
And every fair from fair sometime declines, (C)
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm'd; (D)
But thy eternal summer shall not fade, (E)
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st; (F)
Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade, (E)
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st: (F)
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, (G)
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. (G)Another form of poem, an epic, is a story told in poem form like the Epic of Gilgamesh and Beowulf. These are lengthy tales that center on mythical and/or historical figures.
These are only a few different forms of poems, there are a lot more to explore. Here are some book recommendations that feature a variety of poetic styles.
- The Odyssey by Homer. Translated by Emily Wilson
One of the world’s most famous epics is The Odyssey by Homer. Homer was a revered poet in Ancient Greece. Homer’s identity is debated, even down to whether or not The Iliad (the prequel to The Odyssey) and The Odyssey were authored by the same person. Emily Wilson is the first woman to publish a translation of The Odyssey. She focused on keeping the cadence and meter of Homer’s work while translating.- 100 Selected Poems by E.E. Cummings
E. E. (Edward Estlin) Cummings (1894-1962) was an American poet, author, and painter. He wrote free verse poetry and disregarded many established rules of poetry and writing.- Selected Poems of Langston Hughes by Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes (1901-1967) was an American poet, playwright, and novelist. His poetry is considered one of the earliest (if not the first) instances of jazz poetry, poetry inspired by the sounds and rhythms of jazz. His poems focus on his life and Black American culture in the early to mid 1900s.- The Complete Poetry by Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou (1928-2014) was a renowned American writer, poet, and speaker. She was a civil rights activist. One of her most famous works is “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.” A lot of her writing is autobiographical and discusses themes of racism and identity.- Time Is A Mother by Ocean Vuong
Ocean Vuong is a Vietnamese American author and poet. His book On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is a lyrical and heartbreaking autobiographical novel. He writes about love and loss and identity. -
Swiftie Party (Morgantown)
Leave a CommentGet ready to enter your “library era!” Kids ages 6-9 are invited to a Swiftie Party on Monday, May 6th from 6:00-7:30pm in Meeting Room A at the Morgantown Public Library, celebrating storytelling and creativity through music. You can sing and dance to Taylor’s songs, make friendship bracelets and paper rings, and enjoy Taylor-themed snacks! Feel free to dress up in your favorite “Eras” outfit and stop by our photo booth to give your best “1989” pose. You can also learn more about the Taylor Swift resources in our physical and digital collections that you can access for free with a library card!
This event is a part of West Virginia’s Remake Learning Days.
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Family Author Showcase: The Only Egg Nest (Morgantown)
Leave a CommentMeet the mother and daughters team — Laura Fowler Gibson, Carol Fowler Sliker, and Kimberly Fowler — who wrote and illustrated The Only Egg Nest! There will be a book signing, a reading and Q&A session, and activity stations, including sketch and paint with the illustrator, egg cookie decorating station, coloring station, and more on Saturday, May 4th from 11:30-1:30pm in Meeting Room A at the Morgantown Public Library.
11:30am: Meet & Greet with the author and illustrators plus book signing opportunities
12:00pm: Listen to the author read the story followed by a Q&A session
12:30pm: Creative fun for everyone! Visit stations, including cookie decorating, paint & sketch with the illustrator, and play games, including egg toss and egg-in-spoon race -
Bird Day Celebration (Morgantown)
Leave a CommentJoin us at the Morgantown Public Library to Celebrate Bird Day with some family crafts and activities on Saturday, May 4th from 1:45-3:30pm in Meeting Room B.
Make your own coffee cup bird feeder to take home, and grab some flowering seeds to plant for your local songbirds.
We’ll also learn about the amazing birds that we see everyday, and some that we don’t, as well as some simple ways that you can help the birds in your backyard!More info here.
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We’re Hiring! (Morgantown)
Leave a CommentWe are hiring! Join our team at the Morgantown Public Library as a part-time Library Assistant! We are currently seeking an enthusiastic and team-oriented individual to join our Public Services team. Library Assistants provide direct customer service at both the circulation and reference desks by completing basic circulation functions and assisting patrons in the use of library materials and services. Other duties include shelving, shifting, helping with special projects, and light housekeeping. Successful candidates will be passionate, creative team players with excellent communication, interpersonal, computer, and customer service skills and strong attention to detail.
Part-time Library Assistants are eligible for paid time off, sick leave, holidays, and parking.
This position would be scheduled for approximately 19 hours per week at $12.00 per hour (38.5 hours maximum per pay period). The schedule for this position will resemble the following:
Monday – Thursday: 4 pm – 8 pm
Alternating Saturdays: 9 am – 4 pm
Help foster a love of reading at the Morgantown Public Library as a Library Assistant! Send your resume and job application to assistantdirector@mympls.org to apply.
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Fiction 101: Historical Fiction
Leave a CommentWomen’s History in the Pages of Historical Fiction
by Shelby D., Evening Supervisor
Welcome back to Fiction 101, a place where we talk about the many genres of fiction, from science fiction to fantasy to mysteries and everything in between. Month to month we’ll deep dive into genres and I’ll give you some book recommendations to go along with them. Check out some of our past months’ Fiction 101s on romance tropes and cozy reads.
This month, let’s talk about historical fiction! Historical fiction as a genre can vary from mostly accurate with some artistic license taken to entirely fictional set in historical eras. I spoke to Riley B., researcher at the Morgantown Public Library System’s Aull Center for Local History & Genealogical Research, who offered a historian’s perspective on historical fiction. He notes, “As someone with a focus on academic history, I think that historical fiction is a fun and exciting way to engage one’s mind with settings and ideas that are rooted in historical context, coupled with the creative strengths of fictional writing.” He also considers historical fiction “a starting point for readers to become more interested in learning about history in other settings.”
The accuracy of historical fiction can vary drastically. Some historical fiction focuses a lot on getting facts and personifications of eras and people accurate. Accuracy itself in historical fiction can mean a completely fictional character placed in a world as well-researched and accurate as the writer can get them. While this won’t teach us about a specific historical figure, we can get some good insight into the world as it was. Other historical fiction focuses on a real person and takes artistic liberties in telling the story of their life such as speculating on the conversations they had, changing timelines to make a more cohesive plot, or entirely fictionalizing their life. Provided the author isn’t presenting the work as factual, Riley sees “no issue with bending the story or changing it altogether. Ultimately… the key word here is fiction.” He did add, “if [authors] wish for their work to be well-researched and based on historical data, more power to them.”
March is Women’s History Month, so let’s take time to discuss some awesome women and their depictions in historical fiction. For these reading recommendations, I’ll focus on biographical historical fiction, which involves real people but dramatized situations. Usually biographical historical fiction is well-researched but makes changes to create a better story (plot, conversations etc.).
- Hedy Lamarr – She was an actor and inventor. Her frequency hopping technology formed the basis of wireless communications like WiFi and Bluetooth.
- Book Recommendation: The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict
- Abdaraya Toya – She was a freedom fighter in the Haitian Revolution.
- Book Recommendation: Sister Mother Warrior by Vanessa Riley
- Caroline Ferriday – She was an American philanthropist who brought attention to Polish women who were survivors of Nazi experimentation.
- Book Recommendation: Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly
- Mila Pavlichenko – Known as Lady Death, she was a Russian sniper during WWII and is considered one of the best snipers of all time.
- Book Recommendation: The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn
- Tan Yunxian – She was a doctor during the Ming dynasty with a focus on women’s health.
- Book Recommendation: Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See
- Zelda Fitzgerald – She was an American novelist and painter who some consider the first American flapper in the 1920s.
- Book Recommendation: Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald By Therese Anne Fowler
- Mildred Harnack – She was a member of the resistance movement against the rise of Nazism in Germany.
- Book Recommendation: The Resistance Women by Jennifer Chiaverini
Though I focused here on biographical historical fiction, some other subgenres of historical fiction are alternate history, historical romance, and historical mysteries. Historical romances are romance novels set in the past such as the popular series Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. Alternate histories are books that focus on a point in history and examine what would happen if it went differently — the book The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead is an example of this style of historical fiction. Whitehead’s book reimagines the underground railroad as a literal railway system. Historical mysteries are mysteries set in the past, like The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. If you’re looking to dive into this genre, some other popular historical fiction authors to read include Philippa Gregory, Marie Benedict, and Bernard Cornwell.
There are many subgenres in historical fiction. While it might not be where you go for definitive facts about historical events, it can certainly offer a unique perspective and lens into eras of the past.
- Hedy Lamarr – She was an actor and inventor. Her frequency hopping technology formed the basis of wireless communications like WiFi and Bluetooth.
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Indoor Easter Egg Hunt (Morgantown)
Leave a CommentHop on over to the Morgantown Public Library’s Annual Indoor Easter Egg Hunt on Sunday, March 24th at 3:00pm. Children ages 2-10 are invited to sign up for this “egg-citing” event! Space is limited, so you must be registered to attend. There is a $1 donation per registration for each child, and you must register in-person at the circulation desk at the library.
There will be three separate age-appropriate Easter Egg Hunts and a wide variety of fun stations, including games, crafts, cookies and punch, plus a visit from a live bunny and friends!
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Adult Money Smart: Budgeting Class (Morgantown)
Leave a CommentTake control of your finances at our budgeting class on Thursday, March 28th from 5:00-6:00pm in Meeting Room A, held in partnership with Huntington Bank. Staff from Huntington Bank will teach practical strategies for creating a personalized budget aligned with your goals. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to join us for insights, tools, and resources to help you track expenses and achieve financial milestones.
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Tween Beyond the Book: Wings of Fire (Morgantown)
Leave a CommentMake books come alive with us at our Beyond the Book night! Tweens ages 10-12 are invited to join us for activities and crafts inspired by your favorite reads!
On Wednesday, March 20th from 6:00-7:00pm in Meeting Room A, we will be exploring the world of Wings of Fire by Tui T. Sutherland. Make paper airplane dragons and mini clay dragons, paint your own dragon scene, and create dragon eyes from marbles! Don’t worry if you haven’t read the book; you will get the opportunity to take a copy of the first book home with you.
