NewsRelease

Jackson Library Named Literary Landmark

GREENSBORO —  Jackson Library at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro has been named a Literary Landmark by Friends of Libraries U.S.A., in recognition of its place in the literary heritage of the university, and its collections of works and manuscripts by prominent faculty members such as Randall Jarrell.

For more than 50 years, the library has served national and local literary figures as a repository of research materials and manuscripts, and as the site of lectures by a host of major American authors. The designation serves to focus attention on the role of the library in nurturing a thriving literary community. To celebrate this distinction, Jackson Library is holding two special events, both free and open to the public:

• Sven Birkerts, author of “The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age,” will present a lecture, “The Role of Libraries in a Culture of Reading and Writing,” 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 17 in the Alumni House on College Avenue.  Reception following. Birkerts teaches at Mount Holyoke and Bennington College, and is the recipient of several national awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Foundation Award.
• A panel discussion, “The Development of a Literary Community in Greensboro,” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29 in Jarrell Lecture Hall in Jackson Library. The program will feature faculty and alumni of UNCG. Faculty panelists will include Fred Chappell, poet laureate of North Carolina, and Lee Zacharias, author of “Helping Muriel Make It Through the Night,” and “Lessons,” and Robert Watson, co-founder of the “Greensboro Review” and the MFA Writing Program. Alumni panelists are Robert Morgan, author of the best-seller, “Gap Creek,” and Emily Herring Wilson of Winston-Salem a poet, historian, editor and biographer.

Events are supported by a LIVE!@ your library grant, an initiative of the American Library Association. The Literary Landmark designation is presented to sites that apply and fulfill the requirement of having strong connections to famous deceased authors or poets.

More information is available by calling Jackson Library at (336) 256-0112.

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