Chicago, IL (July 17, 2008) - As school goes back into session, children's topics are raised at the Newberry. The fall exhibition, Artifacts of Childhood: 700 Years of Children's Books, opens on September 27, highlighting the creativity behind and development of children's books. On October 18, Paul F. Gehl, a Newberry curator, will augment the children's book exhibit with his own discussion of medieval schoolbooks.
Vivid, natural imagery will abound as the foliage's colors change this season, but it'll also flourish at the Newberry! Pietro Boitani will tackle images of nature in Dante's Commedia on September 12, and on September 18, author and leading physicist Brian Greene will be discussing and signing his new book, Icarus at the Edge of Time, a futuristic revival of the Icarus myth.
Registration for fall seminars is open. Classes begin September 16, and on a rolling schedule through the fall. Visit www.newberry.org/programs/seminars.html for more information.
View a complete calendar of events at www.newberry.org.
September 2008
Images of Nature in Dante's Commedia
Friday, September 12
2:00 pm
Speaker: Pietro Boitani, University of Rome
Tackle nature images in Dante's Commedia: forest, sun and stars, sea, leaves, and snow with internationally recognized Dante expert, Pietro Boitani.
Meet the Author: Icarus at the Edge of Time
Thursday, September 18
6:00 pm
Speaker: Brian Greene, Columbia University
One of America's leading physicists presents a moving and visually stunning futuristic reimagining of the Icarus fable. Designed by Chip Kidd-with full-color images from the Hubble Space Telescope-it is destined to be a classic for all ages. A booksigning follows the talk.
Artifacts of Childhood: 700 Years of Children's Books exhibition opens
Saturday, September 27, 2008 - January 17, 2009
An exhibition of the Newberry's little-known collection of books and manuscripts created for and by children, it showcases and covers many aspects of the interaction between children and books. The show includes approximately 65 works, from the fifteenth century to the present.
October 2008
Second Newberry Library Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Symposium
Saturday, October 4
9:00 am - Noon
Join Sherlockians Julie McKuras, Donald J. Terras, and Roy Pilot as they share new insights and readings of that famous Victorian, Arthur Conan Doyle.
Meet the Author: Children's Literature: A Reader's History from Aesop to Harry Potter
Thursday, October 16
6:00 pm
Author: Seth Lerer, Stanford University
Seth Lerer explores the iconic books, from Aesop's fables to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, to Peter Pan to Harry Potter, that have forged a lifelong love of literature in young readers during their formative years. Along the way, Lerer also looks at the changing environments of family life and human growth, schooling and scholarship, and publishing and politics in which children found themselves changed by the books they read. A booksigning follows the talk.
The Newberry Consort
Musical Treasures of the Newberry Library: Handel in Miniature
Thursday, October 16 - Sunday, October 19
George Frideric Handel was able to write music that was both intellectually stimulating and easily accessible, and he was one of the few composers to remain popular from his era of the early eighteenth century to our own. The Newberry Consort will present some of Handel's greatest hits, in miniature, as he himself rescored them.
Visit www.newberry.org/consort for performance information and tickets, or call (312) 255-3700.
School Books are Children's Books Too
Saturday, October 18
11:00 am
Speaker: Paul F. Gehl, The Newberry Library
The Co-curator of Artifacts of Childhood: 700 Years of Children's Books examines the pre-history of children's literature in the schoolbooks of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance.
Meet the Editor: The New Annotated Dracula
Tuesday, October 28
6:00 pm
Speaker: Leslie S. Klinger, editor
In his first work since The New Annotated Sherlock Holmes, Leslie S. Klinger returns with this illustrated homage to Bram Stoker's Dracula. Most surprisingly, Klinger accepts Stoker's contention that the Dracula tale is based on historical fact. Klinger's edition includes a detailed examination of the original typescript of Dracula, with its strikingly different ending, previously unavailable to scholars. A booksigning follows the talk.
Also explore the Library's ongoing Spotlight Exhibition Series, small displays of Library materials that rotate throughout the year.
Gallery Hours:
Monday, Friday, and Saturday
8:15 am - 5:30 pm
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday
8:15 am - 7:30 pm
For more information about Library programs visit our Web site at www.newberry.org or call (312) 255-3700.
Unless otherwise noted, all programs are free and no reservations are required.
ABOUT THE NEWBERRY LIBRARY
The Newberry Library, a preeminent humanities research and reference institution, is home to a world-class collection of books, manuscripts, maps, music, and other printed materials related to the history and culture of Western Europe and the Americas. The collections span many centuries and feature items such as illuminated medieval manuscripts, rare early maps, rich genealogical resources, and the personal papers of Midwest authors. The Newberry offers exhibitions based on its collections, musical and theatrical performances, lectures and discussions with today's leading humanists, seminars and workshops, and teacher programs. Visit us online at www.newberry.org or in person at 60 W. Walton St., Chicago, IL.