February Is Black History Month: A message from pbs.org
Here at Catty Library we are always looking for “partners” in the pursuit of excellence in literature and life-long learning. The Public Broadcasting Service, PBS, is a major contributor to those goals through excellence in network programming. With that in mind, the opinion of the folks at PBS is worth noting: “There are certain African American authors that everyone should read.
They are poets, playwrights, novelists and scholars, and together they helped capture the voice of a nation. They have fearlessly explored racism, abuse and violence as well as love, beauty and music. While their names and styles have changed over the years, they have been the voices of their generations and helped inspire the generations that followed them. What follows is a list of prominent Black authors who have left a mark on the literary world forever.”
Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, Amiri Baraka, Octavia Butler, W.E.B. DuBois, Ralph Ellison, Alex Haley, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Richard Wright, as well as the pre-eminent Toni Morrison.
“Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize winning novelist Toni Morrison is considered the voice of African American women. Growing up in an integrated neighborhood, Morrison was not fully aware of racial divisions until her teenage years. Dedicated to her studies, she went on to earn her master’s degree before moving to Howard University to teach. It was in the 1960s when Morrison became an editor at Random House that she began to write.
While she had published The Bluest Eye in 1970 and Sula in 1973, The Song of Solomon was the book that set her on the course of literary success. It became the first work by an African American author since Native Son by Richard Wright to be a featured selection in the Book-of-the-Month Club. The publication of Beloved in 1987 is considered to be her greatest masterpiece and won several awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.”
The Trustees and the Staff of The Public Library of Catasauqua thank the African American literary community for the quality and scope of its contribution to literature and knowledge, enriching life’s experiences for all. Come see our display of the works of African American authors, novels and non-fiction.
NEW BOOKS
FICTION:
“House of Secrets,” V.C. Andrews
“The Immortalists,” Chloe Benjamin
“The Wife Between Us,” Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen
“Lilac Girls,” Martha Hall Kelly
“Big Little Lies,” Liane Moriarty
“City of Endless Night,” Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
“Before We Were Yours,” Lisa Wingate
NON-FICTION:
“Jefferson’s Daughters: Three Sisters, White and Black in a Young America,” Catherine Kerrison
“Bringing Columbia Home: The Untold Story of a Lost Space Shuttle and Her Crew,” Michael Leinbach and Jonathom Ward
“Brave,” Rose McGowan; “Jackie, Janet and Lee
“The Secret Lives of Janet Auchincloss and Her Daughters, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Lee Radziwill,” J. Randy Taraborrelli
CHILDREN’S:
DK Eyewitness Books- Forensic Science; DK Eyewitness Books- Sharks
“I Survived the Children’s Blizzard, 1888,” Lauren Tarshis.
YOUNG ADULT:
“This Is Where It Ends,” Marieke Nijkamp
