Join the Library and Loyalty Bookstores fo r a Banned Books Week double feature. Mark Oppenheimer and Stefan Fatsis w ill discuss their recent books exploring two icons of American letters: Ju dy Blume and the Merriam-Webster Dictionary! This will be a fascinating di scussion of the world of dictionaries\, children's literature\, and the im portance of free expression.
\nBooks will be available for sale and signing following the event. \;
\nUnabridge d: The Thrill of and Threat to the Modern Dictionary: Words are t he currency of culture&mdash\;and never more than today. From \;selfie \;to \;doomscrolling \;to \;rizz\, our hyper-connected di gital world coins and spreads new words with lightning speed and locks the m into mainstream consciousness with unprecedented influence. Journalist a nd bestselling author Stefan Fatsis embedded as a lexicographer-in-trainin g at America&rsquo\;s most famous dictionary publisher\, Merriam-Webster\, to learn how words get into the dictionary\, where they come from\, who d ecides what they mean\, and how we write and think about them. As he recou nts in \;Unabridged\, he discovered the history and fascinating subcul ture of the dictionary and of those who curate and revere &ldquo\;one of t he most basic features of our collective humanity.&rdquo\; Fatsis reveals the little-known story of how the brothers George and Charles Merriam acqu ired Noah Webster&rsquo\;s original American dictionary and reshaped the b usiness of language forever. Merriam-Webster became America&rsquo\;s most successful and enduring compendium of words\, withstanding intense competi tion and cultural controversies&mdash\;only to be threatened by the power of Google and artificial intelligence today.
\nJudy Blume: To kn ow the name Judy Blume is to know and love literature. Her influential nov els turned classics&mdash\;including \;Are You There God? It&rsquo\;s Me\, Margaret\; \;Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing\; \;Deenie\; and \;Summer Sisters&mdash\;touched the lives of tens of millions of read ers. For more than fifty-five years her work has done something revolution ary: it rewired the world&rsquo\;s expectations of what literature for you ng people can be&mdash\;frank\, candid\, earthy\, and unafraid to show the messier sides of humanity. But little is known about the real woman behin d the iconic persona\, and the unlikely journey of her literary ascension\ , until now. In \;Judy Blume\, journalist\, historian\, and l ongtime Blume aficionado Mark Oppenheimer pens a beautiful\, multidimensio nal portrait of the acclaimed author through extensive interviews with Blu me herself\, invaluable access to her papers and correspondence\, and thou ghtful analysis of Blume&rsquo\;s beloved novels\, including early\, unpub lished works that shed light on the pathbreaking writer she would become. Oppenheimer goes deep\, exploring Blume&rsquo\;s middle-class 1950s upbrin ging\, complicated childhood\, varied relationships and marriages\, unabas hed sexual experiences\, bouts of heartache and loss\, and enduring legacy as a champion of free speech and contemporary literature. Oppenheimer pee ls back the curtain to reveal the woman behind the literary empire in all her complex\, multifaceted glory&mdash\;a true gift for anyone who grew up reading and loving these extraordinary books.
\nStefan Fatsis is the author of the \;New Yor k Times \;bestseller \;Word Freak\, about the world of co mpetitive Scrabble\; \;A Few Seconds of Panic\, about life in the Nati onal Football League\; and \;Wild and Outside\, about minor league bas eball. \;His \;latest book\, \;Unabridged: The Thrill of (and Threat to) the Modern Dictionary \;will be published in October by Gro ve Atlantic. In four decades as a journalist\, Fatsis has written and talk ed for \;Slate\, the \;Wall Street Journal\, NPR\, the \;New Y ork Times\, \;Sports Illustrated\, \;and many other outlets. He li ves in Washington\, D.C.
\nMark Oppenheimer \;h
as been covering American religion for 25 years. He holds a Ph.D. in relig
ious studies from Yale\, and has taught at Stanford\, Wesleyan\, Wellesley
\, NYU\, Boston College\, and Yale\, where he was the founding director of
the Yale Journalism Initiative. From 2010 to 2016\, he wrote the &ldquo\;
Beliefs&rdquo\; column\, about religion\, for \;The New York Times\, a
nd he has also written for publications including \;The New Yorker\, T
he Nation\, GQ\, Slate\, \;and many more. He created \;Unorthodox\
, the world&rsquo\;s most popular podcast about Jewish life and culture\,
with over 7 million downloads to date. More recently\, he hosted an eight-
part podcast called \;Gatecrashers\, about the history of Jews and ant
isemitism at Ivy League schools. He is the author of five books\, includin
g \;The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia \;and\, most recently\, \;S
quirrel Hill: The Tree of Life Synagogue Shooting and the Soul of a Neighb
orhood. He lives in Connecticut with his wife\, four daughters\, one son\,
and two dogs.
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