We're in conversation with members of the jury for the Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize, awarded through the Pennsylvania Center for the Book. We talk about what it takes to choose an award winning graphic novel, and what makes the winner, Guantanamo Voices: True Accounts from the World's Most Infamous Prison by Sarah Mirk, so special.

Listening to us talk about comics, publishing, and specifically Guantanamo Voices is great,  but whatever you do, don't miss the actual Lynn Ward Graphic Novel Prize event with author Sarah Mirk  on Tuesday, November 16, 2021 accessible online right here.

This podcast is brought to you by your friends at Schlow Centre Region Library. 
Thanks for listening!

In this episode we talk about food history with Dr. Marissa Nicosia, who runs the Cooking from the Archives website. You can also connect with her on Twitter @Rare_Cooking, Instagram @Rare_Cooking, and Facebook.

While you are online, check us at Schlow Library to see all the awesome stuff we got going on for you.

Join us for this enjoyable Podcast to look back and then forward!
We take a look back on what it took to turn the page on 2020, and where we can head together in 2021. Molly Hetrick joins us as we dive into all the great services and opportunities Schlow Library offers that you might not know about, and an exciting upcoming event that you can be part of.
After the podcast:

• Please visit the Turn the Page Newsletter 
• Please consider a donation to support Schlow Library Foundation: Now or During Centre Gives May 11 & 12 (links)
• Visit the Schlow Library website to learn more about upcoming programs and opening hours.

We are talking Biking and Sustainability in the Cetnre Region with Trish Meek and Pam Adams.  Our Underwriter from Fiction comes from a darling of Jeff Bezos, and our Poetry Nightcap takes a skeptical look at Spring weather.

After you listen, check out these resources for great information. 

• A great portal of all things biking in our area, with many many resources.
• Learn how to get involved with the Centre Region's sustainability work.
• Come see everything you can do with your friends at Schlow Library.

We are traveling to China to take a look at Chinese Art and Art History. We will be talking to Ashley Yang Liu from  Yang Travel Art.  Ashley will be teaching at a Schlow Labs event on April 24th, 2021. We hope to see you there!

We begin the show talking Chinese Art History with Dr. Tan from Penn State University. Some of the recommendations from Dr. Tan are the works of Peter Hessler, and Xu Bing.

Our poetry nightcap is from Felix Jung, used under the CC BY-NC 3.0 license.

We'd like to draw your attention to the sustainability work going on at the Centre Region CoG. You can do the following here.

• Take local government’s Sustainability Survey by April 30 th for a chance to win a $100 gift card or other prizes.
• Attend the virtual open public forum on Addressing Climate Impacts in the Centre Region on Tuesday, April 13  from 6:30 – 8:30 PM.

For further discussion in Comparative Art History
Compare and contrast the sense of place and belonging depicted in Yang Yongliang's View of Tide (2008), with Chairman Mao And Officials With Children (1983), and that of a western example in Thomas Blink's Unity (1800's; The dogs pictured are an English Setter, an Irish Setter, and the Gordon Setter, a breed from Scotland).

You can hand me a page of paper with dark strokes on it, and when I look at it, my brain transports me to an imaginative place. That's pretty weird, right? We take a loving look at this miracle with author Dr. Nancy McCabe. You can hear a review of Dr. McCabe's latest book Can This Marriage Be Saved?  here.

Mentioned in the episode is the 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten Program run by the Children's Librarians at Schlow. If you are keen to sign up, send an email with your child's name and birth date to [email protected] . This and much, much more is going on at Schlow Library. Come check out all the rumpus!

Also in this episode is a poem about language* by the poet Jackson, and our Underwriters from Fiction is sponsored by a transformative figure in scholastic sports.




*licensed under a (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license.

We talk with Lynnicia Massenburg, Dr. Kristen Lillvis, and Dr. Kendra R. Parker about Octavia E. Butler's dystopian novel Parable of the Sower. This is in advance of a book discussion on the novel hosted by Schlow Library  in collaboration with the Black Graduate Student Association at Penn State.  Come join us!

If you'd like to read Parable of the Sower, we have it in print, ebook, audiobook, and comic form.

Also in this episode,  our Underwriters from Fiction comes from Pawnee, Indiana's largest Internet Service Provider, and our prose nightcap is a selection from Nancy McCabe's memoir Can This Marriage Be Saved?

Further reading & listening 

• Lavender III, I. (2019). Afrofuturism Rising: The Literary Prehistory of a Movement. United States: Ohio State University Press.
• Womack, Y. (2013). Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-fi and Fantasy Culture. United States: Chicago Review Press.
• Eshun, K. (2003). Further Considerations on Afrofuturism. CR: The New Centennial Review, 3(2), 287-302. Retrieved February 2, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/41949397
• The Bloomsbury Handbook to Octavia E. Butler. (2020). United Kingdom: Bloomsbury Publishing.
• Parker, K. R. (2018). Black Female Vampires in African American Women’s Novels, 1977–2011: She Bites Back. United States: Lexington Books.
• Lillvis, K. (2017). Posthuman Blackness and the Black Female Imagination. Greece: University of Georgia Press.
• Rhee, M. (2017). Love, Robot. United States: Operating System.
• Shaw, K. (2019). Too Numerous. United States: University of Massachusetts Press.
• Bertram, L. (2019). Travesty Generator. United States: Noemi Press.
• Adrienne Maree Brown & Toshi Reagon (2019-2020). Octavia's Parables. Retrieved February 2, 2021
• Shankar Vedantam, et al. (2019). Where does religion come from? One researcher points to 'cultural' evolution. Hidden Brain. Retrieved February 2, 2021

Additional info on BGSA's Black Business Week coming up in Feb. 2021.

In this one we  we go on a tour through time with Matt Maris of Local Historia to discover the surprising history of Centre County. Local Historia's mission is to  shine light upon the past, connect with community in the present, and preserve local history for the future.

You can connect with Local Historia for a themed walking tour and much more through the Local Historia website, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

No mention of local history research would be complete without also mentioning the excellent resources of the Centre County Historical Society and the Centre County Library and Historical Museum.

Also in this episode we continue our Underwriters from Fiction, DJ Lilly gives us a 6 word book-review for Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich, and our Poetry Nightcap revitalizes the tired poetry trope of alligator-wrestling.

We talk with Dr. John Gastil about role-playing as a feature in his new novel Dungeon Party, as well as with Hansen Bergamini to see what effect role-playing has had in his life.

Our Underwriters From Fiction is from a pharmaceutical giant dedicated to  maximizing medication side effects in order to provide new marketing opportunities.

Our Poetry Nightcap is from the very talented Karine Polwart.

If you are keen to checkout what role-playing groups are meeting through Schlow Library, you can email [email protected] for more information.

That and much more is going on with your friends at Schlow Library, come join us for something fun!