Louisiana. More than 500 people are expected in Baton Rouge on March 17-18 for inaugural events marking the establishment of the Louisiana Center for the Book. Author David McCullough, whose biography of Harry Truman won a Pulitzer Prize in 1993, is the major speaker at a reception and dinner on March 17. An exhibition, "Literary Louisiana," created by the Louisiana State Museum and the State Library of Louisiana, will be on display. On March 18, a panel will discuss the works of selected Louisiana authors, including Kate Chopin, Tennessee Williams, Walker Percy and Ernest Gaines. Film clips and readings of the authors' works will be interspersed throughout the panel discussion.
Oregon. Program officer Maurvene D. Williams represented the Center for the Book on Jan. 19 in Salem at "Language of the Land," a program of readings celebrating the publication of the six-volume Oregon Literature Series and presented in conjunction with the Library of Congress traveling exhibition of the same name, which was on view in the Oregon State Capitol Building from Dec. 18, 1994, to Feb. 11, 1995.
Author Kim Stafford, son of William Stafford, LC Consultant in Poetry 1970-1971, was the program moderator, and several of the nine series editors spoke and read passages from their volumes. The Oregon Center for the Book was one of several sponsors of program, the book series and the exhibition -- which was made possible by a grant from the Lila Wallace- Reader's Digest Fund to the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.
George Venn served as general editor of the Oregon Literature Series, which was a project of the Oregon Council of Teachers of English and Oregon State University Press. In 1988 the editors began searching the state for its best writing; more than 500 authors are represented in the resulting six volumes, which span 200 years. Published in December by the OSU Press with financial support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the books cover short fiction, autobiography, prose, poetry, folk literature, letters and diaries. Each is meant to be a teaching aide in schools as well as a valuable resource for writers, historians and the general reader.
For ordering information, contact Oregon State University Press, Waldo Hall 101, Corvallis, OR 97331-6407; phone (503) 737-3166; fax (503) 737- 3170.
Oregon's heritage is also depicted in the exhibition "Uncle Sam in the Oregon Country," a joint project of the LC center and the Oregon Center for the Book (see LC Information Bulletin, Feb. 20, 1995). Opened in 1990 by Sen. Mark Hatfield and Dr. Billington, the 30-panel exhibition currently can be seen in the Oregon State Library.
Virginia. Maurvene Williams also represented the Center for the Book on Dec. 3 in Richmond at a gala reception honoring the distinguished writers featured on the Virginia Center for the Book's 20th century Virginia authors map and previewing the "Language of the Land" traveling exhibition, which was on view at the Virginia State Library and Archives from Dec. 4, 1994 to Jan. 28, 1995.
The creation of modern state literary maps is one of the goals of the Center for the Book's "Literary Heritage of the States" project, funded in part by the Lila Wallace- Reader's Digest Fund. Rita Dove, LC's Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry, is one of the writers featured on the new map. The reception was sponsored by the Library of Virginia Foundation, the Virginia Center for the Book and the Library of Virginia.
For information about the map, contact the Virginia Center for the Book, the Library of Virginia, 11th Street at Capitol Square, Richmond, VA 23219-3491; phone (804) 371-6493; fax (804) 225-4035.
North Dakota. The "Language of the Land" traveling exhibition was seen at the North Dakota Heritage Center in Bismarck from Feb. 4 to March 27, 1994. It was sponsored by the North Dakota Center for the Book and the State Historical Society of North Dakota. Using funds from the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund and additional funding from the North Dakota Humanities Council, the North Dakota Community Foundation and Maxwell's Books, the sponsors presented weekly lectures by North Dakota authors. The speakers were Kathie Ryckman Anderson, Larry Woiwode, David Solheim, Larry Watson, Louise Erdrich, Lois Phillips Hudson, Kathleen Norris and Richard Critchfield. Each lecture was taped for broadcast on both radio and television, and interviews with the authors were aired on Prairie Public Radio and community access television.
A state literary map depicting 10 North Dakota writers and listing more than 100 writers who have either lived in North Dakota or written about the state was compiled and made available. A bibliography of North Dakota authors was also compiled and made available.
For information, write the North Dakota Center for the Book, North Dakota State Library, 604 E. Boulevard, Bismarck, ND 58505-0800.
Florida. A new literary map of Florida, published by the Florida Center for the Book, has just been released. Featuring a gazetteer of 48 prize-winning authors who have written and resided in the state, it includes recipients of the Nobel Prize, the Pulitzer Prize for Letters, the Newbery Medal and the National Book Award.
"The number of distinguished authors who live or have lived in Florida far exceeded the room we had on our map," said Jean Trebbi, director of the Florida center. "We had to limit it in some way, so we decided to include the winners of the most prestigious literary awards. This information has never been presented in a single format and portrays a remarkable diversity of literary accomplishment."
The three Nobel Prize winners are Ernest Hemingway, Isaac Bashevis Singer and Juan Ramon Jimenez. Ten of the 34 Pulitzer Prize winners on the map have resided in Key West.
The four-color map, bordered with 19 black-and-white photographs of authors, measures 18 by 24 inches and folds like a road map.
The creation of the Florida Literary Map is part of a nationwide project of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress celebrating the Literary Heritage of the States and was funded in part by the Florida Humanities Council and the Florida State Division of Cultural Affairs, with additional funding from the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund. A single copy may be obtained by calling (305) 357-7401 or by sending a double-stamped size No. 10 self- addressed envelope to the Florida Center for the Book, Broward County Library, 100 S. Andrews Ave., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301.
