Cli-Fi: Speculative Fiction about Climate Change

University courses on global warming have become common, and Prof. Stephanie LeMenager’s new class here at the University of Oregon has all the expected, alarming elements: rising oceans, displaced populations, political conflict, endangered animals.The goal of this class, however, is not to marshal evidence for climate change as a human-caused crisis, or to measure its effects — the reality and severity of it are taken as given — but how to think about it, prepare for it and respond to it. Instead of scientific texts, the class, “The Cultures of Climate Change,” focuses on films, poetry, photography, essays and a heavy dose of the mushrooming subgenre of speculative fiction known as climate fiction, or cli-fi... Climate novels fit into a long tradition of speculative fiction that pictures the future after assorted catastrophes. First came external forces like aliens or geological upheaval, and then, in the postwar period, came disasters of our own making.
~Richard Pérez-Peña, "College Classes Use Arts to Brace for Climate Change"

With Earth Day just behind us, we take the environmental bull by the horns in mentioning a new fiction genre that has been labeled "Cli-Fi". Science fiction readers have most likely read novels featuring a post-apocalyptic future before, but climate-related apocalyptic fiction has been proliferating widely across genres lately. If you are a reader of dystopian fiction interested in some titles envisioning the struggle to survive after catastrophic climate change such as a new ice age, rising sea levels, global warming, natural resources (including our water supply) being sucked dry, and general ecological collapse, we have some titles to suggest!


The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver

Solar by Ian McEwan

Odds Against Tomorrow by Nathaniel Rich

On Such a Full Sea by Chang-rae Lee

The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood

The Healer by Antti Tuomainen

The Rapture by  Liz Jensen

A Friend of the Earth by T. Coraghessan Boyle

After the Snow by S. D. Crockett [YA]

Not a Drop to Drink by Mindy McGinnis [YA]


Links 

Global warning: the rise of 'cli-fi' [The Guardian]

So Hot Right Now: Has Climate Change Created a New Literary Genre? [NPR]

Weathering the Change: Cli-Fi Settles In For the Duration [VOYA]

Cli-Fi: Birth of a Genre [Dissent]

Climate Change: The hottest thing in science fiction [Grist]

Author Playlist: Emery Lord

Open Road Summer by Emery Lord

Follows seventeen-year-old Reagan as she tries to escape heartbreak and a bad reputation by going on tour with her country superstar best friend--only to find more trouble as she falls for the surprisingly sweet guy hired to pose as the singer's boyfriend.

I recently read and loved Open Road Summer by Emery Lord. Because it's about a country singer, I thought I would see if the author had a playlist of music she listened to while she wrote the book. I love music, and I love seeing what authors listen to while they write. Based on how much I loved the book, I assumed Emery Lord would have an awesome playlist for it.

Unfortunately, I didn't find a playlist specifically for Open Road Summer on Emery Lord's website, but I did find several other playlists. Each playlist had great songs, but for this post, I decided to focus on the country music that was included on the playlists.

"Strawberry Wine" by Deana Carter
"Light Me Up--Encore" by Hunter Hayes
"Our Song" by Taylor Swift
"Barefoot Blue Jean Night" by Jake Owen
"Cruise" by Florida Georgia Line
"Stars Tonight" by Lady Antebellum
"Sunny and 75" by Joe Nichols
"Perfect Day" by Lady Antebellum
"Springsteen" by Eric Church
"Life is a Highway" by Rascal Flatts
"Follow Your Arrow" by Kacey Musgraves

Some of my favorite songs--Springsteen, Sunny and 75, and Barefoot Blue Jean night--made her lists. I also adore Lady Antebellum, and was happy to see them on her lists (twice!). I haven't listened to every country song Emery Lord included on her playlists, but the ones I have listened to are perfect for Open Road Summer. Want to listen to the songs above? We have some of the albums in the library catalog--just click on the artist's name to see place them on hold.

Have you read Open Road Summer yet? My co-workers and I can't stop talking about. If you haven't read it, put it on hold! If you have read it, what songs would you put on an Open Road Summer playlist?

World Penguin Day

With the success of movies like Happy Feet and March of the Penguins, World Penguin Day is a holiday whose time has come. World Penguin Day, celebrated April 25th annually, "was created to promote the health and conservation of these amazing creatures. Zoos, parks, conservationists and everyone else who loves penguins use this day to celebrate penguins as a unique and important part of our world. April 25 coincides with the annual northern migration of penguins. It began at McMurdo Station in Antarctica. The scientists and researchers there noticed that every year on April 25, a colony of Adelie Penguins returned from spending months at sea. They returned to the same spot, on the same day, every year. This seemed too incredible a coincidence…and it wasn’t! This is the normal migrating pattern of these penguins. After several years of observing this phenomenon, the scientists and researchers began to plan for the penguins’ arrival and created a day of celebration out of their appearance," according to the Ian Somerhalder Foundation.

Love penguins? Want to learn more about them? Here's a few items from the catalog to get you started celebrating!

DVDs

Penguins: Spy in the Huddle

Penguins of Madagascar

The Adventures of Scooter the Penguin

Tappy Toes

Mr. Popper's Penguins

Emperors of Antarctica

Nature: Penguins [eVideo]

For Children

One Cool Friend by Toni Buzzeo

Salina Yoon's Penguin and... books

Helen Lester's Tacky the Penguin books

A Penguin Story by Antoinette Portis

Goodnight Opus by Berkeley Breathed

Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater

Penguins by Lucia Raatma

Penguins by Emily Bone  

For Adults

Fraser's Penguins: A Journey to the Future in Antarctica by Fen Montaigne

Empire Antarctica: Ice, Silence, & Emperor Penguins by Gavin Francis

Smithsonian Q&A: The Ultimate Question and Answer Book - Penguins by Lloyd Spencer Davis

Opus: 25 Years of His Sunday Best by Berkeley Breathed

March of the Penguins by Luc Jacquet

International Collection for Kids

Pengin haiwei by Morimi Tomihiko [Japanese language]

Aogusiting by Meilanni Wate wen tu [Chinese language]

La dama de los pingüinos por Carol A. Cole [Spanish language]

Penguins = Pingüinos by Alice Twine  [Spanish language]

Crafts For All Ages

Knit Your Own Zoo: Easy-to-Follow Patterns for 24 Animals by Sally Muir & Joanna Osborne

Socks Appeal: 16 Fun & Funky Friends Sewn from Socks by Brenna Maloney

Crafts for Kids Who Are Wild About Polar Life by Kathy Ross 


And don't miss "Your Personal Penguin" (sung by Davy Jones of the Monkees) on Sandra Boynton's CD Blue Moo: 17 Jukebox Hits From Way Back Never!

Links

How are you celebrating World Penguin Day? [Greenpeace]

Celebrate World Penguin Day with Pew [Pew Charitable Trusts Environmental Initiative]

Celebrate World Penguin Day - and the world penguin tracking database [Birdlife International]

Happy World Penguin Day! [Smithsonian Ocean Portal]

Poetry Month: Poetry Audio for Kids

Young Adult Poetry Display at Cherry Hills Library

Want to get your children interested in poetry? Why not try listening to a poetry audiobook? The library catalog has many poetry offerings for children - from the soothing tones of Julie Andrews to the whimsy of A.A. Milne to the raucous rhymes of Shel Silverstein.  A sports fan might enjoy Casey at the Bat, and the poems of Jack Prelutsky are kid favorites!  Some people feel poetry is best as a spoken art - now you and your kids can decide that for yourselves!

Titles are Audiobook on CD unless otherwise noted. Audiobooks and music CDs usually do not come with a print book, but Read-alongs indicate a book in combination with a CD.

Joyful Noise; I Am Phoenix: Poems for Two Voices by Paul Fleischman

Planet Middle School by Nikki Grimes

Don't Take Your Elephant to School by Steve Turner

When We Were Very Young; Now We Are Six by A.A. Milne

Flamingos on the Roof: Poems and Paintings by Calef Brown

Julie Andrews' Collection of Poems, Songs, and Lullabies selected by Julie Andrews & Emma Walton Hamilton  [eAudiobook]

The Spider and the Fly: Based on the Poem by Mary Howitt [Read-along]

Casey at the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888 by Ernest L. Thayer   [Read-along]

A Child's Garden of Songs: The Poetry of Robert Louis Stevenson In Song by Ted Jacobs [Music CD]

Ferdinand the Bull and Friends; Carnival of the Animals & Mother Goose Suite by Nina Flyer, cello; Chie Nagatani, piano; stories and poems read by David Ogden Stiers [Music CD]

The Children's Suite: Inspired by the Verses of A.A. Milne by Phil Woods [Music CD]

The Best of Shel Silverstein: His Words, His Songs, His Friends chiefly by Shel Silverstein [Music CD]

A Pizza the Size of the Sun written and performed by Jack Prelutsky [Music CD]

The Days Gone By: Songs of the American Poets by Ted Jacobs [Music CD]


Happy National Poetry Month! Don't forget today is Poem In Your Pocket Day!

  

Genealogy

Each month we highlight one of our most popular eResources on our homepage. For April, we are highlighting our Genealogy eResources - Fold3, Heritage Quest, Newspaper Archive, and Ancestry. For those unfamiliar with these eResources, Ancestry Library Edition has most of the features of the subscription version of Ancestry.com - you can search records, including international records, download charts and forms, send documents to your email address - except for personalized functionality and access to a couple of Ancestry's online research collections. Heritage Quest gives you access to PERSI (Periodical Source Index) and Freedman's Bank records, among other features. Fold3 includes Native American Archives. Genealogists looking for online access to large-scale maps of towns and cities in the United States, for the time period 1867-1970, might also use the Digital Sanborn Maps eResource; the American Ancestors eResource, a collection of databases for the New England states, is available only at the Main Library. Please note that Newspaper Archive only searches New Mexico newspapers. Explore these databases on your own with your valid library card and PIN (you must access them via the library homepage to get free access), or visit our Genealogy Center for more information!

From our homepage, you can head over to our Genealogy LibGuide just by clicking on the Genealogy heading! This will show you all the resources our Genealogy Center has to offer.

The front page of the guide includes upcoming programs, recommended books, information about our Genealogy Center (all ABC Library's genealogy materials are housed on the second floor of Main Library), and links to local genealogical societies. The How To Begin tab includes handy tips and even a printable ancestor chart! Other informational tabs include Obituaries, Census Research, Microfilm, and Researching New Mexico Families.

Genealogy Research Day is April 29, the last Tuesday of April!  Come anytime between 10:30 am and 3:30 pm and get individual help from expert volunteers from the Albuquerque Genealogical Society.  They're happy to help beginners or experts and can provide assistance on special interest areas and locations, DAR applications and research, Internet research assistance (the Genealogy Center has a dedicated computer lab), and more. Bring your charts and questions!

Would your group like a tour of the Genealogy Center or an overview at your next meeting of the available resources?  Contact us (see Hours and Location on the Genealogy LibGuide for contact information) and we can schedule a tour at the Genealogy Center or come to you with a half hour presentation about the many resources available at the Genealogy Center to support family history research.

Go Wild! for National Park Week

National Park Week is April 19-27! How will you be celebrating?

If you don't have time to visit a park this week, here are some items from the library catalog to whet your appetite for future travel:


Art of the National Parks: Historic Connections, Contemporary Interpretations by Jean Stern, Susan Hallsten Mcgarry, Terry Lawson Dunn

To Conserve Unimpaired: The Evolution of the National Park Idea by Robert B. Keiter

Secrets of the National Parks: The Experts' Guide to the Best Experiences Beyond the Tourist Trail  by National Geographic


The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon by Kevin Fedarko

Before They're Gone: A Family's Year-Long Quest to Explore America's Most Endangered National Parks by Michael Lanza [eBook]

Dirt Work: An Education in the Woods by Christine Byl [eBook]

National Parks: A Kid's Guide to America's Parks, Monuments and Landmarks by Erin McHugh

The Park Scientists by Mary Kay Carson  
 

If you'd like to visit one of New Mexico's National Parks, you can find information about them in the library catalog. You can also find more items about National Parks nation-wide in the library catalog.

Links

National Park Week (National Park Service)

National Parks in New Mexico

Ernie Pyle House (and branch library!) - National Historic Landmark

Poetry Month: New & Novel Poetry Books

Happy National Poetry Month! April 24th is Poem In Your Pocket Day, when  people throughout the United States select a poem, carry it with them, and share it with others throughout the day - are you ready? If not, perhaps you'd like to consider checking out one of our latest poetry acquisitions to find a likely poem?  Here's some of the library's latest verse finds:


The Gorgeous Nothings by Emily Dickinson

Dog Songs: Thirty-Five Dog Songs and One Essay by Mary Oliver

2014 Pushcart Prize XXXVIII: Best of the Small Presses edited by Bill Henderson with the Pushcart Prize editors

Singing at the Gates: Selected Poems by Jimmy Santiago Baca

His Day is Done: A Nelson Mandela Tribute by Maya Angelou

The Iliad by Homer; translation by Barry B. Powell

Taps on the Walls: Poems from the Hanoi Hilton by John Borling, Major General, USAF, Ret.

The Cineaste by A. Van Jordan

Transfer of Qualities by Martha Ronk

The World Will Follow Joy: Turning Madness Into Flowers (New Poems) by Alice Walker

Urban Tumbleweed: Notes from a Tanka Diary by Harryette Mullen

Poetry of the First World War: An Anthology edited by Tim Kendall

Aimless Love: New and Selected Poems by Billy Collins

O What a Luxury: Verses Lyrical, Vulgar, Pathetic & Profound by Garrison Keillor

Failure and I Bury the Body: Poems by Sasha West

Seasonal Works with Letters on Fire by Brenda Hillman

Hyperboreal by Joan Naviyuk Kane

Collected Poems by Denise Levertov

The Loving Detail of the Living & the Dead: Poems by Eleni Sikelianos

Engine Empire by Cathy Park Hong

Joie de Vivre: Selected Poems, 1992-2012 by Lisa Jarnot

Poems 1962-2012 by Louise Glück          

Testimony, A Tribute to Charlie Parker - With New and Selected Jazz Poems by Yusef Komunyakaa


Don't forget to visit our Poetry LibGuide!  It can help you find new books in the library catalog, poetry events, resources for writing poetry, and more!
       

National Library Week: Lives Change @ Your Library

The week of April 13-19 is National Library Week! This year's theme is Lives Change @ Your Library, with honorary chairperson Judy Blume. Today’s libraries can help you and your family discover a new and exciting world. Visit your library for computer resources for teens and adults, help with your job search, access to subscription databases, library-recommended websites and homework help. You also can obtain information about how to become a U.S. citizen, bilingual resources and neutral financial information to help you make important decisions. Libraries are an oasis if you are looking for adult education classes, or for a recommendation on the best books or e-books to expand your horizons.

Want to show support for your library? Tweet about how the library has changed your life using the hashtag #LivesChange and #NLW14. Or, fill out the form on our Library Week LibGuide and let us know how the library has changed your life! Each branch will pick their most inspiring story to be featured on our Facebook page (featured stories will receive a small token of appreciation).

Open the door to change, visit your library! Some library branches will be featuring library-themed programming for National Library Week, so make sure to give our programs & events calendar a look-see.

Poetry Month: Young Adult Verse Novels

I love poetry. As a result, I like to read young adult verse novels, even though I don't always enjoy them. In celebration of National Poetry Month, I thought I would share my favorite young adult verse novels, as well as my favorite young adult novels that incorporate poetry in some way.

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

The Outsiders is the book that got me interested in poetry. The Robert Frost poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay" plays a somewhat large role in the book, and when I first read it, I fell in love with it and with poetry.

Golden by Jessi Kirby

Golden also plays with Robert Frost's "Nothing Gold Can Stay," but even more than that, its inspiration comes from the Mary Oliver poem "The Summer Day." Throughout the book, Parker Frost tries to determine what it is she will do with her one wild and precious life, after reading the line "Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" from Mary Oliver's poem.

And We Stay by Jenny Hubbard

And We Stay is about a girl, Emily, who loves Emily Dickinson, but who is also a poet herself. Emily (the character, not Emily Dickinson) writes poems that are presented throughout the story.

Lovely, Dark and Deep by Amy McNamara

Amy McNamara is a poet, in addition to a young adult fiction writer. The title Lovely, Dark and Deep is taken directly from a Robert Frost poem, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." Even though it's written in prose, McNamara's book reads much like poetry.

Audition by Stasia Ward Kehoe

Audition isn't the first young adult verse novel I've read, but it was the first one I read that I actually loved. Because it's about ballet, there was something about the musical aspect that tied in really well with the poetry in the book.

The Day Before by Lisa Schroeder

This is the other young adult verse novel that I love. Unlike most verse novels I've read, I felt like The Day Before really played with poetic elements. On top of that, the story was great, and lent itself well to verse.

There are plenty of other young adult verse novels in the library catalog. Some popular authors to check out are Ellen Hopkins, Lisa Schroeder, Micol Ostow, and Nikki Grimes.

Poetry Month: ePoetry

Our eBook collection is growing all the time - you may have already checked out and downloaded a bestseller, or a cookbook, or a Young Adult novel (it's okay to read YA as an adult! We don't judge).  But did you know you can also download poetry to read on your eReader?  April is National Poetry Month, and we'd like to share with you a sampling of some of the ePoetry available to you - you don't even have to come into the library to check them out if you have internet access at home and a valid library card! All titles listed are eBooks in our catalog unless otherwise noted.


Litany for the City: Poems by Ryan Teitman

Need Machine by Andrew Faulkner

Holy Heathen Rhapsody by Pattiann Rogers

Faces of Love Hafez and the Poets of Shiraz by Dick Davis

Phantasmagoria and Other Poems by Lewis Carroll

That Said: New and Selected Poems by Jane Shore

Night of the Republic by Alan Shapiro

Waiting For the Moon: Poems of Bo Juyi translated by Arthur Waley

The Story of a People: An Anthology of Palestinian Poets Within the Green-Lines edited and translated by Jamal Assadi

Fast Break to Line Break: Poets on the Art of Basketball edited by Todd Davis

Voodoo Inverso by Mark Wagenaar

Our Andromeda by Brenda Shaughnessy

The Door by Margaret Atwood 

Hiphop H.A.I.K.U.: Volume 1 - Higher Awareness is Kept Underground by ShaIfa Mami Watu

The Essential Brendan Kennelly: Selected Poems by Brendan Kennelly

Poems 1960-2000 by Fleur Adcock

Out of the Blue: Poems 1975-2001 by Helen Dunmore

I Won't Let You Go: Selected Poems by Rabindranath Tagore

The Hands of Strangers: Poems from the Nursing Home by Janice N. Harrington

Songs and Stories of the Ghouls by Alice Notley

The Spoken Arts Treasury - Volume I: 100 Modern American Poets Reading Their Poems [eAudiobook]

The Spoken Arts Treasury - Volume II: 100 Modern American Poets Reading Their Poems [eAudiobook]

Yeats Reads His Own Work by W.B. Yeats  [eAudiobook]


 For more poetry eBooks, check the library catalog. Ditto poetry eAudiobooks!

                

Dysfunctional Families

Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
~Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

Mental illness. Drug abuse. Hoarding. Cheating. Family secrets. Destructive behavior. Adversity. Violence. There are a lot of factors that can cause families to malfunction or self-combust.  We've rounded up a list of memoirs by people, some famous and some not, who have grown up in dysfunctional families - how it impacted them, how they've coped, and the different ways they are living out their lives today.  Check it out!


Chanel Bonfire: A Memoir by Wendy Lawless

The Good Daughter: A Memoir of My Mother's Hidden Life by Jasmin Darznik

Handbook for an Unpredictable Life: How I Survived Sister Renata and My Crazy Mother, and Still Came Out Smiling (With Great Hair) by Rosie Perez

She Left Me the Gun: My Mother's Life Before Me by Emma Brockes

Dirty Secret: A Daughter Comes Clean About Her Mother's Compulsive Hoarding by Jessie Sholl

Her Last Death: A Memoir by Susanna Sonnenberg

Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness by Alexandra Fuller

Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette Winterson

The Mistress's Daughter by A. M. Homes

The Liars' Club: A Memoir by Mary Karr

The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel

Rescuing Patty Hearst: Memories From a Decade Gone Mad by Virginia Holman

The Three of Us: A Family Story by Julia Blackburn

Lies My Mother Never Told Me: A Memoir by Kaylie Jones      

Mommy Dressing: A Love Story, After a Fashion by by Lois Gould

Circling My Mother by Mary Gordon

With or Without You: A Memoir by Domenica Ruta

What She Left Behind by Ellen Marie Wiseman

Astor Orphan: A Memoir by Alexandra Aldrich

Coming Clean by Kimberly Rae Miller  

Glitter and Glue: A Memoir by Kelly Corrigan 

Shocked: My Mother, Schiaparelli, and Me by Patricia Volk

Jazz Appreciation Month

April is Jazz Appreciation Month! April was chosen for Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM) in recognition of the birthdays of jazz greats such as Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Gerry Mulligan, and Tito Puente. This year, the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, which operates the world’s most comprehensive set of jazz programs,  celebrates JAM with the theme Jazz Alchemy: A Love Supreme, to pay tribute to John Coltrane and the 50th anniversary of his composition A Love Supreme.

For the latest jazz music in the catalog, including The Great Gatsby: The Jazz Recordings, Michael Bublé, Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter, and more, search the catalog using the term "Jazz", and limiting your search by subject, date & the format "soundrecording" in the sidebar options.

For the latest movies related to jazz, including Chico & Rita and The Original Rompin' Stompin', Hot & Heavy, Cool & Groovy All-Star Jazz Show (featuring Lionel Hampton, Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, and others), search the catalog using the term "Jazz", and limiting your search by subject, date & the format "videos DVD" in the sidebar options.

To find new books about jazz or jazz-related in the library catalog, search the catalog using the term "Jazz", and limiting your search by subject, date & the format "books" in the sidebar options. You'll find books for kids like Herman & Rosie, for young adults (The Sound of Letting Go), and of course adult reads, including biography, poetry, and titles such as Keystone Korner: Portrait of a Jazz Club.


Links


112 Ways to Celebrate Jazz

Jazz Appreciation Month: National Endowment for the Humanities

Jazz Appreciation Month: American Jazz Museum



*Catalog instructions are for searching in Encore.

Poetry Month: New Biographies of Poets

"A voice exists for every living creature, human or beast.  It is one of the poet's tasks to listen and transcribe: the voice (the diction, syntax and cadence) of the cow and pig, the mollusk, the echidna, the strangler fig, the lyre bird and goose, the tick, the possum, 'The Fellow Human'... [The poet] works toward an accessible poetry, telling stories, attempting secular...and holy communion. [The poet] might respond to Ezra Pound's commandment 'Make it new': 'No, make it present.'"
~Michael Schmidt, Lives of the Poets

Poets - why do they fascinate us? From Samuel Johnson's Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets to today, there are a multitude of personal histories of poets out there.  Emily Dickinson's life has been the subject of multiple biographers. The poets of the Beat Generation still capture our imagination. Based on unpublished diaries and correspondence, Daniel Mark Epstein wrote What Lips My Lips Have Kissed: The Loves and Love Poems of Edna St. Vincent Millay. A few years ago the complete correspondence of Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell was published; you can also read the letters of Langston Hughes and his mentor, Carl Van Vechten. Local poet Jimmy Santiago Baca wrote a memoir A Place to Stand: The Making of a Poet in 2001; Gil Scott-Heron's memoir, The Last Holiday, was published posthumously in 2012, the same year that Joy Harjo published her memoir, Crazy Brave - just to name a few.

To celebrate National Poetry Month, we've compiled a list of the latest biographies of poets in the library catalog.  Hope this will whet your appetite to read more about poets - and more poetry!

E. E. Cummings: A Life by Susan Cheever

An Enlarged Heart: A Personal History by Cynthia Zarin

For a Song and a Hundred Songs: A Poet's Journey Through a Chinese Prison by Liao Yiwu

Pain, Parties, Work : Sylvia Plath in New York, Summer 1953 by Elizabeth Winder

American Isis: The Life and Art of Sylvia Plath by Carl Rollyson

Mad Girl's Love Song: Sylvia Plath and Life Before Ted by Andrew Wilson

Holding On Upside Down: The Life and Work of Marianne Moore by Linda Leavell

Tennyson: To Strive, To Seek, To Find by John Batchelor


For more poet biographies, check the library catalog.

Cake Pans @ Your Library

Sometimes you just need a special cake pan. You want to try to make cake pops, or one of your children wants Hello Kitty birthday cake and your other child's soccer team won a big game and wants to celebrate. But maybe you just need a special cake pan just to make one cake and you don't want to buy a special pan.  What can you do?  Go to the library!

Beginning April first, you will find cake pans in the library catalog! Cake pans will check out for 3 weeks.  Customers are limited to 1 cake pan at a time per library card, and you will not be able to check out another "Gizmo" (Kindle Keyboard, Every Child Ready to Read Literacy Kit, Kill-a-Watt) while you have a cake pan checked out.

If you are looking for baking and/or handling tips for your cake pan, the cake pan's record in the library catalog will link to our Cake Pan LibGuide and many of the pan records link to a PDF document with additional baking and decorating ideas. The Cake Pan LibGuide also has a list of available cake pans and a list of helpful links.

Most of the pans are medium gauge aluminum. We do ask that you please wash the cake pan according to handling instructions before returning it to the library.  A damaged item fee of $2 will be charged for cake pans returned dirty. Return your cake pan to the circulation desk of your local library.  Please do not put the cake pan in the book drop.

If you want to share a picture of the cake you made using one of the library's pans, send a picture and we will post it on Facebook!  Email them to library@cabq.gov.