23 April is a symbolic date for world literature.  It is on this date in 1616 that Cervantes, Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega all died.  It is also the date of birth or death of other prominent authors, such as Maurice Druon, Haldor K.Laxness, Vladimir Nabokov, Josep Pla and Manuel Mejía Vallejo.  It was a natural choice for UNESCO's General Conference, held in Paris in 1995, to pay a world-wide tribute to books and authors on this date, encouraging everyone, and in particular young people, to discover the pleasure of reading and gain a renewed respect for the irreplaceable contributions of those, who have furthered the social and cultural progress of humanity.  With this in mind, UNESCO created the World Book and Copyright Day.  2019 Celebration  The 24th edition of World Book and Copyright Day will celebrate literature and reading while focusing particularly on the importance of enhancing and protecting indigenous languages.  Books bring people together around a story and a common heritage while revealing their specificities through different cultures, identities and languages.  The focus on this topic is fully in line with the celebration of the International Year of the Indigenous Languages.  World Book Capital for 2019:  Sharjah, United Arab Emirates  Each year, UNESCO and the international organizations representing the three major sectors of the book industry - publishers, booksellers and libraries, select the World Book Capital for a one-year period, effective 23 April each year.  The city of Sharjah was selected because of the very innovative, comprehensive and inclusive nature of the application, with a community-focused activity programme containing creative proposals to engage the very large migrant population.  With the slogan "Read--you are in Sharjah", the programme focuses on six themes:  inclusivity, reading, heritage, outreach, publishing and children.  Among other things there will be a conference on freedom of speech, a contest for young poets, workshops for creating Braille books and tactile books as well as many events for Sharjah's multi-ethnic population.  The city's objective is to foster a culture of reading in the United Arab Emirates and birth new initiatives to meet the challenge of literary creation in the area and in the rest of the Arab world.  https://www.un.org/en/events/bookday/

Pigeon peas, popular throughout the West Indies, are small, oval beans with a nutty flavor that make a tasty side dish.  Look for them in Caribbean markets, or substitute kidney beans or black-eyed peas.  See Rice and Pigeon Peas recipe serving six at https://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/rice-pigeon-peas

The devastating fire that destroyed part of Paris' historic Notre Dame Cathedral on April 15, 2019 appears to have spared the bees living on its rooftop.  Since 2013, Notre Dame has been home to three beehives on a roof beneath the rose window.  Because the hives are located about 30 meters (98 feet) below the main roof, the fire didn't get close enough to do any damage.  Considering each hive is home to 60,000 bees, Notre Dame beekeeper Nicolas Geant was beyond relieved to learn the fire didn't hurt the insects.  Perhaps St. Ambrose, the patron saint of bees and beekeepers, was keeping an eye out for the beloved insects of Notre Dame.  Bonnie Burton  https://www.cnet.com/news/bees-on-notre-dame-rooftop-survive-devastating-fire/

Warren Adler, the author of over 50 novels including The War of the Roses, died April 15, 2019.  https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/Obituary/article/79803-obituary-warren-adler.html

Gene Wolfe wrote more than 30 novels, with The Book of the New Sun published between 1980 and 1983, died April 15, 2019.  https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/apr/16/gene-wolfe-science-fiction-author-dies-aged-87

Sara Hinesley, 10, paints and draws and sculpts clay.  She can write in English and some Mandarin.  When she learned to write in cursive in 2019, Sara said, she thought it was “kind of easy.”  Never mind the fact that Sara was born without hands.  Sara, a third-grade student at St. John’s Regional Catholic School in Frederick, Md., won the 2019 Nicholas Maxim award for her cursive handwriting.  To write, Sara grips her pencil between her arms.  She focuses on the shapes of letters, each point and curve.  Writing in cursive feels like creating artwork, Sara said.  “I like the way the letters are formed,” Sara said. “It’s kind of like art."  Marissa J. Lang  https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2019/04/19/this-year-old-maryland-girl-who-was-born-without-hands-just-won-national-handwriting-competition/?utm_term=.eb778da54a4f  The handwriting contest is open to all students in grades K–8 (K–2 entries in manuscript and 3–8 entries in cursive) and includes a special needs category created in honor of Nicholas Maxim, a past participant whose passion for writing inspired the award.  https://www.zaner-bloser.com/national-handwriting-contest/about-contest.php

On April 22, 2019, people in 190 countries around the world will celebrate Earth Day.  This year marks the 49th anniversary of the environmental holiday initiated in 1970 to bring attention to the plight of our ailing mother, Earth, and our fellow creatures, whose health and longevity are threatened by human activity.  The Earth Day Network sponsors numerous events with organizations across the globe to increase environmental awareness on this occasion, like teach-ins with scientists and trash cleanup projects.  If you’re planning to attend one of these events, by all means do so.  You will be part of what the sponsors call “the largest civic observance in the world,” joining more than a billion people who participate in this common cause that affects us all.  However, if you haven’t yet made plans and wish to take a stand, there is one activity that you can do alone at home that will help you and the planet.  It ensures that ever-so-briefly you are not contributing to climate change, and are doing what you can to save endangered species. Don’t drive or fly.  Don’t buy anything.  Do no laundry.  Turn off the lights.  Avoid going online.  Depending on where on Earth you are, shut down the air-conditioning or heaters (unless you’ve got solar panels!).  Breathe deep and take a seat.  Doing nothing is also a way to do something. That is why contemplative types have practiced the fine art of sitting in meditation for millennia.  Ephrat Livni  https://qz.com/1600886/the-best-thing-you-can-do-on-earth-day-is-sit-perfectly-still/

For a special Christmas treat in December 1912, Adolph S. Ochs (1858-1935), owner of The New York Times, presented his readers with the first complete pictorial newspaper section printed in rotogravure.   Earlier that year, Ochs had purchased two modern German rotary presses and hired Julius Herman to train an American staff of printers to run them.  These presses mechanically inked and wiped the circular metal plates, printing up to 3,500 pages from a continuous roll of paper each hour.  By 1914, at least six American newspapers offered regular rotogravure picture magazines or sections, usually on Wednesdays and Sundays.  Besides The New York Times, the Boston Sun Herald, the Philadelphia Public Ledger, the Chicago Tribune, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Kansas City Star each featured a rotogravure section, which all became the most widely read section of the papers.  These picture sections even inspired Irving Berlin (1888-1989) to mention rotogravure into his song Easter Parade:  In your Easter bonnet, with all the frills upon it, You’ll be the grandest lady in the Easter parade.  I’ll be all in clover and when they look you over, I’ll be the proudest fellow in the Easter parade.  On the avenue, Fifth Avenue, the photographers will snap us, And you’ll find that you’re in the rotogravure.  Read more and see graphics at https://graphicarts.princeton.edu/2017/12/25/first-american-rotogravure-section-december-1912/

Look up:  It's the Lyrid meteor shower!  Different skywatching organizations have been pinning the meteor shower's peak on different nights as it continues through both April 21-22 and April 22-23, 2019.   Whichever night you look, here are some tips for viewing the burning-up dust and debris left behind by Comet Thatcher in its trek around the solar system.  Comet Thatcher, orbits the sun about once every 415 years.  Luckily for skywatchers, though, Earth passes through its path every year in mid- to late April.  The resulting display has been observed at least as early as 687 B.C.—it's one of the earliest recorded showers.  Comet Thatcher most recently passed by the sun (and Earth's neighborhood) in 1861, and it'll next pass by in 2276.  Sarah Lewin  Read more and see graphics at https://www.space.com/lyrid-meteor-shower-2019-peaking-now.html

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2085  April 22, 2019