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This year, the New York Public Library will, for the thirtieth year, dispense the Helen Bernstein Award for Excellence in Journalism. In the first in a series of events to celebrate the award, we welcomed Dean Baquet, Executive Editor of The New York Times;  Shawna Thomas, DC Bureau Chief of VICE News; Jose Antonio Vargas, Founder of Define American; Jacob Weisberg, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of Slate Group; and Bill Moyers, Managing Editor of BillMoyers.com to discuss the shifting responsibilities, obligations, purposes, and even definitions of American journalism today. For this week's episode of the New York Public Library Podcast, we're proud to present this conversation on the press during the administration of the forty-fifth president. 

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Chinese Book Discussion 中文书籍讨论会 2/22/2017

我们很高兴有一位作家与一位专业翻译家参加了我们的讨论会。我们一起讨论了下列的书籍。有的书籍出版年代久远，图书馆目前没有收藏，请诸位见谅。

簡媜.   我为你撒下月光。

一个女生爱上了她的学长，以诗词彼此交往。用散文写出的爱情故事。

胡英子.  天鹰沉浮。

一个制鞋家族的发展。

胡英子.  留学日本 情谊酒吧。   

中国人在日本留学，工作，生活的经历。小说。  

施蛰存。 唐诗百话。

作者精选唐诗中脍炙人口的作品，并赋予精辟独特的见解。

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor.  罪与罚。

俄国文学名著。主人公自视甚高自比于拿破仑。 热心帮助他人解决问题，但遭流放西伯利亚。

王安忆。小说家的十三堂课。

”小说应该是心灵世界，好的小说即是好的神话，与现实脱节。。。。“ 书中提及小说的理论，并介绍了世界小说名著。

柴静。 看见。

名记者的新闻制作历程的告白： 同性恋，煤污染，家暴，留守家庭，社会问题。。。。

当年明月。 明朝那些事儿。

历史小说。

Smith, Adam.  道德情操论。

原著写于18世纪末，为哲学，伦理学方面的世界名著。

Smith, Betty.  布鲁克林有棵树。

译自英文”A tree grows in Brooklyn”. 小孩回忆在布鲁克林成长的经过。

吴若权。 换我照顾您。

老年化社会所面临的老年照顾问题。

下次的中文书籍讨论会将在三月二十二号@ Mid-Manhattan Library 举行， 欢迎参加。

Special Thanks goes to Hung-yun Chang at Mid-Manhattan Library, for all his help with this blog post.

Fashion Career Expo on Thursday, March 23, 2017, 10 am - 3 pm at Metropolitan Pavilion, 110 West 19th St., New York, NY 10011.  Must have two years of fashion industry experience.  Interview for a wide variety of exciting jobs for retail management, designers, buyers, merchandisers, planners, sales and much more.

Direct Care Professional Training (DPT) is a 100-hour training program that provides students with the knowledge, practical skills , and required certifications to work with children and adults who are developmentally disabled.  This two-month, full-time training program will be held at the New York City College of Technology.

TCI College Office of Military and Veteran Services is holding a Veterans fair on Campus on March 28, 2017 from 11 am - 2 pm at 320 West 31 st Street, New York, NY 10001, room 310. The fair will be open to all military and veterans on the New York City/Metro Area.  It is recommended that all service members who attend bring a updated copy of their resume and DD Form 214.

The Cooper Union Retraining Program for Immigrant Engineers @ Camba is recruiting for the Spring 2017 Semester.  Classes are held in evenings and weekends for this 3 month training.  Courses are free for those who qualify.  Job placement assistance provided to all graduates.

New York City is a culinary capital with large numbers of restaurants, hotels, cafeterias and gourmet food markets.  Cooks and chefs work in all of these places.The New York City Labor Market Information Service, Center for Urban Research (CUNY) released Career Map for Cooks and Chefs in December 2014. This Career Map explores actual career progressions of people 5 to 10 years and 10  to 15 years after getting their start in professional cooking.  You can also learn What are the Numbers Behind it?

Brooklyn Woods is actively recruiting for their Free  Woodworker Job Training Program. Orientations are held every Wednesday at 10 am sharp.  Please bring a photo ID.  Be prepared to fill out an application and to take a math, reading and measurement test. Orientation lasts 2 hours.  If you have questions, call 718-389-3636.  

The NYCHA Resident Training Academy (NRTA) offers Janitorial  and Construction training tracks.  Recruitment is now open for Construction Training and Janitorial Training. Please call 718-289-8100.

Career Development workshop:  Intro to Social Media on Monday, March 13, 2017, 9:30 am - 12:30 pm at Brooklyn Workforce 1 Career Center, 250 Schermerhorn Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201.  This workshop is for all interested job seekers to get an understanding of social media and learn how you can use social media sites to help on your job search.

New Partners, Inc. will present a recruitment on Tuesday, March 14, 2017, 10 am - 1:30 pm for Home Health Aide (5 F/T & P/T ) openings at Flushing Workforce 1 Career Center, 138-60 Barclay Avenue, 2nd Floor, Flushing, NY 11355.  No appointment required.  Must be able to communicate in and understand English, take an employment exam , and after a conditional offer of employment , undergo a background check and drug screening.

SAGEWorks:  Empowering Women in the Workplace:  A Round Table Discussion on Wednesday,  March 15, 2017, 11 am - 12:15 pm at the SAGE Center, 305 7th Avenue, 15 Floor, New York, NY 10001.  SAGEWorks assists people 40 years and older in learning relevant, cutting-edge job search skills in a LGBT-friendly environment. 

Basic Resume Writing  workshop on Thursday, March 16, 2017, 1:30 - 3 pm at Brooklyn Workforce 1 Career Center, 250 Schermerhorn  Street,  Brooklyn, NY 11201.  Participants will learn the purpose of a resume, chronological and combination resumes and select the appropriate type for their specific needs.

SAGEWorks Workshop:  Marketing Yourself With Confidence on Thursday, March 16, 2017, 6 - 7:30 pm at the SAGE Center, 305 7th Avenue, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10001.    SAGEWorks assists people 40 years and older in learning relevant, cutting-edge job search skills in a LGBT-friendly environment. 

Job Postings at New York City Workforce 1.  

Apprenticeship Opportunities in New York City.

Brooklyn Community  Board 14: Available jobs

The New York City Employment and Training Coalition (NYCE&TC) is an association of 200 community-based organizations, educational institutions, and labor unions that annually provide job training and employment services to over 750,000 New Yorkers, including welfare recipients, unemployed workers, low-wage workers, at-risk youth, the formerly incarcerated, immigrants and the mentally and physically disabled. View NYCE&TC Job Listings.

Digital NYC is the official online hub of the New York City startup and technology ecosystem, bringing together every company, startup, investor, event, job, class, blog, video, workplace, accelerator, incubator, resource, and organization in the five boroughs. Search jobs by category on this site.

St. Nicks Alliance Workforce Development provides Free Job Training and Educational Programs in Environmental Response and Remediation Tec (ERRT). Commercial Driver's License, Pest Control Technician Training (PCT), Employment Search and Prep Training and Job Placement, Earn Benefits and Career Path Center. For information and assistance, please visit St. Nicks Alliance Workforce Development or call 718-302-2057 ext. 202.

Brooklyn Workforce Innovations helps jobless and working poor New Yorkers establish careers in sectors that offer good wages and opportunities for advancement. Currently, BWI offers free job training programs in four industries: commercial driving, telecommunications cable installation, TV and film production, and skilled woodworking.

CMP (formerly Chinatown Manpower Project) in lower Manhattan is now recruiting for a free training in Quickbooks, Basic Accounting, and Excel. This training is open to anyone who is receiving food stamps but no cash assistance. Class runs for eight weeks, followed by one-on-one meetings with a job developer. CMP also provides Free Home Health Aide Training for bilingual English/Cantonese speakers who are receiving food stamps but no cash assistance. Training runs Mondays through Fridays for six weeks and includes test prep and taking the HHA certification exam. Students learn about direct care techniques such as taking vital signs and assisting with personal hygiene and nutrition. For more information for the above two training programs, email: info@cmpny.org, call 212-571-1690, or visit. CMP also provides tuition-based healthcare and business trainings free to students who are entitled to ACCESS funding.

Nontraditional Employment for Women (NEW) trains women and places them in careers in the skilled construction, utility, and maintenance trades. It helps women achieve economic independence and a secure future. For information call 212-627-6252 or register online.

Grace Institute provides tuition-free, practical job training in a supportive learning community for underserved New York area women of all ages and from many different backgrounds. For information call 212-832-7605.

Please note this page will be revised when more recruitment events for the week of March  12 become available.

March 12 marks the birthday of poet and novelist Jack Kerouac, who was a leading figure in the literary movement known as the Beat Generation in the 1950's. The Beats, which included poet Allen Ginsberg and author William S. Burroughs, were iconoclastic writers, experimenting with form and depicting explicit subject matter such as sex, drugs, and hedonism, which made them highly controversial in their day. Forerunners of the counterculture movement of the 60's, the Beats have been widely read for decades and continue to influence the development of literature today. If you've yet to get into the novels and poetry produced by this band of literary rebels, here are a few selections to point you in the right direction:

On The Road, by Jack Kerouac (1957)

On the Road, a semi-autobiographical novel about the road tripping adventures of Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty, is definitely the place to start for anyone who wants to get to know the Beat Generation. The freewheeling, wild, and spontaneous style was shocking and revolutionary to many critics in 1957, and opinion over the book was sharply divided between praise and scorn. Today, Kerouac's novel is considered a classic of American fiction and the defining novel of the Beats.

Howl and Other Poems, by Allen Ginsberg (1959)

If On the Road typifies Beat novels, then Allen Ginsberg's poem Howl (1955), a ferocious screed against the terrors of capitalism, war, and industrialized civilization, typifies Beat poetry. Howl was originally performed at the famous Six Gallery reading in San Francisco, a 1955 gathering that brought together Ginsberg and Kerouac with other future Beats Michael McClure, Gary Snyder, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, kicking off the Beat Generation movement and presaging the San Francisco Renaissance.

Naked Lunch, by William S. Burroughs (1959)

William S. Burroughs is known as the third major Beat alongside Kerouac and Ginsberg, and the 1959 novel Naked Lunch is his most acclaimed work. Told in a series of stories without narrative order, Naked Lunch narrates the exploits of William Lee (a fictionalized version of Burroughs, and also his pen name) a traveling drug addict. Like Howl, Naked Lunch was the subject of a high profile obscenity trial in Boston, where its ban was eventually repealed in a significant case that dealt a major blow to literary censorship.

Big Sur, by Jack Kerouac (1962)

Another semi-autobiographical Kerouac book, Big Sur follows Jack Duluoz, a famous author who slowly breaks down over the course of multiple visits to a friend's Big Sur cabin. The owner of the cabin, Lorenzo Monsanto, was based on real life figure Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the founder of City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco and the publisher of many volumes by Beat authors such as Allen Ginsberg, Bob Kaufman, and Gregory Corso.

Kaddish and Other Poems, by Allen Ginsberg (1961)

Howl may be Allen Ginsberg's best known poem, but Kaddish (1959) is a masterpiece in its own right, with many scholars holding it equal to or even greater than Howl. Named for the traditional Jewish mourning prayer, Kaddish was inspired by the 1956 passing of Ginsberg's mother, who died after a long struggle with mental illness. The poem also explores Ginsberg's own estrangement from Judaism and his conflicted attitude towards religion, as well as his general meditations on life and death.

A Coney Island of the Mind, by Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1958)

In addition to inspiring the character in Big Sur, Ferlinghetti was himself a published poet, and A Coney Island of the Mind is his most beloved volume. If you're looking for a volume of Beat poetry that's a little more off the beaten track, A Coney Island of the Mind showcases Ferlinghetti's unique voice and contains some of his most famous work, some of which was created for jazz accompaniment.

The Back Country, by Gary Snyder (1968)

While this volume by Gary Snyder was published some time after the heyday of the Beat Generation, the poems collected here were originally published between 1956 and 1964, when Snyder was hobnobbing with Ginsberg and Kerouac in San Francisco in between trips to India and Japan. The Back Country, which is considered by some to be Snyder's masterpiece, was heavily inspired by Zen and Tibetan Buddhism, exemplifying the meld between Eastern and Western philosophy that was deeply valued by the Beats and later spiritual movements of the 1960's.

Gasoline, by Gregory Corso (1958)

For another great volume of poetry by a member of the Beat Generation, check out Gasoline by Gregory Corso, which is available online at home with your library card along with The Vestal Lady on Brattle, his first book of poems. Corso was younger than the rest of the Beats, but he was an integral part of their inner circle through their travels from San Francisco to Paris to New York in the late 1950's.

The Dharma Bums, by Jack Kerouac (1958)

Finally, check out this fictionalized account of Kerouac's friendship with Beat poet Gary Snyder, following them from parties and literary events in the city to hiking in the serene outdoors. The Dharma Bums frames this lifestyle as a Buddhist journey, in which the ultimate goal is inner peace; Kerouac's mystic exploration of consciousness had a big effect on the then-nascent hippie movement, which included Kerouac's close friend Neal Cassady, the inspiration for Dean Moriarty from On the Road.

To learn more about the Beat Generation and Jack Kerouac, look at the finding aid for our Jack Kerouac Archive online. If you want to visit the archive for research purposes, you can learn about access procedures for our special collections here. And if you have any Beat Generation recommendations for us, let us know in the comments!

Ezra Jack Keats' The Snowy Day , first published in March 1962, follows a little boy exulting in a big snowfall in New York City. In the words of Jhenelle Robinson, a YA librarian at the New York Public Library's Morrisiana branch, the beautifully illustrated picture book "captures the wonder and excitement of a fresh snowstorm through the eyes of young Peter."

Peter (as NPR notes) "was among the first non-caricatured African-Americans to be featured in a major children's book," and his story captures a universal moment of joy in his everyday life.  Keats went on to win the prestigious Caldecott Medal in 1963.

In the tradition of Keats' classic, we asked our NYPL experts to recommend children’s books that feature kids and families of color. Here are their favorites.

Picture Books

Pecan Pie Baby is a sweet story about a girl not thrilled about becoming a big sister to the "ding dang baby" who might resonate with little ones adjusting to the idea of having siblings and their bond with their mom. —Adriana Blancarte-Hayward, Outreach Services

Ada Twist, Scientist by Andrea Beaty follows Iggy Peck, Architect and Rosie Revere, Engineer, as a children's book of professionally precocious kids. The illustrations are Art Deco inspired and there's a mystery twist at the end. —Jenny Baum, Jefferson Market

Lola Reads to Leo by Anna McQuinn. Lola loves her books and when Leo is born mom and dad still find time to read to her. Lola helps in many ways but reading to Leo when he cries is what makes Lola the best big sister. All of the books about Lola are heartwarming to librarians, but families will see themselves in these books, too. —Peggy Salwen, St. Agnes Library

I Am So Brave! by Stephen Krensky celebrates a toddler's growth by showcasing him overcoming his fears. The book encourages toddlers to explore and face common fears such as the dark and the deep end of the pool. —Melissa Koszer, George Bruce

City kids will see themselves in the pages of Nina Crews’ One Hot Summer Day, which tells the story of a familiar steamy day with grape popsicles, panting dogs, open fire hydrants, and an afternoon thunderstorm. —Gwen Glazer, Readers Services

Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melonby Patty Lovell. Mollie Lou is the shortest girl in the first grade, but she has a huge personality—and the wisest grandma around. —Lynn Lobash, Readers Service

She Come Bringing Me that Little Baby Girl by Eloise Greenfield. A child's disappointment and jealousy over a new baby sister are dispelled as he becomes aware of the importance of his new role as a big brother. —Rachael Wettenstein, Grand Concourse

Peter, in Ezra Jack Keats' Peter's Chair, has already become an older brother, but is only just realizing all of the implications of that role. He's already had his cradle, crib, and high chair taken away (without his permission!), repainted pink, and given to his baby sister. But the last straw is when his parents want to take away his old blue chair. This book is a wonderful example of how older siblings can realize sharing their things can add value to their belongings and can lead to conversations about the value of shared experiences for siblings. —Katrina Ortega, Hamilton Grange

For slightly older kids (easy readers & young readers)

The Katie Woo books by Fran Manushkin. First-grader Katie has major adventures with her friends at school and home. —Sue Yee, Children’s Center

Alvin Ho: Allergic to Babies, Burglars, and Other Bumps in the Night by Leonore Look. Alvin is worried that his mom had been eating too many mochi cakes because her tummy has been getting bigger and bigger. He is surprised to learn that he is going to be a big brother very soon. Will the baby be a girl (ewww)? —Annie Lin, Mulberry Street

Two sets of grandparents—Mexican-American and white—play a starring role in I Love Saturdays y Domingosby Alma Flor Ada, but the big pay-off at the end is the narrator’s super-cool gigantic birthday party. —Gwen Glazer, Readers Services

As Brave as Youby Jason Reynolds.  Genie and his big brother, Ernie, are leaving Brooklyn to spend the summer with their grandparents in countryside of Virginia, and nothing will ever be the same again. —Annie Lin, Mulberry Street

The EllRay Jakes books by Sally Warner. EllRay is a typical third-grader having to deal with school, bullies, a younger sister, and misunderstandings. —Sue Yee, Children’s Center

Middle-grade fiction

The Ethan I Was Before by Ali Standish. Ethan used to be a fun-loving guy.  He loved to skateboard and was always up for a dare. That is until the incident. Now, Ethan and his family have moved to rural Georgia to live with his grandfather. There he meets Coralee. Coralee is vivacious, tons of fun, and tells the best stories. Can Ethan trust her with his secrets?  Fast-paced and written in the style of a mystery, not all is revealed until the end. —Jenny Rosenoff, Children’s Center

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur by Brandon Montclare. Lunella Lafayette is a middle schooler with a passion for science but her parents and teachers don't respect her experiments. That's why her secret lab is under the school. But Lunella might just be too smart for her own good, when she accidentally transports a dinosaur to New York City. —Lauren Bradley, 53^rd Street

The Earthsea series by Ursula K. Le Guin is all about the high-fantasy tales of Ged, a rebellious yet powerful young wizard. Exceptional world-building and exciting adventures abound. Through intentionally subtle writing, Le Guin makes it clear that Ged and many of his counterparts are people of color. The first book in this series was published in 1968, when people of color were not seen in science fiction; Le Guin strove to break out of that tradition. —Alessandra Affinito, Chatham Square

In Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin, a brave girl named Minli journeys with a dragon to find the Old Man in the Moon to try to fix the suffering environment around her. There’s plenty of ancient Chinese folklore mixed into the story, but girls of any background will be able to see themselves in brave, daring Minli. —Lynn Lobash, Readers Services

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Have trouble reading standard print? Many of these titles are available in formats for patrons with print disabilities.

Staff picks are chosen by NYPL staff members and are not intended to be comprehensive lists. We'd love to hear your ideas too, so leave a comment and tell us what you’d recommend. And check out our Staff Picks browse tool for more recommendations!

Hot off the presses! We are loving these new picture books and we think you and your little readers will too. Happy reading, and learning, and laughing, and sharing.  

New Picture Books

Egg by Kevin Henkes

A quiet, feel-good, story about an unlikely family.

Pen Pals by Alexandra Pichard

An anthropomorphic tale about two pen pals told in letters.

Wolf in the Snow by Matthew Cordell

A beautifully detailed wordless picture book about a wolf cub and a girl in a snowstorm.

Delivery by Aaron Meshon

A colorful, cartoony, picture book about a very special delivery.

Count Your Chickens by Jo Ellen Bogart and Lori Joy Smith

A sweet, rhyming, counting book.

Picture Book Biographies

Frederick Douglass: The Lion Who Wrote History by Walter Dean Myers

A moving biography about the esteemed leader of the abolitionist movement.

Keith Haring: The Boy Who Just Kept Drawing by Kay Haring

A colorful rendering of the artist's life from childhood to fame and beyond written by his sister.

Fancy Party Gowns: The Story of Fashion Designer Ann Cole Lowe by Deborah Blumenthal; illustrated by Laura Freeman

An inspiring biography about an African American trailblazer.

There is some great new middle grade fiction for those book devouring middle grade readers out there! Here are eight new titles we recommend you check out. (Pun intended.) 

The Lotterys Plus One by Emma Donoghue

A multicultural tale of two families and seven kids who win the lottery and buy a big house where they all live together.
 

Scar Island by Dan Gemeinhart

A fast-paced, suspenseful adventure story, Scar Island is home to Slabhenge Reformatory School for boys. When a freak-lightening storm kills all the adults, the boys find themselves free but trapped on the island, which seems to be sinking into the sea.

Me and Marvin Gardensby A.S. King

A story about a boy in conflict with a greedy, polluting, developer, who finds a strange creature that needs his protection. 

Lucky Broken Girl by Ruth Behar

A semi-autobiographical, multicultural, coming of age story, set in 1960s New York City.

Flying Lessons & Other Storiesedited by Ellen Oh

An upbeat collection of short stories from award-winning children’s authors and including ability diverse, culturally diverse, & LGBTQ characters.

See You in the Cosmosby Jack Cheng

A character-driven, first person narrative, about a boy and his dog on an accidental road trip with a cast of unlikely traveling companions.

The Ethan I Was Beforeby Ali Standish

A moving, angst-filled, suspenseful, coming of age story about Ethan who is suffering the loss of his best friend and a move from a city to a small beach town and a girl named Coralee who may be just what Ethan needs but comes with her own baggage and secrets.

A Crack in the Seaby H.M. Bouwman

Historical fantasy with a large cast of characters and some good world-building. Pip, a boy who can speak to fish, and his sister Kinchen set off on an adventure with a set of magical twins.

Have trouble reading standard print? Many of these titles are available in formats for patrons with print disabilities.

Staff picks are chosen by NYPL staff members and are not intended to be comprehensive lists. We'd love to hear your ideas too, so leave a comment and tell us what you’d recommend. And check out our Staff Picks browse tool for more recommendations!

The mathematical constant π, one of the most significant and well-known numbers in mathematics, is celebrated every year around the world on March 14th. π roughly equals 3.14 -- hence the choice of 3/14 for its commemorative holiday -- but it's best known as the ratio between a circle's circumference and its diameter. Pi Day is often observed by eating pie, so most people probably know it best as a day for delicious baked goods. But why celebrate π anyway? As it turns out, π is an incredibly special number with a lot of interesting properties, and it pops up in many, many formulas that dictate how our universe works and explain some of the deepest relations in mathematics. Here are some of our favorite unusual facts about π:

π is everywhere, but we don't know all its digits.

If you have a circular object handy, here's a quick experiment that can help you approximate π. Take your circle -- say, an empty pie tin -- and mark it on the rim with a little dot. Then, stand your pie tin on its edge so that the dot touches the floor, and then make another dot on the floor where the tin and the floor meet. Roll your pie tin in a straight line until the the dot on the rim meets the floor again -- that is, one full revolution -- and mark the floor again where it meets your circle. Congratulations: the distance between those two points on your floor, divided by the diameter of your pie, is π.

Here's a visualization of your experiment. Image via Wikimedia.

Of course, you haven't measured π exactly: if you didn't roll your circle in a straight line, if your measuring stick isn't precise enough, or if your tin got a little squished, it can totally throw off your experiment. Even the width of the dot you make will introduce some error into your measurement. You've probably only got π to within one decimal place, or if you're very precise, maybe two.

Because of its many applications to physics, engineering, and architecture, mathematicians have long sought the value of π. However, since π is irrational, we cannot express it exactly as a fraction, and as a decimal, its expansion is infinitely long with no repeating pattern. Today, we've used complex algorithms to compute its value to over 20 trillion digits, but before the advent of high speed computers, we could only find about 1,000 digits of π. Luckily, for the purpose of scientific calculations, we only need about 30 digits of π or less -- but even still, we're unable to definitively write its exact value as a fraction or a decimal.

π isn't just irrational: it's transcendental.

Here's another headscratcher: let's say you use a compass to draw a circle. Is it possible, using that compass and a straightedge, to draw a square of the same area? This problem was known to the Greeks, and we call it "squaring the circle."

Can you "square the circle?" Image from Wikipedia.

If you're running to get your compass and straightedge, we can save you a little time and give you a sneak peek at the answer: it's impossible! As we said before, π is irrational, meaning it can't be expressed as a simple fraction. However, the reason we can't square the circle is that π is a very special type of irrational number called a transcendental number. The definition of transcendental numbers is hard to explain, but they have an interesting property: even though there are infinitely many transcendental numbers -- in fact, almost all numbers are transcendental -- it's very hard to prove that a number is transcendental, and therefore mathematicians have a lot of trouble finding transcendentals. π is one, as is e, the base of the natural logarithm, but there are many, many more, and the question of finding them is sure to puzzle mathematicians for years to come.

It pops up in some interesting sums:

In 1644, Italian mathematician Pietro Mengoli posed an interesting problem. What is the sum of the reciprocals of the perfect squares (1/1, 1/4, 1/9, 1/16, 1/25, etc.) all the way up to infinity? Turns out, this is equal to the square of π divided by 6:

What about the alternating reciprocals of all the odd numbers? That is, 1/1 - 1/3 + 1/5 - 1/7 + 1/9, and so on? Well, that's π divided by 4:

And more places you might not expect.

In addition to being expressible as some beautiful infinite sums, π is also written as some interesting infinite products as well, such as this funky looking formula:

In the following product, note that the numerators are all the primes except 2, and the denominators are the closest multiples of 4 to each numerator:

And, like all irrationals, π can be expressed as an infinite continued fraction -- that's like a fraction on steroids. Check it out:

It's a crucial part of one of the most beautiful theories in math.

Remember that other transcendental number e we talked about before? Turns out that the brilliant mathematician Leonhard Euler realized that e and π are related in one of the most deep identities in all of mathematics:

Where i is an imaginary number, the square root of -1. How did Euler manage to relate e, i, and π -- three numbers which, at first glance, seem to have little to do with each other -- to 0 and 1? Explaining Euler's famous identity is a bit beyond the scope of this post, which you can learn all about in a complex algebra class. But this mysterious and beautiful formula is one of the deepest mathematical expressions of all time, and is famous in the math community for its elegance and profundity.

It contains every finite number in its decimal expansion... maybe.

Some people have said that the digits of π contain all the secrets of the universe and, in a certain sense, they might be right. Some numbers, called normal numbers, are infinitely long and contain every digit -- and finite string of digits -- in equal measure, meaning that any string of numbers is just as likely to be found in their endless decimal tails as any other string of numbers. We don't know for sure if π is normal, but many mathematicians believe it is, and if this is proven to be so, then π will indeed be shown to contain every finite number. So could you find your birthday or your phone number in the digits of π? Sure -- but it would take you an awfully long time to look.

And maybe, we shouldn't even be using π at all

There's a community of mathematicians who feel that π isn't actually a sensible choice for the circle constant, and instead we should be using the ratio of a circle's circumference to its radius -- that is, 2π, or τ. Part of the justification for using τ is that 2π comes up in a lot of formulas in physics and math, so converting 2π to τ might make things a bit easier. However, τ has not caught on with most mathematicians, and π continues to be used and taught in math classes at all levels. But if your tastes tend towards τ for whatever reason, feel free to skip Pi Day and celebrate your circle constant on 6/28.

Got any other favorite π related facts? Shout them out in the comments!

Taking inspiration from the delightful National Cookie Day post by Elizabeth Waters of Mid-Manhattan Library, the Map Division is using Pi(e) Day as cause to celebrate not only our love for pie (the eating kind), but also the wonderful variety of pictorial maps in the collections of the Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division. See our pairings below of some down-home American sweets (and the cookbooks containing their recipes) with charming and often quirky, generously illustrated maps that depict states and some of their agricultural bounty (among other things). Look for the produce on each map that puts the filling between the crusts.

Pecans from Louisiana

Map:  Louisiana, Nature’s Cornucopia, published by the Louisiana Dept. of Highways in the 1960s.
Pecan pie recipe from Christopher Kimball’s The Dessert Bible. 

Lemons from California

Map:  Sunkist Map of California, by Cal Rambeau, published in Los Angeles by the California Fruit Growers Exchange, 1940.
Shaker lemon pie recipe from Shaker Your Plate : of Shaker Cooks and Cooking, by Frances A. Carr.

 

Cherries from Michigan

Map: Historical Pictorial Points of Interest Map of Michigan, with cartography by Rand McNally & Company, published in Philadelphia by Sun Oil Company, [1935]
Cherry pie recipe from American Pie : Slices of Life (and Pie) from America’s Back Roads by Pascale LeDraoulec.

Blueberries from New Jersey

Map:  A Romance Map of New Jersey, drawn by Mildred C. Green, published in Ridgewood, N.J. by Romance Map of New Jersey, 1935.
Blueberry pie recipe from Mark Bittman’s How to Bake Everything.

Apples from New York State

Map: Pictorial Guide to Happy Motoring in New York, published by Esso, [1939], with cartography by General Drafting Co.
Apple pie recipe from The Pie and Pastry Bible, by Rose Levy Beranbaum.

This genre of map, especially popular through the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, is listed in the Dictionary Catalog of the Map Division, under subject “Pictorial maps,” and then by place, or under place and then by date.  You can also find maps of this type described in the online Research Catalog.  Search for them:

• by genre “Pictorial maps,” or

• by subject “[place name] Maps, pictorial.”

The Map Division will be highlighting some other pictorial maps from our collections in our map display case in Room 117 come April.  Stay tuned for an exhibition announcement. With thanks to Katherine Cordes for her map photography, and to the Map Division pages for their always-willing assistance.

As soon as you pick up Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, you know the title is a complete misnomer. There’s nothing ordinary about it.

On the cover of Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s unconventional 2005 memoir, four sentences are written above the title: “I have not survived against all odds. I have not lived to tell. I have not witnessed the extraordinary. This is my story.” And in tiny text on the bottom: “See also: Friend you thought confided in you; Humbling; Jason; Pie; Sexy; Shortcut through alley; Tears.”

The imaginative language and innovative structure that Rosenthal embraces in this book — which truly is written like an encyclopedia, with short alphabetical entries that still manage to tell a linear story — characterized all of her work. Rosenthal died on Monday at age 51, just 10 days after publishing a haunting “Modern Love” essay in the New York Times that moved millions of readers to tears.

Rosenthal made her creative wordplay accessible to young readers as well, through dozens of silly, wonderful, memorable picture books full of quirky characters and storylines that make adults crack a smile. Below are some of her favorites, plus a link to her 2016 memoir, Textbook, and all the rest of her work that’s available to check out.

Little Pea (2005)

The OK Book (2007)

Duck! Rabbit! (2009)

Spoon (2009)

Bedtime for Mommy (2010)

Little Hoot (2010)

Wumbers(2012)

I Scream, Ice Cream: A Book of Wordles(2013)

Friendshape (2015)

That’s Me Loving You(2016)

---

Have trouble reading standard print? Many of these titles are available in formats for patrons with print disabilities.

Staff picks are chosen by NYPL staff members and are not intended to be comprehensive lists. We'd love to hear your ideas too, so leave a comment and tell us what you’d recommend. And check out our Staff Picks browse tool for more recommendations!

There are many diverse feminist voices writing right now. This list—from books to TEDTalks—will help direct you toward some of these voices. Feel free to share recommendations in the comments below.

Caitlin Moran has been on a roll since her book How To Be A Woman was released in 2011. Since then she has also published  Moranthology (2012), How To Build a Girl (2014), and most recently, Moranifesto (2016). One of the first lines of the introduction is that Moran didn’t used to write about politics and feminism because she thought that was for the Serious Political or Professional Feminist People. Eventually, she felt we should all feel empowered to voice—or write—our opinions. Her very manageable short essays are wildly political and feminist from page 103-184, but you should read the rest because she’s also just very funny.  

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie gave a TEDTalk titled “The Danger of a Single Story” in 2009 which was about her nationality and people’s perceptions that there is one kind of African and her own perception that there is one kind of American. A TEDx talk in 2012 she titled “We Should All Be Feminists” (maybe you’ve heard a clip of it in Beyonce’s “Flawless”) was then adapted to a very small book so that we can all carry her words around.  This talk focused on how she reconciles her femininity with her feminist ideals and how much work still needs to be done for equality. She presents all too familiar anecdotes to illustrate her points.

How To Win at Feminism was published in 2016, authored by women at the popular Onion-type website Reductress.  The tongue-in-cheek humor had me laughing out loud with sections like “How To Take Up More Space, But Not Too Much Space” and “How to Do More with 23 Cents Less”. Please make sure the less-informed people in your life realize that this is comedic and you will actually be taking up as much space as you need.

Kate Bornstein has been an LGBTQ pioneer since the 1980s when she had “the surgery” and in 2013 her very important book My Gender Workbook: How to become a real man (1998) was updated and rebranded as My New Gender Workbook: A step-by-step guide to achieving world peace through gender anarchy and sex positivity.  It is a must-read for every young (or old) person struggling to identify and come to peace with the fluidity of gender identity and sexual orientation.

2 Dope Queens is a popular podcast hosted by Jessica Williams, former correspondent on The Daily Show and Phoebe Robinson.  Robinson recently published a collection of her essays called You Can’t Touch My Hair about intersectional feminism (key phrase to know) and being black and a woman. Robinson is very in touch with popular culture so the essays comment on her own experience as well as what is presented in the media. She is a comedian so the essays are humorous even when addressing serious topics of abuse and stigma. Williams wrote the foreword but I’m waiting for her to release her own book—keep us posted, Jessica!

The Feminist Press at CUNY has an incredible list of books that they reprint and new authors that they publish. One of those new books is The Crunk Feminist Collection: essays on hip-hop feminism. You can watch the authors of these essays in conversation at the NYPL Schomburg Center talk about growing up with hip-hop as a soundtrack to their lives and as a jumping off point to understanding all forms of oppression, including sexism. 

More Recommendations

• Living a Feminist Life by Sara Ahmed
• Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the rise of raunch culture by Ariel Levy
• Bad Feminist: Essays by Roxane Gay
• Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit
• All the Single Ladies: Unmarried women and the rise of an independent nation by Rebecca Traister
• Why I Am Not a Feminist: A feminist manifesto by Jessica Crispin
• If you're looking for novels with a feminist bent then you cannot go wrong with anything from Emily Books, an imprint of Coffee House Press.  Another librarian recommends Problems by Jade Sharma, and I concur.

Feminist-related NYPL Blog Posts

• Know Your Feminisms by Lynn Lobash
• Feminist YA Fiction by Anne Rouyer
• 365 Books by Women Authors to Celebrate International Women’s Day All Year by Gwen Glazer

One Book, One New York is a program in which residents of all five boroughs are encouraged to read the same book at the same time. Because it is challenging to choose one book for eight million readers, the organizers held a vote. The five contenders included: 

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Sellout by Paul Beatty, Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Waoby Junot Diaz.  The five finalists make a wonderful set of books with much in common. They are all moving, thought-provoking, seriously well-written reflections on race, identity, society and culture.

But there can only be one winner... the votes are in, and the winner is...Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

Here is a bit about your next read: 

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi, (pronounced Chim-mah-MAHN-duh en-GOH-zee ah-DEECH-ee) is a Nigerian novelist, nonfiction writer, and short story writer.

Americanah was published in 2013 and received the National Book Critics Circle Fiction award. Americanah tells the story of a young Nigerian woman, Ifemelu, who emigrates to the United States to attend university. The novel traces Ifemelu's life in both countries, threaded by her love story with high school classmate Obinze.

“This may well be the best narration of the year. ­[“Witty, wry, and observant, Adichie is a marvelous storyteller who writes passionately about the difficulty of assimilation and the love that binds a man, a woman, and their homeland.” – Library Journal

Adichie writes a vibrant tale about love, betrayal, and destiny; about racism; and about a society in which honesty is extinct and cynicism is the national philosophy. She broadens her canvas to include both America and England, where she illuminates the precarious tightrope existence of culturally and racially displaced immigrants. – Publishers Weekly

The best part about reading a book together is talking about the book together. NYPL will hold several events for New Yorkers to come together and share their thoughts and impressions.

Upcoming #OneBookNY Events at NYPL:

April 5: In a panel moderated by author, journalist, and cultural critic Touré, a group of experts will discuss the themes of Americanah in the context of current events. 6:30 PM at The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

April 18: Immigrant Stories: A discussion featuring novelist Min Jin Lee and author Simon Winchester that examines how writers are humanizing the experience of immigration. 6:30 PM at The New York Public Library, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building.

The NYPL Podcast: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Zadie Smith on Race, Writing, and Relationships

For more from  Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, listen to her appearance with Zadie Smith on The NYPL Podcast. She was joined by author Zadie Smith for a discussion on clear writing, race, and relationships . The incredible conversation was part of the "Between the Lines" series at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in 2014. Listen to the episode here.

How to listen to The New York Public Library Podcast
Subscribing to The NYPL Podcast on your mobile device is the easiest way to make sure you never miss an episode. Episodes will automatically download to your device, and be ready for listening every Tuesday morning

On your iPhone or iPad:
Open the purple “Podcasts” app that’s preloaded on your phone. If you’re reading this on your device, tap this link to go straight to the show and click “Subscribe.” You can also tap the magnifying glass in the app and search for “The New York Public Library Podcast.”

On your Android phone or tablet:
Open the orange “Play Music” app that’s preloaded on your device. If you’re reading this on your device, click this link to go straight to the show and click “Subscribe.” You can also tap the magnifying glass icon and search for “The New York Public Library Podcast.” 

Or if you have another preferred podcast player, you can find “The New York Public Library Podcast” there. (Here’s the RSS feed.)

From a desktop or laptop:
Click the “play” button above to start the show. Make sure to keep that window open on your browser if you’re doing other things, or else the audio will stop. You can always find the latest episode at nypl.org/podcast.

Una breve selección de historias y temas recientes que enaltecen la calidad humana, esfuerzos y valores de la mujer. Sírvase imprimir esta lista para adultos.

Agridulce

McCullough, Colleen

Las cuatro hermanas Latimer son dos pares de gemelas muy cercanas pero con diferentes aspiraciones y desean destacarse por algo más que su belleza.

El amor, las mujeres y la vida

Benedetti, Mario

Uno de los más distinguidos poetas del siglo veinte, reúne sus mejores poemas dedicados al   amor, la mujer, esperanza y humanidad.

Antes yo que nosotros

Arylo, Christine

“La guía para el amor y la vida de las mujeres como tú y como yo.”

La estela del los perfumes

Caboni, Cristina

“Una mujer capaz de crear una fragancia para cada persona.”

Lisario o el placer infinito de las mujeres

Cilento, Antonella

Lisario, una joven muda a causa de una mala práctica médica, es esposada a un anciano de aspecto repulsivo, y luego de intentar suicidarse, cae víctima de la obsesión del joven médico que la cura.

Mi lista de deseos

Spielman, Lori Nelson.

Sally parece tenerlo todo, un lucrativo trabajo, un espacioso hogar y un atractivo novio, hasta que recibe una herencia con la condición de cumplir la lista de sus deseos.

La mujer de mis sueños

Doria, Luz María

La experta autora con más de treinta años de experiencia en los medios de comunicación comparte su exitosa historia y explica los secretos de famosos y triunfadores para lograr el éxito.

Una mujer verdadera

Gómez-Bassols, Isabel.

La destacada autora traza el progreso y la importancia de la mujer a través de diferentes épocas y la invita reclamar su identidad y utilizar su fortaleza interior para transformar su vida.

Sinfonía inacabada de ti y de mí

Robinson, Lucy

Sally regresa a Londres y está decidida a dedicarse a su carrera artística, hasta que se encuentra con el hombre que creía haber dejado y olvidado en Nueva York.

Soy saludable

Yorde, Sama.

“Transforma tu cuerpo y tu vida sin ansiedad ni obsesiones.”

Algunas de las obras también pueden estar disponibles en diferentes formatos. Para más información, sírvase comunicarse con el bibliotecario de su biblioteca local. Para información sobre eventos, favor de visitar: Eventos en Español. Más Blog en Español. Síganos por ¡Twitter! 

Welcome to our Fourth Annual Literary March Madness (#LiteraryMarchMadness)! This is a bracket-style tournament like the NCAA March Madness basketball tournament, but with a literary twist: our competition pits beloved books against each other and the winner is decided by you! Sixteen books or series will enter, only one can be crowned this year's crowd favorite. 

How to vote:

Check in daily at 12PM on our Twitter (@NYPL) and here to vote in the Twitter poll. You'll have 24 hours to make your pick, and you can see live results below.

Follow @nypl

#LiteraryMarchMadness is back! Match 1: Sci-Fi! Octavia E. Butler's Kindred vs. Ted Chiang's Stories of Your Life. https://t.co/g6BGXytuEi

— NY Public Library (@nypl) March 16, 2017

Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter was first published in 1850. Since then it's seen many adaptations, including the teen comedy Easy A. In Easy A, a high school student named Olive Pendergast can't stop lying for the benefit of fellow geeks and to earn gift cards, a very liberal adaptation indeed. To commemorate the long life and legacy of The Scarlet Letter, we're matching moments from Easy A to their counterparts in The Scarlet Letter.


via stalepopcornau.blogspot.com

Easy A Speak: "Remember how I told you Google Earth couldn't find me if I was dressed up as a ten-storey building? The next day, it could find me if I was dressed as a crack on a sidewalk."
19th Century Translation: " She perchance underwent an agony from every footstep of those that thronged to see her, as if her heart had been flung into the street for them all to spurn and trample upon."


via Bustle.com

Easy A Speak: "I'm really, really sorry."
19th Century Translation: "I have greatly wronged thee," murmured Hester.


via vignette2

Easy A Speak: "I think my complete lack of allure already kind of shot that horse in the face."
19th Century Translation: "The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude!"


via VH1

Easy A Speak: "Judy Blume should've prepared me for that."
19th Century Translation: "Little accustomed, in her long seclusion from society, to measure her ideas of right and wrong by any standard external to herself, Hester saw—or seemed to see—that... the links that united her to the rest of humankind—links of flowers, or silk, or gold, or whatever the material—had all been broken. Here was the iron link of mutual crime, which neither he nor she could break."


via Favim

Easy A Speak: "A woman must needs follow her own fancy touching the adornment of her person. The letter is gaily embroidered, and shows right bravely on your bosom!"
19th Century Translation: "I'm accessorizing."


via Screenprism

Easy A Speak: "We made our choices and we just have to let it ride."
19th Century Translation: "Thou hast kept the secret of thy paramour. Keep, likewise, mine! There are none in this land that know me. Breathe not to any human soul."


via Coolspotters
 

Subscribe on iTunes.

Whether evoking the tragicomic and surreal for which his short stories first gained acclaim, or awakening the keen love of family in 2015’s The Seven Good Years, Etgar Keret mines the human experience for all of its farce and dignity. The Israeli author recently came by the Library’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Building to speak with Paul Holdengräber, the director of LIVE from the NYPL. The conversation began on Keret’s lost luggage and the two unexpected donations, of a coat and boxer shorts, that followed. From there it turned one strange corner after the next, from Kafka to drug dealers, technophobia, bedtime stories with drunks and prostitutes, and Keret’s anxieties about the ethics of writing fiction.

How to listen to The New York Public Library Podcast
Subscribing to The NYPL Podcast on your mobile device is the easiest way to make sure you never miss an episode. Episodes will automatically download to your device, and be ready for listening every Tuesday morning.

On your iPhone or iPad:
Open the purple “Podcasts” app that’s preloaded on your phone. If you’re reading this on your device, tap this link to go straight to the show and click “Subscribe.” You can also tap the magnifying glass in the app and search for “The New York Public Library Podcast.”

On your Android phone or tablet:
Open the orange “Play Music” app that’s preloaded on your device. If you’re reading this on your device, tap this link to go straight to the show and click “Subscribe.” You can also tap the magnifying glass icon and search for “The New York Public Library Podcast.” 

Or if you have another preferred podcast player, you can find “The New York Public Library Podcast” there. (Here’s the RSS feed.)

From a desktop or laptop:
Click the “play” button above to start the show. Make sure to keep that window open on your browser if you’re doing other things, or else the audio will stop. You can always find the latest episode at nypl.org/podcast.

Fashion Career Expo on Thursday, March 23, 2017, 10 am - 3 pm at Metropolitan Pavilion, 110 West 19th St., New York, NY 10011.  Must have two years of fashion industry experience.  Interview for a wide variety of exciting jobs for retail management, designers, buyers, merchandisers, planners, sales and much more.

Cypress Hills is offering free CDL training with job placement assistance in the para-transit sector.  Must be between the ages of 21- 30 with a clean NYS driver's license for 3 years minimum and available for flexible hours.  For more information call 718 - 676- 1544 X 106.

Direct Care Professional Training (DPT) is a 100-hour training program that provides students with the knowledge, practical skills , and required certifications to work with children and adults who are developmentally disabled.  This two-month, full-time training program will be held at the New York City College of Technology.

Brooklyn Networks is recruiting for its free six-week training program that helps unemployed and underemployed individuals access careers in low-voltage cabling.  The course  prepares graduates to obtain the industry-recognized BICSI credential, followed by work in fields like voice and datacabling, security system installation, broadcast cabling, and A/V system installation.  For information call 718-237-2017 X 149.

TCI College Office of Military and Veteran Services is holding a Veterans fair on Campus on March 28, 2017 from 11 am - 2 pm at 320 West 31 st Street, New York, NY 10001, room 310. The fair will be open to all military and veterans on the New York City/Metro Area.  It is recommended that all service members who attend bring a updated copy of their resume and DD Form 214.

The Cooper Union Retraining Program for Immigrant Engineers @ Camba is recruiting for the Spring 2017 Semester.  Classes are held in evenings and weekends for this 3 month training.  Courses are free for those who qualify.  Job placement assistance provided to all graduates.

New York City is a culinary capital with large numbers of restaurants, hotels, cafeterias and gourmet food markets.  Cooks and chefs work in all of these places.The New York City Labor Market Information Service, Center for Urban Research (CUNY) released Career Map for Cooks and Chefs in December 2014. This Career Map explores actual career progressions of people 5 to 10 years and 10  to 15 years after getting their start in professional cooking.  You can also learn What are the Numbers Behind it?

The NYCHA Resident Training Academy (NRTA) offers Janitorial  and Construction training tracks.  Recruitment is now open for Construction Training and Janitorial Training. Please call 718-289-8100.

Career Development workshop on Monday, March 20, 2017, 12:30 - 2:30 pm, at Flushing Workforce 1 Career Center, 138-60 Barclay Ave.  2nd Floor, Flushing, NY 11355 for all interested job seekers and dislocated workers to expand their view of qualities that they offer potential employers.

Basic Resume Writing  workshop on Wednesday, March 22, 2017, 1:30 - 3 pm at Brooklyn Workforce 1 Career Center, 250 Schermerhorn  Street,  Brooklyn, NY 11201.  Participants will learn the purpose of a resume, chronological and combination resumes and select the appropriate type for their specific needs.

Bright Horizons will present a recruitment on Thursday, March 23, 2017, 11 am - 2 pm for Assistant Teacher (3 F/T &  P/T openings), Infant-Toddler Teacher (3 F/T & P/T openings), Preschool Teacher (3 F/T & P/T openings) at NYS Department of Labor - Workforce 1 Career Center, 250 Schermerhorn Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201.  For information please call Ms. Diaz 718-613-3696.

Spanish Speaking Resume Writing  workshop on Thursday, March 23, 2017, 12:30 - 2:30 pm. at Flushing Workforce 1 Career Center, 138-60 Barclay Avenue, 2nd Floor, Flushing, NY 11355.  All interested jobseekers will learn to organize, revise and update resumes.     

Job Postings at New York City Workforce 1.  

Apprenticeship Opportunities in New York City.

Brooklyn Community  Board 14: Available jobs

The New York City Employment and Training Coalition (NYCE&TC) is an association of 200 community-based organizations, educational institutions, and labor unions that annually provide job training and employment services to over 750,000 New Yorkers, including welfare recipients, unemployed workers, low-wage workers, at-risk youth, the formerly incarcerated, immigrants and the mentally and physically disabled. View NYCE&TC Job Listings.

Digital NYC is the official online hub of the New York City startup and technology ecosystem, bringing together every company, startup, investor, event, job, class, blog, video, workplace, accelerator, incubator, resource, and organization in the five boroughs. Search jobs by category on this site.

St. Nicks Alliance Workforce Development provides Free Job Training and Educational Programs in Environmental Response and Remediation Tec (ERRT). Commercial Driver's License, Pest Control Technician Training (PCT), Employment Search and Prep Training and Job Placement, Earn Benefits and Career Path Center. For information and assistance, please visit St. Nicks Alliance Workforce Development or call 718-302-2057 ext. 202.

Brooklyn Workforce Innovations helps jobless and working poor New Yorkers establish careers in sectors that offer good wages and opportunities for advancement. Currently, BWI offers free job training programs in four industries: commercial driving, telecommunications cable installation, TV and film production, and skilled woodworking.

CMP (formerly Chinatown Manpower Project) in lower Manhattan is now recruiting for a free training in Quickbooks, Basic Accounting, and Excel. This training is open to anyone who is receiving food stamps but no cash assistance. Class runs for eight weeks, followed by one-on-one meetings with a job developer. CMP also provides Free Home Health Aide Training for bilingual English/Cantonese speakers who are receiving food stamps but no cash assistance. Training runs Mondays through Fridays for six weeks and includes test prep and taking the HHA certification exam. Students learn about direct care techniques such as taking vital signs and assisting with personal hygiene and nutrition. For more information for the above two training programs, email: info@cmpny.org, call 212-571-1690, or visit. CMP also provides tuition-based healthcare and business trainings free to students who are entitled to ACCESS funding.

Nontraditional Employment for Women (NEW) trains women and places them in careers in the skilled construction, utility, and maintenance trades. It helps women achieve economic independence and a secure future. For information call 212-627-6252 or register online.

Grace Institute provides tuition-free, practical job training in a supportive learning community for underserved New York area women of all ages and from many different backgrounds. For information call 212-832-7605.

Please note this page will be revised when more recruitment events for the week of March 19 become available.

Aiming to celebrate the best of contemporary French-language literature, Albertine, the bookshop of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, has revealed the shortlist for the inaugural Albertine Prize, an annual award honoring the author and the translator of one Francophone novel published in the U.S. over the past year.

Reflecting the rich diversity of modern French fiction, the ten nominated works range from Ladivine, Marie NDiaye's powerful account of four generations of women haunted by their country of origin, to Eve Out of Her Ruins, Ananda Devi's poetic snapshot of life on the increasingly violent island of Mauritius, to Infidels, Abdellah Taïa's tale of a Moroccan boy's path to jihad. The nominated titles have been chosen by the Albertine booksellers, along with the Prize's Honorary Chairs, American author and translator Lydia Davis and French literary critic and TV and radio host François Busnel.

To vote for the Albertine Prize, please visit www.albertine.com. The winning title will be selected at an award ceremony on June 6^th at Albertine.

This year’s finalists and their works are:

Couple Mechanics(Moment d'un couple) by Nelly Alard (Other Press (US), Gallimard (Fr.))

At once sexy and feminist, Couple Mechanics tells the story of a woman who decides to fight for her marriage after her husband confesses to an affair with a noted politician. With intelligence, honesty, and humor, the novel examines the forces at work in a marriage, the effects of the inevitable ebb and flow of desire, and the difficulty of being a man today. The book won the Prix Interallié in 2013, making Alard the first woman to win the prestigious award in more than 20 years.

Constellation(Constellation) by Adrien Bosc (Other Press (US), Stock (Fr.))

This best-selling debut novel from one of France’s most exciting young writers is based on the true story of the 1949 disappearance of Air France’s Constellation, a new plane launched by Howard Hughes, and its famous passengers. Tying together the destinies of boxer and fiancé of Edith Piaf Marcel Cerdan, a musical prodigy, and others, the novel gives these thirty-eight men and women a new life by imagining their long-forgotten story.

The Heart (Réparer les vivants) by Maylis De Kerangal (MacMillan Publishers (US), Verticales (Fr.))

The Heart takes place over the 24 hours surrounding a fatal car crash and the subsequent heart transplant as life is taken from a young man and given to a dying woman. As stylistically audacious as it is emotionally explosive, the book examines the deepest emotions of everyone involved--grieving parents, doctors and nurses--as they navigate decisions of life and death. The book won the 2014 Grand Prix RTL-Lire and the Student Choice Novel of the Year from Prix France Culture/Télérama.

Eve Out of Her Ruins(Ève de Ses Décombres) by Ananda Devi (Deep Vellum Publishing (US), Gallimard (Fr.))

With brutal honesty and poetic urgency, Ananda Devi relates the tale of four young Mauritians trapped in their country’s endless cycle of fear and violence: Eve, whose body is her only source of power; Savita, Eve’s best friend; Saadiq, a gifted would-be poet in love with Eve; and Clélio, a belligerent rebel waiting for his brother to send for him from France.

The Little Communist Who Never Smiled(La Petite Communiste qui ne souriait jamais) by (Lola Lafon Seven Stories Press (US), Actes Sud (Fr.))

Lola Lafon's award-winning novel offers a fictionalized account of iconic gymnast Nadia Comaneci’s life, from her rural Romanian childhood to her unprecedented perfect score in the 1976 Olympics and to her 1989 defection to the U.S. The book re-imagines a childhood in the spotlight of history, a woman adored by young girls in the West and appropriated as a political emblem in Communist Romania.

Suite for Barbara Loden(Supplément à la vie de Barbara Loden) by Nathalie Léger (Dorothy, a publishing project (US), P.O.L (Fr.))

Moving between fact and speculation, film criticism and anecdote, Suite for Barbara Loden came out of Nathalie Léger's obsessive investigation into the mysteries of Wanda, the only film American actress Barbara Loden ever wrote and directed. The product of a journey across continents, into archives, and through mining towns of Pennsylvania, the book is a stunning meditation on how we come to truth not through facts alone, but through acts of the imagination.

Ladivine(Ladivine) by Marie NDiaye (Knopf (US), Gallimard (Fr.))

Malinka’s pale beauty helped her rise above her dark-skinned mother’s life of servitude. Ladivine tells the story of Malinka, whose pale beauty helps her to rise above her dark-skinned mother’s life of servitude. The book follows her through years of living a lie, leading up to a shockingly violent act that leaves her own daughter yearning to understand who her mother really was.

Infidels (Infidèles) by Abdellah Taïa (Seven Stories Press (US), Le Seuil (Fr.))

Set in Morocco, Infidels follows the life of Jallal, the son of a prostitute witch doctor, fresh out of boyhood and on the path to Jihad. Filled with a cast of supporting characters whose dreams unravel, the book is structured as a series of monologues, an emotionally relentless mix of confession, shouting match, and secret longing.

Naked (Nue) by Jean-Philippe Toussaint (Dalkey Archive (US), Éditions de Minuit (Fr.))

Naked is Jean-Philippe Toussaint's fourth and final novel about one of the most fully realized female characters of contemporary fiction, the haute couturière Marie Madeleine Marguerite de Montalte. With his customary nuanced reflection and nimble wit, Toussaint continues to follow Marie’s relationship with his unnamed narrator, navigating through jealousy and comedy, irony and tenderness, and the meticulous accretion of details that engross and distract us even as life’s larger changes shift the assumptions by which we live.

Bardo or Not Bardo(Bardo or Not Bardo) by Antoine Volodine (Open Letter Books (US), Le Seuil (Fr.))

One of the funniest installments in Antoine Volodine's acclaimed post-apocalyptic series, Bardo or Not Bardo consists of seven vignettes set in a universe of failed revolutions, radical shamanism, and off-kilter nomenclature. In each one, a newly dead character bungles his way through the Tibetan afterlife, or Bardo, failing to achieve enlightenment, while the living make a similar mess of things.

Have trouble reading standard print? Many of these titles are available in formats for patrons with print disabilities.

Staff picks are chosen by NYPL staff members and are not intended to be comprehensive lists. We'd love to hear your ideas too, so leave a comment and tell us what you’d recommend. And check out our Staff Picks browse tool for more recommendations!

During the week, it can be tough to stay on top of everything. On Fridays, though, we suggest kicking back to catch up on all the delightful literary reading the internet has to offer. Don’t have the time to hunt for good reads? Never fear. We've rounded up the best bookish reading of the week for you.

We Read...

Books exploring the refugee experience, all about the ponderings of Rebecca Solnit, and children's books featuring families of color. What if these classic books had been written after the invention of telephones? On The Librarian Is In, we discuss how libraries help immigrants and underserved communities. If you haven't read any Toni Morrison, we have a guide to getting started. Librarians in Seattle are fighting fake news. Ever thought about what would happen if #BlackLivesMatter and Frankenstein met? Victor LaValle has. Brush up on the Beats. Or, if nonfiction is more your style, check out these awesome activist memoirs. We heart feminist YA.  What's so special about Pi anyway? Do apply for the Fordham-NYPL Research Fellowships in Jewish Studies by April 30. Don't miss the history of the amazing women who made cloth book bindings!

Stereogranimator Friday Feels:

GIF made with the NYPL Labs Stereogranimator

TGIF:

No need to get up! Join our librarians from the home, office, playground — wherever you have internet access — for book recs on Twitter by following our handle @NYPLrecommends from 10 AM to 11 AM every Friday. This week, we're taking a break, but you can check NYPL Recommends any time for more suggestions. ​

Hungry for a new book? Tell us one you like and we'll recommend another, until 11AM EST. #FridayReadspic.twitter.com/wfBsyc1fA5

— NYPL Recommends (@NYPLRecommends) March 10, 2017

@vasumalhotra200 Another good one set in a struggling record store - TELEGRAPH AVENUE by Michael Chabon

— NYPL Recommends (@NYPLRecommends) March 10, 2017

What did you read?

If you read something fantastic this week, share with our community of readers in the comment section below.