KU Today: Metadata Project to Seek Trends, Themes in African-American Literature highlighted HBW’s Black Book Interactive Project, an
NEH-funded collaborative research project that seeks to increase the number of black-authored texts in the study of digital humanities.

Naomi Moyer has released a new print series entitled “Black Women in Canada” recognizing lesser-known heroines in history. She recognizes Black women who have shaped Canadian history, but have been forgotten in today’s history books. Read more about the article at Awe-Inspiring Images Pay Tribute To Canada's Radical Black Feminists.

Dr. Carla D. Hayden was sworn in as the 14th Librarian of Congress, becoming the first African American and first women to hold the position. Read more at New Librarian of Congress Offers a History Lesson in Her Own Right. As a trained librarian, Dr. Hayden’s historic appointment is cause for celebration and marks a new direction for the advancement of the library. The Library of Congress will also host its 16th National Book Festival on September. 24th. Learn more about the festival at Highlights of the 2016 National Book Festival. You can check out book talks from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Colson Whitehead, Annette Gordon-Reed, and many more. 

The longlist for the National Book Awards in Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry and Young People’s Literature were announced. Among the honorees are a number of writers of color including Colson Whitehead for his
Oprah approved The Underground Railroad, Jacqueline Woodson for her first adult novel in twenty years Another Brooklyn, Ibram X. Kendi who will [visit KU in November] to do a book talk and signing for Stamped from the Beginning, Kevin Young for Blue Laws, who will also visit KU to deliver the [Bill Tuttle Distinguished Lecture in American Studies next month], Kwame Alexander for Booked, and Congressman John Lewis with his comic March: Book Three.