The People’s Recorder: A Virtual Discussion about the Federal Writers’ Project in Nebraska (Read More)

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The People’s Recorder podcast launched to acclaim in 2024 and won a Silver Signal Award for History Podcasting and was nominated for an Ambie Award for Best Indie Podcast. This virtual event will build on the discussion started in the Nebraska-based episode, “A Creative Incubator,” further exploring the work and the literary and cultural legacy of the Writers’ Project in Nebraska. Moderated by The People’s Recorder host Chris Haley, the panel discussion will feature writer/co-producer David Taylor, Marilyn Holt (author of Nebraska during the New Deal) and Stephen Cloyd, who recently retired from the Lincoln City Libraries. The event will also feature University of Nebraska-Lincoln professor Timothy Schaffert, who will discuss the Prairie Schooner’s Centennial, and Lincoln City Libraries’ Deb Arenz, who will speak about the collections at the Jane Pope Geske Heritage Room of Nebraska Authors. Watch live on The People’s Recorder YouTube Channel. Part of the WPA, the Federal Writers’ Project provided work for unemployed writers, editors, and other white-collar workers during the height of the Great Depression. The Writers’ Project had a mandate to produce state and city travel guides, and interview everyday citizens. It was perhaps the largest and most chaotic publishing venture in American history, and yet it produced over 200 publications, and its flagship travel guide series remains important for its firsthand views of life in America. The Nebraska guide was a notable success and state bestseller. This moderated discussion with a panel of experts will focus on that guidebook and the work of the staff of the Nebraska Writers’ Project and how that speaks to Nebraskans today. It will focus on the varied experiences of three Nebraskans: Rudolph Umland, a hardscrabble farmer turned editor, Weldon Kees, a hardware businessman’s son turned poet, and Ruby Wilson, a former nurse who found a passion in first-person history. The event will also shine a spotlight on University of Nebraska-Lincoln professor and founder of Prairie Schooner, Lowry Wimberly, whose influence was critical to the Project’s success. This event is being produced in partnership with Lincoln City Libraries and Prairie Schooner with support from Humanities Nebraska.

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One Book One Lincoln: An Evening with Amanda Peters (Read More)

Amanda Peters, the award-winning author of "The Berry Pickers," this year’s One Book One Lincoln selection, will talk about her debut novel, which has captivated readers with its powerful themes of family, resilience, and identity. While this event is free, registration is encouraged. For more information, visit the Lincoln Public Libraries event page. About the book: July 1962. Following in the tradition of Indigenous workers from Nova Scotia, a Mi’kmaq family arrives in Maine to pick blueberries for the summer. Weeks later, four-year-old Ruthie, the family’s youngest child, vanishes. She is last seen by her six-year-old brother, Joe, sitting on a favorite rock at the edge of a berry field. Joe will remain distraught by his sister’s disappearance for years to come. In Maine, a young girl named Norma grows up as the only child of an affluent family. Her father is emotionally distant, her mother frustratingly overprotective. Norma is often troubled by recurring dreams and visions that seem more like memories than imagination. As she grows older, Norma slowly comes to realize there is something her parents aren’t telling her. Unwilling to abandon her intuition, she will spend decades trying to uncover this family secret. About the author: AMANDA PETERS is a writer of Mi’kmaq and settler ancestry. Her debut novel, The Berry Pickers, was the winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and the 2023 Barnes & Noble Discover Prize, and was a finalist for the Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize and the Amazon First Novel Award. Peters is a graduate of the master of fine arts program at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and has a certificate in creative writing from the University of Toronto. She lives and writes in the Annapolis Valley Nova Scotia where she is an Associate Professor in English and Theatre at Acadia University.

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