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Prompt to Page with Robin LaMer Rahija

A JCPL librarian interviews published writers about their favorite writing prompts—exercises that can help inspire, focus, and improve your creative writing. Whether you’re a beginner or a pro, a novelist, essayist, or poet, you’ll find ideas and advice to motivate you to keep writing. 

Brought to you in partnership with the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning.

Listen to Episode 31

If you're a writer who works another job to make a living, poet Robin LaMer Rahija has some advice for you. "I think ideas and thoughts and little tiny chunks of motivation come to all of us throughout the day," she says. "Just stop and write them down and save them for later. And get in the habit of not ignoring that impulse toward a creative act."

Robin says her favorite writing prompt "feels like a dare" and is especially helpful "when you want to do something new and crazy." Up for a challenge? Listen below!

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Get Outdoors with a Good Book

Books & Bites Podcast, Ep. 88

JCPL librarians bring you book recommendations and discuss the bites and beverages to pair with them.

On this episode, we discuss books set in or about the outdoors, one of the prompts on the Winter-Spring 2024 Books & Bites Bingo reading challenge. We recommend a memoir by a teenage naturalist and environmental activist; a popular YA dystopian nove; and a horror novel set in Rockcastle County, Kentucky. Listen below!

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Prompt to Page with JC McPherson

Each month, we interview a published writer who shares their favorite writing prompt. Whether you’re just getting started or have written for years, you’ll find ideas and advice to inspire you and help you become a better writer.

Prompt to Page is brought to you in partnership with the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning.

Listen to Episode 30

Author and arts administrator JC McPherson is also a trained master electrician who approaches poetry with a troubleshooting mindset. He says that "writing a poem is no different than wiring up a new room, like putting new lights in the outlets. And it's a process."

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Books for Women’s History Month

Books & Bites Podcast, Ep. 87

JCPL librarians bring you book recommendations and discuss the bites and beverages to pair with them.

On this episode, we celebrate Women's History Month with fiction and nonfiction about women's history, one of the prompts on the Winter-Spring 2024 Books & Bites Bingo reading challenge. From a graphic novel about Soviet women fighter pilots to a page-turning book about the evolution of female bodies, we'll show you that there's nothing dull about women's history. Listen below to find out more about our selections!

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Prompt to Page with Tracee de Hahn

Each month, we interview a published writer who shares their favorite writing prompt. Whether you’re just getting started or have written for years, you’ll find ideas and advice to inspire you and help you become a better writer.

Prompt to Page is brought to you in partnership with the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning.

Listen to Episode 29

On this episode of the Prompt to Page podcast, we talk to Tracee de Hahn, author of the Agnes Luthi mystery series and coordinator of the Carnegie Center's Author Academy.

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Explore Black History with Black Life in America

Celebrate Black History Month by learning more about African American lives and history.

Newspapers and other primary source documents are a great way to supplement book research. Reading directly from these sources can help you understand more about the everyday experiences of Black people.

That's why the library subscribes to Black Life in America, the most comprehensive digital collection of primary source documents related to Black American life. This online resource provides access to more than 19,000 global media outlets, including the largest and richest collection of African American newspapers.

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Prompt to Page with Sean L. Corbin

Each month, we interview a published writer who shares their favorite writing prompt. Whether you’re just getting started or have written for years, you’ll find ideas and advice to inspire you and help you become a better writer.

Prompt to Page is brought to you in partnership with the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning.

Listen to Episode 28

On this episode of Prompt to Page, Sean L. Corbin, the Poetry Gauntlet Coordinator for the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning, discusses his belief that "everything is a prompt."

"If you sit down to write a poem, you don't just pour it out," he says. "Something had to prompt you to do that."

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Learn Something New This Year

On a recent Facebook post, we asked what you'd like to learn this year. A lot, as it turns out, and the library is here for it!

While we have tons of books and in-person classes to help you learn, we also have online resources to help you achieve your learning goals.

Whether you're looking to learn American Sign Language, improve your spreadsheet skills, or explore a new craft, the library has you covered!

more: Learn Something New This Year