Celebrating Women in Media and Literature

This month is Women's History Month. Student workers in the library-Jane, John, Louise, Joy, Valerie, Katie, Kym-have created two new displays to highlight women and their achievements in the fields of media and literature.

The wall display features twelve women who have had and continue to have a significant impact on these two areas. Women in media include: Molly Ivins, Barbara Walters, Maureen Dowd, Jane Pauley, Diane Sawyer, and Katharine Graham. Women in literature include: Adrienne Rich, Jane Austen, Emily Dickinson, Flannery O'Connor, Alice Walker, and Toni Morrison. Accomplished and award-winning, these women represent the best in their perspective fields.

The Washington Post publisher, Katharine Graham, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1998 for her autobiography, Personal History. Eudora Welty won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973 for fiction, The Optimist's Daughter; Toni Morrison won the Pulitzer Prize for Beloved in 1988; the Pulitzer Prize was also awarded to only female New York Times op-ed columist, Maureen Dowd in 1999 for her commentaries on the Clinton administration, and Alice Walker won the Pulitzer Prize for The Color Purple in 1983. Barbara Walters, co-host and executive producer of The View, helped pave the way for women in broadcasting by shattering the glass ceiling to become the first female co-anchor on the evening news and garnering interviews with world political leaders such as Anwar Sadat, Fidel Castro, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Bagin, and every United States President and First Lady since Richard M. Nixon. The wall display gives a brief biography and photograph of each of these women.

The second display in the library houses books by many of the featured women such The Bell Jar, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Sula, Beloved, and The Letters of Emily Dickinson. The display also features quotes and pictures of our featured women in media and literature.

Thanks to all the student staff who made the displays looks so good.

The answer to the last trivia question is Henry VIII, King of England.

Trivia Question: Who was the first woman astronaut and also the youngest person to orbit the earth?

When you're in the library, take time to check out the March displays.