Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System Proudly Joins the Pianos for Peace 2016 Music Festival for Peace

The Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System is pleased to be participating in one of the largest public art display projects in the city; the 2016 Music Festival for Peace. Pianos For Peace, a non-profit organization founded by composer and pianist Malek Jandali to transform communities and build peace through music and education, is launching its first annual outdoor festival and community arts program with a public unveiling of all 29 painted pianos on Saturday, September 3^rd throughout metro Atlanta. Visitors of the Central Library, located at One Margaret Mitchell Square in downtown Atlanta, will have the opportunity to see, play and enjoy one of the beautifully hand painted pianos.  

Dr. Gabriel Morley, Director of Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System shared “People talk and talk and talk about peace, but not many people do anything about it. Malek Jandali, however, is doing something about it. Malek is combining two of the most important elements of the human condition – music and art –  to build a lyrical forcefield of peace around the City of Atlanta. Here’s a guy who is so committed to the idea of a peaceful society, he is using his art, in this case music, to bring people together.  Malek Jandali is combining his talent to bring about a change that is truly from the heart. I applaud his commitment to ensuring that ‘Peace Wins’ and that love can conquer all of our society’s challenges. The library is pleased to do its part to support the upcoming Pianos for Peace Festival,” Morley said. “I want to invite everyone in the city to stop by the library and take their turn at our festival piano in order to ensure that peace wins.”

Bring your friends and family for a visit to Central Library and make memories by being a part of this Music Festival for Peace. The Pianos for Peace exhibit runs through September 18^th.

Branch Group Administrator Teryn Gilliam had the great pleasure meeting the internationally acclaimed pianist and composer Malek Jandali. He's the Founder and CEO of Pianos for Peace. He performed with local filmmaker Ameer Muhammad for a concert on the front terrace of the library.

Branch Group Administrator Teryn Gilliam shows off her skills and entertained on lookers by playing her 7^th grade recital piece and receiving a standing ovation.

Best Buy Teen Tech Centers and Geek Squad Academy camps reach youth where they live

Best Buy Teen Tech Centers and Geek Squad Academy camps reach youth where they live.

This spring, the Best Buy Teen Tech Center network will achieve a milestone of a dozen urban locations when four new centers begin offering year-round after-school programming for teens.  And from May through September, more than 6,000 students will attend Geek Squad Academy (GSA) free, two-day summer camp sessions in communities around the country.  Teen Tech Center and GSA curriculum encourages teens to explore technology through immersive training in digital music and film production, digital photography, coding, 3D design, robotics and more. 

Following an open grant submission process, Best Buy has selected the Atlanta Fulton Public Library System in Atlanta, the Juanita J. Craft Recreation Center in Dallas, the P.F. Bresee Foundation in Los Angeles and Alternatives in Action in Oakland as partners for four new Best Buy Teen Tech Centers.  Opening this spring, the new centers join existing centers in Chicago; Denver; Jersey City, N.J.; Miami; Minneapolis; San Antonio; Seattle; and Washington, D.C. 

Geek Squad Academy will kick off in Atlanta in May and include a total of 30 camps.  Since its inception in 2006, Geek Squad Academy has served more than 25,000 teens through its summer camp program.  The full 2016 summer camp schedule will be announced in April.

Give A Gift That Gives Back!

Books are only the beginning! Our libraries are so much more than books! They are places where people of all ages gather to read, learn, connect and explore. The Atlanta-Fulton Public Library Foundation is dedicated to helping our libraries serve as cultural and intellectual centers that enrich the community and empower residents with tools for life-long learning.                                                   Your tax-deductible gifts are needed more than ever to keep our libraries dynamic, stimulating and relevant in today's world. No matter what the amount, donations help make more opportunities possible for learning, making connections and enriching lives.  Click here to make a gift Your library will thank you for it!

Gratefully,    John R. Thomas  Chairman

Atlanta-Fulton Public Library Foundation One Margaret Mitchell Square Atlanta, GA 30303

Poetic Voices of the Muslim World at the Central Library

“Wazir Khan Mosque in Reflection,”painting by Samina Quraeshi–Courtesy of Samina Quraeshi

Please join us this fall from September 8 through November when the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System’s Central Library will take visitors on a voyage of discovery to explore the rich tapestry of Muslim poetry through Poetic Voices of the Muslim World, a travelling exhibit accompanied by poetry readings and musical performances.  

The Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System has partnered with the Islamic Speakers Bureau of Atlanta to provide complementary programming each Tuesday at noon, and some Saturdays at noon on topics such as Islamic art, architecture and calligraphy, music, film making, and children’s story time. Four special programs occur on Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m. between October 27 and November 17.

The first floor of the Central Library will have a display of lushly-illustrated, vibrant panels featuring photography and calligraphic masterworks, as well as the work of poets ranging from traditional to contemporary and across the globe. Poetic traditions from four major language areas — Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Urdu —introduce poetry from Asia, Africa and diaspora communities in Europe and the United States. 

Poetic Voices of the Muslim World is presented by Poets House and City Lore, in partnership with the American Library Association and the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System. Funded by the Bridging Cultures Program of the National Endowment for the Humanities:  Exploring the Human Endeavor. Additional support was provided by the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art. Local programming and support developed and provided by the Islamic Speakers Bureau of Atlanta.

All programs are free and open to the public. See below for a full list of programs related to Poetic Voices and, for more information visit our website or call 404-730-1896. All programs listed below will be held at the Central Library, One Margaret Mitchell Square, Atlanta 30303.

Programming Information:

Poetic Voices of the Muslim World: Islamic Art

Tuesday, September 8. 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Dr. Sandra Bird, Professor of Art Education at Kennesaw State University, presents an introduction to Islamic Art.

Poetic Voices of the Muslim World: Islamic Art

Tuesday, September 22. 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Multimedia artist Kelly Izdihar Crosby delves into the varied artistic styles of the Islamic world.

Poetic Voices of the Muslim World: Children’s Story Time

Saturday, September 26. 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Join us as Jelena presents stories from across the Muslim world.

Central Library, a part of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System

One Margaret Mitchell Square, Atlanta 30303
For information call 404.730.1896

Poetic Voices of the Muslim World: The Power of Moving Images

Tuesday, September 29. 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Join us as Ameer Muhammad presents a program on film, film making and shooting with different types of cameras.

Poetic Voices of the Muslim World: Islamic Architecture

Saturday, October 3. 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Join us as Amin Tomeh presents a program on the beautiful architecture of the Islamic world.

Poetic Voices of the Muslim World: Rap with Ameer

Tuesday, October 6. 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Join us as Ameer Muhammad discusses rap lyrics and the history of Muslim influence on rap.

Poetic Voices of the Muslim World: Arabic Language and Calligraphy

Saturday, October 20. 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Come and learn about this beautiful language and art and get your name written in Arabic.

Poetic Voices of the Muslim World: Children’s Story Time

Saturday, October 24. 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Join us as Jelena returns with more stories from across the Muslim world.

Poetic Voices of the Muslim World: Islamic Painting and Calligraphy

Tuesday, October 27. 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Multimedia artist Kelly Izdihar Crosby demonstrates the beautiful arts of painting and calligraphy.

Central Library, a part of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System

One Margaret Mitchell Square, Atlanta 30303
For information call 404.730.1896

Poetic Voices of the Muslim World: Worlds of the Ghazal

Tuesday, October 27. 5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Dr. Syed Akbar Hyder presents a discussion and readings of Ghazal. Then singer Kiran Ahluwalia and accompanist Rez Abbasi performs a contemporary styling of this timeless poetic form.

Poetic Voices of the Muslim World: The Traveling Word: A West African Epic

Tuesday, November 3. 5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Poet and storyteller Kewulay Kamara and West African Jali musicians tell the story of preserving an ancient oral epic after Sierra Leone's Civil War.

Poetic Voices of the Muslim World: Islam and the Blues

Tuesday, November 10. 5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Dr. Sylviane A. Diouf of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library, presents a discussion of the Islamic origins of the Blues.

Poetic Voices of the Muslim World: Poetry Reading and Discussion

Tuesday November 17. 5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Poet and author Kazim Ali presents readings of his poems, a view from the vantage point of a Muslim and an American.

Poetic Voices of the Muslim World: Children’s Story Time

Saturday, November 21. 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Join us as Jelena returns with more stories from across the Muslim World.

Library Volunteers Transition To New Roles!

Library volunteers assist throughout the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System with clerical duties, returning items to the shelves and tutoring. Over 500 volunteers a month help strengthen our resources available to patrons, but recently volunteers have impacted our system in other ways. Former Ocee Library teen volunteer, Josh Seides, founded the national nonprofit Technocademy when he was in the 9th grade! Recently he partnered with assistant branch manager Karen Kennedy at the Ocee Library to host the first session of their new segment called CodeKids to teach digital literacy. 

Technocademy has already reached over 150,000 seniors and is excited about expanding their work to help children. Two other former Ocee teen volunteers joined for the first of six computer programming classes for elementary and middle school kids. Seides served as a library volunteer from 2010-2013, Alice Tang served in 2011-2012 and Manu Poruthoor served in 2010-2011, but they are serving the library again to help teach 30 kids ranging from 3rd grade to 9th grade computer coding. Technocademy’s  highly skilled team will be providing hands-on Microsoft Office training for teens and adults this summer in the evening. Ocee staff are delighted to expand the Microsoft Office training sessions to reach additional teen and adult students seeking to enhance their digital literacy skills.

Other volunteers have transitioned to new roles as new part-time staff members. Sohna Harzeez started volunteering in 2014 at the East Atlanta Branch and is now working at the Central Library. Harzeez said, “I am able to see more of the inner workings of the library and am already making things easier for the Librarians.” Stephanie Bottom served as a volunteer at the Central Library and Hapeville Branch, but is now employed again as a part-time Library Associate with the Adamsville/Collier Heights Branch. Ellen Baxter is a library student who started volunteering at the Roswell Branch and transitioned into an internship with Collections Management at the Central Library before starting part-time back at the Roswell Branch. Baxter said, 

I am thrilled to be back in the library as an employee.  Volunteering, which I mainly did before being hired in 2011 and then after being laid off in 2014, has kept me connected to the library and to my love of literacy.  I love having a job where someone's day can be changed in an instant by obtaining a library card.  Working again within the library system also enhances my graduate studies in Library and Information Science and gives me more experience to bring to my studies and vice versa.

Are you interested in joining our wonderful group of volunteers? Visit the website to fill out an application and get started!

Hispanic Heritage Film Festival

During the last film of the Hispanic Heritage Film Fest the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System was honored by the visit of a special guest! Miguel Aleman Urteaga, Consul General of Peru was in attendance and was accompanied by Carlos Castillo Morales, who is the Appointed Consul of Peru here in Atlanta.

This is the second time that Carlos Castillo Morales has taken active participation in the Hispanic Heritage Film Fest, which is held at Central Library each year during Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15 to Oct. 15). Last year he sponsored two films, Soy Andina and Undertow. This year, not only did he bring another film La Prueba, he also invited his boss Mr. Aleman Urteaga to come to present the movie. Mr Castillo is also letting other consuls know of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library’s Hispanic Heritage Film Fest and encouraging them to participate. That is why in early September Jose A. Flores Velasco from the Argentinian consulate in Atlanta came to the library to offer his help.  

This year’s film festival offered the following films: Blanca Nieves (Spain), Chico y Rita (Cuba), Machuca (Argentina), Nine Queens (Argentina) and LaPrueba (Peru). If you missed them, you can check them out at the library and be sure to watch for 2015’s Hispanic Heritage Film Festival! 

June Is Caribbean American Heritage Month!

June is just around the corner and the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System will be celebrating Caribbean American Heritage all month long! Film screenings, programs, author events, book signings, and plenty of other activities are planned for all ages so be sure and check the schedule below and mark your calendars. We'd love to have you celebrate with us!

National Caribbean-American Heritage Month is a time to celebrate and recognize men and women who trace their roots to the Caribbean. Through every chapter of our Nation's history, Caribbean Americans have made our country stronger -- reshaping our politics and reigniting the arts, spurring our movements and answering the call to serve. Caribbean traditions have enriched our own, and woven new threads into our cultural fabric. Again and again, Caribbean immigrants and their descendants have reaffirmed America's promise as a land of opportunity -- a place where no matter who you are or where you come from, you can make it if you try.

                                  ~President Barack Obama; Presidential Proclamation, 2013         

National Caribbean American Heritage Month Meet and Greet and Reception.

Tuesday June 3. 4:00 p.m.

All are invited to get information about the month’s festivities at the Central Library. Learn about the Caribbean Film Festival, Anancy Festival, Caribbean Spelling Bee and Book Signings. Meet representatives from various Caribbean countries and organizations. Refreshments will be served.

Central Library, a part of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System

1 Margaret Mitchell Square, Atlanta 30303

For more information call 404.730.1904

The Caribbean Film Festival 2014

Saturday, June 7. 1:00 p.m.

Join us as we view the films Play, Jankanu play: the Garifuna Wanaragua ritual in Belize and The Boys of Summer from Curacao. Dr. Oliver Greene filmmaker and Professor, will introduce and facilitate a discussion about his film ‘Play, Jankanu play…’; and ‘The Boys of Summer’ documents the exciting journey of the Curacao team to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

The Caribbean Film Festival 2014.

Sunday, June 8. 1:00 p.m.

Join us as we view the films Sara Gomez: Afro-Cuban filmmaker and Womanish Ways,Freedom, Human Rights, and Democracy: the Women’s Suffrage Movement in the Bahamas 1948-1962.

Book Discussion and Signing.

Tuesday, June 10. 4:00 p.m.

Nicki Salcedo will present and discuss her first novel, All Beautiful Things, a story based in Atlanta which delves into the themes of love, race, crime and the search for truth. Copies of the book will be available for purchase, and the author will sign books after the discussion.

Anancy Festival 2014.

Saturday June 14. 1:00 p.m.

Listen to storytellers as they regale the audience with funny and exciting tales of the trickster Anancy. These tales migrated from West Africa to the Caribbean, and have delighted children there for many years.

Caribbean Spelling Bee.

Saturday June 14. 2:30 p.m.

Children and teens up to the eighth grade will take part in this first annual spelling bee focused on Caribbean people, places and things. The list of spelling words will be made available upon request.  Prizes will be awarded for first, second and third places.

The Caribbean Film Festival 2014.

Sunday, June 15. 1:00 p.m.

Join us as we view the films The Merikins from Trinidad and Tobago, and Rum Shop and Chattel House from Barbados.

Book Discussion and Signing.

Tuesday, June 17. 4:00 p.m.

Dr.Noel Erskine, noted Caribbean theologian and Emory University Professor will launch his new book, Plantation Church: How African-American Religion was born in Caribbean Slavery. Copies of the book will be available for purchase, and Dr. Erskine will be available to sign books after the discussion.

Nonprofit Fundraising Help At Your Library!

The Foundation Center’s Atlanta office moved out of the Hurt Building and will reopen in the Georgia Pacific Building on May 6. Until then, Foundation Center staff are conducting classes at branches of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System. As always, all library programs are free and open to the public, and the Foundation Center staff also hold walk-in hours at the Central Library to provide one-on-one assistance to patrons. Those hours are Tuesdays from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. through May 6, 2014, on the second floor of the Central Library.  If all of this isn't enough, check out some of the truly excellent free webinars, as well as live chat assistance, that are also available through Grantspace. Even more Grant Resources are available through our Grant Resources page. For a full list of the programs taking place in the coming months at many of our branch libraries, see the dates and times below. We hope all of our patrons will be interested in taking advantage of these wonderful resources! 

Grantseeking Basics 
Tuesday, April 1 from 12:00 - 1:30 pm
at the Bowen/Bankhead Branch
Learn how to become a better grantseeker! In this class we will cover: what you need to have in place before you seek a grant; the world of grantmakers; the grantseeking process; and available tools and resources. Register >> 

Finding Foundation Support for Your Education
Saturday, April 5 from 4:00 - 5:30 pm
at the Sandy Springs Branch
Learn about tools and techniques for seeking financial support for higher education. Register »

Introduction to Finding Funders
Wednesday, April 9 from 2:00 - 3:30 pm
at Central Library
Get hands-on computer training in using the Foundation Directory Online and other online resources to find matches for your nonprofit’s funding needs. Seating is limited. Register »

How to Start a Nonprofit
Wednesday, April 23 from 4:00 - 6:00 pm
at the East Atlanta Branch
This class will explore the characteristics of effective nonprofits and demonstrate how to transform your idea for a charitable program or service into a fully-fledged organization. Register >>

Proposal Writing Basics
Tuesday, June 10 from 12:00 - 1:30 pm
at the Bowen/Bankhead Branch
Teaches newbies the key components of a proposal to a foundation. Learn how the proposal fits into the overall grantseeking process and provides tips and samples. Register>>

Grantseeking Basics
Wednesday, June 11 from 1:00 - 2:30 pm
at the Martin Luther King Jr. Branch
Learn how to become a better grantseeker! In this class we will cover: what you need to have in place before you seek a grant; the world of grantmakers; the grantseeking process; and available tools and resources. Register>>

Proposal Writing Basics
Tuesday, June 24, 2014 from 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
at the Fairburn Branch 
Teaches newbies the key components of a proposal to a foundation. Learn how the proposal fits into the overall grantseeking process and provides tips.Register>>

How to Start a Nonprofit
Wednesday, June 25, 2014 from 1:00 - 2:30 pm
at the Martin Luther King Jr. Branch
This class will explore the characteristics of effective nonprofits and demonstrate how to transform your idea for a charitable program or service into a fully-fledged organization. Register>>

Proposal Writing Basics
Monday, July 21, 2014 from 6:00 - 8:00 pm
at the East Atlanta Branch 
Teaches newbies the key components of a proposal to a foundation. Learn how the proposal fits into the overall grantseeking process and provides tips and samples. Register>> 

Foundation Center Resources At Your Library

Did You Know?

The Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System is a Funding Information Network partner of the Foundation Center.

Funding Information Network Partners, which used to be called Cooperating Collections, serve as satellite locations, offering the key databases and book resources offered by the Foundation Center. 

The Funding Information Network is a network of libraries, community foundations, and other nonprofit resource centers that can be found across the U.S. and around the world. Network partners provide a core collection of Foundation Center publications and a variety of supplementary materials and services in areas useful to grantseekers. 

The New York-based Foundation Center has helped philanthropists and nonprofits since the 1950s and produces the voluminous Foundation Directory, the premier source of information about funding providers and their grants.

The Foundation Directory, its database version (Foundation Directory Online) and the Foundation Grants to Individuals resources are offered free of charge to patrons in the Ivan Allen, Jr. Reference Department on the 2^nd floor of Central Library during its hours of operation. In addition, the Ivan Allen, Jr. Reference Department maintains a collection of reference books that help nonprofits get started and manage themselves well.  See the Reference Department’s Grants Resources page to get an idea of what is offered.

The Foundation Center's Atlanta location can be found at:

50 Hurt Plaza, Suite 150

Atlanta, GA 30303

(404)880-0094

http://foundationcenter.org/atlanta/

Teen Flash Fiction Contest Winner!

Congratulations to Brianna Herrington, age 14, from Woodward Academy for winning the Teen Center's Flash Fiction Contest at the Central Library! As part of the annual event, Teen Read Week, the Teen Technology and Homework Center located in the Central Library hosted a writing contest with a Flash Fiction Challange! Flash Fiction is fiction that is extremely brief, typically only a few hundred words or fewer in its entirety.Teens had to write an original story, 800 words or less, using the word ‘Library’ as the inspiration. Thank you to all who participated and we hope you enjoy Brianna's story below!

The three girls knelt  and clasped hands. They’d had lives plagued by sadness.  They’d been too different:; too weird.  Still, their loving parents, wanting the best for them  forced them to come to the transfer program at Woodland Academy. Where “unique ability is cultivated into exceptional skill”. True, they had grown here but today they were living a nightmare as  a fellow student burst into the library with a loaded gun.

See each girl had at one time been a prodigy of some sort, now as they kneeled clustered together in a row of the amphitheater, they feared the worst. The end of all they had worked for. Each girl had her own demons, her own struggle, her own internal battle and yet they felt alone even as they clasped hands and cried out in fear to their different G-ds.  As their lives were flashing before their eyes, they each had one thing in common. The tallest girl, dark-skinned with an afro and wide brown eyes prayed softly to the Virgin Guadalupe. She was Hispanic and all through her life she’d been taunted for it.

‘How could a dark girl be Hispanic, she’s obviously a liar?’

‘What made her think she was better then everyone else, why couldn’t she just be protestant ?’

But despite the taunting, the cruelty and her hardships Analise managed to become a piano prodigy. When her fingers flew across the keys she conveyed words yet to be created. Her feelings flowed through her music and into the minds and souls of her audience and everyone that listened to Analise left her performances a changed person.

‘But what made her think she was so special?!’

As yet another shot went off around them, and the girls grasped each others hands more tightly, Piruva as tears rolled down her cheeks cried out to Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma. The Trimurti; the top three gods of her religion; Hinduism. Vocal prodigy, all Piruva had ever wished for was not wealth nor fame but enough quiet so that one day her tiny voice could be heard above the noise. When she’d been moved to her fourth foster home, the obese white girl was forced to raise her voice over her meek spirit. And when she did she brought people to tears with the beauty and sheer power of her voice. Despite the fact that her beliefs and her face did not fit together. She managed to believe in others more than she thought she would ever believe in herself.

‘Who was she to consider herself pretty?’

‘She would never be enough.’

The last but not least and tiniest of the girls, Mira said nothing, the girls let go of each others hands and with one hand she wrote ‘I believe’ over and over again in a notepad that lay open on the floor. She was mute and autistic. The girl did little in school but was required to go. Her mother a short Japanese woman who couldn’t speak much English mumbled her daughter into the local public school; where she thrived. Mira, was talented in so many aspects it was obvious she had been blessed. At the age of two she could write paragraphs with the  vocabulary  resembling a high school students, when she was ten she wrote a novel as intriguing and enticing as Harry Potter. But the power of the pen was just the beginning. It was when Mira first picked up a paint brush that the world stilled. At the humble age of twelve Mira was using colors in ways indescribable.  She did self portraits and mirror images of  landscapes. Her artwork was featured in many museums in hallways where people looked at her work then at Van Gogh's. Mira was an art prodigy and at thirteen that was more then clear.

‘But why couldn’t the funny-eyed Japanese girl talk.’

Because she could paint. Analise could make music and Piruva could sing notes that flew high above mountains and lifted the saddest of spirits, just not her own. But as each girl finally dropped hands they wrote one sentence. One thing they each had in common.

Analise wrote, “Creo.”

Piruva wrote, “मेरा मानना ​​है कि” (I believe).

And Mira continued to write, “I believe, I believe, I believe, I believe.” Because she did.

As the student walked up to the girls they unashamedly cowered in the confines of the library where they’d first read about, expressed and discovered their talents. One last time Analise wrote, “Creo.” Piruva wrote, “ मेरा मानना ​​है कि.”(I believe) And  as the gunman walked up to Mira, for the first time she spoke. “I forgive you.” she said.

Muslim Journeys Theme: American Stories

Muslims have been a part of the history of America since colonial times. American Muslims, like other religious minorities, have shaped and reshaped their own societies and that of the country as a whole.

Reprinted with permission from Azizah Magazine and WOW Publishing Inc.

The community of Muslims throughout American history is so diverse it could not be represented by a single set of books. The five books made available to the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System through the National Endowment for the Humanities Muslim Journeys grant provide a framework for approaching the stories of American Muslims with an eye toward their diversity and their involvement in the larger story of America itself.

Prince Among Slaves by Terry Alford: Abd al-Rahman Ibrahima (1762–1829) was one of tens of thousands of West African Muslims who found himself sold into slavery in antebellum America. Unlike so many others, however, his story was not lost. Alford’s account explains the effect of the transatlantic slave trade on Islamic movements in West Africa, an angle we are not much familiar with in the West.

Prince Among Slaves (PBS documentary): Unity Productions Foundation, an educational non-profit with an interest in interfaith understanding, created a documentary based upon the book of the same name. Attend a screening of this film at the Central Library on July 17 at 2:00 p.m. The film will be followed by a discussion led by Georgia State University scholar Dr.Rashid Naim. 

The Columbia Sourcebook of Muslims in the United States, edited by Edward E. Curtis IV: Focuses on the waves of Muslim immigration to the United States who arrived voluntarily between the 1880s and 1910s from Eastern Europe, South Asia, and the Middle East plus the  turn to Islam among some African Americans in the twentieth century. Includes primary source material from pioneer Mary Juma, missionaries such as Mohammed Alexander Russell Webb and Pir Inayat Khan, and community-builders like Noble Drew Ali of the Moorish Science Temple, Elijah Muhammad, W.D. Muhammad and Malcolm X.

Acts of Faith by Eboo Patel: The American Muslim population exploded after the Immigration Act of 1965 abolished national quotas. Patel’s family, members of a Muslim religious minority from the Indian state of Gujurat, was part of this wave. His autobiographical account of growing up in the United States as a member of a minority within a minority opens a window into his struggle for identity and his growth into the interfaith activist he is today.

A Quiet Revolution: The Veil’s Resurgence, From the Middle East to America by Leila Ahmed: Few aspects of Muslim culture are as poorly understood in the West as the concept of veiling for women. Ahmed explains the many meanings of veiling for Muslim women from the activists of the 20^th century who threw off the veil, to the activists of today who embrace it.

The Butterfly Mosque: A Young American Woman’s Journey to Love and Islam by G. Willow Wilson: Intense, penetrating and entertaining account by an American woman who converted to Islam, married and lived in Egypt. She provides us with valuable insights on everything from Sufism and the meaning of faith to how one buys chicken in the market. 

Muslim Journeys Theme: Pathways Of Faith

Muslims today make up the second-largest religious community in the world. From Senegal to Indonesia, Muslims share certain fundamental principles and practices, but express their religious beliefs in a wide variety of ways. Readings for this theme explore the basic tenets and requirements of Islam and the relationship between the three Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. They also take a look at the divergent paths followed by the Sunni and Shia communities and the mystical routes to spiritual fulfillment known as Sufism.

The Muslim Journeys Bookshelf given to the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System includes books selected to breathe life into Western understanding about Muslims throughout the world. We invite all of our patrons to check out this rich collection of materials at the Central Library!

The Children of Abraham: Judaism, Christianity, Islam by Francis E. Peters: How do scripture and tradition relate to one another? What does “worship of God” mean in each of the three faiths? How does it compare across the three faiths, and how is it different within each of them? This seminal work, recently updated, compares and contrasts these three great faiths.

Muhammad: A Very Short Introduction by Jonathan A. C. Brown: Learn the facts of the Prophet Muhammad’s life from this short, readable book. It also helps Westerners understand how early Muslims themselves gathered this information for those who would come after them, and to understand the special place the Prophet occupies for Muslims.

The Story of the Qur’an: Its History and Place in Muslim Life by Ingrid Mattson: Many Westerners find the Qur’an bewildering. This well-written book explains how the Qur’an was revealed and recorded, and places it in Muslim culture through history. Written by a Western Muslim scholar, it illuminates the Qur’an for non-Muslims while conveying how Muslims view their sacred text.

Koran By Heart: One Chance to Remember: Qur’anic recitation is an art and is carried out in many ways, varying from spiritually satisfying basic rhythmic recitations to advanced types of chanting that can be very moving. This 80-minute long HBO production chronicles one year at the world’s oldest and most prestigious Qur’an-reciting contest in Cairo. Follow 110 young people from over 70 countries as they come together for this event to compete and learn from one another.

The Art of Hajj by Venetia Porter: Illuminated manuscripts, wall paintings and photographs, calligraphy, textiles, scientific instruments, decorative tiles, maps, ceramics, metalwork, and powerful works by contemporary artists, are complemented with explanatory narrative and quotes from the Qur’an and traditional literary sources to demonstrate this exciting “pillar of Islam”.

Rumi: Poet and Mystic, edited and translated by Reynold A. Nicholson: Jalalu’l-Din Rumi (1207-73) was one of the great Persian mystical poets. Through this collection of lovely translations, the reader is introduced to Sufism, a mystical side of Islam. The poems describe Rumi’s longing for and experience of the divine. He believed that in the great mystery of existence we are all united, a revelation that has made him one of the most popular poets in the world.

Government Documents At Your Library!

Did you know that the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System is a Federal Government Depository? It's the oldest one in the state of Georgia and the only one located in a public (rather than an academic) library. It is housed in the Ivan Allen, Jr. Reference Department (IAD) on the 2nd floor of the Central Library.

Because so many government publications nowadays are found only in a digital format, IAD maintains a set of webpages with links to publications and websites useful to the general public. You can access these pages from the drop-down menu under the "Books and Materials" tab at the top of our homepage under "Government Information," and also from the IAD portion of the Central Library’s website (see the IAD link above.)

Periodically we post a short listing of some of the newer publications received. Check under "New Documents Received" from the U.S. Government Information list. Right now this includes: an article about the first Black physician in the U.S. Army, the website for The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association's (NOAA's) hurricane outlook for 2013, how to look up federal legislative information, a web portal to information on women's heart health, plus links for the latest on the budget and economic recovery.

There is a wealth of important and useful information contained in these pages, and we invite all of our patrons to spend some time with all that can be found here! To contact the Ivan Allen, Jr. Reference Department call 404.730.1900.

Muslim Journeys Theme: Points Of View

We always see the countries of the Islamic world in the news, but our knowledge of them is often so poor that the news can be hard to understand. How do people live their lives in Islamabad, Fez, Cairo, or Tehran? What are their experiences and histories? Through the titles in the Muslim Journeys theme “Points of View,” readers will encounter individual experiences that help make news events three-dimensional. Some are memoirs and some are novels, but all represent great storytelling.

The Muslim Journeys Bookshelf given to the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System includes books selected to breathe life into Western understanding about Muslims throughout the world. We invite all of our patrons to check out this rich collection of materials at the Central Library!

In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar:     A coming-of-age story set in Tripoli, the capital of Libya, told through the eyes of a 9-year-old boy in the year 1969. It puts a human face on the events following from the toppling of the Libyan monarchy by a young officer named Muammar Qaddafi.

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi:     Entertaining autobiographical graphic novel that covers the overthrow of the Shah of Iran, the rise of the Ayatollah Khomeini, and the Iran-Iraq War. Whether having a conversation with God or with her dear grandmother, the author’s girlhood self illuminates this tumultuous time in Iran for us - from the inside. Patrons should also check the catalog for the film adaptation of Persepolis and  the sequel to the book, Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return.

House of Stone by Anthony Shadid:     More than 100,000 inhabitants of the land that would later become Lebanon left their towns and villages to immigrate to the United States around 1900. The author’s family ended up in Oklahoma, and after pursuing a career in journalism, the author set out to return to the ancestral village in Lebanon and rebuild his grandfather’s stone house. The result is an amazing tale that is both funny and bittersweet.

Broken Verses by Kamila Shamsie:     A young woman begins to receive letters written in the private code of her missing mother and her mother’s lover, a famous poet who was supposed to have been murdered years before. This young woman sets out to decode the letters, hoping to learn the fate of her activist mother. In the meantime the reader is swept along on a tour of Karachi, Pakistan, during the tumultuous 70s and 80s.

Dreams of Trespass by Fatima Mernissi:     Autobiography about growing up in the 1940s in a Moroccan “domestic harem” that illustrates a vanishing tradition of communal life in the Islamic world. The “harem” provided both sanctuary and limitations. It hemmed its residents in but also made them care about one another and pay attention to each another in ways unfamiliar to most Westerners.

Muslim Journeys Theme: Art And Architecture

Most of us have encountered Islamic art in one form or another. Oriental rugs, the Yaarab Temple and Fox Theater are understood to be “Islamic” in some way. But exactly what makes a work of art “Islamic”?

 

The Muslim Journeys Bookshelf given to the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System includes books about Islamic art as well as films that furnish an introduction to the long history and breadth of the arts in Islam. We invite all of our patrons to visit the Central Library and check out this rich collection of materials!

The Art of Hajj: One of the five “pillars” of Islam is the injunction to make a spiritual pilgrimage to visit the holy places in Mecca – the Hajj – at least once in one’s lifetime. As a companion publication to an art exhibit, this beautifully illustrated book takes the reader on a wonderful journey through arts that celebrate the Hajj. It features illuminated manuscripts, wall paintings and photographs, calligraphy, textiles, scientific instruments, decorative tiles, maps, ceramics, metalwork, and powerful works by contemporary artists, all complemented with explanatory narrative and quotes from the Qur’an and traditional literary sources.

Islamic Arts: Artists and craftsmen in the areas influenced by Islam produced some of the world's most beautiful works of art: from the Alhambra to the Taj Mahal, from illuminated copies of the Koran to exquisite decorative arts: ceramics, textiles and metalwork. This well-illustrated is a great introduction to this vast history.

Islamic Art Spots (DVD): These are visual essays on Calligraphy, Mosques, Travel, Gardens, Textiles, Geometry, and Books, presented in a series of 10-minute explanatory pieces. The Art Spots are written and presented by D. Fairchild Ruggles, Professor at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible World (DVD): A full-length film tracing the history of Islam in its art and architecture. Narrated by Academy Award winning performer Susan Sarandon, this dazzling documentary reveals the variety and diversity of Islamic art.  It provides a window into Islamic culture and brings broad insights to the enduring themes that have propelled human history and fueled the rise of world civilization over the centuries.

 

Muslim Journeys Theme: Literature

Islam has long provided a source of inspiration through which Muslims experience, understand, and guide their everyday lives. The Muslim Journeys Bookshelf given to the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System includes fiction and nonfiction that give expression to Islam in the lives of individual artists. Here are a selected few to give you an idea of what the bookshelf contains. We invite all of our patrons to visit the Central Library and check out this rich collection of materials!
 
The Arabian Nights: Stories from India, Persia and Arabia - even China - developing out of an oral tradition that reflects the highly civilized and diverse Islamic world of the ninth to thirteenth centuries. 

The Conference of the Birds: A magnificent work of Persian poetry composed in the twelfth century. A fantastical, allegorical rendering of the Islamic doctrine of Sufism, it describes the pilgrimage of the world’s birds in search of their ideal king, the Simorgh, and the arduous journey they take to reach him.

Snow by Orhan Pamuk (Turkey): After eight years spent living in exile in Germany, the poet Ka returns to the isolated town of Kars during a historic blizzard. Cut off from the outside world, the author uses this town, once a crossroads for trade between Turkey, Soviet Georgia, Armenia, and Iran, as a way to illuminate the crossroads of ideas: socialism, communism, atheism, political secularism, Kurdish nationalism, and the most rapidly growing movement, Islamist fundamentalism.
 
Dreams of Trespass by Fatima Mernissi (Morocco): In this autobiography, Mernissi writes of the modern-day “harem” to illustrate the traditional communal life of the Middle East. The “harem” provided sanctuary and limitations; it hemmed people in but also made people pay attention to one another in a way we are not accustomed to in the West.
 
Minaret by Leila Aboulela (Sudan): The daughter of a government official close to the president, Najwa’s life changes radically when a coup overthrows the government. The family escapes to London, and Najwa finds herself orphaned and alone, taking work as a maid.