{"id":1927,"date":"2019-07-29T09:33:37","date_gmt":"2019-07-29T13:33:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/?p=1927"},"modified":"2019-07-29T09:33:37","modified_gmt":"2019-07-29T13:33:37","slug":"monday-missive-july-29-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/blog\/2019\/07\/29\/monday-missive-july-29-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Monday Missive – July 29, 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Making Connections through Literature<\/strong>\u00a0— Last week my wife and I traveled to Stockholm so that I could research the connections between Swedish children’s author Astrid Lindgren and Junibacken.\u00a0 Promoted as a “children’s cultural center with books at its heart,” Junibacken combines the elements of an interactive children’s museum, a children’s theater, and a children’s bookstore. Junibacken opened to the public in June 1996, and Lindgren attended the opening.\u00a0 I knew before I took this trip that Lindgren played an important role in the creation of Junibacken, but I wanted to learn more about the details of Lindgren’s involvement. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me, the high point of this trip was the time I spent interviewing Sanna Pedersen, who serves as the Manager of Public Operations at Junibacken.\u00a0 We talked for three and a half hours about Lindgren’s life, her children’s books, and her participation in the design of Junibacken. \u00a0 I had never met Sanna before this interview, but we found it easy to talk for hours since we both share an interest in Lindgren’s contributions to the world of children’s literature. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I walked back to the hotel after concluding my interview with Sanna, I thought about the role that literature can play in helping us make connections with other people. \u00a0 When we share a familiarity with the same stories, we automatically have much to discuss.\u00a0 In a sense, literature can provide us with a cultural common ground, and that certainly was the case in my interview with Sanna.\u00a0 However, literature can play a similar role on a far larger scale.\u00a0 In Sweden, Lindgren’s children’s stories are an important part of the national culture.\u00a0 Nearly everyone in Sweden has read at least some of Lindgren’s children’s books.\u00a0 This common literary experience has become one of the connecting points that brings Swedes together but not in an exclusive sort of way.\u00a0 All one needs to do to join the conversation and become part of this aspect of Swedish culture is read some of Lindgren’s children’s books.\u00a0 Such is the power and magic of literature. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kudos<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u2014 As you know, I like to use my Monday Missives to share news about recent accomplishments by members of the English Department.\u00a0 Here is the latest news:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allison Hutchcraft<\/strong>\u00a0published a poem titled \u201cSo I Try to Picture the Priests\u201d in the summer issue of\u00a0Five Points<\/em>..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Janaka Lewis<\/strong>\u00a0recently presented a paper titled “Girlhood Remembrance in African American Literature” at the second MLA International Symposium in Lisbon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kirk Melnikoff\u00a0<\/strong>signed a contract to contribute the chapter “Agents of Book Making: Publishers” to\u00a0The Oxford Handbook of the Book in Early Modern England<\/em>\u00a0(Oxford University Press, 2021).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upcoming Events and Deadlines<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 Here is information about upcoming events and deadlines:
August 12\u2014 Final grades for the second summer session courses are\u00a0due by noon on Monday, August 12. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quirky Quiz Question<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 Astrid Lindgren’s most famous character is a girl named Pippi Longstocking. \u00a0 Pippi has a pet named Mr. Nilsson.\u00a0 What sort of animal is Mr. Nilsson? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week’s answer: Australia<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarah Minslow is a native of North Carolina, but she actually holds citizenship in two countries.\u00a0 What is the name of the other country she is a citizen of in addition to being a citizen of the United States?\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Making Connections through Literature\u00a0— Last week my wife and I traveled to Stockholm so that I could research the connections between Swedish children’s author Astrid Lindgren and Junibacken.\u00a0 Promoted as a “children’s cultural center with books at its heart,” Junibacken combines the elements of an interactive children’s museum, a children’s theater, and a children’s bookstore. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":202,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-monday-missive"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/202"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1927"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1927\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1931,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1927\/revisions\/1931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.charlotte.edu\/mark-west\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}