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44-499: Closed Branches The historic Newark Public Library traces its beginnings to the Newark Library Association, a private organization that was chartered in 1847. In 1887, the people of Newark approved the founding of a Free Public Library. The first director of the library was Frank Pierce Hill . The Newark 'Free Public Library opened on West Park Street in the central ward of downtown Newark in 1889 and offered

88-427: A "curiosity" about the role religion plays in others' lives. In an essay exploring humanist and existentialist views of death and dying, Smith characterises her worldview as that of a "sentimental humanist ". Zadie Smith's favourite book is Middlemarch by George Eliot . She tells Eleanor Wachtel, in an interview for Brick, A Literary Journal , that Middlemarch was "just an extraordinary achievement in

132-539: A Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) campus centers, Rutgers University-Newark partnered with the Newark Public Library to aid in the development of the program. The AAC&U selected 10 universities to implement these programs and provided each a grant of $ 30,000. The goal is to bring to light the issues regarding racial inequality in diverse cities like Newark. Though selected in August 2017,

176-724: A best-seller and won a number of awards. She became a tenured professor in the Creative Writing faculty of New York University in September 2010. Zadie Smith was born on 25 October 1975 in Willesden to a Jamaican mother, Yvonne Bailey, and an English father, Harvey Smith, who was 30 years his wife's senior. At the age of 14, she changed her name from Sadie to Zadie. Smith's mother grew up in Jamaica and emigrated to England in 1969. Smith's parents divorced when she

220-536: A collection of over 10,000 books which had been acquired from the Newark Library Association. Over time, the influx of more books and an increasing population necessitated the construction of a new building at 5 Washington Street, the current location of the main branch of the Newark Public Library. An architectural marvel, the new building, designed by Rankin and Kellogg, was influenced by the 15th century Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, Italy . The library also served as

264-462: A historical novel since 2020, focusing on Arthur Orton, who was at the centre of the Tichborne case , a famous 19th-century court case involving identity theft. She said that she tried to avoid Charles Dickens as an influence and subject, but that her research process showed her that there was "really no way to entirely avoid Mr. Charles Dickens" since several of the places and events of her story had

308-493: A large portion of his estate to the library upon his death in 2018. The collection includes Roth's personal correspondence, photographs, scrapbooks, furniture, travel itineraries, typewriters, and over 7,000 books by various authors, many of which include notations in Roth's handwriting. Roth cited a "longstanding sense of gratitude to the city where I was born" as motivation for his bequest. The Philip Roth Personal Library opened to

352-401: A museum, lecture hall, and a gallery. In 1902, John Cotton Dana succeeded Frank Pierce Hill to become the director of the library. John Cotton Dana greatly promoted the educational value of the library. For example, he established foreign language collections for immigrants and even developed a special collection for the business community. This "Business Branch" was the first of its kind in

396-548: A novel. It's so diverse and gigantic—its concentration is so diffuse. It's a social novel, which England has always aspired to; at the same time, it's a great philosophical novel, like its continental cousins." Smith was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2002. In a 2004 BBC poll of cultural researchers, she was named among the top twenty most influential people in British culture . In 2003, she

440-561: A relation to him. The book also includes another real-life novelist of the time, William Ainsworth. Smith's historical novel, The Fraud , was published in September 2023. Reviewing it for The Independent , Martin Chilton said: "The novel pulls off the trick of being both splendidly modern and authentically old. ... The Fraud is the genuine article." According to Karan Mahajan , writing in The New York Times , "It offers

484-485: A stained glass ceiling four stories high. As of August 2024: The Main Library has been renovated many times since its founding. In 1922 and 1931 additions was completed. In 1927, a mural was painted on the 2nd floor - The Fountain of Knowledge - this mural still exists today. In 1949 a 10,000 square foot maintenance building was added. In 1952, a $ 1,500,000 renovation project modernized the building including covering

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528-806: A vast, acute panoply of London and the English countryside, and successfully locates the social controversies of an era in a handful of characters. ... Dickens may be dead, but Smith, thankfully, is alive." In 2023, Smith was elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences . Smith met Nick Laird at the University of Cambridge . They married in 2004 in King's College Chapel, Cambridge . Smith dedicated On Beauty to "my dear Laird". She also uses his name in passing in White Teeth : "An' all

572-480: Is absent from contemporary fiction. In an article for The Guardian in October 2001, Smith responded to the criticism by agreeing with the accuracy of the term and with Wood's underlying argument that "any novel that aims at hysteria will now be effortlessly outstripped". However, she rejected her debut being categorised alongside major authors such as David Foster Wallace , Salman Rushdie , and Don DeLillo , and

616-637: Is her mother Yvonne Bailey-Smith). Smith's first collection of short stories, Grand Union , was published on 8 October 2019. In 2020 she published six essays in a collection entitled Intimations , the royalties from which she said she would be donating to the Equal Justice Initiative and New York’s COVID-19 emergency relief fund. In 2021, Smith debuted her first play, The Wife of Willesden , which she wrote after learning that her borough in London, Brent, had been selected in 2018 as

660-511: Is longer than the tale itself. To her, Alvita's voice is a common one that she heard growing up in Brent, and thus writing this play was a natural choice for the festival. The tale itself is set in 17th-century Jamaica, where a man guilty of rape is brought before the Queen, who decrees that his punishment is to go and find what women truly desire. In 2023, Smith stated that she had been writing on

704-488: The Cambridge Footlights . At Cambridge, Smith published a number of short stories in a collection of new student writing called The Mays Anthology . They attracted the attention of a publisher, who offered her a contract for her first novel. She decided to contact a literary agent and was taken on by A. P. Watt. Smith returned to guest-edit the anthology in 2001. Smith's debut novel, White Teeth ,

748-572: The James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Betty Trask Award . The novel was adapted for television in 2002. In July 2000, Smith's debut work was discussed in a controversial essay of literary criticism by James Wood entitled "Human, All Too Inhuman", where Wood critiques the novel as part of a contemporary genre of hysterical realism where " '[i]nformation has become the new character" and human feeling

792-714: The "largest collection of Spanish–language library resources in New Jersey. In 2002, The Newark Public Library partnered with a Latino community group, the Friends the Hispanic Research Information Center (HRIC), to create the New Jersey Hispanic Research and Information Center (NJHRIC). In 2018, the library launched a digital collection at http://digital.npl.org . Novelist Philip Roth bequeathed $ 2 million and

836-479: The 2020 London Borough of Culture. As the most famous current writer from Brent, Smith was the natural choice to author the piece. She chose to adapt " The Wife of Bath's Tale " in Geoffrey Chaucer 's Canterbury Tales , recalling how she had translated Chaucer into contemporary English during her studies at Cambridge. The retelling replaces the pilgrimage with a pub crawl set in contemporary London, with

880-467: The 2nd floor mural. From 1987 to 1888 another renovation took place—restoring the mural. In 2006, renovations were carried out in the lobby, including new front doors. In 2010-2011 projects included new carpeting and painting. The Philip Roth Personal Library opened in 2021. After being selected by the Association of American College & Universities (AAC&U) to partake in the implementation of

924-515: The Arts , Smith joined New York University as a tenured professor of fiction in 2010. Between March and October 2011, Smith was the monthly New Books reviewer for Harper's Magazine . She is also a frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books . In 2010, The Guardian newspaper asked Smith for her "10 rules for writing fiction". Among them she declared: "Tell the truth through whichever veil comes to hand – but tell it. Resign yourself to

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968-535: The Novel (a.k.a. Fail Better ), in which she considers a selection of 20th-century writers through the lens of moral philosophy . Some portions of this book presumably appear in the essay collection Changing My Mind , published in November 2009. Smith's third novel, On Beauty , was published in September 2005. It is set largely in and around Greater Boston . It attracted more acclaim than The Autograph Man : it

1012-502: The TV adaptation was broadcast on BBC Two on 14 November 2016. In September 2013, Smith appeared on BBC Radio 4 's Desert Island Discs , with her book choice being Marcel Proust 's À la recherche du temps perdu . In 2015, it was announced that Smith, along with her husband Nick Laird , was writing the screenplay for a science fiction movie to be directed by French filmmaker Claire Denis . Smith later said that her involvement in

1056-464: The Wife of Bath becoming Alvita, a Jamaican-born British woman in her mid-50s who challenges her Auntie P's traditional Christian views on sex and marriage. Like the original tale, Alvita is a woman who has had five husbands, her experiences with them ranging from pleasant to traumatic. The majority of the piece is spent on her talking to the people in the pub, in much the way that the Wife of Bath's prologue

1100-510: The author as part of their pocket series to celebrate their 70th birthday. The first story, "Martha, Martha", deals with Smith's familiar themes of race and postcolonial identity, while "Hanwell in Hell" is about a man struggling to cope with the death of his wife. In December 2008 she guest-edited the BBC Radio 4 Today programme. After teaching fiction at Columbia University School of

1144-565: The culmination of this role. Smith's second novel, The Autograph Man , was published in 2002 and was a commercial success, although it was not as well received by critics as White Teeth . After the publication of The Autograph Man , Smith visited the United States as a Fellow of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University . She started work on a still-unreleased book of essays, The Morality of

1188-557: The dismissal of their own innovations on the basis of being "hysterical realism". Responding earnestly to Wood's concerns about contemporary literature and culture, Smith described her own anxieties as a writer and argued that fiction should be "not a division of head and heart, but the useful employment of both". Smith served as writer-in-residence at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London and subsequently published, as editor, an anthology of sex writing, Piece of Flesh , as

1232-475: The film, titled High Life , had been overstated and that she had simply helped to polish the English dialogue for the film. Smith's fifth novel, Swing Time , was published in November 2016. It drew inspiration from Smith's childhood love of tap dancing. It was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2017. Smith is a contributor to Margaret Busby 's 2019 anthology New Daughters of Africa (as

1276-513: The good-lookin' men, all the rides like your man Nicky Laird, they're all dead." The couple lived in Rome , Italy, from November 2006 to 2007, and lived in New York City , USA and Queen's Park , London, for about 10 years before relocating to Kilburn , London, in 2020. They have two children. Smith describes herself as "unreligious", and was not raised in a religion, although retains

1320-499: The library was threatened with closure for the second time in 1969, a social movement of concerned citizens were able to put enough political pressure on the government in order to secure more funding. In 1989, the library opened what is now the James Brown African American Room to "generate and maintain an appreciation of African American history and culture". Also in 1989, La Sala was established with

1364-452: The library's New Jersey Collection was founded, which later became The Charles F. Cummings New Jersey Information Center. The CFCNJIC became a separate Library department in 1951. In 1963 the library became a Federal Regional Depository. The Newark Public Library claims to have negotiated its first international interlibrary loan in 1955 with the German government. According to researchers on

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1408-606: The lifelong sadness that comes from never being satisfied." Smith's novel NW was published in 2012. Set in the Kilburn area of north-west London, the title being a reference to the local postcode, NW6 , the novel was shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature 's Ondaatje Prize and the Women's Prize for Fiction . NW was made into a BBC television film with the same title, directed by Saul Dibb and adapted by Rachel Bennette . Starring Nikki Amuka-Bird and Phoebe Fox ,

1452-450: The local public schools, Malorees Junior School and Hampstead Comprehensive School , then King's College, Cambridge , where she studied English literature . In an interview with The Guardian in 2000, Smith corrected a newspaper assertion that she left Cambridge with a double First . "Actually, I got a Third in my Part Ones," she said. She graduated with upper second-class honours. While at university Smith auditioned unsuccessfully for

1496-565: The nation. John Cotton Dana was employed at the Newark Public Library in Newark, New Jersey , until his death in 1929. John Cotton Dana also founded the Newark Museum in 1909, inside the library, directing it until his death. After the death of Dana in 1929, Beatrice Winser took over as director of the library and Newark Museum until 1942. In 1930, the library had a book truck which brought books to children throughout Newark. In 1929,

1540-648: The programs began on January 17, 2017, at the Newark Public Library and include events that addressed DACA and the Charlottesville Riots and used spoken word poetry and art as mediums. Since 2016, the Newark Library has hosted an annual Philip Roth Lecture. Speakers have included Zadie Smith , Robert Caro , Salman Rushdie , Sean Wilentz , Tracy K. Smith , Ayad Akhtar , Nikole Hannah-Jones , and Jelani Cobb . Frank Pierce Hill Frank Pierce Hill (August 22, 1855 – August 25, 1941)

1584-612: The public in 2021. The four–story Italian Renaissance-inspired Main Library building was designed by John Hall Rankin and Thomas M. Kellogg, drawing inspiration from the 15th century Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, Italy. Their intentions were to have the building not only serve as a library, but also as a museum, lecture hall, and gallery, that would provide cultural, as well as educational experiences in an aesthetically pleasing environment. The building structure includes an open center court/foyer with arches and mosaics that extended upward to

1628-432: The subject of international interlibrary loans, this is not exactly on the cutting edge of international interlibrary loan history, due to the fact that international interlibrary loans have been occurring in different forms throughout the ages. However, "The United States... was slow to resume international lending [after World War II]. Although some individual U.S. libraries reluctantly began to loan materials to Europe after

1672-456: The war, it was not until 1959… that the majority of U.S. libraries willingly resumed lending their materials across the Atlantic". Newark Public Library was a part of the vanguard to reactivate international interlibrary loans after the events of World War II, reconnecting the library systems of North America to the rest of the world. According to the Newark Public Library, the library itself

1716-401: Was a teenager. She has a half-sister, a half-brother, and two younger brothers (one is the rapper and stand-up comedian Doc Brown , and the other is the rapper Luc Skyz ). As a child, Smith was fond of tap dancing, and in her teenage years, she considered a career in musical theatre. While at university, Smith earned money as a jazz singer, and wanted to become a journalist. Smith attended

1760-834: Was an American librarian . Frank Pierce Hill was born in Concord, New Hampshire on August 22, 1855. He served as president of the American Library Association from 1905 to 1906, and the American Library Institute 1912 to 1915. Hill was the first director of the Newark Public Library from 1889 to 1901, when he left Newark to serve as Chief Librarian of the Brooklyn Public Library . Hill served in that position until his retirement in 1930. In 1940, he

1804-531: Was awarded American Library Association Honorary Membership . He died at his home in Hartford, Connecticut on August 25, 1941. This article about a person involved with library and information science is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Zadie Smith Zadie Smith FRSL (born Sadie ; 25 October 1975) is an English novelist, essayist, and short-story writer. Her debut novel ,  White Teeth (2000), immediately became

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1848-423: Was introduced to the publishing world in 1997 before it was completed. On the basis of a partial manuscript, an auction for the rights began, which was won by Hamish Hamilton . Smith completed White Teeth during her final year at the University of Cambridge . Published in 2000, the novel immediately became a best-seller and received much acclaim. It was praised internationally and won a number of awards, among them

1892-528: Was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize , and won the 2006 Orange Prize for Fiction and the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award . Later in the same year, Smith published Martha and Hanwell , a book that pairs two short stories about two troubled characters, originally published in Granta and The New Yorker respectively. Penguin published Martha and Hanwell with a new introduction by

1936-403: Was threatened with closure 2 times officially within a decade, one of these people responsible for the potential closure being the mayor of the city, Hugh Joseph Addonizio between 1964 and 1969. This was also taking place during the general time frame of the 1967 Newark riots , or rebellion as many would call it. The library was able to remain open through the help of federal aid funding. When

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