April 9th

On this day in 1939, the great opera singer Marian Anderson sang before 75,000 people in front of the Lincoln Memorial. An Easter Sunday this concert was free to all to attend. The reason for the location is a story of narrow-mindedness (and that is using a gentle word) The DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) refused Ms. Anderson permission to sing at Constitution Hall! A grave mistake on their part. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from the DAR in protest. And of course the concert was grander than any hall and was attended by 100 times more than the Constitution Hall could ever seat.

April 8th

Born this day in 1955, Barbara Kingsolver,author, environmentalist,essayist and poet. Best known for her fiction, from her first novel in 1988 The Bean Trees,to the The Poisonwood Bible in 1998, and her new novel, The Lacuna in 2009. And there are many works in between. Kingsolver has been on the New York Times Bestsellers list since 1993. Her work has been translated into twenty other languages. And the recipient of many awards for her work....AND
Since Kingsolver has gifted the us with a brief autobiography on her web-site, and like her work it is a great read. Please go to www.barbarakingsolver.com

True to her nature, Barabara Kingsolver in 1999 she established The Bellwether Prize, which gives writers whose works have been published, but have a "first novel" that has never been published. It gives a venue for these works to be reviewed by some of the great authors of our time. www.bellwetherprize.org