Toronto Reference Library Blog

I have mixed feelings about Google. Sometimes I love it because it works so well, sometimes I loathe it because it makes me worry. But I am always a sucker for a good Google Doodle. Especially, of course, if it's book-related!

Here's a look back at eight literary Google Doodles I enjoyed in 2015.

 February 1, 2015 – Langston Hughes' 113th Birthday

Langston Hughes was a poet, storyteller, and social justice activist at the heart of the Harlem Renaissance. His work incorporates the rhythms and moods of jazz, blues, and everyday language, and gives voice to the black experience in America. It's all there in this super cool animation of Hughes' poem "I Dream A World", accompanied by The Boston Typewriter Orchestra, an ensemble that makes music using manual typewriters!

The Weary Blues, Hughes' 1926 debut collection of poems, was re-issued in a beautiful edition in 2015, alongside The Selected Letters, correspondence over five decades with appearances by other literary luminaries like James Baldwin, Amiri Baraka, Zora Neale Hurston, and Richard Wright.

 February 7, 2015 – Laura Ingalls Wilder's 148th Birthday

Laura Ingalls Wilder's beloved books for children are based on her own youth in the 1870s and 1880s as a pioneer in the American Midwest. They have been enjoyed by several generations of readers; from the Depression era, when they were first published, to the 1970s, when her Little House books were re-discovered by fans of the television show, right up to today. 

The two figures in her Google Doodle were made using needle felting, by Vancouver-based artists Jack and Holman Wang, the clever minds and fingers behind the Cozy Classics board books.

 April 7, 2015 – Gabriela Mistral's 126th Birthday

Chilean poet, educator, and intellectual Gabriela Mistral (the pseudonym of Lucila Godoy Alcayaga) was the first Latin American writer to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, "for her lyric poetry which, inspired by powerful emotions, has made her name a symbol of the idealistic aspirations of the entire Latin American world," as the 1945 citation read.

The text in her Google Doodle is from the poem "Dame La Mano" ("Give Me Your Hand"), translated to English by Ursula K. Le Guin in Selected Poems of Gabriela Mistral as "Give me your hand and give me your love/ Give me your hand and dance with me."

 April 23, 2015 – Ngaio Marsh's 122nd Birthday

Ngaio Marsh was one of New Zealand's most popular authors. Her mysteries are regarded as some of the best in the genre thanks to her shrewd characterization, stylish writing, and astute social commentary. All 32 of her mysteries feature Inspector Roderick Alleyn, of the Metropolitan Police of London, and several have been adapted for BBC television. The first Inspector Alleyn mystery, A Man Lay Dead, was published in 1934. 

Marsh is considered one of the four "Queens of Crime" of the golden era of detective fiction – the others being Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Margery Allingham.

 September 4, 2015 – Joan Aiken's 91st Birthday

Joan Aiken was a prolific and versatile writer of fantasy, adventure, horror, and suspense tales for both youth and adults. Her works often combine wry observation with magical, mythical, and fairy tale elements inserted into the lives of ordinary British families. 

She is probably best known for 1963's The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, the first in a series of "unhistorical" novels that follow the adventures of several children in an alternate history England. Long before there was Lemony Snicket, Philip Pullman, Diana Wynne Jones, or J.K. Rowling, there was Joan Aiken.

October 8, 2015 – Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva's 123rd Birthday

Russian poet Marina Tsvetaeva is known for the staccato rhythms, defiant directness, and stirring emotion of her verse. Born in Moscow in 1892 to a family of middle-class intellectuals, she rejected the Russian Revolution, embracing instead the anti-Bolshevik resistance, and suffered tremendous hardship throughout her adult life until her early death in 1941.

Tsvetaeva is regarded as one of the most important Russian poets of the 20th Century, along with Boris Pasternak, Anna Akhmatova, and Osip Mandelstam.

 November 20, 2015 – Nadine Gordimer's 92nd Birthday

Novelist, essayist, short-story writer, and activist Nadine Gordimer explored themes of exile, alienation, love, and politics, as well as the effects of apartheid on both the ruling whites and oppressed blacks in her homeland of South Africa. In 1994 she won'the Booker Prize for The Conservationist and in 1991 became the first South African, and seventh woman, to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Gordimer is often compared favourably to other great contemporary African writers such as Ngugi wa Thiong'o, J. M. Coetzee, and Phaswane Mpe.

November 30th – Lucy Maud Montgomery's 141st Birthday

Canada's own L. M. Montgomery was honoured with three charming animations that feature scenes from her best known work, beloved around the world, Anne of Green Gables. The novel tells the story of an imaginative, clever, and extremely trouble-prone red-headed orphan girl and her adventures growing up on Prince Edward Island.

It was an instant hit with readers when it was first published in 1908 and led to several sequels in the ongoing life and times of Anne ("with an 'e'!") Shirley. Anne of Green Gables has been adapted for film, television, and stage many times; fans of the 1985 CBC television miniseries will fondly remember Anne as portrayed by Megan Follows and her love interest Gilbert Blythe as portrayed by Jonathan Crombie, who, sadly, passed away in 2015.

***

What writer(s) would you like to see featured in a Google Doodle in 2016?

Personally, I appreciate it when Google shines its light on writers whose works are not well known outside of their own homelands. In 2016, I'd love to see a Syrian author featured, for instance, like Ulfat Idilbi. Or how about someone local, like Toronto's own bpNichol? 

***

Sources:

• Google Doodles Archive
• Literature Resource Center

I have mixed feelings about Google. Sometimes I love it because it works so well, sometimes I loathe it because it makes me worry. But I am always a sucker for a good Google Doodle. Especially, of course, if it's book-related!

Here's a look back at eight literary Google Doodles I enjoyed in 2015.

 February 1, 2015 – Langston Hughes' 113th Birthday

Langston Hughes was a poet, storyteller, and social justice activist at the heart of the Harlem Renaissance. His work incorporates the rhythms and moods of jazz, blues, and everyday language, and gives voice to the black experience in America. It's all there in this super cool animation of Hughes' poem "I Dream A World", accompanied by The Boston Typewriter Orchestra, an ensemble that makes music using manual typewriters!

The Weary Blues, Hughes' 1926 debut collection of poems, was re-issued in a beautiful edition in 2015, alongside The Selected Letters, correspondence over five decades with appearances by other literary luminaries like James Baldwin, Amiri Baraka, Zora Neale Hurston, and Richard Wright.

 February 7, 2015 – Laura Ingalls Wilder's 148th Birthday

Laura Ingalls Wilder's beloved books for children are based on her own youth in the 1870s and 1880s as a pioneer in the American Midwest. They have been enjoyed by several generations of readers; from the Depression era, when they were first published, to the 1970s, when her Little House books were re-discovered by fans of the television show, right up to today. 

The two figures in her Google Doodle were made using needle felting, by Vancouver-based artists Jack and Holman Wang, the clever minds and fingers behind the Cozy Classics board books.

 April 7, 2015 – Gabriela Mistral's 126th Birthday

Chilean poet, educator, and intellectual Gabriela Mistral (the pseudonym of Lucila Godoy Alcayaga) was the first Latin American writer to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature, "for her lyric poetry which, inspired by powerful emotions, has made her name a symbol of the idealistic aspirations of the entire Latin American world," as the 1945 citation read.

The text in her Google Doodle is from the poem "Dame La Mano" ("Give Me Your Hand"), translated to English by Ursula K. Le Guin in Selected Poems of Gabriela Mistral as "Give me your hand and give me your love/ Give me your hand and dance with me."

 April 23, 2015 – Ngaio Marsh's 122nd Birthday

Ngaio Marsh was one of New Zealand's most popular authors. Her mysteries are regarded as some of the best in the genre thanks to her shrewd characterization, stylish writing, and astute social commentary. All 32 of her mysteries feature Inspector Roderick Alleyn, of the Metropolitan Police of London, and several have been adapted for BBC television. The first Inspector Alleyn mystery, A Man Lay Dead, was published in 1934. 

Marsh is considered one of the four "Queens of Crime" of the golden era of detective fiction – the others being Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Margery Allingham.

 September 4, 2015 – Joan Aiken's 91st Birthday

Joan Aiken was a prolific and versatile writer of fantasy, adventure, horror, and suspense tales for both youth and adults. Her works often combine wry observation with magical, mythical, and fairy tale elements inserted into the lives of ordinary British families. 

She is probably best known for 1963's The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, the first in a series of "unhistorical" novels that follow the adventures of several children in an alternate history England. Long before there was Lemony Snicket, Philip Pullman, Diana Wynne Jones, or J.K. Rowling, there was Joan Aiken.

October 8, 2015 – Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva's 123rd Birthday

Russian poet Marina Tsvetaeva is known for the staccato rhythms, defiant directness, and stirring emotion of her verse. Born in Moscow in 1892 to a family of middle-class intellectuals, she rejected the Russian Revolution, embracing instead the anti-Bolshevik resistance, and suffered tremendous hardship throughout her adult life until her early death in 1941.

Tsvetaeva is regarded as one of the most important Russian poets of the 20th Century, along with Boris Pasternak, Anna Akhmatova, and Osip Mandelstam.

 November 20, 2015 – Nadine Gordimer's 92nd Birthday

Novelist, essayist, short-story writer, and activist Nadine Gordimer explored themes of exile, alienation, love, and politics, as well as the effects of apartheid on both the ruling whites and oppressed blacks in her homeland of South Africa. In 1994 she won'the Booker Prize for The Conservationist and in 1991 became the first South African, and seventh woman, to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Gordimer is often compared favourably to other great contemporary African writers such as Ngugi wa Thiong'o, J. M. Coetzee, and Phaswane Mpe.

November 30th – Lucy Maud Montgomery's 141st Birthday

Canada's own L. M. Montgomery was honoured with three charming animations that feature scenes from her best known work, beloved around the world, Anne of Green Gables. The novel tells the story of an imaginative, clever, and extremely trouble-prone red-headed orphan girl and her adventures growing up on Prince Edward Island.

It was an instant hit with readers when it was first published in 1908 and led to several sequels in the ongoing life and times of Anne ("with an 'e'!") Shirley. Anne of Green Gables has been adapted for film, television, and stage many times; fans of the 1985 CBC television miniseries will fondly remember Anne as portrayed by Megan Follows and her love interest Gilbert Blythe as portrayed by Jonathan Crombie, who, sadly, passed away in 2015.

***

What writer(s) would you like to see featured in a Google Doodle in 2016?

Personally, I appreciate it when Google shines its light on writers whose works are not well known outside of their own homelands. In 2016, I'd love to see a Syrian author featured, for instance, like Ulfat Idilbi. Or how about someone local, like Toronto's own bpNichol? 

***

Sources:

• Google Doodles Archive
• Literature Resource Center