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Prompt to Page With Gwenda Bond

Each month, we interview a published writer who shares their favorite writing prompt. Whether you’re just getting started or have written for years, you’ll find ideas and advice to inspire you and help you become a better writer.

Prompt to Page is brought to you in partnership with the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning.

Listen to Episode 9

For our ninth episode, we talk to New York Times bestselling author Gwenda Bond.

Gwenda shares two writing prompts that will spark your imagination no matter what genre you write.

She also explains why writing prompts can help you be more creative. "I have a theory that creativity actually thrives under restriction," she says. "And so I think anytime you can give your brain parameters of any kind, it's more helpful than just starting from nothing."

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JCPL’s Future is Fine-Free

Starting July 1, 2022, Jessamine County Public Library will join libraries across the country in eliminating overdue fines. No longer will fines be assessed on items that are returned past their due date.

JCPL customers with outstanding overdue fines can expect a clean slate; in addition to stopping the collection of those fines, current balances will be forgiven on July 1.

more: JCPL’s Future is Fine-Free

Books Through the Decades

Books and Bites Podcast, Ep. 65

JCPL librarians bring you book recommendations and discuss the bites and beverages to pair with them.

On this episode, we discuss the fifth prompt in the Books and Bites 2022 Reading Challenge, a book published in the decade you were born. We're covering the hits from the 70s, 80s, and 90s—brought to you by WJCPL!

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Not Your Typical Biography

Books and Bites Podcast, Ep. 64

JCPL librarians bring you book recommendations and discuss the bites and beverages to pair with them.

On this episode, we discuss the fourth prompt in the Books and Bites 2022 Reading Challenge, a biography or autobiography. You may be surprised to find that biographies and autobiographies come in varied formats and styles to match any reader's tastes.

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Prompt to Page With Tiffany Reisz

Each month, we interview a published writer who shares their favorite writing prompt. Whether you’re just getting started or have written for years, you’ll find ideas and advice to inspire you and help you become a better writer.

Prompt to Page is brought to you in partnership with the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning.

Listen to Episode 7

For our seventh episode, we talk to USA Today-bestselling author Tiffany Reisz. Tiffany shares a favorite writing prompt from V.E. Schwab that will help you check in with your characters. Tiffany offers a writing prompt she designed that will help you raise the stakes of your plot and engage your readers.

Tiffany also shares her thoughts on writer's block. "When you're stuck," she says, "that's your brain trying to tell you, we need to go in a different direction. And writing prompts or writing craft books can help you find that direction. The writer's block is always trying to tell you something. It's not a wall; it's a sign, and you need to learn how to read the sign." more: Prompt to Page With Tiffany Reisz

Learn More About Ukraine

Ukrainian History and Conflict

In Wartime: Stories from Ukraine by Tim Judah

"Ever since Ukraine's violent 2014 revolution, followed by Russia's annexation of Crimea, the country has been at war. Misinformation reigns, more than two million people have been displaced, and Ukrainians fight one another on a second front—the crucial war against corruption. With In Wartime, Tim Judah lays bare the events that have turned neighbors against one another and mired Europe's second-largest country in a conflict seemingly without end."

—from the publisher more: Learn More About Ukraine

Young People’s Book Picks

Books and Bites Podcast, Ep. 63

JCPL librarians bring you book recommendations and discuss the bites and beverages to pair with them.

On this episode, we discuss the third prompt in the Books and Bites 2022 Reading Challenge, books recommended by young people. Young is a subjective term, so feel free to define it by whatever seems young to you! Reference Librarian Mycah Sylvain kindly fills in for Michael, who is busy welcoming a new young person into his family. more: Young People’s Book Picks

Celebrate Jessamine County Black History With These Books

Explore Black History Month by reading books about African Americans who lived right here in Jessamine County.

Lizzie's Story: A Slave Family's Journey to Freedom

by Dr. Clarice Boswell

Author Clarice Boswell was born and raised in Jessamine County. Her book uses family archives and oral history to tell the fictionalized story of her ancestors' struggle for freedom.

Some of the stories in the book came from her grandmother, Lizzie Brent Sheff Davis Cannon, who was born in Leesburg, Kentucky, in 1870 and died in Jessamine County, Kentucky, in 1965. Frank Cannon Jr. shared memories of his grandmother Lizzie Cannon in the Locust Grove Cemetery Audio Tour. more: Celebrate Jessamine County Black History With These Books