Caro Nome et al.

At the 2012 Niehoff Lecture (Seamus Heaney, God bless him)  a hint was floated about the 2013 Lecture.  The hint was that the lecturer would have a Dear Name.  Several people called the Library to win the pair of tickets to the 2013 Harriet Beecher Stowe Lecture for having solved the puzzling clue.  Interestingly, all the callers thought the Library had engaged Kim Il Sung, even though the North Korean despot had long since gone to his reward, so no prize was awarded.  The word is out now, announced to the public last week at a gala event where winter spiced mixed nuts were dished up prior to the multi-media extravaganza the Library considers appropriate for its most important happenings.  Rather than having anything to do with the man whose life was Gangnam Style before Gangnam Style was cool, “Dear Name” was a direct translation from “Caro Nome” the showstopping aria in Act 1 Scene 2 of Rigoletto.  The Lecturer will be Robert Caro.  We know.  You should have gotten that.

Robert Caro!  Only the best historian/biographer in the Western Hemisphere.  Possibly on the solar system,   Save the date:  November 2, 2013.

Watch this space for the rest of the season announcements later this week.

-Nemo Wolfe

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