Smyrna Library Announces Month Long “1915-2015: A CENTURY OF BLACKLIFE, HISTORY AND CULTURE” Program

This year’s theme for African-American History Month celebrates African-American creativity and achievement. Through exhibits, lectures, materials and programs, Smyrna Library will highlight some of the many contributions and influences to history and culture worldwide.

Please visit our book and AV displays in the adult and children’s areas. And take time to enjoy the10-panel traveling exhibit on “The Tuskegee Airmen” on loan from Kennesaw State University.

We will also highlight materials and resources on our Pinterest page and online catalog.

Please join us in celebration of American achievement.

Congratulations, Janeen Lewis!

Congratulations, Janeen Lewis! She knew her "Downton Abbey" trivia and won the tea basket. Cheers!

Modern Art by Moise S. Semexant Opens in Art Gallery

Haitian-born artist, his style proved to be very unique among the contemporary artists. This is one of the reasons that he has been highly recognized by many art curators and art lovers alike in a variety of countries including, Haiti, France, England, Holland, Trinidad & Tobago, Spain, the United States, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic.

In fact, the meticulous manner in which the Atlanta-artist blends the vibrant colors seems to spontaneously invite gallery goers into a world of light and shadow, where geometric forms and beauty create a high sense of internal freedom, love, and peace. These are many of the artistic touches that Moise has been applying in his works and which prompted many experts and critics to salute him as one of the emerging master artists of modern art. Others even went very far in proclaiming Moise as William Blake of modern age.

If you wish to purchase any particular piece, please contact the artist through his email address or telephone (msemexant@aol.com / 404-825-8641).

Exotic Wooden Bowls by Jack Anderson Opens in Display Gallery

Born in and raised on Tybee Island, off the coast of Georgia (directly adjacent to Hilton Head Isle and Daufuskie Isle), Jack Anderson began working with wood at a very early age. His mother still lives in the same house less than two blocks from the Historic Tybee Island lighthouse. Since childhood, he has enjoyed exploring the surrounding islands and marshes, including Daufuskie Island. At the age of eight, he was given a construction/woodworking tool kit; This was the beginning of his long career of woodworking and construction.

Being very comfortable on the beach and in the water, Jack later became a lifeguard at Myrtle Beach. He 

attended Coastal Carolina University, playing basketball while majoring in marketing.

He later met his future wife Mavis Eaton Anderson, at the University of South Carolina. They traveled a lot including a trip to India and some time living on a sailboat. They eventually settled down in Atlanta, GA. They had a total of four children, while Jack started his first official business, “The Wooden Peg”. It was a small business of selling custom furniture that was made of local woods and was characteristic by having rounded edges, linseed oil finishes, and rugged seamless dovetail and wooden peg construction. During this time, Jack began collecting and storing some of the “exotic” woods of the south, including large boards from Hickory Tubers and huge planks from the “second biggest pine in Georgia.

In order to make more money for his family, Jack began building custom homes for people. He took his woodworking and craftsmanship with him, often doing elaborate custom decks, cabinets and floor plans for clients. Over the years he built many custom and innovative homes including underground houses, houses on stilts on steep hills, and even one house now featured on MTV Cribs (a reality show of celebrity homes). Jack and his wife Mavis are and have always been avid art collectors. They have also supported three of their four children through art schools.

First Sunday Lecture - The Early History of the Western & Atlantic Railroad, 1836-1870

The building and early history of the Western & Atlantic Railroad (“The State Line”), now Smyrna's CSX line, was the largest public works project undertaken by the State of Georgia in the 19th century. It remains, moreover, to this day one of only a handful of state-owned American railroads.

This slide show and lecture by Dr. Marchione examined the reasons the W&A was built; the difficulties it had attracting private capital; its troubled 15 year long construction phase; the line’s essential role in fostering the development of the city of Atlanta; the strategic importance of the W&A during the Civil War’s 1864 Atlanta Campaign; and, finally, the controversial Reconstruction phase of its history that culminated in the line’s 1870 transfer from state administration to private management.

The First Sunday Lecture Series is sponsored by the Friends of Smyrna Library.

Winter 2015 Reading List & Featured Book

Featured Book

The Rosie Project

by Graeme Simsion

Winter 2015 Reading List

41 by George W. Bush

A Last Goodbye by J. A. Jance

All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Being Mortal by Atul Gawand

Betrayed by Lisa Scottoline

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

Blood Magick by Nora Roberts

Captivated by You by Sylvia Day

Curves 'Em Right by Milly Taiden

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

Fall Of Giants by Ken Follett

Fifty Shades Of Grey by E. L. James

Flesh And Blood by Patricia Cornwell

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Gray Mountain by John Grisham

Havana Storm by Clive Cussler

His Secretary by Melanie Marchande

Home In Seattle by Debbie Macomber

Hope To Die, James Patterson

Innocence by Dean Koontz

Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult

Never Judge A Lady by Her Cover by Sarah Maclean

Not That Kind Of Girl by Lena Dunham

Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

Personal by Lee Child

Redeployment by Phil Klay

Revival by Stephen King

The Best Of Me by Nicholas Sparks

The Boys In The Boat by Daniel James Brown

The Burning Room by Michael Connelly

The Darkest Touch by Gena Showalter

The Escape by David Baldacci

The Job by Janet Evanovich

The Kent Brothers Trilogy by Jaci Burton

The Lincoln Myth by Steve Berry

The Mistletoe Promise by Richard Paul Evans

There Was A Little Girl by Brooke Shields

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

Wild by Cheryl Strayed
Yes Please by Amy Poehler

Compiled by FOSL Volunteer

First Sunday Lecture - Military Aviation in World Wars I & II

On July 19, 1918, British Sopwith Camels from the new aircraft carrier Furious made an early morning surprise attack on the German naval Zeppelins at Tondern, Germany. Their mission was a tremendous success, practically ending Zeppelin operations and setting the precedent for World War II’s aircraft carrier attacks at Taranto and Pearl Harbor.

Historian/author Narayan Sengupta traces the evolution of aircraft carriers and naval aviation up to 1941 with a primary focus on the Tondern raid. Sengupta, an American of Franco-Indian heritage, has spent seven years researching American military aviation in World War I. He has traveled across France and the United States to visit airfields, air museums and archives after learning that America’s first combat squadrons were based a few hundred yards from his mother’s home in Saints, France. In 2008, he organized the 90th Anniversary Commemoration of the United States Air Force’s first combat operations. He has written four books: "American Eagles - The Illustrated History of American Aviation in World War I”, “POW Stories”, “Disaster at Dieppe” and “Lafayette Escadrille: America's Most Famous Squadron, " all available on www.USAWW1.com.

The "First Sunday Lecture" series is sponsored by the Friends of Smyrna Library.

Speaker Bio: Narayan Sengupta

On July 14, 1918, the Germans shot down and killed Teddy Roosevelt’s youngest son, Quentin, in the skies over France. Until his tragic death, Quentin stayed in the home of Narayan Sengupta’s great-great grandmother. This incredible story and a love of history compelled Narayan to research American World War I aviation. The result is four books about World War II and World War I, articles and photos published in “Over the Front”, the History News Network, the Marietta Daily Journal and elsewhere.

Narayan has had ten veterans on the French side of his family, seven of whom were in combat. One died in action, one was wounded, one was captured, one was an occupier and one was in the Resistance. Two received the Croix de Guerre. On August 27, 1944, his mother’s family was liberated by brave Americans of the US 3rd Armored Division. On the Indian side of his family, both great uncles were noted historians, and one was head of the All India Historical Society. Consequently, he is very passionate about America’s military accomplishments and its veterans.

Narayan speaks several languages, loves to travel and has visited about 20 countries. He was Star Student at North Fulton High School (which was America’s first International Baccalaureate School), majored in History at Emory and earned an MBA from Georgia State. He worked at places like IBM, Coca-Cola, Hewlett Packard, MCI and Alltel before starting NFI (www.nfiweb.com), a website, search engine optimization and database development firm in Atlanta, Georgia.

He is in the Smyrna Rotary Club and served as President in 2008-2009. He started Smyrna’s annual Veterans Day event in 2008. He is on the Smyrna Veterans Committee and in SuperSmyrna. In 2010, the Smyrna Rotary Club named him “Smyrna Citizen of the Year.” He is the very proud father of two young daughters.