Staff Reads

Reading recommendations from UGA Libraries' faculty and staff.

Librarian, Musicologist Release Book on Cold War influence on Music

Submitted by Camie on

Listening to a classic rock radio station, University of Georgia librarian Tim Smolko became inspired to go on a musical and historical exploration with his wife and writing partner Joanna, a musicologist and adjunct professor in the Hugh Hodgson School of Music.

After a seven-year project delving into the ways songwriters from Bob Dylan to Bono reflected on the issues of the Cold War, the pair are celebrating the publication of their book Atomic Tunes: The Cold War in American and British Popular Music by Indiana University Press this May.

State’s Literary Legacy Celebrated with 20th Anniversary of Georgia Writers Hall of Fame at UGA

Submitted by Camie on

Terry Kay has had a lot of ideas in his life, and most of those developed into page-turning novels. But in the summer of 1999, one of his ideas wasn’t about creating books — it was about honoring the authors that came before him.

“I thought Georgia needed to be doing more to honor its writers, to honor its rich literary heritage,” said Kay, whose seventh novel was published that year. “Around the same time, I began to be aware that Georgia literature wasn’t being taught in the schools anymore and I thought that establishing an award that focused not just a particular work by a writer but their whole lifetime of work was a good way to honor the remarkable writers who hail from Georgia or who have made Georgia their home and might encourage teachers of English to see what incredible writers we have right here in Georgia.”