2016 Literary Landmarks

  • Robert Louis Stevenson Memorial Cottage, Saranac Lake, N.Y. Author, poet, and adventurer Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894), a native son of Scotland, occupied the cottage with his family from 1887-1888. There he composed some of his finest contributions to English literature. Partners: New York Library Association, Empire State Center for the Book.
     
  • Enid Public Library, Enid, Okla. Marquis James (1891-1955), an avid reader, used this public often. James, an American journalist and author, won two Pulitzer Prizes (1930, 1938) for biographies of notable Americans. To be dedicated Sept. 17, 2016. Partners: Friends of Libraries in Oklahoma (FOLIO), Family of Marquis James.
     
  • 320 East 57th Street, New York, N.Y. This 1926 Art Deco building was Erich Maria Remarque’s (1898-1970) city home from 1951 until his death in 1970. The author of All Quiet on the Western Front lived there with his wife, the actress Paulette Goddard. His last novel, Shadows in Paradise, is set in the building. Dedicated June 18, 2016. Partner: Empire State Center for the Book.
     
  • 333 East 57th Street, New York, N.Y. E.L. Doctorow (1931-2015), author of Ragtime, World’s Fair and Homer and Langley, in addition to several other works, lived at 333 East 57th Street from 2000 until his death in 2015. Dedicated June 18, 2016. Partner: Empire State Center for the Book.
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  • Peter and Willie statue, Imagination Playground, Prospect Park, Brooklyn, N.Y. Ezra Jack Keats (1916-1983), an award-winning author and illustrator of children's books, wrote often about a group of friends (including Peter and his dog, Willie), who grew up in a neighborhood similar to where he grew up in Brooklyn. The Peter and Willie statue was created by Otto Neals in 1997. Dedicated June 10, 2016.  An honorary Literary Landmark in partnership with the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation.
     
  • Roosevelt Island Branch, New York Public Library, New York, N.Y. Formerly known as Blackwell's Island, Roosevelt Island is the site of the New York City Lunatic Asylum that was the basis for Nellie Bly's expose in Ten Days in a Mad-House (1887). Charles Dickens also speaks of it in his American Notes (1842). The island was also the site of a penitentiary mentioned in Horatio Alger's Ragged Dick (1867); Stephen Crane's novelette "Maggie, A Girl of the Streets" (1893); O.Henry's short story "The Cop and the Anthem" (1904) and Eugene O'Neil' s The Hairy Ape(1922). Dedicated April 12, 2016. Partner: Empire State Center for the Book.
     
  • Key West Public Library, Key West, Fla. David A. Kaufelt (1939-2014), founder of the Key West Literary Seminar, led the first seminar at the library in 1983. He also completed the research for his novel American Tropic at the library. In addition, it was a meeting point for his popular Literary Walking Tour, which introduced visitors to the rich life of letters in the island city. Dedicated Feb. 6, 2016. Partners: Key West Literary Seminar, Friends of the Key West Library, Monroe County Public Library.