Allons enfants de la Patrie, vous pouvez acheter vos billets...

It's May 10th, the 284th birthday of Anne Robert Jacques Turgot! If you don't know Turgot, he very briefly the French Minister of Finance in the 1770s. He tried to repair the French treasury, destroy restrictions on trade, abolish illiberal privileges of the upper class, end discrimination against French protestants, and argued against French intervention in the American Revolution not just on financial grounds, but in opposition to America's slave holding. As you might imagine, he had a lot of enemies, and was soon fired with most of his proposals dismissed by the French aristocracy.

Though as we all know, that aristocracy was dismissed by the people barely decade later...

Just as French (but much more popular), Le Creuset has donated a cast-iron pot to be raffled at this Friday's Wide Angle Lunch! The lunch (sponsored by terrific new local bookstore Heirloom Book Company) will feature Matt and Ted Lee, two Charleston chefs now living up North and spreading the gospel of Southern foodways in publications like Food & Wine, GQ, and the New York Times. Tickets for the event are going very quickly, so if you'd like to be a part of this most appetizing Wide Angle (and have a shot at the pot), get yours now.

Coming up soon: the final Unedited concert of the season is next week, and promises "chamber music with a twist". Tickets are $15... get yours now. Also, the last Wide Angle Lunch of the series is next Friday, with Alexandra Mack sharing stories from her time with Vogue magazine. Finally, the Piccolo Spoleto Literary Festival is right around the corner... tickets are available at piccolospoleto.com, the Visitors Center, and the Gaillard Box Office.

Did you know that "Cinco de Mayo" is Spanish for "Bring your Favourite Librarians some Dos Equis Day"?

It's Cinco de Mayo! Little more than a local day of remembrance in Mexico, the anniversary (this one is the 147th) of the Battle of Puebla has grown into a major celebration of Mexico and its culture on the north side of the border. As St. Patrick's Day and Oktoberfest have taught us, Americans are quick to adopt other cultures' holidays and traditions, so long as they mostly consist of drinking, eating, and dancing. This is why Leif Erikson Day, with its lutefisk, mashed peas, and Ringes beer just hasn't been all that popular outside of Wisconsin. Norwegian Americans, I am truly sorry.

The Library Society has a few upcoming events you'll want to mark on your calendar (we'll even have wine and hors d'oeuvres at a few of them- though none are scheduled to involve dancing...). Next Thursday, May 14th, we are scheduled to host Dr. Edmund Drago for a lecture and book signing. Dr. Drago, a historian at The College of the Charleston, will be discussing his Confederate Phoenix: Rebel Children and Their Families in South Carolina. The first full account of white children and their families in South Carolina during the Civil War. Drago's book shows how the War transformed the domestic world of the white South, through deprivation, disease, and death. Call us at 843.723.9912 for reservations or more information, or email us at rsvp@charlestonlibrarysociety.org.

Also, one of Charleston's own major local holidays (and we do have a few, don't we?) will be here soon: Piccolo Spoleto. The CLS will again be hosting the international arts festival's Southern Literary Festival, a series of lectures and book signings from some of the South's most beloved and well-respected authors. This year's scheduled guests include Nicole Seitz, Cassandra King, Ron Daise, Janna McMahan, Bret Lott, and Anne Rivers Siddons.