Great moments in history and popular culture happen every day, and ON THIS DAY will share a few of them with you. We’ll also point you to related resources in our collection, helping you to discover classic films, musical favorites, and historical tidbits. The primary focus will be on our e-material – e-books, e-audio, and downloadable and streamable music and film – but physical books and DVDs will also be part of the fun.

	On this day in 1923, Nadine Gordimer was born. The South African novelist received the Nobel Prize in 1991. Her writing often dealt with moral and political ambiguity, particularly surrounding the topic of race; during the apartheid era, several of her books were banned by the white South African government. After the end of apartheid, she continued to speak out against censorship, and also became in the African HIV/AIDS movement. Her 1981 novel July's People finds an affluent white couple struggling for survival after an imagined revolution by black South Africans; it's available as an e-book or e-audio from OverDrive, or in print.
	On this day in 1939, Dick Smothers was born. Smothers was the straight man in the Smothers Brothers comedy team, playing long-suffering patience opposite perpetually confused brother Tom. The Brothers' act alternated between performances of folk songs and comic bickering. From 1967 to 1969, they starred in their own TV show, a variety hour which ran into frequent problems with network censors for their political and religious satire. Several of the Smothers Brothers' comedy albums are available for streaming at Hoopla.
	And on this day in 1942, Meredith Monk was born. For more than 50 years, the composer and choreographer has combined music, theater, and dance. As a composer, she is primarily known for her vocal writing, which frequently uses unorthodox techniques, and is often more interested in pure sound than in text. Her 1991 opera Atlas, for instance, is written mostly in wordless choral sounds with occasional bits of spoken text; it's available for streaming at Hoopla.