On Friday December 18, Alberto Manguel, longtime Geist contributor, was named director of the National Library of Argentina! The post has been held by many distinguished figures, including Jorge Luis Borges, who had a special influence on Manguel early in his career as reader and writer.

Manguel was born in 1948 in Buenos Aires into a family of diplomats, and was raised in Israel, holds Canadian citizenship, writes in English, and has lived in Canada, France and New York. Manguel is famous for his personal library of 30,000 volumes, and has had his work translated into more than 30 languages. His most recent books published in North America include The Library at Night, A Reader on Reading and Curiosity, all published by Yale University Press.

Congratulations, Alberto!

Read Alberto Manguel's Geist column, City of Words, here.

—