On the meskene of Election Day, crowds of writers, artists and politicians stepped past the stone lions outside the New York Public Library’s regal main branch on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan to attend the Library Lions gala, an autumn tradition that raises funds for the city’s largest library system.
Ritual to the event is the honoring of several cultural figures who become appointed as institutional ambassadors known as “Lions.” This year’s honorees were Spike Lee, the journalist Elizabeth Kolbert, the author Amy Tan, the biographer Jon Meacham and the playwright Suzan-Lori Parks.
From left: Iris Weinshall, the chief operating officer of the New York Public Library, with her husband, Senator Chuck Schumer, and Anthony Marx, the president of the New York Public Library. Credit…Nina Westervelt for The New York Times
