A lengthy list of poetry collections, biographies, and critical works.
Lecture
Mary Schmidt Campbell, An American Odyssey: The Life and Work of Romare Bearden, with special guests
Monday, April 12, 2021 - 6:00pm
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online | open to the public | $10 per person | registration required
AN AMERICAN ODYSSEY illuminates the life and work of Romare Bearden, whose art celebrated the traditions and ceremonies of African American culture. In this special event, biographer Mary Schmidt Campbell discusses Bearden's life and art and talks with gallery owners Sherman Edmiston and June Kelly.
Children
Picture Perfect
Wednesday, April 14, 2021 - 4:00pm
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Online (Zoom) | Recommended for children in Kindergarten and Up
Read More >
The Writing Life
The Writing Life Poetry Workshop: Write What Life Feels Like Now with Esther Cohen
Thursday, January 7, 2021 - 3:00pm
Thursday, January 21, 2021 - 3:00pm
Thursday, February 4, 2021 - 3:00pm
Thursday, February 18, 2021 - 3:00pm
Thursday, March 4, 2021 - 3:00pm
Thursday, March 18, 2021 - 3:00pm
Thursday, April 1, 2021 - 3:00pm
Thursday, April 15, 2021 - 3:00pm
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online | open to the public; free for members | separate sessions | registration required
It's an unusual season. There are so many words to say how we feel. Let's try together.
Online Event
Digital Teatime
Friday, February 19, 2021 - 3:00pm to 3:30pm
Friday, February 26, 2021 - 3:00pm to 3:30pm
Friday, March 5, 2021 - 3:00pm to 3:30pm
Friday, March 12, 2021 - 3:00pm to 3:30pm
Friday, March 19, 2021 - 3:00pm to 3:30pm
Friday, March 26, 2021 - 3:00pm to 3:30pm
Friday, April 2, 2021 - 3:00pm to 3:30pm
Friday, April 9, 2021 - 3:00pm to 3:30pm
Friday, April 16, 2021 - 3:00pm to 3:30pm
Friday, April 23, 2021 - 3:00pm to 3:30pm
Friday, April 30, 2021 - 3:00pm to 3:30pm
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for members | by donation | drop in
Grab your favorite cup and your current read and spend a little time in social sipping and book-friendly chat with your fellow members.
Lecture
Laurence Bergreen, In Search of a Kingdom: Francis Drake, Elizabeth I, and the Perilous Birth of the British Empire
Monday, April 19, 2021 - 6:00pm
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online | open to the public | $10 per person | registration required
In this grand and thrilling narrative, the acclaimed biographer of Magellan, Columbus, and Marco Polo brings alive the singular life and adventures of Sir Francis Drake, the pirate/explorer/admiral whose mastery of the seas during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I changed the course of history.
Children
Storytime Online
Wednesday, April 7, 2021 - 12:00pm
Wednesday, April 21, 2021 - 12:00pm
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Online | For All Ages
Join us on YouTube at the time above for our virtual storytime for all ages!
Missed the latest Storytime Online premiere? The video will be posted on our Storytime Playlist shortly after, so you can participate on your own schedule.
We also offer live and interactive storytime! Check our events schedule and join us for Storytime Live on Zoom.
Special Event
Edward Hirsch, 100 Poems to Break Your Heart, with dramatic readers
Wednesday, April 21, 2021 - 6:00pm
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online | open to the public | free of charge | registration required
Edward Hirsch's new book presents 100 of the most moving and inspiring poems of the last 200 years from around the world, a collection that will comfort and enthrall anyone trapped by grief or loneliness, selected by the award-winning, best-selling, and beloved author of HOW TO READ A POEM. In this special event, Dr. Hirsch introduces the poems and their creators, with moving readings by actors R.J. Foster and Sarah Rose Kearns.
Online Event
Digital Teatime
Friday, February 19, 2021 - 3:00pm to 3:30pm
Friday, February 26, 2021 - 3:00pm to 3:30pm
Friday, March 5, 2021 - 3:00pm to 3:30pm
Friday, March 12, 2021 - 3:00pm to 3:30pm
Friday, March 19, 2021 - 3:00pm to 3:30pm
Friday, March 26, 2021 - 3:00pm to 3:30pm
Friday, April 2, 2021 - 3:00pm to 3:30pm
Friday, April 9, 2021 - 3:00pm to 3:30pm
Friday, April 16, 2021 - 3:00pm to 3:30pm
Friday, April 23, 2021 - 3:00pm to 3:30pm
Friday, April 30, 2021 - 3:00pm to 3:30pm
|
for members | by donation | drop in
Grab your favorite cup and your current read and spend a little time in social sipping and book-friendly chat with your fellow members.
Online Event
Digital Teatime
Friday, February 19, 2021 - 3:00pm to 3:30pm
Friday, February 26, 2021 - 3:00pm to 3:30pm
Friday, March 5, 2021 - 3:00pm to 3:30pm
Friday, March 12, 2021 - 3:00pm to 3:30pm
Friday, March 19, 2021 - 3:00pm to 3:30pm
Friday, March 26, 2021 - 3:00pm to 3:30pm
Friday, April 2, 2021 - 3:00pm to 3:30pm
Friday, April 9, 2021 - 3:00pm to 3:30pm
Friday, April 16, 2021 - 3:00pm to 3:30pm
Friday, April 23, 2021 - 3:00pm to 3:30pm
Friday, April 30, 2021 - 3:00pm to 3:30pm
|
for members | by donation | drop in
Grab your favorite cup and your current read and spend a little time in social sipping and book-friendly chat with your fellow members.
Children
Storytime Live!
Saturday, March 27, 2021 - 11:00am
Saturday, May 1, 2021 - 11:00am
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Online (Zoom) | For all ages
Read More >
Lecture
Melissa J, Homestead, The Only Wonderful Things: The Creative Partnership of Willa Cather & Edith Lewis
Tuesday, May 4, 2021 - 6:00pm
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online | open to the public | $10 per person | registration required
What would Willa Cather's widely read and cherished novels have looked like if she had never met magazine editor and copywriter Edith Lewis? A groundbreaking new look at the American novelist's creative process.
Lecture
Walt Whitman Invents America with Mark Edmundson, author of Song of Ourselves
Wednesday, May 12, 2021 - 6:00pm
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online | free of charge | presented by the Athenaeum of Philadelphia
Walt Whitman believed that the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, glorious as they were, were not enough. We needed to learn to learn the true spirit of democracy. What does it feel like at its best to live as a democratic man or woman? In "Song of Myself," Whitman seeks to answer that question.
The Writing Life
The Writing Life: Prompt! with Terena Elizabeth Bell, Winter/Spring 2021
Friday, January 8, 2021 - 11:00am to 12:30pm
Friday, February 12, 2021 - 11:00am to 12:30pm
Friday, March 12, 2021 - 11:00am to 12:30pm
Friday, April 9, 2021 - 11:00am to 12:30pm
Friday, May 14, 2021 - 11:00am to 12:30pm
Friday, June 11, 2021 - 11:00am to 12:30pm
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online | for members only | by donation | registration required
Join your fellow member writers for a fun and stimulating hour+ of prompts, writing, and sharing.
Special Event
Closing: Memorial Day Weekend 2021
Saturday, May 29, 2021 - 11:00am
Sunday, May 30, 2021 - 11:00am
Monday, May 31, 2021 - 11:00am
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Closing
The Library is closed all day Saturday, May 29, Sunday, May 30, and Monday, May 31, for Memorial Day weekend. Otherwise we observe normal hours.
Special Event
Closing: Memorial Day Weekend 2021
Saturday, May 29, 2021 - 11:00am
Sunday, May 30, 2021 - 11:00am
Monday, May 31, 2021 - 11:00am
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Closing
The Library is closed all day Saturday, May 29, Sunday, May 30, and Monday, May 31, for Memorial Day weekend. Otherwise we observe normal hours.
Special Event
Closing: Memorial Day Weekend 2021
Saturday, May 29, 2021 - 11:00am
Sunday, May 30, 2021 - 11:00am
Monday, May 31, 2021 - 11:00am
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Closing
The Library is closed all day Saturday, May 29, Sunday, May 30, and Monday, May 31, for Memorial Day weekend. Otherwise we observe normal hours.
The Writing Life
The Writing Life: Prompt! with Terena Elizabeth Bell, Winter/Spring 2021
Friday, January 8, 2021 - 11:00am to 12:30pm
Friday, February 12, 2021 - 11:00am to 12:30pm
Friday, March 12, 2021 - 11:00am to 12:30pm
Friday, April 9, 2021 - 11:00am to 12:30pm
Friday, May 14, 2021 - 11:00am to 12:30pm
Friday, June 11, 2021 - 11:00am to 12:30pm
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online | for members only | by donation | registration required
Join your fellow member writers for a fun and stimulating hour+ of prompts, writing, and sharing.
Special Event
Closing: Juneteenth 2021
Saturday, June 19, 2021 - 11:00am to 5:00pm
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Closing
The Library is closed all day Saturday, June 19, for Juneteenth. Otherwise we observe normal hours.
Special Event
Closing: Independence Day 2021
Saturday, July 3, 2021 - 11:00am
Sunday, July 4, 2021 - 11:00am
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Closing
The Library is closed all day Saturday, July 3 and Sunday, July 4, for Independence Day. Otherwise we observe normal hours.
Special Event
Closing: Independence Day 2021
Saturday, July 3, 2021 - 11:00am
Sunday, July 4, 2021 - 11:00am
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Closing
The Library is closed all day Saturday, July 3 and Sunday, July 4, for Independence Day. Otherwise we observe normal hours.
Special Event
Closing: Labor Day Weekend 2021
Saturday, September 4, 2021 - 11:00am
Sunday, September 5, 2021 - 11:00am
Monday, September 6, 2021 - 11:00am
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Closing
The Library is closed all day Saturday, September 4, Sunday, September 5, and Monday, September 6, for Labor Day weekend. Otherwise we observe normal hours.
Special Event
Closing: Labor Day Weekend 2021
Saturday, September 4, 2021 - 11:00am
Sunday, September 5, 2021 - 11:00am
Monday, September 6, 2021 - 11:00am
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Closing
The Library is closed all day Saturday, September 4, Sunday, September 5, and Monday, September 6, for Labor Day weekend. Otherwise we observe normal hours.
Special Event
Closing: Labor Day Weekend 2021
Saturday, September 4, 2021 - 11:00am
Sunday, September 5, 2021 - 11:00am
Monday, September 6, 2021 - 11:00am
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Closing
The Library is closed all day Saturday, September 4, Sunday, September 5, and Monday, September 6, for Labor Day weekend. Otherwise we observe normal hours.
Special Event
Closing: Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples' Day 2021
Monday, October 11, 2021 - 9:00am
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Closing
The Library is closed all day Monday, October 11, for Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples' Day. Otherwise we observe normal hours.
Special Event
Closing: Thanksgiving 2021
Thursday, November 25, 2021 - 9:00am
Friday, November 26, 2021 - 9:00am
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Closing
The Library is closed all day Thursday, November 25 and Friday, November 26, for Thanksgiving.
Pages
Exhibitions
The Library showcases our historic collections and the literary culture of the city with themed public exhibitions on the second floor. Exhibitions are offered for six to twelve months, and both members and nonmembers are welcome to drop by any time the Library is open.
Current Exhibition:
The New York Society Library
53 East 79th Street
New York, NY 10075
212.288.6900
reference@nysoclib.org
Hours of Operation
Monday / Friday
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday
10:00 AM - 7:00 PM
10:00 AM - 7:00 PM
Saturday / Sunday
11:00 AM - 5:00 PM
11:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Holiday Closing:
Memorial Day
The Library is closed on Saturday, May 29, Sunday, May 30, and Monday, May 31 for Memorial Day weekend. Otherwise we observe normal hours.