The Library is open for most services, and events continue online. Click on any event title for more details and to register where required.

All events are open to the public unless otherwise listed.

New events are added throughout the season. Join our mailing list to hear about it first (open to all).

Exhibition | Special Events | Performances | Lectures & Panels | Poetry | Seminars & Reading Groups | The Writing Life | Children's & Young Adult Events | Informal & Informational Gatherings

Exhibition

The Book Beautiful: Margaret Armstrong & Her Bindings

• this online gallery of Margaret Armstrong's beautiful decorated book covers
• this online gallery talk with exhibitions staff
• this online lecture/slideshow about Armstrong's work and era from three Met Museum curators

Margaret Armstrong was one of the most sought-after artists in an almost forgotten chapter in the history of book publishing—the golden age of the decorated book cover. Today Armstrong’s covers are once again prized by scholars, educators and collectors. This exhibition showcases some of Armstrong’s most exquisite covers, along with historic photographs and documents.

Special Events

New York Adventure Club: Virtual Exploration of the Library
Friday, December 4, 5:30 PM
open to the public | $10 per person | registration through New York Adventure Club required

An American Songbook Afternoon with Michael Lasser: Irving Berlin's Miracle Year
Sunday, December 13, 2:00 PM
open to the public | $10 per person | registration required
In this lecture with recorded music, American Songbook expert and radio host Michael Lasser takes us back to the year almost a century ago when one of America's most iconic songwriters came fully into his own voice.

The Writing Life Special Event: Celebration of Member Writers
Monday, December 14, 6:00 PM
for members and guests | on the Zoom Meetings platform | free of charge | registration required
Members and guests are cordially invited to a celebration of Library members who have published books during 2020.

Now Streaming: Our Fall 2020 Season
We're pleased to make our full season of major fall events available for streaming as of the dates below. Join us at noon on any of these dates to chat with others at a streaming premiere watch party! Full details here.

• Thursday, December 17 – Roxana Robinson, Dawson's Fall (originally September 8)
• Friday, December 18 - The Hopeless Romantic with Marialuisa Monda (originally September 13)
• Sunday, December 20 – The Past is Never Past: Jan Eliasberg, Hannah's War, and Ellen Feldman, Paris Never Leaves You (originally September 16)
• Monday, December 21 – S.A. Cosby, Blacktop Wasteland (originally September 22)
• Tuesday, December 22 – Lowell Thing, Cover Treasure: The Adventures of a Margaret Armstrong Collector (originally October 1)
• Wednesday, December 23 – Meredith Talusan, Fairest: A Memoir (originally October 22)
• Monday, December 28 – Kevin Kwan, Sex and Vanity, with Jacqueline B. Weld (originally October 26)
• Tuesday, December 29 – Lyndall Gordon, Outsiders: Five Women Writers Who Changed the World (originally November 8)
• Wednesday, December 30 – Peter Brooks, Balzac's Lives, with Edwin Frank (originally November 12)
• Sunday, January 3 – Adam Hochschild, Rebel Cinderella: From Rags to Riches to Radical, the Epic Journey of Rose Pastor Stokes (originally November 16)
• Monday, January 4 - Darryl Pinckney, Blackballed: The Black Vote and U.S. Democracy, with Caryl Phillips (originally December 1)
• Tuesday, January 5 - Barbara Demick, Eat the Buddha: Life and Death in a Tibetan Town (originally December 8)
• Thursday, January 7 - An American Songbook Afternoon with Michael Lasser: Irving Berlin's Miracle Year (originally December 13)

Lectures & Panels

Barbara Demick, Eat the Buddha: Life and Death in a Tibetan Town
Tuesday, December 8, 6:00 PM
open to the public | $10 per person | registration required
Illuminating a culture that has long been romanticized by Westerners as deeply spiritual and peaceful, Demick reveals what it is really like to be a Tibetan in the twenty-first century, trying to preserve one’s culture, faith, and language against the depredations of a seemingly unstoppable, technologically all-seeing superpower.
 

Seminars and Reading Groups

Seminar: Ivelisse Rodriguez, Puerto Rican Literature: From New York to Puerto Rico and Back
Thursdays, December 3, December 17, January 7, January 21, 6:00 PM
open to the public | $60 for the four sessions | registration required
The author of PEN/Faulkner finalist Love War Stories explores memoirs, poetry, and fiction covering almost 100 years of Puerto Rican writing from the continental United States.

The Writing Life

Write What Life Feels Like Now with Esther Cohen
Thursdays November 19, December 3, December 17, 3:00 PM
online | by donation | registration required
It's an unusual year. There are so many words to say how we feel. Let's try together. Esther Cohen is a writer and poet in New York City. She also teaches and is a cultural activist. Most days she posts a poem at esthercohen.com.

Prompt! with Terena Elizabeth Bell
Fridays December 11, 11:00 AM (separate sessions)
for members only | online | by donation | registration required
Join your fellow member writers for a fun and stimulating hour and a half of prompts, writing, and sharing.

Writing with Tarot with A.E. Osworth
Wednesdays, November 11, November 18, December 2, 6:00 PM
online | for members only | by donation | registration required
Feeling stuck in your writing? Uninspired? Overwhelmed? Break out your tarot deck and use the 78 archetypes to shake out of your writing rut and surprise even yourself.

The Writing Life Special Event: Celebration of Member Writers
Monday, December 14, 6:00 PM
for members and guests | on the Zoom Meetings platform | free of charge | registration required
Members and guests are cordially invited to a celebration of Library members who have published books during 2020.

Children's Events

Picture Perfect
Wednesday, December 9, 4:00 PM
Zoom | recommended for grades K and up
Let's meet on Zoom at the time above for a face-to-face storytime. This school year, our elementary age monthly program will explore the illustration techniques in award-winning books.

Storytime Live!
varying dates
Zoom | for all ages | no registration required
Join us on Zoom for a live face-to-face storytime.

Storytime Online! 
varying dates
YouTube | for all ages | no registration required

SEE THE FULL CHILDREN'S CALENDAR HERE.

Informal and Informational Gatherings

Member Orientation Videos
Videos introducing the Library's collections, services, and online resources are now available on the website.

Digital Teatime
Every Friday until further notice, 3:00 PM to 3:30 PM
for members only | online | 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. Teatime will not take place on December 25 or January 1.

The Book Beautiful is generously supported by The H.W. Wilson Foundation. Additional funding is provided by The Thomas E. Dewey Fund and The Felicia Fund.

The Writing Life events in 2020 are generously underwritten by Jenny Lawrence.

Children's events are generously supported by the Richard Peck Fund.

(Sidebar image: author Jamaica Kincaid is interviewed by Marialuisa Monda in our July webinar.)