Our Events Fall 2023
Our calendar combines in-person and livestreamed events. Click on any event title for more details and to register where required.
Events are added throughout the season. Join our mailing list to get the word first.
Registration is required for all events unless individual listings state otherwise, and space is limited. Please see individual listings for details on time, format, and location. Many events are open to the public, with some for members only; check individual listings for details. For Members' Room events, check-in begins thirty minutes prior to the stated start time. Registrants are asked not to arrive for check-in prior to that time. A seat cannot be guaranteed after an event has begun.
All start times are U.S. Eastern.
Exhibitions | Special Events | Performances | Lectures, Conversations & Panels | Poetry | The Writing Life | Seminars & Reading Groups | Children's & Young Adult Events | Informal & Informational Gatherings
Exhibitions
Quack! Quack! The Wonderful World of Robert Quackenbush
Open to the public in the Peluso Family Exhibition Gallery
March 2-December 31, 2023
Starring in the Library’s first children’s book exhibition are the famous "ducktective" Miss Mallard and other amazing creatures brought to life by writer and illustrator Robert Quackenbush. Books and archival material from the Quackenbush collection introduce visitors to Quackenbush’s delightful world of characters and clues, with insight into his creativity and artistic process.
Quack! Quack! Questions!
Saturdays October 7, November 4, December 9, 2:00 PM
Peluso Family Exhibition Gallery | open to the public | free of charge | drop in
Drop by any of these Saturdays to see our cheery family-friendly exhibition and chat with the expert. You can catch Margery Quackenbush on three select Saturdays answering your questions about Robert Quackenbush and his art in the gallery.
Quack! Quack! Puppet Workshop with Leah Rubin and Margery Quackenbush
Tuesday, October 3, 4:00 PM | Whitridge Room | Grades K+ | For members and a guest | $15
Robert Quackenbush’s delightful creatures of mystery come to life as puppets with teaching artist Leah Rubin and Margery Quackenbush, the inspiration for Miss Mallard herself.
Special Events
The Writing Life: Live from the Library, Fall 2023
Thursday, October 12, 6:00 PM | Members’ Room | open to the public | $15 per person | registration required
Join us for a festive evening of Library members reading from their own short stories, novels, poetry, criticism, memoir, and plays. Wine and light refreshments will be served.
A.E. Stallings, “Frieze Frame”: Artists and the Debate Around the Elgin Marbles, with the Hudson Review
Monday, October 16, 6:00 PM | Members’ Room and Livestream | open to the public | free of charge | registration required
The Hudson Review celebrates its 75th anniversary this year with an original in-depth essay by A.E. Stallings, "Frieze Frame: How Poets, Painters (and Actors and Architects) Framed the Ongoing Debate Around Elgin and the Marbles of the Athenian Acropolis." At this special event, Ms. Stallings will give an illustrated talk about the history of the Elgin Marbles, discussing the 19th century’s many attitudes toward them through the present-day debate about their future. Light refreshments will be served.
Writing Life Panel: Social Media Savvy: How Authors Use Digital Media to Reach Readers
Wednesday, October 18, 6:00 PM | Members' Room and Livestream | open to the public | free of charge | registration required
This panel of seasoned experts will share how they’ve gone about developing a loyal reader base by using the various social media platforms, including what they've learned from readers. They will address Who to target, What to do to stand out in a crowded marketplace, Where to participate, and When to engage. The panelists are Mateo Askaripour, Jessica Lahey, Claire McKinney, Hannah Orenstein, and Miral Sattar, with moderator Jane Murphy.
CELEBRATING 150 YEARS OF WILLA CATHER
Reading Willa Cather: A Sesquicentennial Celebration
Tuesday, October 24, 6:00 PM | Members' Room and Livestream | open to the public | free of charge | registration required
The Library is pleased to partner with the National Willa Cather Center to commemorate Willa Cather’s 150th birthday. The celebration will include short readings from Cather’s fiction and letters and will also include a reading of Truman Capote’s unfinished reminiscence of his chance meeting with Willa Cather at the New York Society Library in 1942.
Benjamin Taylor, Chasing Bright Medusas: A Life of Willa Cather
Tuesday, November 14, 6:00 PM | Members' Room - $15 per person | Livestream - $10 per person | open to the public | registration required
A tender biography of one of the greatest authors of the twentieth century and an elegant exploration of artistic endurance, as told by a lifelong lover of Willa Cather’s work.
Performances
A Pleasing Terror: Two Ghost Stories by M.R. James, performed by Robert Lloyd Parry
Wednesday, October 4, 6:00 PM | Members' Room | open to the public | $15 per person | registration required
Robert Lloyd Parry returns to the Members' Room with two of the wonderfully spooky stories by British horror master M.R. James (1862-1936). “Wonderful, magical storytelling." - The Daily Mail
Lectures, Conversations & Panels
NEW PRESENTER! Blair LM Kelley, Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class, with Brittney C. Cooper
Thursday, September 28, 6:00 PM | Livestream | open to the public | $10 per person | registration required
Award-winning historian Blair LM Kelley illuminates the adversities and joys of the Black working class in America through a stunning narrative centered on her forebears, in conversation with Eloquent Rage author Brittney C. Cooper.
Gretchen Rubin, Life in Five Senses: How Exploring the Senses Got Me Out of My Head and Into the World, with Alexandra Horowitz
Monday, October 2, 6:00 PM | Members' Room - $15 | Livestream - $10 | open to the public | registration required
The bestselling author of The Happiness Project discovers a surprising path to a life of more energy, creativity, luck, and love: by tuning in to the five senses. In this special event, Gretchen Rubin converses with Alexandra Horowitz, author of On Looking: A Walker's Guide to the Art of Observation and other books.
Libraries of the Enlightenment: An Introduction to the Eighteenth-Century Libraries Online Database
Friday, October 20, 12:00 PM | Livestream only | open to the public | free of charge | registration required
For the past four years, an international team of researchers led by the University of Liverpool in the UK has been exploring the history of libraries and reading habits in the eighteenth century, shedding dramatic new light on the contribution made by books to social, cultural and political change in this vital period in the formation of the modern world. This talk will feature two of the leading researchers on the project talking through some of their key findings, while also giving audience members a behind-the-scenes look at the project’s database before it is launched to the public later this year.
Lance Morrow, The Noise of Typewriters: Remembering Journalism and Roger Rosenblatt, Cataract Blues: Running the Keyboard
Thursday, October 26, 6:00 PM | Members' Room - $15 per person | Livestream - $10 per person | open to the public | registration required
Two of America’s master essayists, Roger Rosenblatt and Lance Morrow, discuss the art of the essay and the state of American journalism, then and now, with Jim Kelly, former managing editor of TIME.
Robert E. Rubin, The Yellow Pad: Making Better Decisions in an Uncertain World
Thursday, November 2, 6:00 PM | Members' Room - $15 per person | Livestream - $10 per person | open to the public | registration required
Robert Rubin, former secretary of the Treasury and co-chairman of Goldman Sachs, shares thoughts on decision-making developed over more than six decades in markets, business, government, and politics, and offers readers an astute and original guide for navigating uncertain times.
Poetry
More coming soon!
The Writing Life
The Writing Life: Prompt! In Person with Carol Weston
Thursdays October 12, November 2, December 7, 11:00 AM
Whitridge Room | for members only | free of charge | registration required
Come write with us on Thursday mornings. Join your fellow member writers for a fun and stimulating hour and a half of prompts, writing, and sharing. Sessions are separate - attend any or all.
The Writing Life Prompt! Online with Charlie Allenson
Fridays, October 6, November 10, December 1, 11:00 AM
Zoom | for members only | free of charge | registration required
Come write with us on Friday mornings. Join your fellow member writers for a fun and stimulating hour and a half of prompts, writing, and sharing. Sessions are separate - attend any or all.
Live from the Library, Fall 2023
Thursday, October 12, 6:00 PM | Members’ Room | open to the public | $15 per person | registration required
Join us for a festive evening of Library members reading from their own short stories, novels, poetry, criticism, memoir, and plays. Wine and light refreshments will be served.
Writing Life Panel: Social Media Savvy: How Authors Use Digital Media to Reach Readers
Wednesday, October 18, 6:00 PM | Members' Room and Livestream | open to the public | free of charge | registration required
This panel of seasoned experts will share how they’ve gone about developing a loyal reader base by using the various social media platforms, including what they've learned from readers. They will address Who to target, What to do to stand out in a crowded marketplace, Where to participate, and When to engage. The panelists are Mateo Askaripour, Jessica Lahey, Claire McKinney, Hannah Orenstein, and Miral Sattar, with moderator Jane Murphy.
Writing Life Daytime Talk: Hybrid Publishing...Is It For You?
Tuesday, October 24, 3:30 PM | Whitridge Room | for members only | free of charge | registration required
Learn how to make your books more discoverable with children’s book author and illustrator Betsy Franco-Feeney and Mary Carlomagno, Director of Sales and Business Development at Bowker. In this informative session, you will learn about current publishing trends and best practices for getting your book noticed. Be sure to prepare your questions in advance, as we will have time at the end of the presentation for questions and answers!
and save the dates for more Writing Life Daytime Talks:
- Targeting and Querying a Literary Agent with Ralph White - November 21
- Talking Translation with Leslie Camhi and Brian Robert Moore - December 19
Seminars & Reading Groups
FULLY REGISTERED: Another Half Year with Henry James, taught by Jane Mallison
Wednesdays September 27, October 25, November 29, January 31, February 28, March 27, 11:00 AM
Whitridge Room | for members only | $100 for the six sessions | registration required
“Never say you know the last word about any human heart.” That’s one of the great sentences of this great writer, Henry James (1843-1916). In this seminar – which welcomes both experienced readers of James and novices – we discover many more.
Let’s Read Shakespeare for Fun
Sundays October 1, November 5, December 3, January 7, February 4, March 3, 2:00-5:00 PM, Whitridge Room
for members and their guests | free of charge | registration required
We gather monthly to read aloud a play by William Shakespeare. This informal meetup aims to include anyone with an interest in the Bard; theatrical experience is welcome but not needed.
Seminar: The Personal In A Political World: The Fiction of Magda Szabó, with Nicholas Birns
Thursdays October 5, November 9, December 14, 11:00 AM
Whitridge Room | for members only | $75 per person | registration required
Magda Szabó (1917-2007) is the most famous and most translated Hungarian novelist, and her work presents a vision of the personal in a political world that constitutes a revelatory perspective on modernity. This seminar discusses three of her books written from the 1960s to the 1980s.
Children's and Young Adult Events
Young Writers' Workshop: Ruth Chan on Graphic Novels
Wednesday, September 27, 5:00 PM | Whitridge Room | Grades 3+ | For members & a guest | $15
In this ongoing series, young writers are invited to join notable authors in exploring different genres. Author and illustrator Ruth Chan leads a discussion about making comics and graphic novels, working with young writers and artists to explore the possibilities of cartooning. Participants will learn the tools needed to create their own comics.
Quack! Quack! Puppet Workshop with Leah Rubin and Margery Quackenbush
Tuesday, October 3, 4:00 PM | Whitridge Room | Grades K+ | For members and a guest | $15
Robert Quackenbush’s delightful creatures of mystery come to life as puppets with teaching artist Leah Rubin and Margery Quackenbush, the inspiration for Miss Mallard herself.
Quack! Quack! Robert Quackenbush Art Studio Tour
Sunday, October 22, 12:00 PM | For Grades K+ | Registration Required | Event will be held offsite
Join us for a tour and treasure hunt at the Upper East Side studio where Mr. Quackenbush made his art and taught generations of aspiring young artists.
New York Stories with Caroline Gertler and Melissa Dassori
Wednesday, October 25, 5:00 PM | Members’ Room | For grades 3+ | open to the public | $10 per child | registration required
These writers know what it’s like to be a New York City kid. Caroline Gertler’s The Many Points of Me and Where You’ve Got to Be and Melissa Dassori’s J.R. Silver Writes Her World feature unforgettable middle school characters navigating the challenges of friendship, family, change, and choice. In this interactive event, the authors discuss how the city inspired their novels and prompt participants to share their own New York stories.
SEE THE FULL CHILDREN'S CALENDAR HERE.
View our playlist of recorded children's events here.
Informal and Informational Gatherings
Member Orientation
Thursday, September 14, 6:00 PM
Whitridge Room | for members only | free of charge | drop in
It's your Library. Learn about all the ways to make use of our collections, building, and services in a friendly presentation/Q&A with a staff member. Sessions last 45-60 minutes.
Happy Hour
Wednesday, October 11, 5:30-7:00 PM
Members' Room | for members and their guests | free of charge | drop in
End your day with wine and snacks in the beautiful Members' Room. Library members and their guests are welcome.
Upcoming Happy Hour dates:
November 15
Teatime
weekdays, 3:00 to 3:30 PM
Reference Room | open to the public | free of charge; donations welcome | drop in
Take a break for tea, coffee, and cookies in our first-floor public Reference Room.
Writing Life events in 2023 are generously underwritten by Jenny Lawrence.
Quack! Quack! is generously supported by a gift in memory of Susan Goodstein Lerner.
The Library is closed all day Monday, October 9, for Italian American Heritage Day/Indigenous Peoples Day. Otherwise we observe normal hours.
