My, how we've changed in more than two-and-a-half-centuries.
Past Events
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Tuesday, April 16, 2019 - 6:00 PM | The Writing Life | Members' Room | open to the public | $20 per person | registration requiredUptown at Night returns to the Members’ Room with a vibrant new lineup of humorous storytellers and comedians including Emmy Blotnick, Jocelyn Chia, James Harvey, and Jim Shepard. Please join us for a delightful evening that showcases the Library’s lighter side.
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Repeats every month on February, March, April, May on the third Tuesday until Wed May 22 2019.Tuesday, February 19, 2019 - 12:00 PM, Tuesday, March 19, 2019 - 12:00 PM, Tuesday, April 16, 2019 - 12:00 PM, Tuesday, May 21, 2019 - 12:00 PM | Reading Group | Whitridge Room | for members only | $60 for the set of four sessions or $20 per session | registration requiredErwin Flaxman, PhD, leads discussion of four seminal novels by the only author to be included in the Library of America during his lifetime.
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Repeats every month on March, April, May on the third Monday until Tue May 14 2019. Also includes Mon May 13 2019.Monday, March 18, 2019 - 11:00 AM, Monday, April 15, 2019 - 11:00 AM, Monday, May 13, 2019 - 11:00 AM | Reading Group | Whitridge Room | for members only | $50 for the set of three sessions or $20 per session | registration requiredHomer’s depiction of Achilles’ shield in the Iliad is often cited as the earliest example of ekphrastic poetry - poetry that responds to visual art. This seminar will survey ekphrastic poetry and consider how poets have resourcefully engaged with visual art - painting, sculpture, architecture, photography, and other media - to address their individual agendas, impulses, and interests.
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Sunday, April 14, 2019 - 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM | Children | Children's Library | All Ages | For Members Only | Free of Charge
On April weekends drop by the library to color, create, or craft.
For Library members only.
Registration is not required for this drop-in activity. -
Saturday, April 13, 2019 - 3:00 PM | Special Event | Members' Room | open to the public | for ages 13 and up | free of charge | registration requiredJoin the conversation with award-winning, bestselling author Renée Watson and writer/performer Ellen Hagan as they discuss their powerful new YA novel Watch Us Rise.
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Repeats every month on February, March, April, May on the second Wednesday until Wed May 08 2019 except Wed Feb 13 2019.Wednesday, February 6, 2019 - 11:00 AM, Wednesday, March 13, 2019 - 11:00 AM, Wednesday, April 10, 2019 - 11:00 AM, Wednesday, May 8, 2019 - 11:00 AM | Reading Group | Whitridge Room | for members only | $60 for the set of four sessions or $20 per session | registration requiredFor more than a century, the dark, gloomy vision of a “dystopia” has flourished. While such books can sound depressing, the ingenuity and wit of their authors makes them fascinating. Popular seminar leader Jane Mallison guides readers throught the wreckage of four modern-classic dystopias, from 1984 to Parable of the Sower.
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Monday, April 8, 2019 - 6:30 PM | Special Event | Members' Room | open to the public | $15 per person | registration requiredIn this one-of-a-kind event, two outstanding American poets read and discuss their work. Jenny Xie is the author of the debut poetry collection Eye Level, winner of the Walt Whitman Award of the Academy of American Poets and a finalist for the National Book Award for Poetry. Gregory Pardlo's collection Digest won the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.
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Repeats every month on January, February, March, April, May on the second Sunday until Mon May 06 2019 except Sun Apr 14 2019. Also includes Sun Apr 07 2019, Sun May 05 2019.Sunday, January 13, 2019 - 2:30 PM, Sunday, February 10, 2019 - 2:30 PM, Sunday, March 10, 2019 - 2:30 PM, Sunday, April 7, 2019 - 2:30 PM, Sunday, May 5, 2019 - 2:30 PM | Reading Group | Whitridge Room | for members only | by donation; registration requiredEducator Blanche Siegal leads informal discussions of the beloved Victorian author Anthony Trollope and other master writers of the same century. This popular group is now in its eighth season.
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Repeats every month until Thu Jun 13 2019 except Wed May 01 2019, Sat Jun 01 2019. Also includes Wed May 15 2019, Wed Jun 12 2019.Wednesday, April 3, 2019 - 11:00 AM, Wednesday, May 15, 2019 - 11:00 AM, Wednesday, June 12, 2019 - 11:00 AM | Reading Group | Whitridge Room | for members only | $50 for the set of three sessions or $20 per session | registration requiredIn his ambitious historical novels Barnaby Rudge and A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens ventured from his usual subject matter to ask political and social questions that still resonate today.
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Tuesday, April 2, 2019 - 6:30 PM | Lecture | Members' Room | open to the public | $15 per person | registration requiredBestselling author Lessard takes a deep dive into our surroundings—cities, countryside, and sprawl—to explore change in the meaning of place and reimagine our American landscape. Ms. Lessard discusses The Absent Hand with the president of the Foundation for Landscape Studies, author Elizabeth Barlow Rogers.
Event Recording -
Thursday, March 28, 2019 - 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM | Reading Group | Whitridge Room | for members only | free of charge | no registration requiredAttend a lecture, read the book, then join other event-going members for informal discussion, book-club style.
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Wednesday, March 27, 2019 - 6:00 PM | Performance | Members' Room | open to the public | $25 per person | registration requiredTo celebrate World Theatre Day, The Arctic Cycle presents a reading of Homo Sapiens, one of the plays from their 2017 collection, written by Chantal Bilodeau. This is followed by a conversation with the creative team plus guest scientists whose work is directly connected to the issues addressed in the play.
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Repeats every month on February, March, April on the fourth Tuesday until Wed May 01 2019 except Tue Apr 23 2019. Also includes Tue Apr 30 2019.Tuesday, February 26, 2019 - 5:00 PM, Tuesday, March 26, 2019 - 5:00 PM, Tuesday, April 30, 2019 - 5:00 PM | Reading Group | Whitridge Room | open to the public | $50 for the set of three sessions or $20 per session | registration requiredWhenever change happens, reading fiction and nonfiction in combination – “BookBundles” – can be a great way to gain understanding and participate in a new conversation. In connection with the new exhibition Women Get the Vote: A Historic Look at the 19th Amendment, this seminar offers three BookBundle-based discussions, exploring cultural questions raised by women’s suffrage and still debated today.
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Thursday, March 21, 2019 - 6:00 PM | The Writing Life | Whitridge Room | for members only | free of charge | registration requiredBooks Walter Bode edited have won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. In this seminar, he’ll help writers find the most effective words and make the best use of them – based on participants’ own writing samples.
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Tuesday, March 19, 2019 - 6:00 PM | The Writing Life | Members' Room | open to the public | $15 per person | registration requiredLibrary members read from their own short stories, novels, poetry, criticism, memoir, and plays. Refreshments and wine will be served.
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Tuesday, February 19, 2019 - 12:00 PM, Tuesday, March 19, 2019 - 12:00 PM, Tuesday, April 16, 2019 - 12:00 PM, Tuesday, May 21, 2019 - 12:00 PM | Reading Group | Whitridge Room | for members only | $60 for the set of four sessions or $20 per session | registration requiredErwin Flaxman, PhD, leads discussion of four seminal novels by the only author to be included in the Library of America during his lifetime.
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Monday, March 18, 2019 - 11:00 AM, Monday, April 15, 2019 - 11:00 AM, Monday, May 13, 2019 - 11:00 AM | Reading Group | Whitridge Room | for members only | $50 for the set of three sessions or $20 per session | registration requiredHomer’s depiction of Achilles’ shield in the Iliad is often cited as the earliest example of ekphrastic poetry - poetry that responds to visual art. This seminar will survey ekphrastic poetry and consider how poets have resourcefully engaged with visual art - painting, sculpture, architecture, photography, and other media - to address their individual agendas, impulses, and interests.
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Thursday, March 14, 2019 - 6:30 PM | Lecture | Members' Room | open to the public | $15 per person, or free for students with valid ID | registration requiredDorothy Butler Gilliam, whose 50-year career as a journalist put her in the forefront of the fight for social justice, offers insights on racial relations and the media, in conversation with journalist and author Pamela Newkirk.
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Wednesday, March 13, 2019 - 6:00 PM | Special Event | Whitridge Room | open to the public | free of charge | registration requiredIn honor of Einstein's 140th birthday, a lightheartedly scientific look at his life, legacy, and ongoing popularity with physicist and playwright Stephen Rosen.
Event Recording -
Wednesday, February 6, 2019 - 11:00 AM, Wednesday, March 13, 2019 - 11:00 AM, Wednesday, April 10, 2019 - 11:00 AM, Wednesday, May 8, 2019 - 11:00 AM | Reading Group | Whitridge Room | for members only | $60 for the set of four sessions or $20 per session | registration requiredFor more than a century, the dark, gloomy vision of a “dystopia” has flourished. While such books can sound depressing, the ingenuity and wit of their authors makes them fascinating. Popular seminar leader Jane Mallison guides readers throught the wreckage of four modern-classic dystopias, from 1984 to Parable of the Sower.
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Monday, March 11, 2019 - 6:30 PM | Lecture | Members' Room | open to the public | $15 per person | registration requiredIn connection to the Library’s exhibition Women Get the Vote, the founding director of the Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation tells the stories of those who made women’s suffrage happen, based on her new anthology.
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Sunday, January 13, 2019 - 2:30 PM, Sunday, February 10, 2019 - 2:30 PM, Sunday, March 10, 2019 - 2:30 PM, Sunday, April 7, 2019 - 2:30 PM, Sunday, May 5, 2019 - 2:30 PM | Reading Group | Whitridge Room | for members only | by donation; registration requiredEducator Blanche Siegal leads informal discussions of the beloved Victorian author Anthony Trollope and other master writers of the same century. This popular group is now in its eighth season.
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Thursday, March 7, 2019 - 6:30 PM | Lecture | Members' Room | open to the public | $15 per person | advance registration requiredWhy is religion still around in the twenty-first century? Why do so many still believe? And how do various traditions still shape the way people experience everything from sexuality to politics, whether they are religious or not? In Why Religion? one of today’s most compelling thinkers on the subject looks to her own life to help address these questions.
Event Recording -
Saturday, March 2, 2019 - 3:00 PM | Children | Whitridge Room | for members and guests | for ages 2 and up | $10 per child | registration requiredFeaturing interactive stories, songs, and fingerplays, this lively program is filled with humor and action.
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Thursday, February 28, 2019 - 6:00 PM | The Writing Life | Whitridge Room | for members only | free of charge | registration requiredBooks Walter Bode edited have won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. In this seminar, he’ll help writers find the most effective words and make the best use of them – based on participants’ own writing samples.
