Past Events
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Thursday, June 17, 2021 - 11:00 AM | Reading Group | online | for members only | $60 for the four sessions | registration requiredArcheologists place the Trojan War somewhere around 1200 B.C.E. How then to explain the fact that the last twenty years have witnessed an outpouring of books on this topic? In the context of the classic ancient texts, discussion covers contemporary reinterpretations from David Malouf to Ursula LeGuin to Daniel Mendelsohn.
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Monday, June 14, 2021 - 6:00 PM | The Writing Life | online | open to the public | free of charge | registration requiredAcclaimed mystery writers Jeffery Deaver, Laurie King, Charles Todd, and Caroline Todd discuss crafting mysteries and their ever-shifting publishing landscape. This panel celebrates the release of HOW TO WRITE A MYSTERY: A HANDBOOK FROM MYSTERY WRITERS OF AMERICA.
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Wednesday, June 9, 2021 - 6:00 PM | Special Event | YouTube Live | open to the public | drop inThe New York City Book Awards, founded in 1996, honor each year’s best books about the city. This year's special ceremony honors the creators of great New York City books from 2019 and 2020.
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Wednesday, June 9, 2021 - 4:00 PM | Children | Online (Zoom) | Recommended for children in Kindergarten and Up
Let's meet on Zoom at the time above for a face-to-face storytime.
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Thursday, June 3, 2021 - 6:00 PM | Special Event | online | open to the public | $10 per person | registration requiredFrom an award-winning storyteller comes a stunning debut novel about a New Mexican family’s extraordinary year of love and sacrifice. In this special event, Ms. Quade talks about THE FIVE WOUNDS and the art of fiction writing with award-winning novelist Meg Wolitzer.
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Wednesday, May 26, 2021 - 12:00 PM | Children | Online | For All Ages
Join us on YouTube at the time above for our virtual storytime for all ages!
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Tuesday, May 25, 2021 - 6:00 PM | Reception | YouTube Live | open to the public | drop inAward winners and participants are celebrated at a ceremony with writing advice and inspiration from the author judges.
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Saturday, May 22, 2021 - 11:00 AM | Children | Online (Zoom) | All Ages
Join us on Zoom for a live, face-to-face storytime for all ages!
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Thursday, May 20, 2021 - 6:00 PM | Online Event | online | open to the public | free of charge | registration requiredIn this original series of live online events, Black writers from the 1700s to the present are re-examined to inspire understanding of race in our country today. Black Literature Matters celebrates Black writers in four extraordinary evenings. This final event of the series showcases brief excerpts from the work of writers from 1960 to the present.
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Wednesday, May 12, 2021 - 6:00 PM | Lecture | online | free of charge | presented by the Athenaeum of PhiladelphiaWalt 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.
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Wednesday, May 12, 2021 - 4:00 PM | Children | Online (Zoom) | Recommended for children in Kindergarten and up
Let's meet on Zoom at the time above for a face-to-face storytime.
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Wednesday, May 12, 2021 - 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM | Reading Group | online | for members only | $60 for the four sessions | registration requiredPerhaps the greatest novel about a single family, The Brothers Karamazov depicts the rational Ivan, the emotional Dimitry, the spiritual Alyosha, and the ostracized Smerdyakov in their relationship with their difficult and abrasive father, Fyodor. Set in a complex, changing, and infuriating Russia, Fyodor Dostoevsky’s masterpiece is riveting, disturbing, and strangely consoling.
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Tuesday, May 11, 2021 - 3:00 PM | The Writing Life | online | open to the public | $60 for the set of four sessions | registration requiredIn this workshop, we will explore how to animate setting and build a strong sense of place in fiction. During the COVID-19 pandemic, how have stay-at-home orders made us think about the influence of place on our own psychic spaces? In this four-week workshop, you will also have the opportunity to write and share your own fiction during class.
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Tuesday, May 4, 2021 - 6:00 PM | Lecture | online | open to the public | $10 per person | registration requiredWhat 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.
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Saturday, March 27, 2021 - 11:00 AM | Saturday, May 1, 2021 - 11:00 AM | Children | Online (Zoom) | For all ages
Join us on Zoom for a live, face-to-face storytime for all ages!
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Wednesday, April 21, 2021 - 6:00 PM | Special Event | online | open to the public | free of charge | registration requiredEdward 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.
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Wednesday, April 7, 2021 - 12:00 PM | Wednesday, April 21, 2021 - 12:00 PM | Children | Online | For All Ages
Join us on YouTube at the time above for our virtual storytime for all ages!
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Monday, April 19, 2021 - 6:00 PM | Lecture | online | open to the public | $10 per person | registration requiredIn 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.
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Wednesday, April 14, 2021 - 4:00 PM | Children | Online (Zoom) | Recommended for children in Kindergarten and Up
Let's meet on Zoom at the time above for a face-to-face storytime.
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Mary Schmidt Campbell, An American Odyssey: The Life and Work of Romare Bearden, with special guests
Monday, April 12, 2021 - 6:00 PM | Lecture | onlineAN 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. -
Wednesday, April 7, 2021 - 12:00 PM | Wednesday, April 21, 2021 - 12:00 PM | Children | Online | For All Ages
Join us on YouTube at the time above for our virtual storytime for all ages!
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Monday, April 5, 2021 - 6:00 PM | The Writing Life | online | open to the public | free of charge | registration requiredLibrary members read from their own short stories, novels, poetry, criticism, memoir, and plays.
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Tuesday, March 30, 2021 - 6:00 PM | Special Event | online | open to the public | free of charge | registration requiredA fun interactive evening celebrating everyday expressions from "under the weather" to "on top of the world," perfect for any lover of language.
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Saturday, March 27, 2021 - 11:00 AM | Saturday, May 1, 2021 - 11:00 AM | Children | Online (Zoom) | For all ages
Join us on Zoom for a live, face-to-face storytime for all ages!
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Thursday, March 25, 2021 - 6:00 PM | Online Event | online | open to the public | free of charge | registration requiredIn this original series of live online events, hear the voices of Black writers through history re-examined to inspire understanding of race in our country today. This third presentation brings to life the first half of the 20th century with dramatic readings, historical context, and images.