Past Events
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Thursday, November 7, 2019 - 6:30 PM | The Writing Life | Members' Room | open to the public | $15 per person | advance registration requiredA gripping novel set during Mussolini’s 1935 invasion of Ethiopia, The Shadow King takes us back to the first real conflict of World War II, casting light on the women soldiers who were left out of the historical record.Event Recording
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Wednesday, November 6, 2019 - 6:00 PM | The Writing Life | Members’ Room open to the public | $15 per person | advance 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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Wednesday, October 30, 2019 - 2:00 PM | Special Event | Whitridge Room | for members only | free of charge | advance registration requiredJoin a Rosenbach Museum curator to learn more about the Library’s connection to one of America’s most important literary and historical figures.
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Tuesday, October 29, 2019 - 11:00 AM | The Writing Life | Whitridge Room | for members only | free of charge | advance registration requiredThe higher your search ranking, the more likely your website will be found. In this talk, Miral Sattar will show you best practices for optimizing your web pages and getting the best results from searches on Google and Amazon so writers can get found, read, and followed.
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Monday, October 28, 2019 - 6:30 PM | Lecture | Members' Room | open to the public | $15 per person | advance registration requiredKatia Lysy, granddaughter of the writer Iris Origo, gives an intimate look at Origo’s life and memoirs, with images and information about the family estate of La Foce in Tuscany.Event Recording
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Thursday, October 24, 2019 - 6:00 PM | The Writing Life | Whitridge Room | for members only | free of charge | advance 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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Wednesday, October 23, 2019 - 6:30 PM | Lecture | Members’ Room open to the public | $15 per person | registration requiredIn this one-of-a-kind event, two of today’s most original and acclaimed writers discuss their books, their craft, and their dogs.
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Tuesday, October 22, 2019 - 5:00 PM | Children | Whitridge Room | for members and guests | grades 3 and up | $15 per child | registration requiredShare poetry and snacks with a poet and novelist as you develop your poetic voice.
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Thursday, October 10, 2019 - 6:00 PM | Special Event | Members' Room | open to the public | $20 per person | advance registration requiredUptown at Night returns to the Members’ Room with a vibrant new lineup of humorous storytellers and comedians including Lisa Birnbach, Annabelle Gurwitch, Maeve Higgins, Chip Kidd, David Litt, and James Harvey on piano.
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Wednesday, October 2, 2019 - 11:00 AM | Reading Group | Whitridge Room | for members only | $60 for the set of four sessions | advance registration requiredThis seminar looks at Whitman (born in May 1819) as poet, American, man.
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Thursday, September 26, 2019 - 11:00 AM | Reading Group | Whitridge Room | for members only | $60 for the set of four sessions | advance registration requiredEuripides' tragic plays competed directly with Homer's epic Iliad to challenge his Athenians. Twenty-four hundred years later, they still shock.
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Wednesday, September 25, 2019 - 6:30 PM | Lecture | Members' Room | open to the public | $15 per person | registration requiredThe editor of the American Scholar brings us the first major biography of P.T. Barnum in a generation, a vivid account of the forefather of American entertainment.Event Recording
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Tuesday, September 24, 2019 - 5:00 PM | Reading Group | Whitridge Room | for members only | $50 for the set of three sessions | advance registration requiredPoet and professor Bherwani leads discussion of lyric expressions eastern and western, old and new, that celebrate or lament the natural world.
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Thursday, September 19, 2019 - 6:00 PM | Special Event | Members' Room | open to the public | free of charge | advance registration requiredWhile our country continues to wrestle with the complex legacies of slavery, a look at the history of enslaved people’s clothing and sartorial agency as a form of resistance. This event is co-sponsored with More Speech.Event Recording
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Wednesday, September 18, 2019 - 5:30 PM | Reception | Members’ Room/Peluso Family Exhibition Gallery for members and guests | free of charge | no registration requiredJoin us for a festive opening to the Wanderlust exhibition of travel books, which is open to the public through December 31, 2019.
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Nicholas Birns, The Marginal and the Universal: Ellison’s Invisible Man and Nguyen’s The Sympathizer
Wednesday, September 18, 2019 - 11:00 AM | Reading Group | Whitridge Room for members only | $60 for the set of four sessions | registration requiredRalph Ellison and Viet Thanh Nguyen both treat marginal experience as potentially universal to create masterworks of epic scope and astonishing innovation. -
Monday, September 16, 2019 - 6:30 PM | Special Event | Members' Room | open to the public | $15 per person | advance registration requiredIn this lecture with recorded music, renowned author and broadcaster Michael Lasser offers an evocative and probing account of the popular songs - including some written originally for the stage or screen - that America heard, sang, and danced to during the turbulent first half of the twentieth century.
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Tuesday, September 10, 2019 - 6:30 PM | Lecture | Members' Room | open to the public | $15 per person | advance registration requiredA mind-bending exploration of gravity, a cold case that scientists are closer to cracking than ever - and whose very investigation has yielded untold truths about the cosmos and humanity itself.Event Recording
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Monday, June 10, 2019 - 6:00 PM | Special Event | Members' Room | for members and guests | free of charge | registration requiredMembers and guests are cordially invited to a celebration of Library members who have published books January-June 2019.
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Sunday, June 9, 2019 - 2:00 PM | The Writing Life | Members' Room | open to the public | $20 per person | registration requiredMarcia Butler’s new documentary The Creative Imperative blends many artists’ interviews about their relationship with the creative process. In this one-time-only event, Ms. Butler screens her film, then further explores its questions in a panel discussion with four remarkable authors.
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Thursday, June 6, 2019 - 2:00 PM | Special Event | Whitridge Room | open to the public | free of charge | registration requiredExhibition curators Harriet Shapiro and Cathy McGowan introduce the women (and men) behind American women’s right to vote.
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Monday, May 20, 2019 - 6:00 PM | Reception | Members' Room | for members and guests | free of charge | registration requiredAward winners and participants are honored at a ceremony and reception, with writing advice and inspiration from the author judges.
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Thursday, May 16, 2019 - 6:30 PM | Lecture | Members' Room | open to the public | $15 per person | registration requiredRunning from her father’s brutal legacy, Joseph Stalin’s daughter defects to the United States during the turbulence of the 1960s. This sweeping historical novel and unexpected love story is inspired by the remarkable life of Svetlana Alliluyeva.
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Wednesday, May 1, 2019 - 6:00 PM | Reception | For members and guests | Members' Room | reception at 6:00 PM, presentation at 6:30 PM | free of charge | advance registration requiredThe New York City Book Awards, founded in 1996, honor each year’s best books about the city. This annual ceremony honors the winning authors and publishers.Event Recording
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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 Jim Shepard, Emmy Blotnick, James Harvey, Jocelyn Chia, and Dr. George Lombardi.Event Recording