Our Events

The Writing Life

The Writing Life: Prompt! Online with Charlie Allenson

Friday, September 8, 2023 - 11:00am Friday, October 6, 2023 - 11:00am Friday, November 10, 2023 - 11:00am Friday, December 1, 2023 - 11:00am | on the Zoom Meetings platform | for members only | free of charge | registration required
Join your fellow member writers for a fun and stimulating hour+ of prompts, writing, and sharing.
Read More >

The Writing Life

The Writing Life: Prompt! In Person with Carol Weston

Thursday, September 7, 2023 - 11:00am Thursday, October 12, 2023 - 11:00am Thursday, November 2, 2023 - 11:00am Thursday, December 7, 2023 - 11:00am | Whitridge Room | for members only | free of charge | registration required
Join your fellow member writers for a fun and stimulating hour+ of prompts, writing, and sharing.
Read More >

The Writing Life

The Writing Life Special Event: Live from the Library, Fall 2023

Thursday, October 12, 2023 - 6:00pm | Members’ Room | open to the public | $15 per person | registration required
Library members read from their own short stories, novels, poetry, criticism, memoir, and plays.
Read More >

The Writing Life

Members' Room: Panel: Social Media Savvy: How Authors Use Digital Platforms to Reach Readers

Wednesday, October 18, 2023 - 6:00pm | Members' Room | open to the public | free of charge | registration required
Building a readership online can seem daunting. In this special event, fiction and nonfiction authors come together with two publishing marketers to help demystify this challenge. This panel of seasoned experts share their failures and successes, how they’ve gone about developing a loyal reader base by engaging inventively using the various social media platforms, and what they’ve learned from readers that has informed their work. They will address Who to target - from readers to librarians to bookstores and more - What to do to stand out in a crowded marketplace - Where to participate, helping identify appropriate platforms and maximize the experience there - and When to engage, from pre-book launch to back list visibility. The panelists are Mateo Askaripour, Jessica Lahey, Claire McKinney, Hannah Orenstein, and Miral Sattar, with moderator Jane Murphy and Authors Guild Ambassador Diana Altman.
Read More >

The Writing Life

Livestream: Panel: Social Media Savvy: How Authors Use Digital Platforms to Reach Readers

Wednesday, October 18, 2023 - 6:00pm | Livestream | open to the public | free of charge | registration required
Building a readership online can seem daunting. In this special event, fiction and nonfiction authors come together with two publishing marketers to help demystify this challenge. This panel of seasoned experts share their failures and successes, how they’ve gone about developing a loyal reader base by engaging inventively using the various social media platforms, and what they’ve learned from readers that has informed their work. They will address Who to target - from readers to librarians to bookstores and more - What to do to stand out in a crowded marketplace - Where to participate, helping identify appropriate platforms and maximize the experience there - and When to engage, from pre-book launch to back list visibility. The panelists are Mateo Askaripour, Jessica Lahey, Claire McKinney, Hannah Orenstein, and Miral Sattar, with moderator Jane Murphy and Authors Guild Ambassador Diana Altman.
Read More >

The Writing Life

Writing Life Daytime Talk: Hybrid Publishing...Is It For You?

Tuesday, October 24, 2023 - 3:30pm | 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!
Read More >

The Writing Life

The Writing Life: Prompt! In Person with Carol Weston

Thursday, September 7, 2023 - 11:00am Thursday, October 12, 2023 - 11:00am Thursday, November 2, 2023 - 11:00am Thursday, December 7, 2023 - 11:00am | Whitridge Room | for members only | free of charge | registration required
Join your fellow member writers for a fun and stimulating hour+ of prompts, writing, and sharing.
Read More >

The Writing Life

Esther Cohen's All of Us: A Writing Invitation

Monday, November 6, 2023 - 2:00pm | Whitridge Room | for members and their guests | free of charge | registration required
In this special event, join writer and teacher Esther Cohen for a workshop and party celebrating her new book All of Us: Stories and Poems Along Route 17. All writers are invited to add your US to this story.
Read More >

The Writing Life

The Writing Life: Prompt! Online with Charlie Allenson

Friday, September 8, 2023 - 11:00am Friday, October 6, 2023 - 11:00am Friday, November 10, 2023 - 11:00am Friday, December 1, 2023 - 11:00am | on the Zoom Meetings platform | for members only | free of charge | registration required
Join your fellow member writers for a fun and stimulating hour+ of prompts, writing, and sharing.
Read More >

The Writing Life

Writing Life Daytime Talk: Targeting and Querying a Literary Agent with Ralph White

Tuesday, November 21, 2023 - 3:30pm | Whitridge Room | for members only | free of charge | registration required

The founder of the Columbia Fiction Foundry discusses the components of the query letter (for fiction) and the proposal letter (for nonfiction), centering on why that agent was selected and how the author’s project compares with the agent’s recent projects. The core of Ralph’s presentation will be how to cull the Publisher’s Marketplace database for projects comparable to the author’s, and how to integrate those comps in the query or proposal for optimal impact.

Read More >

The Writing Life

The Writing Life: Prompt! Online with Charlie Allenson

Friday, September 8, 2023 - 11:00am Friday, October 6, 2023 - 11:00am Friday, November 10, 2023 - 11:00am Friday, December 1, 2023 - 11:00am | on the Zoom Meetings platform | for members only | free of charge | registration required
Join your fellow member writers for a fun and stimulating hour+ of prompts, writing, and sharing.
Read More >

The Writing Life

The Writing Life: Prompt! In Person with Carol Weston

Thursday, September 7, 2023 - 11:00am Thursday, October 12, 2023 - 11:00am Thursday, November 2, 2023 - 11:00am Thursday, December 7, 2023 - 11:00am | Whitridge Room | for members only | free of charge | registration required
Join your fellow member writers for a fun and stimulating hour+ of prompts, writing, and sharing.
Read More >

Today's Events

Exhibitions

The Library showcases our historic collections and the literary culture of the city with themed public exhibitions on the second floor. Exhibitions are offered for six to twelve months, and both members and nonmembers are welcome to drop by any time the Library is open.

Current Exhibition: