Past Events
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Wednesday, January 23, 2019 - 6:30 PM | The Writing Life | Members' Room | open to the public | $15 per person | registration requiredThe author, playwright, and Yale Drama professor shares a shimmering exploration of love, art, mortality, and the afterlife. Letters from Max is co-authored with Max Ritvo.
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Thursday, January 17, 2019 - 5:00 PM | Children | Members' Room | open to the public | for grades 3-8 | $10 per person | registration requiredMeet the award-winning, New York Times-bestselling author of Ella Enchanted and Ogre Enchanted! Gail Carson Levine offers a glimpse into the magic behind her numerous books and her writing process.
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Tuesday, January 15, 2019 - 6:30 PM | Lecture | Members' Room | open to the public | $15 per person | advance registration requiredA spirited biography of the prophetic and sympathetic philosopher who helped build the foundations of the modern world, by the William Armstrong Professor of the Humanities at Wesleyan University.
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Sunday, January 13, 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, January 10, 2019 - 6:30 PM | Special Event | Members' Room | open to the public | $15 per person | advance registration requiredIn this occasional series, writers and patrons interested in the publishing world are invited to insightful discussion with its stars. Brenda Bowen represents books for young readers and for adults at Greenburger Associates. John Silbersack of The Bent Agency is a publishing professional with a deep experience as editor, publisher, and agent. Emma Sweeney is president and owner of Emma Sweeney Agency LLC.
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Friday, December 14, 2018 - 2:00 PM | Special Event | Whitridge Room | for members only | for adults and teens in grade 9 and older | free of charge | registration requiredIlluminated manuscripts are handwritten manuscripts decorated with brilliant colors and gold. In this workshop with Library Conservator Christina Amato, participants will decorate an initial or simple illustration with gouache paint and real gold leaf.
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Thursday, December 13, 2018 - 6:30 PM | Special Event | Members' Room | open to the public | free of charge | advance registration requiredGlobal warming is no longer a mere prediction. It’s here, now, and having catastrophic effects on our planet. So why aren’t more people talking about it? Writers and critics Jeremy Deaton, Omar El Akkad, Roy Scranton, Ashley Shelby, and Michael Svoboda, with moderator Amy Brady from Guernica Magazine, explore how climate change is fundamentally framed in popular culture—and how, in turn, popular culture helps shape our national conversations about the issue.
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Tuesday, December 11, 2018 - 10:00 AM | The Writing Life | Whitridge Room | for members only | free of charge | registration required for each session separatelyJoin certified genealogists and repository personnel for three sessions of insights into methods to navigate the vast, complex, and exciting path to your family history. This workshop takes place over three Tuesdays: October 9, November 13, and December 11. Attend any or all sessions.
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Saturday, December 1, 2018 - 3:00 PM | Performance | Members' Room | open to the public | $25 per person | registration requiredIn the aftermath of the Napoleonic wars, a shy English spinster seeks to win back the love of the man she jilted eight years before. Jane Austen’s last and most romantic novel, a brilliant meditation on love and loss and what is constant in a changing world, is brought to sparkling new life by playwright Sarah Rose Kearns.
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Friday, November 30, 2018 - 9:00 AM to Saturday, December 1, 2018 - 5:00 PM | Special Event | Reference Room | open to the public | free of charge | no registration requiredHidden treasures, beautiful display volumes, fun reads, and gifts can be found at the Library’s holiday book sale.
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Thursday, November 29, 2018 - 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, November 28, 2018 - 5:00 PM | Children | Members' Room | open to the public | for grades 3 and up | $10 per person, payable at the door | registration requiredKarina Yan Glaser reads from her newest book, a sequel to her New York Times notable book The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street, and shares the secrets of how authors are inspired to write about what matters most to them.
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Saturday, November 17, 2018 - 3:00 PM | Children | Members' Room | open to the public | for children of all ages | $10 per child, payable at the door | registration requiredDon your frilliest, silliest frock and join us for stories, songs, and crafts…with a drag queen!
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Wednesday, November 14, 2018 - 6:30 PM | Lecture | Members' Room | open to the public | $15 per person | registration requiredIn this fresh, authoritative version―the first English translation of The Odyssey by a woman―this stirring tale of shipwrecks, monsters, and magic comes alive in an entirely new way. Written in iambic pentameter verse and a vivid, contemporary idiom, this engrossing translation matches the number of lines in the Greek original, thus striding at Homer’s sprightly pace and singing with a voice that echoes Homer’s music. An Oxford University graduate, Emily Wilson is a Professor of Classical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania.
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Tuesday, November 13, 2018 - 10:00 AM | The Writing Life | Whitridge Room | for members only | free of charge | registration required for each session separatelyJoin certified genealogists and repository personnel for three sessions of insights into methods to navigate the vast, complex, and exciting path to your family history. This workshop takes place over three Tuesdays: October 9, November 13, and December 11. Attend any or all sessions.
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Thursday, November 8, 2018 - 5:00 PM | Children | Members' Room | open to the public | kindergarten-grade 5 | $10 per person, payable at the door | registration requiredBring your heart and imagination with you to meet award-winning author and illustrator Peter Sís. He will describe his unique art techniques and share his newest book, Robinson.Event Recording
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Tuesday, November 6, 2018 - 6:00 PM | The Writing Life | Whitridge Room | for members only | $60 for the set of four sessions | registration requiredWhen the imagination is on fire and you’re writing up a storm, it’s great. When it becomes a slog, your efforts mired in resistance, what can you do? Stock your toolkit with 25 specific tools for writing with less struggle and more pleasure. C.S. Hanson is an award-winning playwright with Off-Broadway and regional credits.
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Thursday, November 1, 2018 - 6:30 PM | Lecture | Members' Room | open to the public | $15 per person | registration requiredA startling and eye-opening look into America’s First Family, and a National Book Award finalist, Never Caught is the powerful narrative of Ona Judge, George and Martha Washington’s runaway slave who risked everything to escape the nation’s capital and reach freedom.
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Tuesday, October 30, 2018 - 6:30 PM | Lecture | Members' Room | open to the public | $15 per person | registration requiredFrom the beloved Pulitzer Prize-winning poet: an extraordinary memoir and blistering meditation on fatherhood, race, addiction, and ambition.
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Wednesday, October 24, 2018 - 5:00 PM | Children | Whitridge Room | for members and guests | grades 3-8 | $15 per person, payable at the door | registration requiredCartoonist Sara Varon leads a discussion and works with young writers and artists to explore the possibilities of cartooning.
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Tuesday, October 23, 2018 - 6:30 PM | Lecture | Members' Room | open to the public | $15 per person | registration requiredActor/director/composer Tina Chen recounts the fascinating story of three generations of her mother’s family and their roles in the history of China.
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Thursday, October 18, 2018 - 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 are served.
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Tuesday, October 16, 2018 - 6:30 PM | Lecture | Members' Room | open to the public | $15 per person | registration requiredJane Sherron de Hart brings us the first full life—private, public, legal, philosophical—of the 107th Supreme Court justice, one of the most profoundly transformative minds of our time; a book fifteen years in the making, written with the cooperation of Ruth Bader Ginsburg herself and based on many interviews with the justice, her husband, her children, her friends, and her associates.
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Thursday, October 11, 2018 - 6:00 PM | The Writing Life | Members' Room | open to the public | $20 per person | registration required
Uptown at Night returns to the Members’ Room with a vibrant new lineup of humorous storytellers and comedians: Meghan Daum, C.S. Hanson, Micah Stratton, Henry Alford, Karen Chee, and Martin Dockery.
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Wednesday, October 10, 2018 - 11:00 AM | Reading Group | Whitridge Room | for members only | $50 for the set of three sessionsRobertson Davies’s Deptford Trilogy is one of the great achievements of Canadian fiction and one of the crucial works that made Canada visible worldwide in literary terms. Popular seminar leader Nicholas Birns guides reading and discussion through this beloved work.
