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Boston Public Library September Literary Events and Programs

Posted on August 25th, 2016 by BPL News in Media Releases

collageBoston Public Library offers an abundance of author talks and programs across the city’s locations in September, including classes designed to build career skills by the Central Library’s newly renovated Kirstein Business Library and Innovation Center. Visit www.bpl.org/calendar for a complete list.

  • The library’s first Lowell Lecture of 2016 features Michael Patrick MacDonald, who details his memoir All Souls: A Family Story from Southie on Tuesday, September 13, at 6 p.m. in Rabb Hall at the Central Library, located at 700 Boylston Street.
  • Lori Stokes debunks five myths about the Puritans on Wednesday, September 14, at 6 p.m. in the Commonwealth Salon at the Central Library, located at 700 Boylston Street.
  • Karin Tanabe speaks about her book The Gilded Years, which tells the story of Anita Hemmings, the first black woman to attend Vassar College by passing as a white woman, on Thursday, September 15, at 6 p.m. in the Commonwealth Salon at the Central Library, located at 700 Boylston Street.
  • Kim Kerrigan and Steven R. Wells discuss Get a Grip on Business Writing: Critical Skills for Success in Today’s Workplace and give tips for attendees on Thursday, September 15, at 6:30 p.m. at the West End Branch, located at 151 Cambridge Street.
  • The Friends of the Connolly Branch Library hold their annual book sale on Saturday, September 17, from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. at 433 Centre Street in Jamaica Plain.
  • Stacy Schiff, author of The Witches: Salem, 1692 examines the legal and social ramifications of the Salem Witch Trials, the truth about witchcraft, the adolescent mind, and how the events of 1692 shaped America’s future. Tuesday, September 20, at 6 p.m. in Rabb Hall at the Central Library, located at 700 Boylston Street.
  • In Bobby Kennedy: The Making of a Liberal Icon, Larry Tye draws upon unpublished memoirs, unreleased government files, and 58 boxes of Bobby’s papers that had been under lock and key for the past forty years to peel away layers of myth and misconception to paint a complete portrait of him on Thursday, September 22, at 6 p.m. in Rabb Hall at the Central Library, located at 700 Boylston Street.
  • Ted Reinstein, a native New Englander and local writer, shares stories from the history of New England and brings to life many of the fights, spats, and arguments that have, in many ways, shaped the region in Wicked Pissed: New England’s Most Famous Feuds. Tuesday, September 27, at 6 p.m. in the Abbey Room at the Central Library, located at 700 Boylston Street.
  • Stephen T. Moskey explores the intersection of wealth, celebrity, politics, gender, and race in Larz and Isabel Anderson: Wealth and Celebrity in the Gilded Age on Wednesday, September 28, at 6 p.m. in the Commonwealth Salon at the Central Library, located at 700 Boylston Street.

Read more »

Boston Public Library’s August Author Talks and Programs

Posted on July 26th, 2016 by BPL News in Media Releases

Boston Public Library’s August author talks and programs feature learning opportunities for people of all ages, including summer reading, Read Your Way to Fenway, visits from the ReadBoston StoryMobile, and more.

  • Local author Frances Driscoll reads her picture book The Swan Boat Ride for those ages 4 and up on Thursday, August 4, at 3:30 p.m. at the North End Branch, located at 25 Parmenter Street.
  • Liz Moore reads from her book The Unseen World, which is the story of a precocious young girl’s search for her father’s identity, set in Dorchester. Thursday, August 11, at 6:30 p.m. at the Grove Hall Branch, located at 41 Geneva Avenue.
  • Professional genealogist, speaker, and author Mary M. Tedesco discusses strategies and resources for locating your ancestral town through using records available in the United States and online. Thursday, August 18, at 6 p.m. in the Commonwealth Salon at the Central Library in Copley Square, located at 700 Boylston Street.
  • The Friends of the South Boston Branch hold their last book sale of the summer on Saturday, August 20, from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. at the South Boston Branch, located at 646 East Broadway.
  • Author and BPL staff member John DeVito examines how the legend of Jackie Kennedy lives on in popular culture on Wednesday, August 31, at 6:30 p.m. at the Adams Street Branch at 690 Adams Street in Dorchester.
  • Children learn the history of their favorite home teams and make crafts when Historic New England visits locations throughout the system.
  • Youth join librarians for sports-themed activities for a Ready, Set, Make! program at the Adams, Faneuil, Fields Corner, Hyde Park, Roslindale, and West End branches in August.
  • The ReadBoston StoryMobile visits 12 BPL locations once a week for six weeks this summer to provide fun storytelling events and free books for all children in attendance. Appropriate for ages 3-8.
  • The New England Aquarium travels to the Honan-Allston and South Boston branches, in addition to the Central Library in Copley Square, in August.
  • Young people ages 5-17 may participate in the annual Read Your Way to Fenway summer essay contest for the opportunity to watch the Red Sox play at Fenway Park by reading a minimum of three books and writing an essay about their favorite. Contest details and more are available online at bpl.org/summer.
  • Teens “Build the Future” and write book reviews, build an app for their phone, and learn how to use Scratch or Python programs this month. Teens can record their activities to earn badges to become eligible for a grand prize. Visit bpl.org/summer for the complete schedule.
  • Adult summer reading takes place at the Dudley, East Boston, Fields Corner, Grove Hall, Lower Mills, Mattapan, and Uphams Corner branches, with the theme “Exercise Your Mind – Read!” Patrons receive raffle tickets for reading or exercising and are entered into a weekly drawing at participating branches, and those branches host health and wellness-themed events.

 

About BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY
Boston Public Library has a Central Library, twenty-four branches, map center, business library, and a website filled with digital content and services. Established in 1848, the Boston Public Library has pioneered public library service in America. It was the first large free municipal library in the United States, the first public library to lend books, the first to have a branch library, and the first to have a children’s room. Each year, the Boston Public Library hosts thousands of programs and serves millions of people. All of its programs and exhibitions are free and open to the public. At the Boston Public Library, books are just the beginning. To learn more, visit bpl.org.

 

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American Repertory Theater, 826 Boston, and the Boston Public Library Announce the Fourth Annual WORDplay Program July 18-August 19

Posted on July 18th, 2016 by BPL News in Media Releases

The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University, 826 Boston, and Boston Public Library (BPL) announce the fourth annual WORDplay Program, a summer theater and writing intensive for Boston Public School (BPS) students entering the 8th and 9th grades in 2016. It takes place Monday through Thursday, 11:30 – 5:30pm, in the newly unveiled Kirstein Business Library and Innovation Center at the Boston Public Library’s Central Library in Copley Square, one of the centerpieces of the Library’s extensive renovations.

WORDplay 2016 will be the Kirstein Business Library and Innovation Center’s very first residency.

This summer, the A.R.T. and 826 Boston have expanded their partnership to include not only the Boston Public Library, but also the support of Boston After School and Beyond (BASB), a public-private partnership within BPS that leverages the public school system’s resources to enhance after school engagement for high-risk student populations and English Language Learners. Through A.R.T’s partnership with BASB, WORDplay has been designated an official Boston “Summer Learning Site” and, for the first time, will provide each of our young artists with a generous stipend upon completion of the program.

Twenty-five BPS students from Allston/Brighton, Dorchester, Roslindale, and Roxbury have been chosen by lottery to participate in a five-week program from July 18 through August 19. Over five weeks, students will conceptualize and write a script for a play inspired by the A.R.T.’s upcoming production of Anna Deavere Smith’s Notes from the Field: Doing Time in Education, a new one-woman show about the “School-to-Prison Pipeline” crisis facing our education system, opening on August 20 at the A.R.T.’s Loeb Drama Center. Echoing Ms. Smith’s method of gathering source material, the students will conduct interviews with local government officials (including William Morales, Commissioner of Boston Centers for Youth and Families), school administrators, teachers, parents, education reform advocates, and their peers on the subject of education and mass incarceration. The campers will create their production under the guidance of writing tutors from 826 Boston and professional theater artists from the A.R.T. They will also have the opportunity to visit the A.R.T.’s Mainstage as part of the curriculum.

The camp will culminate in a free public performance by the students on Thursday, August 18th (time and location TBD). The resulting script will be published by 826 Boston and provided to each camper at a special book release party later in 2016. Read more »

Mayor Martin J. Walsh and Boston Public Library Celebrate Central Library Renovation Opening Today

Posted on July 9th, 2016 by BPL News in Media Releases
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Click for full size (4071 × 2214)

Click image for full size (4071 × 2214)

Mayor Martin J. Walsh and the Boston Public Library celebrated the grand reopening of the Central Library Renovation today with a 10:30 a.m. ribbon cutting. The grand reopening marks the completion of the second and final phase of the renovation of the Central Library in Copley Square, which has been managed by the City of Boston’s Public Facilities Department. This second phase of work includes updates to the lower level, first floor, mezzanine, and the building exterior of the Johnson building, which opened in 1972. The Central Library Renovation puts the Boston Public Library on the cutting edge of library services – reshaping and redefining the patron experience at a 21st century urban public library.

“The reopening of the Central Library’s Johnson building represents the investments we make in the future of all Boston residents, as our libraries are critical resources where residents gather to exchange and seek knowledge and information,” said Mayor Walsh. “I’m grateful to all who contributed to the success of this project, and I look forward to Boston’s residents and visitors enjoying the library’s enhancements.”

Highlights of the second phase of the renovation include removal of the granite plinths that covered the Johnson building windows – reconnecting the building to the street; a revamped lecture hall for author talks and programming, a new innovation center, new Mac and Windows computers for the public computing area, a hi-tech community learning center, an enlarged Fiction section and new ways of book browsing, digital stacks to explore the BPL’s digitized collections, a state-of-the art Welcome Center, a digital imaging suite, and major landscape components along Boylston Street, including a civic table and new trees. The enterprise retail space at the corner of Boylston and Exeter Streets will feature The Newsfeed Café, opening mid-summer and operated by The Catered Affair, and a WGBH News satellite bureau and studio. Patrons will move seamlessly between the enterprise retail space and the Library. Read more »

Boston Public Library’s Summer Reading Program for All Ages Begins

Posted on June 27th, 2016 by BPL News in Media Releases
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readBoston Public Library’s annual free summer reading program (www.bpl.org/summer) begins this month, offering educational experiences for youth and adults throughout the City of Boston through August.

“We are very happy to see our summer reading program also expand to adults this year, offering everyone an opportunity to exercise their minds through reading regardless of age,” said Boston Public Library President David Leonard. “We are as always grateful to our sponsors for their commitment to our library users.”

“Summer reading offers a variety of programs and reading opportunities, giving youth a safe and fun environment in which to learn, explore, and grow during out of school time,” said Farouqua Abuzeit, Manager of Youth Services.

The children’s theme this year is “On Your Mark, Get Set…Read!” All locations throughout the system will receive visits from the Museum of Science, Historic New England, New England Aquarium, and the ReadBoston Storymobile, in addition to story times, crafts, and additional programming at locations. Read more »
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