The Silver Linings Playbook author MATTHEW QUICK on The Reason You’re Alive
Boston Public Library hosts MATTHEW QUIRK as he discusses his newest novel The Reason You’re Alive. The New York Times-bestselling author of The Silver Linings Playbook offers a timely novel featuring his most fascinating character yet: a Vietnam vet embarking on a quixotic crusade to track down his nemesis from the war.
This event is not ticketed, and is part of the Author Talks Series at the Boston Public Library.
30th Joiner Institute Writers’ Workshop Poetry and Music Celebration
Join the William Joiner Institute for the Study of War and Social Consequences based at UMass Boston for a night of music and poetry celebrating the 30th year of our annual Writers Workshop and its community and creative response to war. Featuring poetry readings by Yusef Komunyakaa, Kevin Bowen, Nguyen Ba Chung, and more TBA.
Live music performed by Layth Sadiq, the UMB Jazz Trio, and more TBA.
Hosted by the Boston Public Library, this event is not ticketed.
The Cartel 7: Illuminati book tour kick-off at the Boston Public Library
The Boston Public Library welcomes ASHLEY ANTIONETTE and JAQUAVIS COLEMAN, authors of The Cartel 7: Illuminati as they kick off their national book tour in Boston. ANTIONETTE and COLEMAN are the youngest black writers to ever debut on the New York Times list. The duo is responsible for breathing life back into black fiction and was recognized by Ebony Magazine when they made the POWER 100 list in 2012.
The saga of love, loyalty, and crime continues in the next explosive book in the Cartel series from New York Times bestselling authors Ashley and JaQuavis. After the tragic end to The Cartel’s reign, Carter is forced into isolation to evade the law. Carter has never been more alone and he has no idea how to rebuild his kingdom.
This event is part of the Author Talks series at the Boston Public Library.
The Launch of City of Notions: An Anthology of Contemporary Boston Poems
Boston’s Poet Laureate DANIELLE LEGROS GEORGES celebrates the release of “City of Notions: An Anthology of Contemporary Boston Poems,” with a public reading in the Courtyard of the Central Branch of the Boston Public Library in Copley Square. Welcoming remarks by City of Boston’s Chief of Arts and Culture Julie Burros at 6 pm.
“City of Notions” is a collection that salutes aspects of everyday life in Boston. Nearly sixty poets contributed to the anthology and run the spectrum from up-to-now unpublished authors to the former U.S. Poets laureate, all contributing a taste of their personal versions of Boston.
Some contributors include Robert Pinsky, Mary Oliver, Margaret Atwood, Gail Mazur, Nick Flynn, Steph Burt, and Julia Alvarez.
This event is free, but you can to register here.
“America’s librarian” NANCY PEARL shares her debut, “George and Lizzie”
From “America’s librarian” and NPR Books commentator NANCY PEARL comes a debut novel about an unlikely marriage at a crossroads. George and Lizzie is an intimate story of new and past loves, the scars of childhood, and an imperfect marriage at its defining moment.
PEARL speaks about the pleasures of reading to literacy organizations and community groups throughout the world and hosts a monthly television show, Book Lust with Nancy Pearl. Among her many honors and awards are the 2011 Librarian of the Year Award from Library Journal and the 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association.
Beyond Mr. Darcy: A panel discussion with romance authors Damon Suede, Farrah Rochon, and Sarina Bowen
The Boston Public Library is pleased to host Beyond Mr. Darcy: New Markets in Romance.
Damon Suede grew up out-n-proud in conservative America. Though new to romance fiction, Suede has been writing for print, stage, and screen for two decades. He’s won some awards, but counts his blessings more often: his amazing friends, his beautiful husband, and his loyal fans.
USA Today bestselling author Farrah Rochon hails from a small town just west of New Orleans. She has garnered much acclaim for her Crescent City-set Holmes Brothers series and her Moments in Maplesville small town series. Rochon is a two-time finalist for the prestigious RITA Award from the Romance Writers of America and has been nominated for an RT Book Reviews Reviewers’ Choice Best Book Award. In 2015, she received the Emma Award for Author of the Year.
Sarina Bowen is a USA Today bestselling and RITA Award-winning author of contemporary romance and new adult fiction. She holds a BA in economics from Yale University.
ROBERT MCKEE on “The Primacy of Story”
The Boston Public Library is pleased to welcome ROBERT MCKEE, a Fulbright Scholar, and the best-selling author of Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting and Dialogue: The Art of Verbal Action for Page, Stage, and Screen.
MCKEE’s signature STORY Seminars have been held around the globe, with alumni including over 65 Academy Award winners, 250 Emmy Award winners, and 50 Directors Guild of America Award winners. McKee continues to be a project consultant to major film and television production companies such as 20th Century Fox, Disney, and Paramount.
LENORA CHU, author of Little Soldiers: An American Boy, a Chinese School, and the Global Race to Achieve
The Boston Public Library is pleased to host journalist LENORA CHU for a rare glimpse inside China’s insular education system. In her book, Little Soldiers, she uses her parenting journey to launch a wider investigation into whether China’s educational methods are something to which the West should aspire.
Chu is an award-winning journalist and a contributing writer with CNNMoney.com. Her articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, and PRI’s The World. Chu holds degrees from Stanford University and Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism and speaks Mandarin.
Fashion Designer JOSEPH ABBOUD at the BPL
The Boston Public Library is pleased to host fashion designer JOSEPH ABBOUD as part of the Druker Lecture series. ABBOUD will share from his memoir, Threads: My Life Behind the Seams in the High-Stakes World of Fashion.
Born in Boston, Joseph Abboud studied at the University of Massachusetts and the Sorbonne in Paris. In 1968, Abboud joined the prestigious retail store Louis Boston. Over the course of twelve years, he served as buyer, merchandiser, and coordinator of promotion and advertising. Launching his namesake brand in 1987, Abboud created an exceptional style sensibility, infused with intelligence, grace, and ease. Abboud has been accorded numerous honors including the coveted Menswear Designer of the Year in 1989 and 1990 (the only designer to have received it two years in a row), the Special Achievement Award from the Neckwear Association of America (1994), and the Lifetime Achievement Award from MR Magazine (2016). Abboud joined Tailored Brands, Inc. as its chief creative director in 2012 and was reunited with the Joseph Abboud brand when Tailored Brands, Inc. acquired JA Holding, Inc. in August 2013.
The annual Druker Lecture was established by the Druker family in 2001 to mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of The Druker Company and its three generations of development and philanthropy in the City of Boston and to commemorate the family’s longstanding relationship with the Boston Public Library. Speakers are selected for their outstanding contributions to the world of urban art and architecture.
Dr. ANDREW BUDSON, co-author of Seven Steps to Managing Your Memory: What’s Normal, What’s Not, and What to Do About It
The Boston Public Library hosts Dr. ANDREW BUDSON author of Seven Steps to Managing Your Memory. In this book, coauthored by MAUREEN K. O’CONNOR Psy.D, Dr. BUDSON distinguishes between normal and abnormal memory failure, how to get your memory evaluated and how treating and strengthening your memory can help you plan for your future.
Educated at Haverford College and Harvard Medical School, Dr. Budson is professor of neurology at Boston University, lecturer in neurology at Harvard Medical School, and chief of Cognitive & Behavioral Neurology at the Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System. A clinician, researcher, and author, his textbook, Memory Loss, Alzheimer’s Disease, and Dementia: A Practical Guide for Clinicians has been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, and Japanese.