Adult Programs
Improper Bostonians with The History Project
Date: Wednesday, June 7th
Time: 6:30pm-7:30pm
Location: Online via Zoom - Register HERE
LGBTQ+ people have always been part of Massachusetts’ history. Join Joan Ilacqua, Executive Director of The History Project, for a presentation and conversation exploring the history of LGBTQ+ people, community, organizing, and change in Massachusetts. Drawing on sources like court cases, diaries, letters, photographs, videos, oral histories, and more, Ilacqua will take you through over 400 years of history, from romantic friendships to Boston marriages, the gay liberation front to marriage equality and beyond - all in one hour!
The History Project is Boston's LGBTQ+ community archives. A non-profit established in 1980, The History Project documents, preserves, and shares the history and stories of Massachusetts' LGBTQ+ community.
Joan Ilacqua is the Executive Director of The History Project, Boston's LGBTQ+ community archives. She currently serves on the Massachusetts State Historic Records Advisory Board. She is a graduate of UMass Boston’s Public History master’s program. In her free time, Joan likes to read queer romance novels with her wife and cats and design subversive cross-stitch patterns.
Photo: Pat Donoghue, “New England Gay Pride, Boston, 1974,” Documented | Digital Collections of The History Project, accessed May 2, 2023, https://historyproject.omeka.net/items/show/472.
Craft & Chat at the Library
Date: Friday, June 9
Time: 10:30am-12pm
Location: Periodicals Room (second floor), registration not required
Adult yarn and thread crafting drop-in and chat. Bring your current knitting, crocheting, embroidery, or sewing project. All skill levels welcome, informal with no instruction.
Questions? dgoldfinch@burlingtonpl.org
Fables & Fantasy Book Club - Legends & Lattes w/ Author Travis Baldree!
Date: Wednesday, June 14
Time: 7-8pm
Location: 2nd Floor Periodicals Room - Please register if this will be your first time attending!
Join Daphne (and this time author Travis Baldree) and discuss a fantasy book every third Wednesday! The book for June is Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree
Summary: "Worn out after decades of packing steel and raising hell, Viv the orc barbarian cashes out of the warrior's life with one final score. A forgotten legend, a fabled artifact, and an unreasonable amount of hope lead her to the streets of Thune, where she plans to open the first coffee shop the city has ever seen. However, her dreams of a fresh start pulling shots instead of swinging swords are hardly a sure bet. Old frenemies and Thune's shady underbelly may just upset her plans. To finally build something that will last, Viv will need some new partners and a different kind of resolve."
Books are available at the circulation desk and on Libby.
Questions? Email Daphne at dgoldfinch@burlingtonpl.org
Author Talk: Sasha Issenberg
Date: Thursday, June 22
Time: 7pm
Location: Online via Zoom - Register HERE
Join author Sasha Issenberg for a discussion of his book The Engagement: America's Quarter-Century Struggle Over Same-Sex Marriage.
On June 26, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that state bans on gay marriage were unconstitutional, making same-sex unions legal across the United States. But the road to that momentous decision was much longer than many know. In this definitive account, Sasha Issenberg vividly guides us through same-sex marriage’s unexpected path from the unimaginable to the inevitable.
Sasha Issenberg is the author of three previous books, on topics ranging from the global sushi business to medical tourism and the science of political campaigns. He covered the 2008 election as a national political reporter in the Washington bureau of The Boston Globe, the 2012 election for Slate, the 2016 election for Bloomberg Politics and Businessweek, and 2020 for The Recount. He is the Washington correspondent for Monocle, and has also written for New York magazine, The New York Times Magazine, and George, where he served as a contributing editor. He teaches in the political science department at UCLA.
This event is generously organized by the Wilmington Memorial Library.
Trivia Night - Zoom
Date: Monday, June 26
Time: 7pm
Location: Online - via Zoom. Register HERE.
Join us for trivia night! Trivia questions will be read aloud and displayed in a slide show presentation. Please note, while all ages are welcome, trivia questions are geared toward adults in content and challenge rating.
Questions? Email Justin at jacosta@burlingtonpl.org
Pressed Flower Votive Craft
Date: Tuesday, June 27
Time: 6:30pm
Location: In person - Fogelberg A and B. Register HERE.
Shelley and Cara will show you how to make this pressed flower votive holder with real pressed flowers. Open to adults and teens aged 11+. Registration is required.
Questions? Email Shelley at ssloboder@burlingtonpl.org
Nancy Horan in Conversation with Therese Fowler
Date: Wednesday, June 28
Time: 7pm
Location: Online via Zoom Register HERE
Nancy Horan, author of the million-copy New York Times bestseller Loving Frank, returns with her new book The House of Lincoln, a sweeping historical novel, which tells the story of Abraham Lincoln's ascendance from rumpled lawyer to U.S. president to the Great Emancipator through the eyes of a young asylum-seeker who arrives in Lincoln's home of Springfield from Madeira, Portugal. Join Nancy Horan and Therese Fowler as they discuss Nancy’s new book, The House of Lincoln which will be published June 6.
In addition to her new book, NANCY HORAN is the author Loving Frank (2007) which chronicles a little-known chapter in the life of legendary American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and his client, Mamah Cheney, and Under the Wide and Starry Sky (2014) which explores the unlikely relationship of Robert Louis Stevenson and his spirited American wife, Fanny Van de Grift Stevenson. A native Midwesterner, Nancy Horan was a Chicago journalist before turning to fiction writing. She now lives with her husband on an island in Puget Sound.
Photo Credit Kevin Horan
THERESE ANNE FOWLER is the New York Times bestselling author of It All Comes Down To This (2022), A Good Neighborhood (2020), A Well-Behaved Woman (2018), and Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald (2013). Raised in the Midwest, she migrated to North Carolina in 1995. She holds a B.A. in sociology/cultural anthropology and an MFA in creative writing from North Carolina State University.
Photo credit Daniel Turbert
BPL Chess Club
Date: Monday, July 10 - No registration required.
Time: 7pm
Location: In Person - Fogelberg A.
Come test your skills with a friendly evening of chess in person at the library. All ages welcome. No registration needed, just drop in and see who is up for a game. Chess boards will be provided.
Questions? Email Justin at jacosta@burlingtonpl.org
An Evening With Bestselling Author Lisa See
Date: Wednesday, July 12
Time: 7pm
Location: Via Zoom. Advance registration is required. Register HERE.
Join New York Times bestselling author Lisa See as she talks about her new book Lady Tan’s Circle of Women, a captivating story of women helping other women. See’s latest historical novel was inspired by the true story of a woman physician from 15th-century China and is a triumphant reimagining of the life of a woman who was remarkable in the Ming dynasty and would be considered remarkable today.
Summary of Lady Tan's Circle of Women:
According to Confucius, “an educated woman is a worthless woman,” but Tan Yunxian—born into an elite family - is being raised by her grandparents to be of use.
From a young age, Yunxian learns about women’s illnesses, many of which relate to childbearing, alongside a young midwife-in-training, Meiling. The two girls find fast friendship and they vow to be forever friends. But when Yunxian is sent into an arranged marriage, her mother-in-law forbids her from seeing Meiling and from helping the women and girls in the household. Yunxian is to act like a proper wife—embroider bound-foot slippers, pluck instruments, recite poetry, give birth to sons, and stay forever within the walls of the family compound.
How might a woman like Yunxian break free of these traditions and lead a life of such importance that many of her remedies are still used five centuries later? Lady Tan’s Circle of Women is a captivating story of women helping other women.
Lady Tan’s Circle of Women will be published June 6, 2023.
Ms. See is the New York Times bestselling author of The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Peony in Love, Shanghai Girls, China Dolls, and Dreams of Joy, which debuted at #1. She is also the author of On Gold Mountain, which tells the story of her Chinese American family’s settlement in Los Angeles. Ms. See has also written a mystery series that takes place in China. Her books have been published in 39 languages. See was the recipient of the Golden Spike Award from the Chinese Historical Association of Southern California and the History Maker’s Award from the Chinese American Museum. She was also named National Woman of the Year by the Organization of Chinese American Women.
Q&A with Sci-fi/Fantasy Author Martha Wells
Date: Thursday, July 13
Time: 7pm
Location: Online via Zoom - Register HERE
Science Fiction and Fantasy readers, this one is for you! We're thrilled to be in conversation with author Martha Wells - we absolutely love the "Murderbot Diaries" Series! Make sure to check out Martha's latest release, "Witch King" - "a remarkable story of power and friendship, of trust and betrayal, and of the families we choose." So, whether you've been a fan for years or you're looking for a "new to you" author, join us for this Q&A in which we get all of our burning questions answered.
Martha Wells has been an SF/F writer since her first fantasy novel was published in 1993, and her work includes The Books of the Raksura series, The Death of the Necromancer, the Fall of Ile-Rien trilogy, The Murderbot Diaries series, media tie-in fiction for Star Wars, Stargate: Atlantis, and Magic: the Gathering, as well as short fiction, YA novels, and non-fiction. She has won Nebula Awards, Hugo Awards, and Locus Awards, and her work has appeared on the Philip K. Dick Award ballot, the BSFA Award ballot, the USA Today Bestseller List, and the New York Times Bestseller List. She is a member of the Texas Literary Hall of Fame, and her books have been published in twenty-five languages.
This program is a collaboration between many Massachusetts libraries.
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