“Is Rape a Crime? A Memoir, an Investigation and a Manifesto”
Tuesday, Nov. 16 at 7 p.m.
Award-winning writer Michelle Bowdler (Executive Director of Health & Wellness at Tufts University) will discuss her memoir, which indicts how sexual violence has been addressed for decades in our society, asking whether rape is a crime given that it is the least reported major felony. Click here to register.
Do you need holiday gift book suggestions for the young readers in your life? Join the children’s librarians as they review their favorite new books of the year as well as some perennial favorites on Thursday, Nov. 18 at noon. This event is open to all adults. Email dleopold@minlib.net for Zoom invite.
Barry Van Dusen: Finding Sanctuary: An Artist Explorers the Nature of Mass Audubon
Monday, Nov. 22 at 7 p.m.
Over the course of four and a half years, nature artist Barry Van Dusen visited all 61 of Mass Audubon’s public wildlife sanctuaries, nature centers, and museums, producing drawings and paintings at each location. Follow his travels and share in his adventures from the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket to the mountain peaks of the Berkshires. Click here to register.
Lynne Reeves: Dangers of An Ordinary Night with fellow author Lisa Genova
Monday, Nov. 29 at 7 p.m.
The Dangers of an Ordinary Night is an exploration of the explosive family secrets that are often hidden in plain sight. Reeves is an internationally recognized family counselor, public speaker, teacher and writer of fiction and nonfiction. Genova is the bestselling author of numerous novels including Still Alice. Click here to register.
The Lincoln Public Library presents best-selling author David Baldacci via Zoom on Thursday, Dec. 9 at 7 p.m. He will be discussing his latest novel Mercy, the fourth installment in the Atlee Pine thriller series. Baldacci’s books are published in over 45 languages and in more than 80 countries, with 150 million copies sold worldwide and have been adapted for film and television. He is also the cofounder, along with his wife, of the Wish You Well Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting literacy efforts across America.
This program is sponsored by the Friends of the Lincoln Public Library in collaboration with the Tewksbury Public Library, public libraries across Massachusetts, and Wellesley Books. Free and open to all, but registration is required; click here to register.
The Lincoln Public Library will host a Zoom screening of the talk given at the Concord Museum in June by Harvard Professor Tiya Miles on her book, All She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake, on Thursday, Dec. 16 at 7 p.m. Lincoln author Ray Shepard will introduce the talk. All That She Carried is a National Book Award winner for 2021 and has been selected as one of the best books of 2021 by Time, Washington Post and New York Times. The sack — created by Rose, an enslaved woman, for her daughter, who at age nine was sold by their owner — was inherited by her great-granddaughter Ruth, who embroidered the story into the sack. Click here to join the Zoom meeting (passcode: 125443).
Hear award-winning humor writer, art law journalist, and lawyer Martha Lufkin of Lincoln read from her latest book of newspaper humor columns tackling everything from the Lincoln dump to the local schools to backtalk from teens, travel mishaps in Paris, and more. Martha will talk about her years writing for the Lincoln Journal, and her mother’s work as editor from 1957-1971 of the Fence Viewer, Lincoln’s former newspaper. All are welcome to join the event via Zoom; email gagnea@lincolntown.org to sign up.
Author Margaret Spence will speak about her latest novel Joyous Lies via Zoom on Tuesday, Feb. 15 at 7 p.m. Maelle Woolley, a shy botanist, prefers plants to people because they don’t suddenly disappear. Joyous Lies is a tale of family secrets straining the bonds of family love and lost ideals. Spence, a native of Australia, moved to the U.S. and earned a master’s degree in journalism. Her first novel Lipstick on the Strawberry was published in 2017. Click here to join the Zoom event (meeting ID: 870 9303 4809; passcode: 227284).
Three Lincoln authors with shared interests in justice, history, and the environment discuss how their Lincoln experiences have shaped their numerous writing projects on Thursday, March 3 at 7 p.m. The Zoom link will be posted on the Lincoln Public Library website closer to the event. The speakers are:
- Elise Lemire, author of Battle Green Vietnam: The 1971 March on Concord, Lexington, and Bostonand Black Walden: Slavery and Its Aftermath in Concord, Massachusetts
- Katie Ives, editor in chief of Alpinist. Imaginary Peaks: The Riesenstein Hoax and Other Mountain Dreams is her first book.
- Judy Polumbaum, University of Iowa professor emerita of journalism and mass communication and a former newspaper reporter and magazine writer. Lincoln figures prominently in her latest book, All Available Light: The Life and Legacy of Photographer Ted Polumbaum, a biography-memoir of her photojournalist-social activist father.
The Lincoln Public Library will host a virtual LGBTQ+ author panel on Wednesday, June 1 at 7 p.m. via Zoom with Emery Lee, Timothy Janovsky, Katee Robert, and Olivia Waite. Join us for an inside look into the writing process and how the authors connect with the LGBTQ+ community with their words and stories. Free and open to all but advance registration is required.
The library will host a Summer Reading Program kickoff party on Wednesday, June 15 from 3:30–5:30 p.m. There will be ice cream, crafts, tattoos, balloon sculpting, Ed the magician, and more. Summer Reading Challenges and book lists will be available. The event will take place on the library lawn (we will move indoors if the weather is uncooperative). All ages welcome! Call the library at 781-259-8465 ext. 4 for more information.
There will be a second Zoom conversation on “The Impact of Local Authors Writing for the LGBTQ+ Community” with Bren Bataclan, Anna Burke, Federico Erebia, and Jane C. Esther on Thursday, June 30 at 7 p.m. via Zoom. Free and open to all but advance registration is required.
On Wednesday, Aug. 3 from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., everyone is invited to take part in the Library Crawl. The challenge is to visit as many libraries as you can and take a picture of yourself with a designated item in each library in a 21st-century scavenger hunt. Download your Library Crawl passport with library locations and photo ops.
This is an event for all ages – all you need is a love of libraries and a way to get from place to place. Post your pictures and tag the libraries at #mlncrawl2022. Each library will have handouts and giveaways. Show your pictures to a librarian, get a prize, and see how many you can collect. Start and end wherever you like on the self-guided crawl.
Participating Minuteman Library Network libraries are Arlington Robbins & Arlington Fox Branch, Ashland, Bacon Free (Natick), Concord & Fowler Branch, Dedham & Endicott Branch, Framingham & McAuliffe Branch, Lexington (Cary), Lincoln, Maynard, Morrill Memorial Library (Norwood), Morse Institute Library (Natick), Needham, Newton, Sudbury, Wayland, Wellesley Main, Wellesley Hills, Wellesley Fells, and Westwood Main & Islington Branch.
All are welcome to an outing of the Transcendentalist Running & Cycling Club led by Rev. Nate Klug of the First Parish in Lincoln on Saturday, Oct. 22 from 8–9 a.m. Runners and cyclists of all ages and abilities are invited to join Nate for an hour of exercise, spirituality, and community. We’ll meet outside the church across from the library, stretch and say hello, and then hear a short passage of inspiration from one of the Transcendentalists. Then we’ll take off on a short run or bike ride through Lincoln. One person will lead the run, another person will lead the bike ride. After 40 minutes, we’ll meet back at the church to drink lemonade and reflect on what came up for us during our exercise.
There will be a memorial service for Robert “Bob” Lemire on Sunday, Oct. 22 at 2 p.m. at the First Parish Church in Lincoln. Lemire, who died in June at age 89, was active in local and national conservation groups and was founder of Lexia Learning.
For the animal lovers among us, drop by for a short and sweet, family-friendly “Blessing of the Animals” pet blessing service with First Parish in Lincoln co-minister Kit Novotny on Sunday, Oct. 23 at 4 p.m. The service will be held outside on the front lawn near the rainbow chairs, with guitar.
The Walden Woods Project is hosting “Silent Spring Revolution: A Conversation with Douglas Brinkley” on Wednesday, Oct. 26 at 7 p.m. via Zoom. In his newest book, New York Times bestselling author and acclaimed historian Douglas Brinkley chronicles the rise of environmental activism during the 1960s. Join us to learn more about Silent Spring Revolution and Brinkley’s discoveries during the writing process. There will be a live audience Q&A. Register here. This event is sponsored by the Walden Woods Project, Concord Festival of Authors, and RESTORE: The North Woods.
Join Nate Klug, co-minister of the First Parish in Lincoln, for a beer or soda at the monthly “Theology on Tap” discussion on Friday, Oct. 28 from 4:30–6 p.m. at the Tack Room. The month’s topic: “What is a saint?” Just in time for Halloween (All Hallows Eve) and All Saints/All Souls Day, we’ll review some of the wildly various notions of sainthood that different religions have put forward over time. What did Martin Luther mean when he said that everyone was “equally saint and sinner”? Who do you think of as a saint in your life – and why? No sainthood required to join the discussion, just a thirsty spirit!
Learn about the people and events that helped Jackie Robinson break baseball’s color barrier in 1947 at an author talk with Ted Reinstein, a reporter for WCVB-TV’s “Chronicle,” on Thursday, Nov. 3 at 7 p.m. at the Lincoln Public Library. The hidden story of Reinstein’s Before Brooklyn: The Unsung Heroes Who Helped Break Baseball’s Color Barrier includes former stars of the Negro Leagues, the Black press and Pullman porters who battled the color barrier for 60 years. Sponsored by the Friends of the Lincoln Library. Click here to register.