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.
Do you need holiday gift book suggestions for the young readers in your life? Join the Lincoln Public Library children’s librarians on Thursday, Dec. 1 at noon as they review their favorite new books of the year as well as some perennial favorites. The event is open to all adults (feel free to share with grandparents and relatives near and far). Email dleopold@minlib.net for the Zoom link.
Come to St. Anne’s in-the-Fields Church on Sunday, Dec. 4 at 4:30 p.m. for a short, but poignant service at which we remember those who are no longer with us at Christmastime by hanging white ornaments in their honor. Bring your own or hang one of ours, then marvel at the lighting of the tree. For those interested, this is followed by a Blue Christmas service in the sanctuary at 5 p.m., when candles, quiet, and prayers allow participants to reflect in love, grief, and joy. Communion will be available if requested. We welcome everyone from all walks of life and faith. For more information, visit StAnnesLincoln.org or email parishoffice@stanneslincoln.org.
Join us via Zoom on Thursday Dec. 8 from 7–8:30 p.m. for an evening with mystery writers Sulari Gentill, Hank Phillippi Ryan, and Eva Jurczyk moderated by Rachel Raczka of the Boston Globe. Everything was fine until it wasn’t — a scream in the library, books gone missing the first day on the job, a secret threatening to tear apart a perfect life. Register here.
Join us as the St. Julia Parish Choir members lead us in song, celebrating Christ’s Nativity. Refershments will be served following the concert.
There will be Christmas Eve Masses at St. Joseph Church in Lincoln on Saturday, Dec. 24 at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m., and a Christmas Day Mass at 8 p.m.. For more information on services at both churches, visit stjulia.org.
Join an evening with two of the country’s top young adult authors as Maureen Johnson (Nine Liars) is interviewed by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (The Final Gambit) in a webinar on Wednesday, Jan. 4 from 7–8 p.m. Sponsored by the Lincoln Public Library. Click here to register.
Join us for a book talk on Who’s Raising the Kids? with author Susan Linn hosted by Lincoln Nursery School at deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum on Wednesday, Jan. 11 at 7 p.m. in the museum’s Dewey Gallery. Linn, an expert on the impact of big tech and big business on children, provides a deep dive into the roots and consequences of the monumental shift toward a digitized, commercialized childhood, focusing on kids’ values, relationships, and learning. Linn is a psychologist, a research associate at Boston Children’s Hospital, and a lecturer at Harvard Medical School. Read the New York Times review of her book. Click here to register for the talk.
Civil War historian and Lincoln resident Megan Kate Nelson will give a talk about her new book, Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America (Scribner, 2022) at the Concord Museum on Tuesday, Jan. 24 at 7 p.m. at the Concord Museum. It tells the vivid story of how, 150 years ago, Yellowstone became the world’s first national park amid the nationwide turmoil and racial violence of the Reconstruction era. A narrative of adventure and exploration, the creation of Yellowstone is also a story of Indigenous resistance and the struggles of Black southerners during a turning point in the nation’s history. Nelson was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in 2020 for The Three-Cornered War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West (read this Lincoln Squirrel profile of her). Click here to register.
“The Challenges of Being a Debut Author” featuring Chelsea Banning will take place via Zoom on Monday, Feb. 6 from 7–8 p.m. Debut author (and librarian) was very excited to publish her first book, “Of Crown and Legends”. And then came the book signing where very few people showed up, and then the Twitter storm of support when Chelsea posted about the experience. Now, we speak with Chelsea in conversation with debut authors Laura Gao, Brian D. Kennedy, Jean Louise, and XiXi Tian to chat about the challenges and joys of getting your first book out in the world.
This event is hosted by the Ashland Public Library. Click here to register.
The COA&HS will present “Black History Month in the Era of CRT Book Banning” on Friday, Feb. 17 at 1 p.m. in Bemis Hall. Lincoln resident Ray Anthony Shepard, author of several biographies for young readers, will discuss the current hot-button topic of what in American history should be taught to children and will share how he addresses race in his picture book, Runaway: The Daring Escape of Ona Judge. Questions? Call 781-259-8811.
The First Parish in Lincoln will host a talk by Bill McKibben on his book, The Flag, the Cross, and the Station Wagon: A Graying American Looks Back at His Suburban Boyhood and Wonders What the Hell Happened at the white church and online on Sunday, April 2 from 3–4:30 p.m. The event will also be simulcast live at St Anne’s Church.
McKibben helped found 350.org, the first global grassroots climate campaign, and recently helped found Third Act, which organizes people over the age of 60 for action on climate and justice. Click here for more information.