Mar
28
Mon
Memoir: Making Art From Life – A Winter Writing Circle
Mar 28 @ 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm

Limited to 15 participants. To register, visit tinyurl.com/ewml-memoir-art.

Join us for a writing workshop to tap your creative spirit and help you focus on meaningful periods and events of your life. You will learn to craft memories into prose or poems, through lively writing exercises and group discussions. Writing tools and prompts will help participants discover and explore their stories and distill the essence of experience. Memoir writing leads to deep self-reflection, as well as purposeful direction, and a greater sense of well-being as you explore the perplexing, humorous, nostalgic, and challenging experiences of your life. Give voice to those untold stories, and watch your life take on a new shape in this supportive, fun writing workshop. No writing experience necessary!

Facilitator Bio:
Laurie McMillan has an MFA in fiction and has led writing workshops for 21 years in all genres. She was the co-founder of the Pittsburgh Memoir Workshop, and several workshop series in venues as diverse as art museums, outpatient clinics, and at the VA. She believes that creativity and community in a safe and supportive environment can help writers do their best work. She is published in several magazines including American Journal of Nursing and the Healing Muse.

Apr
4
Mon
Memoir: Making Art From Life – A Winter Writing Circle
Apr 4 @ 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm

Limited to 15 participants. To register, visit tinyurl.com/ewml-memoir-art.

Join us for a writing workshop to tap your creative spirit and help you focus on meaningful periods and events of your life. You will learn to craft memories into prose or poems, through lively writing exercises and group discussions. Writing tools and prompts will help participants discover and explore their stories and distill the essence of experience. Memoir writing leads to deep self-reflection, as well as purposeful direction, and a greater sense of well-being as you explore the perplexing, humorous, nostalgic, and challenging experiences of your life. Give voice to those untold stories, and watch your life take on a new shape in this supportive, fun writing workshop. No writing experience necessary!

Facilitator Bio:
Laurie McMillan has an MFA in fiction and has led writing workshops for 21 years in all genres. She was the co-founder of the Pittsburgh Memoir Workshop, and several workshop series in venues as diverse as art museums, outpatient clinics, and at the VA. She believes that creativity and community in a safe and supportive environment can help writers do their best work. She is published in several magazines including American Journal of Nursing and the Healing Muse.

Apr
8
Fri
Family Story Time In-person and Virtual
Apr 8 @ 10:30 am – 11:30 am

Family Story Time is officially back up and running in the Youth Department! We still have a couple of spots available for this Friday’s event. Each week will have a different in-person signup. There will also be a streamed version available for folks who can’t make it into the Library! Register online (tinyurl.com/HybridFamilyTime) for virtual access to all 5 of the upcoming Family Times between now and the end of November.

Apr
15
Fri
Family Story Time In-person and Virtual
Apr 15 @ 10:30 am – 11:30 am

Family Story Time is officially back up and running in the Youth Department! We still have a couple of spots available for this Friday’s event. Each week will have a different in-person signup. There will also be a streamed version available for folks who can’t make it into the Library! Register online (tinyurl.com/HybridFamilyTime) for virtual access to all 5 of the upcoming Family Times between now and the end of November.

Apr
19
Tue
Author Talk with Carol Weis
Apr 19 @ 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Author Talk with Carol Weis

Come join local author, Carol Weis, for a reading from her memoir, STUMBLING HOME: Life Before and After That Last Drink. Carol will also answer questions about the book, her writing process and her own personal journey, as well as sign copies of her book for those who are interested.

Masks are required at this event.

Author Bio:
Carol Weis, who became a writer when she got sober, has been an actor, teacher, professional cook and baker, and for years, ran poetry workshops in local schools. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, AARP, The Independent, ESPN, Good Housekeeping, OZY, Cosmo, Salon, and numerous other venues, and has been read as commentary on NPR. She’s also the author of the Simon & Schuster picture book, WHEN THE COWS GOT LOOSE, and the poetry chapbook, DIVORCE PAPERS.

To RSVP for this event, please email ehampton@cwmars.org with your name and the number of people attending.

May
6
Fri
Family Story Time In-person and Virtual
May 6 @ 10:30 am – 11:30 am

Family Story Time is officially back up and running in the Youth Department! We still have a couple of spots available for this Friday’s event. Each week will have a different in-person signup. There will also be a streamed version available for folks who can’t make it into the Library! Register online (tinyurl.com/HybridFamilyTime) for virtual access to all 5 of the upcoming Family Times between now and the end of November.

May
13
Fri
Family Story Time In-person and Virtual
May 13 @ 10:30 am – 11:30 am

Family Story Time is officially back up and running in the Youth Department! We still have a couple of spots available for this Friday’s event. Each week will have a different in-person signup. There will also be a streamed version available for folks who can’t make it into the Library! Register online (tinyurl.com/HybridFamilyTime) for virtual access to all 5 of the upcoming Family Times between now and the end of November.

Pollinators for KIDS!! Cancelled! Stay tuned for new date!
May 13 @ 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm

Join friends from the Hampden Hampshire Conservation District to explore the wonderful world of Pollinators! Listen to a book that describes how pollinators affect the environment, the threats these species face, and how people can help protect them with pollinator gardens. Inspect a flower up close and personal to see how it’s put together, and finally get your hands dirty by making seed balls that will attract pollinators!

May
18
Wed
Virtual Author Talk With Caroline Ailanthus
May 18 @ 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm
Virtual Author Talk With Caroline Ailanthus

Register at tinyurl.com/ewml-authortalk-518

If you liked Flight Behavior, by Barbara Kingsolver or The Overstory, by Richard Powers

Caroline Ailanthus’ novel, Ecological Memory, is set twenty years after a catastrophic global pandemic. It is part scientific detective story, part post-apocalyptic travelogue. It is NOT a dystopia—although the author uses catastrophe as a starting point, her vision for the future is quite optimistic. The story explores how the characters, society, and the planet find ways to heal. It’s a book about what happens AFTER you lose everything. Caroline wrote the book well before our real pandemic, but now finds her story has become unexpectedly timely.

Caroline will briefly talk about the book’s plot, main characters, and other relevant points, then will read several excerpts and use them as starting points to discuss two themes:

1) creating a fictional pandemic vs. living in a real one

2) looking to the science of ecology as a source of perspective and hope in the face of loss

She’ll end with a question-and-answer period, and may read additional excerpts as part of the discussion.

Author Bio:
Caroline Ailanthus is primarily a science writer; even her fiction blends science and story. She is also the author of the Climate in Emergency blog. Ecological Memory is her second published novel. She grew up in Delaware and attended various small, odd schools, mostly in New England, earning BA in Environmental Leadership and an MS in Environmental Studies. She lives in Maryland with her husband and assorted animals.

May
20
Fri
Family Story Time In-person and Virtual
May 20 @ 10:30 am – 11:30 am

Family Story Time is officially back up and running in the Youth Department! We still have a couple of spots available for this Friday’s event. Each week will have a different in-person signup. There will also be a streamed version available for folks who can’t make it into the Library! Register online (tinyurl.com/HybridFamilyTime) for virtual access to all 5 of the upcoming Family Times between now and the end of November.