African Literatures Discussion Group
Led by Anne Serafin, this group explores the rich variety of writings from Africa. The group usually meets on the third Wednesday of the month, at 7:30PM, this month in Meeting Room B. Meeting Date: April 25, The Earthquake by Tahir Wattar from Algeria. For further information, call 552-7145.

Children's Book Writers Group
Meetings are now held on the first Monday and the fourth Wednesday of the month at 7:00PM in Meeting Room A. This group is for writers who have work in progress. Pre-registration required. Please call Ruth Glass at 332-0835 for more information. Meeting Date: April 2 or 25.

Current Fiction Discussion Group
Meetings are held the first Wednesday of the month, 7:30PM in Meeting Room B. Participants should read works in advance. Group coordinator: Alice Simons. For information, call the Library at 552-7159. Meeting Dates: April 4: (the group will discuss March and April selections to make up for the lost March session, due to snow) J.M. Coetzee, Disgrace and Tracy Chevalier, The Girl with a Pearl Earring; May 2: Francine Prose, Blue Angel.

Great Books Discussion Group
Meetings are held on the second Tuesday of the month at 7:30PM in Meeting Room A. Members read books from the Great Books Foundation (available at the Library). Meeting Date: April 10: "Concerning the Division of Labor" by Adam Smith. For further information, call the Library at 552-7145.

Landscape of Aging
Led by Marilyn Bentov, this group looks at aging through the eyes of philosophers, poets, essayists and other writers. Writing opportunities are given. Meetings are held on the fourth Monday of the month, 2:00 – 3:30PM in Meeting Room A. Meeting Date: April 23. For further information: 552-7159.

Newton Camera Club
Meetings are held at 7:15PM on the second and fourth Mondays of the month at the Nonantum Branch Library. Group coordinator: Mary Coyne: (781) 283-3066. Meeting Dates: April 9: Presentation by Jake Mosser on "New England Nature;" April 23: Tri-Club Competition at NCC.

Playreading
Meetings are held at Newton Corner on the first Tuesday of the month at 7:00PM. Preparation is not necessary. Meeting Date: April 3. For further information, please call the Library at 552-7145 or the branch at 552-7157.

Poetry Workshop
This workshop provides constructive criticism for experienced poets. The group meets every Saturday at 10:30AM in Meeting Room A. Participants should bring 10 copies of the poem they will present. For further information, please call 244-2353.

Sequences: Women Tell Our Stories
In this women's workshop, participants read, discuss and write about literature by women. The group meets the second Wednesday of each month from 10 - 11:30AM in Meeting Room A. Leader: Robin Mayer Stein. Meeting Date: April 11. For further information, call 552-7145.

Short Story Discussion Group
Meetings are held on the second Monday of the month at 7:30PM in Meeting Room B. Group leader is Mary Lanigan. For further information, call 552-7145. Meeting Date: April 9: Katherine Anne Porter, "Holiday," and Anita Desai, "Winterscape."

Sound and Sense Poetry Workshop
This new workshop for experienced poets concentrates on honing literary skills with a focus on publication. The group meets weekly on Sundays, Noon – 2:00PM, in Meeting Room A.

The Newton Free Library is sponsoring a special event for patrons: a lecture and private viewing of the current Boston College exhibit on Scandinavian artist Edvard Munch, led by principal curator Jeffery Howe at the McMullen Museum of Art on the Boston College campus. This exclusive event will take place on Tuesday, April 17, 7:30PM. Admission to the museum and talk, as well as parking on campus is free of charge.

"Edvard Munch: Psyche, Spirit and Expression" explores the meanings of Munch’s imagery, his sources in Symbolist art and his legacy for German Expressionism in the context of the psychology, literature and philosophy of his time (1863-1944). In the aftermath of Impressionism, Munch, along with Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh and French artist Paul Gauguin, was one of the most important artists to make his personal emotions and spiritual longings the focus of his art. His haunting painting "The Scream" has become an iconic image of anxiety in the modern world.

The B.C. exhibition comprises 83 paintings and prints from private collections as well as leading museums in the United States and Norway, many of which have rarely been seen on public display in North America.

Howe is an art historian and Associate Professor in the Fine Arts Department at B.C. Associate Editor of Religion and the Arts, he specializes in European painting and sculpture of the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries as well as modern architecture. He is also engaged in ongoing research into the application of computer and video technology to the teaching of art history.

McMullen Museum is located on the first floor of Devlin Hall on Boston College’s Chestnut Hill campus, off of Commonwealth Avenue. Free parking is available in the lower campus garage, near the museum. For directions, visit their website at: www.bc.edu/artmuseum or call 552-8587 or 552-8100 or ask at the gate, when entering B.C.

In commemoration of Holocaust Day, the Newton Free Library will present a talk on "Some Recent Controversies in Holocaust and Genocide Research," by Dr. Jack Porter on Monday, April 23, 7:30PM. His talk will touch on the politics of genocide intervention, post-modern theories, Holocaust denial, survivors’ testimony and the Resistance movement.

Newton resident Porter is an Adjunct Professor of Sociology and Genocide Studies at University of Massachusetts, Lowell and a contributing editor to the Encyclopedia of Genocide. He edited one of the first anthologies in the field, Genocide and Human Rights (1981) and compiled the first curriculum teaching guide, The Sociology of the Holocaust and Genocide (1992). He is the author or editor of more than 30 books and dozens of articles and essays on the sociology of Jewry and of the Holocaust.

A copy of the Encyclopedia of Genocide will be on display that evening for perusal. The 2-volume work is held in the Library’s non-circulating collection.

The Newton Free Library will present its 28^th Annual Evening of Poetry, sponsored by the Friends of the Library, with readings by Robert K. Johnson, Fred Marchant and Kurt Leland on Tuesday, April 10, 7:00PM. This festival and the year-long series are coordinated by Robert K. Johnson.

Johnson’s fifth collection of original verse, Sudden Turnings, was recently published by Impatiens Press. Other poems have appeared in the anthologies Four Poets, Four Voices and City of Poets. Over 150 of his poems have been published in such magazines as the Christian Science Monitor, Kansas Quarterly, Connecticut Poetry Review and Ibbetson Street Press. He has given many readings nationwide and locally. Recently retired as a Professor of English at Suffolk University, Johnson has received many academic honors including a Pushcart Prize nomination and residency invitations to Bread Loaf Writers Conference and many to Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. He has been the director and coordinator of the Library Poetry Series for many years.

Marchant is the author of two books of poetry: Tipping Point, winner of the Washington Prize in poetry, and the newly published Full Moon Boat. His poetry, essays and reviews have appeared in a wide variety of literary and scholarly journals and been anthologized in eight collections. Professor of English and the Director of Creative Writing at Suffolk University, he is also an affiliate of the William Joiner Center for the Study of War and Social Consequences and leads poetry workshops at their annual writers conference. Marchant is also a member of the Executive Board of PEN New England and Co-Chair of their Freedom to Write Committee which bestows an annual award to a writer who has demonstrated courage in oppressive conditions.

Leland has had poems published in the Beloit Poetry Journal and many other literary journals. His poetry manuscript has been a finalist in three national competitions and he is the winner of a Massachusetts Cultural Council award. A composer as well, he is a member of the collective Just in Time Composers who premiered his "Five Songs on Poems of Wallace Stevens" last April.

Pulitzer Prize winning reporter Ross Gelbspan will return to the Newton Free Library as part of the Green Decade Coalition Speaker Series on Monday, April 30, 7:00PM. Those who heard him speak three years ago remember the power of his talk on climate change. This year he will emphasize the strategies needed to address global warming in his talk "The Heat Goes On."

Author of The Heat Is On: The High Stakes Battle Over Earth’s Threatened Climate, Gelbspan covered environmental issues for more than 25 years for the Boston Globe and other newspapers. A web site which updates information in his book, www.heatisonline.org, was recently rated the best climate-related site by the Pacific Institute.

Back by popular demand, WGBH radio host Ron Della Chiesa will present "Ron’s Musical Survivor Kit" at the Newton Free Library Tuesday, April 24, at 7:00PM. Illustrating his talk with recordings, Della Chiesa will comment on his favorite popular and classical musical selections or "what discs I would need to survive on a desert island," he says.

Since 1966, Della Chiesa has hosted a wide variety of classical and jazz/popular standards radio shows on WGBH/89.7FM, currently for the shows Classics in the Morning, The Jazz Songbook and The Boston Symphony Orchestra live broadcasts. His broad musical expertise and warm, personal manner keep him in demand both on the air and off, hosting events around Boston and serving on the board of numerous local arts organizations.

He may also be heard on 99.1 WPLM-FM Saturday evenings hosting Strictly Sinatra and on Sunday evenings with Music America, featuring songs of the Great American Songbook.

Visit the WGBH website at: www.wgbh.org.

Boston Globe columnist, American Prospect co-editor and author Robert Kuttner will speak at the Newton Free Library on "President Bush’s Tax Plan and Democratic Opposition" on Thursday, April 19, 7:30PM. This event is sponsored by the Newton Democratic City Committee.

One of the shrewdest political and economic analysts working today, Kuttner is also a dynamic speaker. His Globe editorial column is syndicated nationally and he is also a contributing columnist to Business Week. As founder and co-editor of The American Prospect, he writes regularly on a variety of issues, often focusing on domestic and international economic policy. The author of five books, his writing appears in many major magazines, his commentaries are heard on National Public Radio and he speaks on "Firing Line," "Crossfire," "Nightline" and the PBS "News Hour." Founder and board member of the Economic Policy Institute, he has won many awards including a Guggenheim Fellowship. Previously, Kuttner was chief investigator for the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, a national staff writer at the Washington Post, executive director of President Carter’s National Commission on Neighborhoods and economics editor of the New Republic.

Filmmaker Derek Lamb will return to the Newton Free Library to present an afternoon program of his short animated films on Sunday, April 29, 2:00PM. A two-time Oscar winner, Lamb will show and discuss a selection of his works, noted for their engaging sense of wit and poignant social content, including "Why Me," a bittersweet comedy loosely based on Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’ book On Death and Dying, "Housemoving," a documentary about the moving of a 19^th century house from Arlington to Belmont and "Every Child," produced to celebrate the United Nations Year of the Child in 1980.

Born in Britain, Lamb’s film career spans more than three decades. He began animation at the National Film Board of Canada in the early 1960s and has since worked extensively in the United States and Europe both in commercial and experimental filmmaking, including much work for PBS and the Children’s Television Workshop on "Sesame Street." He is well-known for his distinctive, animated openings created with artist Edward Gorey, for Mystery! on WGBH TV. Lamb is also a composer and performer whose recordings include "She Was Poor But She Was Honest" (Folkways and Smithsonian labels). Library audiences may remember his well-received program on British Music Hall songs in September 1999.

Volunteer Driver Wanted!
The Social Services Department needs a volunteer on Friday afternoons to deliver books to the homebound. A familiarity with Newton streets would be helpful. If interested, please contact Volunteer Coordinator Margaret Sudbey at 552-7151 or email her at msudbey@mln.lib.ma.us.

Fly-tying Display and Demo

"Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in." - Henry David Thoreau, Walden

It must be spring again if Joe Mulvey and Ted Cannie are back, hosting an evening of fly tying at the Library and displaying a wide array of their flies in a showcase on the first floor of the Library in the lobby throughout the month of April. On Monday, April 30, at 7:00PM in Meeting Room A, the dynamic duo will demonstrate a variety of fly tying techniques, provide answers to all but the hardest of questions and in the process relate their own experiences in the realm of fly fishing.

These former Newton residents were bitten hard by the fly fishing bug; they tie their own flies, build their own rods and fish in different exotic places every year.

Whether you’re an amateur to the sport, just want to learn a bit about fly tying or fishing or are an experienced fly fisherperson, you are welcome to attend this annual event.

Rise and Shine!
Morning Programs at the Library!

Coffee Hour/ Book Review

This month, Social Services Librarian Natalie Schatz will offer a Book Review of the latest in large print fiction and non-fiction books: Oprah's Choices, biographies, mysteries and more. The talk will take place at the Main Library, Thursday, April 19, 10:30AM.

Waban Branch Book Disscussion Group

At Waban, the book group will discuss Bitter Grounds by Sandra Benitez on Wednesday, April 25, 10:30AM.

Nonantum Book Group

At Nonantum, there will be a Coffee Hour and Book Review of new fiction and non-fiction works on Monday, April 23, 10:30AM, presented by the Nonantum librarian Marischka Dopp.

Newton Corner Book Group

The Newton Corner book group will discuss Rosshalde by Hermann Hesse on Friday, April 27, 10:40AM. This group meets at Heritage at Vernon Court in Newton Corner.