Led by Anne Serafin, this group explores the rich variety of writings from Africa. The group meets on the third Wednesday of the month at 7:30PM in Meeting Room A. Meeting Date: April 19: Children of the New World: A Novel of the Algerian War, by Assia Djebar. For further information, call 527-1072.

Meetings are held on the first Monday or on 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 Jacqueline Davies at 781-455-8334 or Karen Day at 244-4830 for more information. Meeting Dates: Monday, April 3 or Wednesday, April 26.

Meetings are held the first Wednesday of the month, 7:30PM, in Meeting Room A. Participants should read works in advance. Group coordinator: Marilyn Miller. Meeting Dates: April 5: A Palestine Affair by Jonathan Wilson; May 3: Journey from the Land of No by Roya Hakakian.
Contemporary Books Booklist

Meetings are held on the second Tuesday of the month at 7:15PM in Meeting Room A. Members read books from the Great Books Foundation (available at the Library). Meeting Date: April 11: “Antony and Cleopatra” by Shakespeare. For further information, call Ruth Greene at 527-4143.

Meetings are held at 7:30PM on the second and fourth Mondays of the month at the Nonantum branch. Group coordinator: Amy Oppenheimer: amy.oppenh@verizon.net, www.newtoncameraclub.org. Meeting Date: April 10: Competition in Still Life and Open Categories judged by Robyn Souer; April 24: “An Overview of Contemporary Photography” by member Jeff Mather. Annual Print Show at Main Library April 4 – 27. Opening Reception: April 6 at 7:30PM.

In this women’s workshop, participants read, discuss and write about literature by women. The group usually meets the second Wednesday of each month from 10 - 11:30AM in Meeting Room A. Leader: Robin Mayer Stein. Meeting Date: April 19.

This workshop provides an atmosphere of expert support to polish short fiction. It is geared for published writers as well as those who are actively pursuing publication. Leader is Michael Kaufman. Pre-registration is required: call 617-332-3347. The group meets the first Tuesday of the month, 7:00PM, in Meeting Room A. Meeting Date: April 4.

Meetings are held on the second Monday of the month at 7:30PM in Meeting Room A. Group co-leaders are Mary Lanigan and Barbara McGinley. For further information, call 527-1505. Meeting Date: April 10: “The Chrysanthemums” by Steinbeck and “The Hunter’s Wife” by Anthony Doerr.

This group will meet again next month.

This new group, led by career counselor Joyce Picard, is for women entering (or re-entering) the workforce, downsizing careers or thinking of opting out. It focuses on goals, allowing time to share concerns and gain support. The group meets the third Tuesday of the month at 7:30PM in Meeting Room A. Meeting Date: April 18. For further information, please call 617-796-1410.

A group to support beginning writers of the short story, novel, personal essay or memoir. Led by Tom Yee, the group meets on the third Saturday of the month, 10:30 – Noon in Meeting Room A. Pre-registration required: Call 630-0742. Meeting Date: April 15.

Sopranos Rebecca Hayden and Karen Bell with pianist Bonnie Donham will perform duets and solos by Purcell, Faure, Mendelssohn, Brahms and DeFalla as well as spirituals at the Library on Sunday, April 2, at 2PM.

Bell has performed many principal roles in opera, Gilbert & Sullivan and musical theatre
productions in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. She has performed as a vocalist with the Kenny Hadley Big Band and has been a member of Boston Baroque and the Handel & Haydn Society.

Hayden has sung with choral groups such as the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and the Munich Bachchor in the U.S. and abroad. She has given recitals throughout New England and has performed in musical theatre, including the Christmas Revels.

Donham is a freelance accompanist who works regularly at Longy School of Music and in musical theatre in the Greater Boston area.

Pianist Stephen Porter will perform works by Bach/Siloti, Beethoven, Debussy and Boston University composer Samuel Headrick at the Library on Sunday, April 9, at 2:00PM.

Porter’s pianism has been described as superb…invigorating… perfect… the Schubert brought the house to its feet” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch). Highlights of his career include a solo recital in Istanbul, a prestigious invitation by the Rockefeller Foundation to perform at its study center in Ballagio, Lake Como, performances at the St. Louis Art Museum and chamber concerts with members of the St. Louis Symphony. He was chosen by Steinway and Sons to present five concerts as part of its “Legendary Instruments of the Immortals” tour in Boston and Worcester, performing on the personal pianos of Horowitz, Paderewski and Cliburn. His several appearances at the Frederick Piano Collection have been recorded live for broadcast on NPR. In 2001 he released his first CD, “Liszt: Sonata in B minor and works by Beethoven, Ravel, Schubert, Rachma-ninoff and Chopin.” He has recently accepted an invitation to perform at the American Academy in Rome.

The Library's first Annual Folk Concert will feature Gail Rundlett in performance on Sunday, April 23, at 2:00PM. This annual concert is held in memory of Newton resident Susan Pomerantz.

Blessed with a voice that exhibits crystalline purity, honesty and heart-touching soul, Rundlett plays guitar and four-string Appalachian dulcimer and draws her repertoire from both traditional and contemporary sources. She has performed as a solo artist since the early 1980’s in New England’s coffeehouses, clubs, festivals, museums and schools, as well as singing for children and teaching dulcimer workshops. Whether she’s enlivening traditional music with her expressive dulcimer and honeyed vocals, or freshly rendering contemporary songs and playing guitar, her warm presence fills the stage and erases boundaries between singer and audience. She has released three solo recordings – Just in Time, Farther Along and Full Circle - and appeared on two CDs as a member of the vocal group Taproot. She has shared the stage with Tom Rush, Nanci Griffith, Garnet Rogers, David Massengill and Odetta, among others.

The All Newton Music School faculty series continues at the Library with a concert of jazz interpretations from the American Songbook by pianist Ross Petot on Sunday, April 30, at 2:00PM.

Classically trained, Petot developed a career as a teacher and performer of early jazz in Europe, Canada and the U.S. Since settling in the Boston area in 1987 he has delighted audiences with his joyous breed of music making and gained recognition for his ability to play stride piano with the vigor and spontaneity that marked its creation. He has released a solo piano recording, “Stride Piano,” and has performed with many of New England’s pre-eminent traditional jazz bands. He can be heard regularly with the Blue Horizon Jazz Band, John Clark’s Wolverine Jazz Band and the Back Bay Ramblers.

Free tax assistance will be available in Meeting Room A, Saturdays through April 15, from 2 - 4:00PM. An IRS-trained AARP Tax Aide will help fill out basic tax returns and answer questions.

After her father's death, Sharona Muir learned by chance that he had invented Israel's first rocket. Muir's parents divorced when she was very young, but she adored the father, "Invention-a-Minute Ben," she saw on Saturday outings. Only later did she discover that he was a member of a secret group of scientists, Hemmed, during Israel's war of independence.

Hear the author of The Book of Telling: Tracing the Secrets of My Father's Lives speak at the Library on Tuesday, April 4, at 7:30PM.

Muir is an award-winning poet and associate professor of creative writing at Bowling Green University. This memoir is a story of invention and self-invention, of Israel's founding generation and of an abiding love between a daughter and her father.

An informative Introductory Meeting for anyone interested in literacy tutoring will be held Wednesday, April 5, at 7PM in the Trustees Room. For more information, call 796-1364.

The 22nd annual Book and Author Luncheon of the Friends of the Newton Free Library will feature Andrew Carroll, author of Behind the Lines, and Anita Diamant, author of the best-seller The Red Tent and her latest novel, The Last Days of Dogtown. The Luncheon will take place on Friday, April 7, at noon at the Newton Marriott.

The Last Days of Dogtown is set on Cape Ann in the early 1800s. Diamant's inspiration for the story came from a historical pamphlet she found in a Gloucester bookstore. She explains, “I set out to imagine the lives of people who have been left out of history: the poor, widows and spinsters, orphans, New England Africans - both enslaved and free. Marginal and voiceless, these folks fascinate me because so little is known about them . . . [T]heir silence gives me permission to imagine an entire world of longing and loss, of laughter and hope.” Dogtown was chosen as a Booksense Highlights Pick for 2005.

Behind the Lines: Powerful and Revealing American and Foreign War Letters — and One Man’s Search to Find Them includes two hundred previously unpublished war letters and e-mails written by American and foreign troops and civilians, beginning with the American Revolution and continuing up through Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Carroll's previous books include Letters of a Nation and War Letters: Extraordinary Correspondence from American Wars, which was the basis for the critically acclaimed PBS documentary. He is also executive director of the American Poetry & Literacy Project which he cofounded with Joseph Brodsky.

To join these authors on April 7, send your check for $30 per person (payable to the Friends of the Newton Free Library) to 14 Trowbridge Street, Newton, MA 02459. Please specify the names of those who will attend the event and include a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Indicate your preference for chicken, fish, or vegetarian entree for lunch. Reservations received after March 25 will be held at the door. For more information, please call 617-969-4443.

In honor of National Poetry Month and National Library Week April 2 - 8, the Library will present its 33rd Annual Evening of Poetry, sponsored by the Friends of the Library. Tino Villanueva, Steve Almond and Frannie Lindsay will read their latest poetry on Tuesday, April 11, 7:00PM, followed by an Open Mike with a one-poem/ person limit. Refreshments will be served. This festival and the year-long series are coordinated by Doug Holder, publisher of Ibbetson Street Press.

A writer, editor and translator, Villanueva is the founder of Imagine Publishers and editor of Imagine: International Chicano Poetry Journal. He has published six books of poetry, among them: Shaking Off the Dark; Chronicle of My Worst Years; and Scene from the Movie GIANT, winner of a 1994 American Book Award, now in bilingual format. His paintings and drawings have appeared on the covers of international and national journals such as Nexos (Mexico City), Green Mountains Review, TriQuarterly and Parnassus. He teaches at Boston University.

Lindsay’s volume of poetry, Where She Always Was, received the 2004 May Swenson Award sponsored by Utah State University Press. A former NEA Fellow and twice a Pushcart nominee, she has had work published in The Atlantic Monthly, Quarterly West, Harvard Review, Hunger Mountain, Field, Poet Lore, Salamander, The Yale Review and many others. Her work has been read by Garrison Keillor on NPR’s “Writer’s Almanac” and been featured on the websites “Poetry Daily” and “Verse Daily.”

Almond’s fresh and often provocative stories and poems have beenpublished in many anthologies and literary journals and broadcast on NPR’s “Morning Edition.” Among his honors are a Pushcart Prize, Mass. Book Circle’s Book of the Year, AP Feature Writing Award for Sports Writing (1989-91), fellowship to Bread-loaf Writer’s Conference and twice being published in The Best American Short Stories. He is the author of such popular and acclaimed fiction and non-fiction works as: My Life in Heavy Metal, Candyfreak and The Evil B.B. Chow. He teaches creative writing at Boston College and serves on the faculty of Grub Street Writers.

 

“On the Trail: Searching for Chocolate, Caves and the Ancient Maya in Belize,” a talk by archaeologist Ben Thomas, will take place at the Library on Tuesday, April 18, at 7:30PM.

Between 1997 and 2003, a group of archaeologists led by Dr. Patricia McAnany of Boston University explored the Sibun River valley of Belize searching for ancient Maya communities and for evidence of the ancient cacao groves rumored to have been in the area. Their investigations uncovered twenty-two ancient settlements spread along the river and brought to light more than eighteen caves used by the Maya for their sacred rituals. Thomas was part of that investigation and will bring his experiences to life with an intriguing slide show.

Join him for a journey down the Sibun River and explore the caves and communities of the Sibun Maya. Visit the temples, pyramids and ball courts built by the people who lived along the river and continue the search for the elusive cacao bean.

Thomas is a Mesoamerican archaeologist.  He works mainly in the Maya area, has done

fieldwork in Belize and Guatemala and has traveled extensively through Mexico visiting ancient sites.  Currently, he works as the Education and Outreach Coordinator for the Archaeological Institute of America and is an Assistant Professor at Berklee College of Music.

 

Do you need help understanding the naturalization process? Legacy for Literacy is offering a class for intermediate ESL students who have applied for citizenship and are waiting for their interview appointment. The class will cover basic U.S. history and government. Students will also practice answering questions for the interview. The 8 sessions, beginning on April 20, will be held Thursday evenings at 7:00PM in the Trustees Room. The class is limited to 15 students.

Pre-registration is required. If you are interested in attending, please call Susan Bécam, ESL/Literacy Program Coordinator, at 617-796-1364 or email legacyforliteracy@yahoo.com.

 

By the age of 65, one person in three has some form of vision-reducing eye disease. Cataract and age-related macular degeneration are the major causes of visual impairment and blindness in the aging U.S. population. But eating certain foods may help prevent these diseases.

Learn about "Nutrition and Eye Health" on Thursday, April 20, at 10:30AM at a talk by Elizabeth Johnson, Ph.D., from the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University. Hand-outs will be available.

The Newton Conservators Spring Lecture will be devoted to a review of the projects that have been implemented with the aid of the CPA Fund. "The Community Preservation Act in Newton - Has It Been Worth It?" will take place at the Library on Thursday, April 20, at 7:00PM. Members of the CPA Committee, the Planning Department, members of aldermanic Committees with CPA oversight and project planners themselves will provide their perspective on the program.

The Community Preservation Act was adopted by the City of Newton in 2001. Since then, over 40 projects involving open space, community housing, historic preservation and recreation have been approved. In Newton, the CPA Fund comes from a 1% surcharge on the property tax which, to date, has received 100% matching from the state, and whose projects have leveraged additional funding sources. As we near the 5th year since its passage in Newton, there has been increasing debate on the value of the program.

The program will feature a pictorial overview of CPA projects. More than 30 acres of open space have been preserved including the last remaining farm in the city and a large tract that connects existing conservation areas. Over 80 units of community housing have been funded, including a Newton Housing Authority apartment building in Waban and the land for the first Habitat for Humanity project in the western suburbs. Our city’s three historic burying grounds are finally receiving restoration work, and recreational improvements for many of our parks and facilities such as Gath Pool are underway.

There will be time for questions on the CPA process and its future.

For further information, visit the Newton Conservators website at www.newtonconservators.org.

 

Come hear students, teachers, parents, administrators and elected officials talk about innovative environmental programs in the Newton schools at the next Green Decade talk. "Our Earthday" will be held on Monday, April 24, at 7:00PM at the Library. Elementary, middle and high school students are creating interactive sustainable projects in the schools. They have much to teach us!

Authors Daena Giardella and Wren Ross will present an interactive program based on their new book, Changing Patterns: Discovering the Fabric of Your Creativity at the Library on Thursday, April 27, at 7:00PM, followed by a booksigning.

Changing Patterns invites readers to explore the power of creativity as a vital tool for self-development, change and fulfillment. It helps people find practi-cal ways to overcome the blocks that keep them from being creative so that they can live a more meaningful life.

What’s “A Divorce Play in 4 Acts”? It’s an educational drama, enacted by lawyers, social workers and other professionals from the non-profit Divorce Center, designed to show the basic stages of the divorce process. The players will present initial client interviews with the husband and wife’s lawyers, a meeting with the Family Service Office, a four-way meeting with lawyers concentrating on division of assets and a pretrial conference. Side commentaries will be given by a mental health professional and a financial expert. A Q&A session will be included in the program which will take place on Saturday, April 29, 10:00AM – 1:00PM at the Library.