Voyages, Images, Impressions by Dominique Lecomte
February 2-28

African Literatures Discussion Group, led by Anne Serafin, explores the rich variety of writings from Africa. The group usually meets on the third Wednesday of the month at 7:30 pm in room A. Next Meeting: Wednesday, February 13 in the Special Collections Room (Due to school vacation they are meeting on the second Wednesday of the month; please note location is the Special Collections Room). They will read The Yacoubian Building by Alaa Al Aswany from Egypt. For further information call 617-527-1072.

Children’s Book Writer’s Groups are for writers who have work in progress. Pre-registration required. Maria Gianferrari (781-891-0153) leads the group that meets on the first Monday of the month at 7:00 pm in Room A. Next meeting: Monday, February 4. Karen Day (617-244-4830) leads the group that meets on the 4th Wednesday of the month at 7:00 pm in Room A. Next meeting:Wednesday, February 27.

Commonwealth Book Club focuses on books from the U. K. and former colonies. They will meet Tuesday, February 19, at 7:30 pm in Meeting Room B to discuss Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. For more info or to request the book, contact Chris Wangler of the Auburndale Library: cwangler@minlib.net or 781-588-0149.

Contemporary Books Discussion Group

Contemporary Books Discussion Group holds meetings on the first Wednesday of the month at 7:30 in Room A. Info call: Marilyn Miller 617-332-4225. The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, February 6 at 7:30 pm. The group will discuss The Other Side of You by Sally Vickers. In March the group will discuss The Gathering by Anne Enright.


Contemporary Books 2007 - 2008 Reading List

Great Books Discussion Group meets on the second Tuesday of the month at 7:15 pm in Room A. Members read and discuss books or selected excerpts, some published by the Great Books Foundation. Some are available at the Library. The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, February 12 at 7:15 pm to discuss, Lysistrata by Aristophanes. For more information call Ruth Greene at 617-527-4143.

Newton Camera Club meets on the 2nd and 4th Mondays of each month at 7:30 pm at the Nonantum Branch (September through May) to share and discuss photography. The programs include a range of highly-regarded outside speakers, club member presentations, and competitions. For more information, visit www.newtoncameraclub.org.

Sequences: Women Tell Our Stories, a supportive, creative group, meets in a congenial atmosphere to read fiction, essays or poetry and discuss and write responses to the material. Led by Robin Mayer Stein, poet and journalist, the group meets on the second Wednesday of the month at 10:00 am in room A. Next meeting: Wednesday, February 13.

Short Fiction Writing Group is a workshop geared for published writers and those actively pursuing publication. Pre-registration is required, call 617-332-3347. The group meets on the first Tuesday of the month at 7:00 pm in Room A. Next meeting: Tuesday, February 5.

Short Story Discussion Group usually holds its meetings on the 2nd Monday of the month at 7:30 pm in Room A. Group co-leaders are Mary Lanigan (617-527-1505) and Barbara McGinley. Next meeting: Monday, February 11. They will discuss Cherubs by Justine Dymond from The O. Henry Prize Short Stories 2007 and Once the Shore by Paul Yoon, from the The Best American Short Stories of 2006.

Singing Group is for singers of all levels who enjoy singing classical and popular music. It meets monthly on Saturday afternoons, Noon – 1:30 pm in the Druker Auditorium. Info call: Miriam Simen at 617-244-6705. Next Meeting: Saturday, February 16.

Women in Career Transition. Led by career counselor Joyce Picard, this group, in its third year, provides sharing and information for women in career transition. It focuses on goals, allowing time to share concerns and gain support. For more information call 617-332-7600. The group regularly meets on the third Tuesday of the month at 7:30 pm in Room A. Next meeting: Tuesday, February 19.

Polish born cellist Bartoz Koziak will perform on Sunday, February 3 at 2:00 pm. He will be accompanied by Unkyoung Kim, violin and Un Hee Kim, piano. The concert will include works by Martinu, Tchaikovsky and Paganini.

Mr. Koziak began studying cello at the age of seven. He has performed in many renowned concert halls, including the Konzerthaus in Berlin and the Cité de la Musique in Paris. In 2001 he won first prize at the 3rd Witold Lutosławski International Cello Competition in Warsaw and also won a special award at the Tchaikovsky Competitions in Moscow for his performance of Kottos by Iannis Xenakis. He regularly performs in Poland and abroad as a soloist and in chamber ensembles.

Engage with classical music through the creative listening approach developed by musician Eli Epstein and Cynthia Anne Hale, Ph.D. at an Inside Out concert on Sunday, February 10 at 2:00 pmIn this unique live-music presentation, concert goers will be guided through a narration and demonstration on how to listen imaginatively into the emotional layers of music. Participants often find that the memories and associations evoked through the music elicit connections to universal emotional themes and provide a unique and meaningful experience; changing the way they think about classical music.

Eli Epstein, an orchestral French horn player, soloist, chamber musician, educator and conductor, is known throughout the U. S., Canada and Europe. He has performed at notable venues including Tanglewood, Philadelphia’s Academy of Music, the Aspen Music Festival and the Kennedy Center. Epstein is on the faculties of The Boston Conservatory, Music Academy of the West, and the Aspen Music Festival and School, where he has served as Principal Horn of the Aspen Chamber Symphony since 2000. He performs with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and works with the BSO Educational Department on special projects.

 

Join Seth Warner, lute and Rebecca Furbush-Bayer, voice, for an entrancing Valentine’s Day concert of Songs for Voice and Lute including Baroque and Renaissance and pieces by Dowland, Holbourne, Campion, Purcell, Peri and Caccini; Thursday, February 14 at 7:30 pm.

Soprano Rebecca Furbush-Bayer, has performed throughout the U.S. and in Europe. She was a 2007 Honors Competition winner at the Longy School of Music.

Seth Warner performs on lute, theorbo, vihuela and guitars. He is the director of the Early Music at St. Luke’s Cathedral concert series in Portland, Maine and manager of the Olin Arts Center at Bates College. In 2007 he was named an Emerging Arts Leader by the Association of Performing Arts Presenters.

Steve Lin has performed for audiences throughout the United States, Taiwan and Italy in solo and ensemble engagements. His extensive repertoire spans from the Renaissance to Latin American. He is also an advocate of contemporary music and is active in commissioning new works for the guitar. He will perform on Sunday, February 17 at 2:00 pm.

In 2005 Steve founded Boston Guitar Project and became the assistant director of Boston GuitarFest. The Project is deeply involved in community outreach and has been successful in creating new audiences for the guitar. Steve has received many prizes at major competitions, including Boston GuitarFest, East Carolina University Guitar Competition and Boston Classical Guitar Society Competition. He has appeared at numerous festivals such as Yale Guitar Extravaganza.

In 2007 Steve released his debut CD, Eliot Fisk Series Vol. 1 (VGo Recordings label), a joint effort with guitarist Joseph Williams II and La Bella Strings.

Join us for an entertaining and educational evening of four hands piano with two special guests from Vienna, Austria on Wednesday, February 20 at 7:30 pm. The concert will feature works of Schubert and others.

Anna Jenny, an Austrian native, holds a Masters in piano performance. She won the State and Federal Music Competiton, Jugend Musiziert award in 1991 and currently teaches piano in Vienna.

Barbara Gruber, a native of Germany entered the piano studio of Prof. Anton Czjzek for gifted children at the Mozarteum in Salzburg at the age of 13. She currently teaches piano at a private institution in Vienna.

 

Experience a taste of opera with your family at a free preview of Hansel and Gretel on Sunday, February 24 at 2:30 pm. The preview is a 45-minute interactive session which will introduce kids and parents to the art form in general, and specifically Humperdinck’s popular opera, Hansel and Gretel, which is based on the classic fairy tale. A singer and pianist from Boston Lyric Opera will perform highlights from the opera and they will get your children involved in the action, singing and acting too! The program is appropriate for children aged 6-12 and their parents.

Join leaders of the Green Decade Coalition Energy Committee for a showing of the brief sequel to Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth documentary.  The 20-minute sequel was included with the DVD version of An Inconvenient Truth that was released in late 2006.  Climate science is moving quickly with new information coming forward each month, so no update can stay perfectly current for long.  Nevertheless, the sequel does raise some important new topics that the original film did not touch on, and is sure to stimulate some good discussion.  Discussion will be moderated by Eric Olson, Chair of the Energy Committee.

The Boston Globe’s award-winning investigative reporter Sean P. Murphy, who has written hundreds of stories on casinos since 2000, will give an illustrated presentation on the proposal to open Massachusetts to casinos. The talk will be given on Tuesday, February 5 at 7:30 pm and will be followed by a Q and A period. In this talk Murphy will explain why Indian tribes get special treatment, why states find the lure of additional tax revenues from casinos almost irresistible, the social consequences of casino gambling, and will discuss the players who are now maneuvering to get a piece of the action.

Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass had only 3 meetings, yet the impact of their meetings far exceeded their frequency. As Stephen and Paul Kendrick show in Douglass and Lincoln: How a Revolutionary Black Leader and a Reluctant Liberator Struggled to End Slavery and Save the Union, these two revolutionary figures had profound influence on each other, and on the outcome of the Civil War. Join Stephen Kendrick for an author talk on Thursday, February 7 at 7:00 pm. The talk will be followed by a book signing with books provided by New England Mobile Book Fair.

Stephen and Paul Kendrick, father and son, are the authors of Sarah’s Long Walk: The Free Blacks of Boston and How Their Struggle for Equality Changed America. Paul is an Assistant Director at the Harlem Children’s Zone. Stephen Kendrick is the Senior Minister of First Church in Boston and has previously written for the Christian Century and The New York Times.

Join us for this Chinese New Year celebration with music, games and more on Saturday, February 9!

1:00 pm Er Hu master Zhi Min Zhao will lead traditional Chinese music on dulcimer and zither.

2:15 pm Deng-Mi Hui riddles and word games with Sunshine Yuan -- win prizes! Families will enjoy this special program; children are welcome!

Also, throughout the month of February a special collection of Chinese artifacts from the collection of Judith Funkhouser will be on view in the library’s display cases on the first and second floors. Don’t miss it!

The library’s poetry series continues on Tuesday, February 12 at 7:00 pm. The series is directed by Doug Holder founder of Ibbetson St. Press of Somerville, MA.

Harris Gardner, Dan Sklar and Lisa Beatman, all of whom are published poets, will read from their works. The reading will be followed by an open mike with a limit of one poem a person. For the complete list of names for this year visit http://www.newtonfreelibrarypoetryseries.blogspot.com. The series will continue at 7:00 pm on the second Tuesdays of March and April.

 

In this statewide program developed by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, participants will learn how they can care for people with the flu. The program will include an informative introduction about influenza, a 22-minute video about caring for people with the flu and will conclude with a brief discussion of the city’s pandemic planning and a Q and A session. Take home materials include Flu: What You Can Do, a color booklet, handouts about fever, dehydration, a supply checklist and more. The workshop will be run by staff from the Newton Department of Health. The program will be held on Wednesday, February 13 at 7:30 pm at the library.

 

The AARP® Tax-Aide™ Foundation will have trained volunteers on hand on Saturdays from 1:30-3:30 pm each week beginning on February 16 and ending on April 12. The volunteers, who are trained by the IRS, will be ready to answer questions and fill out basic (non-business) tax returns.

 

Anna's Shtetl is the true story of the childhood of a St. Louis woman, Anna Spector Dien, who grew up in the Ukraine from 1905 to 1919. Author, Larry Coben will give a book talk on this extraordinary narrative on Tuesday, February 19 at 7:30 pm.

In this compelling, coming of age story Anna recalls the time of peace in her small town of Korsun, eighty miles south of Kiev. She also remembers the eventful times of World War I, the Bolshevik Revolution, and the Russian Civil War that followed. Anna’s remarkable memory and her artistic eye for detail bring new and surprising information not only about shtetl life, but also about the interpersonal relations of Jews and Christians in the shtetl.

Author, Lawrence A. Coben, M.D. is Associate Professor Emeritus in the Neurology Department of the Washington University School of Medicine. He has done extensive research on Alzheimer's and has been instrumental in establishing a clinical rating system for the disease.

 

With a grant generously provided by the Foundation for Racial, Ethnic and Religious Harmony, The Newton Free Library is pleased to present a special Black History Month program entitled, The Underground Railroad, From Newton to the End of the Line. The multi-part program will be held on Thursday, February 21 at 7:00 pm. We encourage youth and young adults to attend.

The program will begin with introductory remarks from Newton resident, Hubie Jones. Jones, is a well known children’s advocate who has shaped and defined the civic and social landscape of Boston for more than forty-five years.

He has had leadership roles in the formation, building and rebuilding of at least thirty community organizations within Boston's Black community and across all neighborhoods in the city.

On Monday, February 25 at 7:00 pm, Rob Gogan, Manager of Recycling and Waste for Harvard University Operations Services, will examine the question is “Zero Waste” a useful model for Newton? The program is sponsored by the Green Decade Coalition as part of their 2008 Environmental Speaker Series.

The program will address questions such as:
•What is Zero Waste and how does recycling fit into a Zero Waste model?
•Which Constituencies will be involved in the Zero Waste effort and why is the concept controversial?

Attendees are encouraged to view the 20-minute on-line video, "The Story of Stuff” at www.thestoryofstuff.com and visit the Grassroots Recycling Network's home page at www.grrn.org, as useful exercises prior to the program.

Rob Gogan has promoted sustainability on campus since 1985 and runs Harvard’s Surplus Distribution program, which in 2007 donated over $2.5 million in reusables to non-profit groups, neighbors and the needy.

Note: Special film, Inconvenient Truth: The Follow-up, Saturday, February 2, 1:00 pm.

Discovering What’s Next™ is pleased to host Karen Stabiner on Tuesday, February 26 at 7:00 pm, for a talk on her new book, The Empty Nest--31 Parents Tell the Truth About Relationships, Love, and Freedom After the Kids Fly the Coop. Please join Ms. Stabiner as she addresses the next rite of passage for Baby Boomers; what happens when the kids leave home.

Karen Stabiner is the author of seven books in addition to The Empty Nest, and is a regular contributor to the Los Angeles Times opinion section.

Discovering What's Next: ReVitalizing Retirement™(DWN) is a community collaboration engaging mid-life and older adults in creative exploration of their next life stage. DWN provides connection and direction and opportunities for learning and community involvement.

 

Join us for Discoveries in Science: the Newton Experience; the second in this year's Newton History Series, cosponsored by the library and the Newton History Museum at the Jackson Homestead.

On Thursday, February 28 at 7:00 pm, longtime Newton resident Dr. Rainer Weiss, Professor Emeritus of Physics at MIT, will discuss the scientific evidence that supports the explosive origin of the universe, the big bang theory. Taught by a master, this exciting, illustrated, cutting-edge program will be presented in laymen's terms that are easily understood and is suitable for all ages.

Recipient of the Einstein Prize of the American Physical Society in 2007, Dr. Weiss is a skilled academic leader, an eminent investigator and a dedicated educator.

 

Come mingle with our distinguished authors at the Newton Free Library’s Spring Fling, Saturday, March 29, 7:00 pm, at the main library.

Culinary expert Jody Adams' cookbook In the Hands of a Chef: Cooking with Jody Adams of Rialto Restaurant, co-written with her husband, Ken Rivard, was nominated for best Chefs & Restaurant cookbook from the IACP.

World traveler and Soviet scholar, Joseph Finder, writes New York Times best selling novels focusing on espionage, politics, and business. His many awards include the International Thriller Writers Award for best novel. His most recent novel is Power Play.

Philosopher Rebecca Goldstein is a MacArthur Fellow and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her book, Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave us Modernity was awarded the 2006 Koret International Jewish Book Award in Jewish Thought.

Nathaniel Philbrick, Nantucket resident and avid sailor, writes about life on the seas. His book, Mayflower, was a finalist for the 2007 Pulitzer Prize in History.

The short stories of Indian native and former environmental lawyer, Rishi Reddi, have appeared in The Harvard Review and Prairie Schooner. Her book, Karma and Other Stories, was selected for the Barnes and Noble Discover New Writers Series.

David Allen Sibley has written and illustrated many articles and field guides on bird identification. His book, The Sibley Guide to Birds, is considered by many to be the most comprehensive guide for North American field identification.

Contact the Development Office at 617-796-1407 or dsimon@minlib.net for tickets and more information.