Newton Free Library presents: From Dragons to Unicorns - A Fantasy Animal Writing Workshop
2021-07-07 18:30 - 19:30, 2021-07-14 18:30 - 19:30 (America/New_York) | Zoom
Are you a fan of animal fiction? What about fantasy? Join us as we learn to combine the best of both worlds as we get our imaginations flowing in this animal fiction writing program for rising 4th and 5th graders. Create a new world for fantasy animals to inhabit or a makeup a new animal altogether! Space is limited.
Registration is required. A zoom link will be sent out two days before the first session. When you sign up, you register for July 7 and 14.

Newton Free Library presents: Prohibition Wine
2021-07-20 19:00 - 20:00 | ONLINE, United Kingdom, E16 2DQ
Join us for an author talk with TAB columnist and community activist, Marian Leah Knapp. Her new book, Prohibition Wine: A True Story of One Woman’s Daring in Twentieth-Century America, tells the story of how Marian’s grandmother, Rebecca Goldberg—a Jewish immigrant from the Russian Empire living in rural Massachusetts―lost her husband to a railroad accident. The tragedy left her alone with six children to raise. The book follows Rebecca through the 1920s as she transforms her egg delivery service into a more lucrative endeavor: bootlegging.
For five years, Rebecca successfully provided for her customers in secret as a means to support her family until she was caught. Knapp’s story chronicles how the lower class experienced the Prohibition, a side not always represented in popular media from the era. Rebecca’s life as a poor Jewish immigrant in Massachusetts holds a mirror to struggles still relevant today including disparities in access to education and healthcare and ongoing discrimination. This program is cosponsored by the City of Newton Department of Senior Services.
Registration for this program will end two hours before the start time. The login information will be sent just after registration closes. Please be sure to check your spam folder in case it lands there.

Newton Free Library presents: Poetry by the Pooh Statues
2021-07-21 16:30 - 17:15 | Newton Free Library, 330 Homer St, Newton, MA, 02459, United States
Do you love poetry and want to write some with other children? Meet us by the Pooh Statues behind the library to participate in this fun budding writer’s workshop! We will have paper and pencils. Just bring yourselves and your creativity. For ages 6-9 and their caregivers. If the ground is wet or in case of rain, this program will be virtual and a zoom link will be added to this description that morning.

Historic Newton presents: Book Launch - An Evening at Norumbega Park
2021-08-01 17:00 - 19:00 | Boston Marriott Newton, 2345 Commonwealth Avenue, Newton, MA, 02466, United States
A nostalgic return to the fun-loving days of historic Norumbega Park and the Totem Pole Ballroom to celebrate Historic Newton’s new book!

From its Grand Opening in 1897 to when the gates closed forever in 1963, Norumbega Park by the Charles River in Auburndale was the ultimate destination for thrill-seekers and fun-lovers. The park hosted canoeing, amusement rides, explorations through its zoo and gardens, and live entertainment from nationally renowned big bands in the elegant Totem Pole Ballroom (once called “America’s most beautiful ballroom”).
Escape from everyday life with us on Sunday, August 1st, to the actual site of the former park, for a nostalgic celebration of Historic Newton’s new book, Norumbega Park and the Totem Pole Ballroom, published by Arcadia Publishing and featuring more than 200 images from Historic Newton’s archives.
As you enter, get serenaded by a Barbershop Quartet. Enjoy beer, wine, and amusement park food — anybody up for cotton candy, fried dough, and ice cream? — in the beautiful, riverside garden party setting as you’re treated to magic and acrobatic performances, along with a chance to meet the book’s authors, Sara Goldberg and Clara Silverstein.
General Admission tickets are $50 each for access to all food, wine/beer, and entertainment.
Individual Sponsor tickets are $125 each, which includes an additional tax deductible donation to Historic Newton. Sponsor ticket holders will receive special acknowledgment in our event program and a signed copy of the book!
Click here to register.

Scavenger Hunt at the Newton Free Library
2021-08-13 09:00 - 12:00 | Newton Free Library, 330 Homer St, Newton, MA, 02459, United States
Are you ready for a Scavenger Hunt at the Library! Come to the Children’s Desk anytime between 9am and 12pm and pick up a sheet with clues to find objects and images around the children’s area. When you are done you will get to take home a special animal sticker of your choosing. This program is part of our Tail and Tales Summer Reading program. To sign up for summer reading click here.

Newton Free Library presents: Graphic Novel Trivia for Kids and Families
2021-08-24 19:00 - 20:00 | ONLINE, United Kingdom, E16 2DQ
Can’t get enough of Dogman, Lunch Lady, or Narwhal and Jelly? Come to our Graphic Novel Trivia night just for kids and their families! No restrictions on team size. One registration per team. A reminder email and the Zoom link will be sent out the day before the event. Registration is required and will close on August 23 at 7:00pm.

Postponed-Newton Free Library presents: You Came Through The Ruins - Tagore's Songs and Poems of Life and Renewal
2021-09-23 19:00 - 20:00 | ONLINE, United Kingdom, E16 2DQ
Join Maitreyee Chakraborty and friends for a special concert that will focus on the works of the Bengali poet, Rabindranath Tagore. He was a writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913. Maitreyee is trained in the classical Indian vocal tradition.
When the world crumbles around us, death tolls rise and intolerance grows, Rabindranath Tagore’s words and music offer solace and perspective.
This program is supported by a grant from the Newton Cultural Council.
Registration for this program will end two hours before the start time. The login information will be sent just after registration closes. Please be sure to check your spam folder in case it lands there.

Scandinavian Cultural Center Book Talk: "We Share the Same Sky" with Rachael Cerrotti
2021-10-17 14:00 - 15:00 | Scandinavian Cultural Center, 206 Waltham St, Newton, MA, 02465, United States
Join us for a talk with author Rachael Cerrotti about her book We Share the Same Sky: A Memoir of Memory & Migration.
It is the story of a granddaughter’s decade-long journey to retrace her grandmother’s wartime escape and weave together the thin threads of family history.
In 2009, Rachael Cerrotti, a college student pursuing a career in photojournalism, asked her grandmother, Hana, if she could record her story. Rachael knew that her grandmother was a Holocaust survivor and the only one in her family alive at the end of the war. Rachael also knew that she survived because of the kindness of strangers. It wasn’t a secret. Hana spoke about her history publicly and regularly. But, Rachael wanted to document it as only a granddaughter could. So, that’s what they did: Hana talked and Rachael wrote.
Upon Hana’s passing in 2010, Rachael discovered an incredible archive of her life. There were preserved albums and hundreds of photographs dating back to the 1920s. There were letters waiting to be translated, journals, diaries, deportation and immigration papers as well as creative writings from various stages of Hana’s life.
Rachael digitized and organized it all, plucking it from the past and placing it into her present. Then, she began retracing her grandmother’s story, following her through Central Europe, Scandinavia, and across the United States. She tracked down the descendants of those who helped save her grandmother’s life during the war. Rachael went in pursuit of her grandmother’s memory to explore how the retelling of family stories becomes the history itself.
We Share the Same Sky weaves together the stories of these two young women — Hana as a refugee who remains one step ahead of the Nazis at every turn, and Rachael, whose insatiable curiosity to touch the past guides her into the lives of countless strangers, bringing her love and tragic loss. Throughout the course of her twenties, Hana’s history becomes a guidebook for Rachael in how to live a life empowered by grief.
Sunday, October 17th | 2pm | register here **advanced registration and proof of vaccination required to attend**

New Art Center presents: Teen Zine - GR 9-12
2021-10-20 18:00 - 20:00, 2021-10-27 18:00 - 20:00, 2021-11-03 18:00 - 20:00, 2021-11-10 18:00 - 20:00, 2021-11-17 18:00 - 20:00, 2021-11-24 18:00 - 20:00, 2021-12-01 18:00 - 20:00 | New Art Center, 61 Washington Park, Newton, MA, 02460, United States
In this 6-week course students will print and produce their own zine – a small circulation of self-published work using a combination of both text and imagery. Students will develop their own short stories and/or poems and use these pieces to create visual imagery to support their writing. By the end the of the course students will print a limited-edition zine using a variety of print methods both by hand and using a press. Click here to register.
Notes: no class 11/24

Newton Free Library presents: Historical Fiction Panel
2021-11-01 19:00 - 20:00 | ONLINE, United Kingdom, E16 2DQ
Join Marjan Kamali, William Martin and Jane Healey for a panel discussion of their books, writing historical fiction and their behind-the-scenes research. This program is presented in partnership with the Ashland Public Library.
Marjan Kamali was born in Turkey to Iranian parents. She is the author of two novels: The Stationery Shop, a Boston Globe best-seller, and Together Tea which was a Massachusetts Book Award Finalist and an NPR WBUR Good Read, among other things. Her work has been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and published in two anthologies.
William Martin is the New York Times bestselling author of twelve novels, among other things. His first Peter Fallon novel, Back Bay, established him as “a master storyteller.” He has been following the lives of the great and anonymous in American history ever since. In 2018, he won the Robert B. Parker from the Mystery Writers of America (New England Chapter).
Jane Healey is the author of three historical fiction novels. The Beantown Girls was a Washington Post and Amazon Charts bestseller. Her latest, The Secret Stealers, was an Amazon First Reads Editor’s Pick and one of the New York Post’s Best New Books. She is he host of Historical Happy Hour, a monthly webinar and podcast featuring premiere historical fiction authors and their latest novels.
Please register here. The link zoom will come from ashlandprograms@minlib.net. Be sure to check your spam folder in case it lands there.
This program is sponsored by the Friends of the Ashland Public Library.

Newton Free Library presents: Decolonizing - Placing Indigenous Peoples in the Conversation
2021-11-18 19:00 - 20:00 | ONLINE, United Kingdom, E16 2DQ
Join Claudia Fox Tree, Arawak/Yurumein and Debby Irving, author of Waking Up White and Finding Myself in the Story of Race, for an online conversation as they explore how U.S. narratives have shaped their understanding of themselves, one another and the complex world we live in. Their organic, cross-racial conversation will pay heed to current events, in their own lives and in the larger world. Audience engagement and participation will be facilitated by a moderated Q and A following their talk.
Professional educator, Claudia Fox Tree, M.Ed. (Arawak/Yurumein) teaches courses and workshops on transforming curriculum and culturally responsive teaching practices. She also leads conversations “un-erasing” Native American First Nations People (FNP). She gives voice to Indigenous experiences (past and present) and asks allies and co-conspirators to come on the journey with her. Her presentations feature discussions on identity, culture, contributions, stereotypes and historical inaccuracies.
Debby Irving is a racial justice educator, writer and author of Waking Up White and Finding Myself in the Story of Race. Debby leads workshops and educates and consults with organizations seeking to create racial equity.
This program is hosted by Memorial Hall Library in collaboration with Courageous Conversations and libraries in Chelmsford, Groton, Haverhill, Lawrence, Methuen, Newton, North Andover, Tewksbury, Westford, and Wilmington, Libraries Working Towards Social Justice. It is also part of Newton’s Overdue: Confronting Race and Racism in Newton series.
Please register here. Login information will be generated by your registration with the Memorial Hall’s Zoom account. Please check your spam folder in case it lands there.

Newton Free Library presents: The Breaking of Baseball's Color Barrier with Ted Reinstein
2021-11-30 19:00 - 20:00 | ONLINE, United Kingdom, E16 2DQ
This program is presented in partnership with Tewksbury Public Library, the program sponsor. Please register here.
Join author and longtime Chronicle reporter Ted Reinstein for a presentation on his latest book, Before Brooklyn: The Unsung Heroes Who Helped Break Baseball’s Color Barrier. The book tells the story of the little-known heroes who fought segregation in baseball, from communist newspaper reporters to the Pullman car porters who saw to it that black newspapers espousing integration in professional sports reached the homes of blacks throughout the country. Readers will learn that in 1884 Moses Fleetwood Walker was actually the first black player in professional baseball and, for a time, integrated teams were not that unusual. Then, as segregation In the U.S. hardened and exclusion of blacks in baseball quietly became the norm, the battle for integration began anew.
Ted Reinstein has been a reporter for Chronicle, WCVB-TV/Boston’s award-winning nightly news magazine since 1997. His other books include New England Notebook and Wicked Pissed.
Sponsored by the Corning Foundation and pesented in collaboration with Libraries Working Towards Social Justice.
Login information will be sent upon registration and again on the day of the event. Please be sure to check your spam folder in case it lands there.

Scandinavian Cultural Center presents: Book Talk - "For the Love of Cod" with Eric Dregni
2021-12-04 13:00 | ONLINE, United Kingdom, E16 2DQ
A journey to find Norway’s supposed bliss makes for a comic travelogue that asks, seriously, what makes Norwegians so damn happy—and does it translate?
Norway is usually near or at the top of the World Happiness Report. But is it really one of the happiest countries on Earth? Eric Dregni had his doubts. Years ago he and his wife had lived in this country his great-great-grandfather once fled. When their son Eilif was born there, the Norwegian government paid for the birth, gave them $5,000, and deposited $500 into their bank account every month, but surely happiness was more than a generous health care system. What about all those grim months without sun? When Eilif turned fifteen, father and son decided to go back together and investigate. For the Love of Cod is their droll report on the state of purported Norwegian bliss.
Saturday, December 4th | 1pm | FREE with registration | register here
ABOUT ERIC: Eric Dregni is an associate professor of English and Journalism at Concordia University in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where he teaches writing. He has written or cowritten travel memoirs and essays about Minnesota, Norway, and Italy, as well as guidebooks and books on popular culture in the American Midwest.

Newton Free Library presents: You Came Through The Ruins - Tagore's Songs and Poems of Life and Renewal
2021-12-09 19:00 - 20:00 | ONLINE, United Kingdom, E16 2DQ
Join Maitreyee Chakraborty and friends for a special concert that will focus on the works of the Bengali poet, Rabindranath Tagore. He was a writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913. Maitreyee is trained in the classical Indian vocal tradtion.
When the world crumbles around us, death tolls rise and intolerance grows, Rabindranath Tagore’s words and music offers solace and perspective.
Joining Maitreyee will be Monami Roy, Raka Dutta, Swadhina Guhathakurta and Swati Biswas. Swati and Swadhina will be dancing. Raka will be reciting some poems and Mona will be discussing the relevance of the songs.
This program is supported in part by a grant from the Newton and Wellesley Cultural Councils, local agencies which are supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.
Registration for this program will end two hours before the start time. The login information will be sent just after registration closes. Please be sure to check your spam folder in case it lands there.

Newton Free Library presents: A Night in the Amazon with Erica Ferencik
2022-01-11 19:00 - 20:00 | ONLINE, United Kingdom, E16 2DQ
Join Erica Ferencik for a night in the Amazon! Thirty-foot anacondas; puppy-sized spiders; SUV-length electric eels that can kill you with a glancing blow – these are some of the creatures that Erica encountered on her month-long journey of survival in the Peruvian rainforest while researching her book, Into the Jungle. Her incredible story is sure to thrill all!
There is nowhere on earth Erica Ferencik won’t go to take you out of your head and into the great wild world. An award-winning novelist, Ferencik writes adventure stories featuring women who brave not only internal struggles, but face extreme challenges in their environment: remote forests, steaming jungles and desolated icescapes.
If you wish to own a copy of Into the Jungle, it is available at Newtonville Books here.
Registration for this program will end two hours before the start time. The login information will be sent just after registration closes. Please be sure to check your spam folder in case it lands there.

Scandinavian Cultural Center presents: "Men of Terror" Book Talk
2022-01-22 13:00 | Scandinavian Cultural Center, 206 Waltham St, Newton, MA, 02465, United States
BOOK TALK: MEN OF TERROR – A COMPREHENSIVE ANALYSIS OF VIKING COMBAT

A lecture by Dr. William R. Short
Viking society revolved around violence, as seen in their myths, poetry, law codes, pictures, and even in their house architecture. One Viking, a man named Fraði, was memorialized on a runestone raised 1000 years ago and praised for being a “man of terror”. Who were these people who praised this violence, and what made violence such an integral part of their society?
Join author Dr. William R. Short for an afternoon of surprising research results and fascinating insights into the lives and society of these people we call Vikings: these men of terror. This material, based on a 20+ year-long scientific study of the combative methods of the Vikings, is taken from the book, Men of Terror: A Comprehensive Analysis of Viking Combat, co-authored with Reynir A. Óskarson. The book presents, for the first time, a holistic picture of Viking combat, created by combining and overlaying many different sources.
Saturday, January 22nd | 1pm | register here **advanced registration, and proof of vaccination required**

Historic Newton presents: Boston's Great Innovations
2022-01-27 19:00 - 20:00 | ONLINE, United Kingdom, E16 2DQ
What makes Boston one of the world’s top innovation centers? Join Robert Krim and Alan Earls, co-authors of Boston Made: From Revolution to Robotics-Innovations that Changed the World, as they reinterpret Boston history through the lens of innovation. Trace four centuries of this history to learn about scientific discoveries, groundbreaking social policies, and other innovations – some with Newton ties – that made a lasting impact. Part of the Newton History Series co-sponsored by Historic Newton and the Newton Free Library. Register here for this Zoom program.

Newton Free Library presents: Celebrating Voices of Color - Poetry Reading & Open Mic
2022-02-08 19:00 - 20:00 | ONLINE, United Kingdom, E16 2DQ
Join us for virtual readings in this year’s poetry series. This month we will feature the voices of black and brown poets. An open mike follows with a limit of one poem per person, limited slots are available. Sign ups for the open mic will happen during the actual session. The series is facilitated by Doug Holder of Ibetston St. Press. Check back for the names of this month’s featured poets.
Registration for this program will end two hours before the start time. The Zoom login information will be sent just after registration closes. Please be sure to check your spam folder in case it lands there.

Amherst Early Music presents Online Classes
2023-09-30 17:00 - 18:30 | United Kingdom
Book Talk with Geoffrey Burgess – FREE!

“The Thorn of the Honey Locust: Chronicling the Life of an 18th-century Musician”

5:00 – 6:30 pm, 30 September 2023

Geoffrey Burgess, oboe

Class Description

Tui T. Sutherland, Author of Wings Of Fire
2024-12-09 17:00 - 18:00 | West Newton Cinema, 1296 Washington Street, West Newton, MA, 02465, United States
As part of the Newton Children’s Book Festival, West Newton Cinema is excited to host a children’s book event with Tui T. Sutherland, the New York Times best-selling author of the much beloved Wings of Fire series and other books. Tickets are $20/person and include a limited edition copy of THE DRAGONET PROPHESY or a $10 gift certificate to Newtonville Books, available at time of entry.
Learn more about the Newton Children’s Book Festival taking place on December 14th at the New Art Center: newtonchildrensbookfest.com
