Howard County Library System’s author events are a key component of the HCLS curriculum. Notable, best-selling, and local authors provide customers with enlightening experiences throughout the year. Bringing the community together to celebrate the literary arts is a hallmark of HCLS customer service. Join us for these opportunities to meet one of your favorite authors or discover someone new!
There are 17 upcoming classes.
Battle of the Books 2024 Logistics Meeting (Online)
Date: 03/19/24Time: 7:00pm - 8:00pm
Branch: Online Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Author & Literary Events
Description:
Howard County Library System and Howard County Public School System are excited to bring you a Battle of the Books event for 2024. We thank you in advance for your hard work and dedication to this year’s battle!
This is a mandatory meeting for the Battle of the Books coaches and will provide information about the final logistics of the battle and expectations of teams and coaches.
This meeting will be recorded and available on the Battle of the Books page of the website by March 26.
Creating Graphic Novels with Author Ira Marcks (ages 10 - 17) RG
Date: 04/03/24Time: 5:00pm - 6:00pm
Branch: Central Branch
Age group: Ages 11-13 (Middle School), Ages 14 - 18 (High School)
Program type: Author & Literary Events
Description:
Ages 10 - 17. Registration Required.
Join award-winning graphic novelist, Ira Marcks to learn how he plans, writes, and draws a long form comic story by engaging hands-on using the three essential elements of storytelling - characters, setting, and theme. Followed by book sales and signing.
Ira Marcks is the award-winning cartoonist behind the creepy kid mysteries SPIRIT WEEK and New York Times recommended SHARK SUMMER. His online courses have inspired 100,000+ students. Ira loves strange fiction and scientific research equally which has led to an unlikely list of collaborators including the Hugo Award-winning magazine Weird Tales, European Research Council, and a White House Fellowship Scientist.
Miller's Windows & Mirrors Teen Book Club
Date: 04/06/24Time: 3:00pm - 4:30pm
Branch: Miller Branch
Age group: Ages 11-13 (Middle School), Ages 14 - 18 (High School)
Program type: Race, Equity & Inclusion
Description:
Ages 14-17 | Registration preferred | Pizza included! | Pick up the book from Miller Branch's customer service desk* | Reading the book is encouraged, but not required.
Windows allow us to experience other cultures, and mirrors reflect parts of our own. Read and discuss books from diverse viewpoints over pizza, in HCLS' Windows & Mirrors Book Club for Teens.
April book: I am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika Sanchez. Prefer to listen? Try an audiobook for free with Libby.
*Books for this book club have been set aside for students who would like to attend the book club. Ask for one at Miller's customer service desk.
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Book description:
Read more about the book here.
See other Windows & Mirrors Book Club events here.
FAM
Veterans Book Group 2024 (virtual)
Date: 04/07/24Time: 1:30pm - 3:00pm
Branch: Online Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Community & Culture
Description:
Veterans, both active and retired military, are invited to this online discussion series. During five monthly facilitated sessions, discussions center on military experiences and a unique set of readings, which may include classics, fiction, memoirs, poetry, short stories, articles, and essays. The readings relate in some way to military experiences or offer a veteran’s perspective.
Participants are encouraged to attend all sessions. Registration is open to veterans/active duty only, please.
All reading materials are provided. Space is limited.
1st Sundays; February 4 - June 2 from 1:30 - 3:00 pm. Online.
The Veterans Book Group is moderated by David Owens. David Owens is a Navy veteran who served for six years onboard two U.S. Navy warships. Owens attended the U.S. Naval Academy and now runs a small media content production business based in the D.C. metropolitan area. Owens loves to read and, even more so, enjoys the discussions and camaraderie of the veteran book groups!
The Veterans Book Group is coordinated statewide by Maryland Humanities and is presented locally in partnership with Howard County Library System. The Veterans Book Group is supported in part by the Wawa Foundation.
Reading Selections:
February 4: The Bastard Brigade: The True Story of the Renegade Scientists and Spies Who Sabotaged the Nazi Atomic Bomb by Sam Kean
March 3: The Healer's War: A Fantasy Novel of Vietnam by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
April 7: A Constellation of Vital Phenomena: A Novel by Anthony Marra
May 5: My Life as a Foreign Country: A Memoir by Brian Turner
June 2: Suddenly We Didn't Want to Die: Memoirs of a World War I Marine by Elton Mackin
Please register with an email address to receive an immediate registration confirmation with a link to join the class/event. This email will also contain the dial-in information if you wish to participate by telephone. For any questions, please email [email protected].
Privateers, Prisoners, and Britain’s Black Holes: Maritime POWs in the American Revolution
Date: 04/10/24Time: 7:00pm - 8:00pm
Branch: Miller Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: History & Genealogy
Description:
Britain’s Royal Navy took 11,000 American sailors captive during the Revolutionary War. They spent months or years buried from the world in prisons in England, Ireland, and Scotland—held indefinitely under the terms of a 1777 law that designated them as pirates and traitors, not as official prisoners of war.
This talk reconstructs their experiences. It uses as its case study the ordeal of William Russell, a privateer from New England who spent thirty months trying to escape from England’s Mill Prison before being transferred to the Jersey, a de-masted prison hulk floating in Brooklyn Bay in British-occupied New York. On the Jersey, Russell who have to fight for simple survival.
Richard Bell is Professor of History at the University of Maryland and author of the book Stolen: Five Free Boys Kidnapped into Slavery and their Astonishing Odyssey Home which was a finalist for the George Washington Prize and the Harriet Tubman Prize. He has held major research fellowships at Yale, Cambridge, and the Library of Congress and is the recipient of the National Endowment of the Humanities Public Scholar award and the 2021 Andrew Carnegie Fellowship. He serves as a Trustee of the Maryland Center for History and Culture and as a fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
Image credit: Journal of the American Revolution
Please register with an email address to receive an immediate registration confirmation.
What's On Your Shelf? Fiction and Nonfiction Book Chat
Date: 04/11/24Time: 2:00pm - 3:00pm
Branch: Miller Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Community & Culture
Description:
Share fiction and/or nonfiction titles that are on your bookshelf and we will share titles from our shelves. If you don't have a title to share, find inspiration in what others recommend and start building your reading list.
Readers also have the opportunity to ask for recommendations or to ask our instructors questions about books, reading, and the library. Previous discussion topics have included book donations, Little Free Libraries, and Goodreads (the world's largest website for readers and book recommendations).
Baltimore and the Road to the White House
Date: 04/23/24Time: 7:00pm - 8:30pm
Branch: Miller Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: History & Genealogy
Description:
Did you know that Baltimore was once the main city for hosting presidential nominating conventions?
Join author Stan Haynes for a discussion of the unexpected twists and surprises of the Baltimore presidential conventions.
Stan Haynes is a Howard County author who published The First American Political Conventions: Transforming Presidential Nominations, 1832-1872.
Presented by the Howard County Library System and Howard County Historical Society.
Good Endeavor: A Book Discussion with Author Ned Tillman
Date: 04/24/24Time: 6:30pm - 7:00pm
Branch: Glenwood Branch
Age group: Ages 14 - 18 (High School), Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: History & Genealogy
Description:
Join award-winning author Ned Tillman for a discussion of his book, Good Endeavor.
Following this book discussion, Mr. Tillman presents Historical Fiction as a Lens For the Future, focusing on the value of fiction and non-fiction for telling the stories of our past and how they can be used to get a sense of how life really was over the centuries.
Building Urgent Optimism for the Furture w/ Jane McGonigal
Date: 04/25/24Time: 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Branch: Online Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults), All Ages / Families
Program type: STEM / STEAM
Description:
How do we prepare ourselves for "unthinkable" change? How do we ready our teams and organizations for "unimaginable" future events? Find out in this interactive session with New York Times bestselling author and Institute for the Future research director, Jane McGonigal. You'll learn a new framework for cultivating "urgent optimism" in the face of uncertainty. You'll practice the art of mental time travel, and learn how to take others to a better future with you! And you'll take away a practical tool to help others fight "normalcy bias", and think more creatively and effectively in the face of dynamic global events.
Brought to you by the Enoch Pratt Free Library and Maryland Libraries Together, a collaboration of Maryland Libraries to engage communities in enriching educational experiences that advance an understanding of the issues of our time. This project is supported in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Library Services and Technology Act Administered by the Maryland State Library. Follow the link below to register and reserve your mobile e-ticket.
School Moms: Parent Activism, Partisan Politics, and the Battle for Public Schools
Date: 04/26/24Time: 3:00pm - 5:00pm
Branch: Elkridge Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Author & Literary Events
Description:
"Public schools matter to our democracy and to our future. And they are under attack from people who don’t really know or care very much about what schools do or how they work.”
Join award-winning journalist and author Laura Pappano for a discussion of her new book, School Moms: Parent Activism, Partisan Politics, and the Battle for Public Schools.
Drawing upon archival research as well as on the ground reporting, Laura will share key findings regarding the increase in attacks on public schools, from book challenges to harassment of educators, and how parents across the country are fighting back.
Copies of School Moms will be available for purchase and signing, courtesy of The Last Word bookstore.
If you would like a class reminder, please register with an email address.
If you would like to request an ASL interpreter for this class/event, please complete this request form: https://bit.ly/ASL_Request_HCLS
About the Author
Laura Pappano is an award-winning journalist and author who has written about K-12 and higher education for over 30 years. A former education columnist for The Boston Globe, Pappano has written about education for The New York Times, The Hechinger Report, Harvard Education Letter, The Washington Post, USA Today, The Christian Science Monitor, among other publications. She is the author or co-author of three books, The Connection Gap: Why Americans Feel So Alone, Playing with the Boys: Why Separate is Not Equal in Sports, and Inside School Turnarounds.
Create Your Own Comic
Date: 05/04/24Time: 11:00am - 12:30pm
Branch: Savage Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Writing
Description:
Learn the fundamentals of comic writing and design as you celebrate Free Comic Day! Use Procreate to design your own digital comic strip.
Veterans Book Group 2024 (virtual)
Date: 05/05/24Time: 1:30pm - 3:00pm
Branch: Online Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Community & Culture
Description:
Veterans, both active and retired military, are invited to this online discussion series. During five monthly facilitated sessions, discussions center on military experiences and a unique set of readings, which may include classics, fiction, memoirs, poetry, short stories, articles, and essays. The readings relate in some way to military experiences or offer a veteran’s perspective.
Participants are encouraged to attend all sessions. Registration is open to veterans/active duty only, please.
All reading materials are provided. Space is limited.
1st Sundays; February 4 - June 2 from 1:30 - 3:00 pm. Online.
The Veterans Book Group is moderated by David Owens. David Owens is a Navy veteran who served for six years onboard two U.S. Navy warships. Owens attended the U.S. Naval Academy and now runs a small media content production business based in the D.C. metropolitan area. Owens loves to read and, even more so, enjoys the discussions and camaraderie of the veteran book groups!
The Veterans Book Group is coordinated statewide by Maryland Humanities and is presented locally in partnership with Howard County Library System. The Veterans Book Group is supported in part by the Wawa Foundation.
Reading Selections:
February 4: The Bastard Brigade: The True Story of the Renegade Scientists and Spies Who Sabotaged the Nazi Atomic Bomb by Sam Kean
March 3: The Healer's War: A Fantasy Novel of Vietnam by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
April 7: A Constellation of Vital Phenomena: A Novel by Anthony Marra
May 5: My Life as a Foreign Country: A Memoir by Brian Turner
June 2: Suddenly We Didn't Want to Die: Memoirs of a World War I Marine by Elton Mackin
Please register with an email address to receive an immediate registration confirmation with a link to join the class/event. This email will also contain the dial-in information if you wish to participate by telephone. For any questions, please email [email protected].
Film & Author event - The Sledges (Placeholder)
Date: 05/11/24Time: 3:00pm - 5:00pm
Branch: Central Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Race, Equity & Inclusion
Description:
Film & Author event - The Sledges (Placeholder)
Date: 05/18/24Time: 3:00pm - 5:00pm
Branch: Central Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Race, Equity & Inclusion
Description:
Miller's Windows & Mirrors Teen Book Club
Date: 05/25/24Time: 3:00pm - 4:30pm
Branch: Miller Branch
Age group: Ages 11-13 (Middle School), Ages 14 - 18 (High School)
Program type: Race, Equity & Inclusion
Description:
Ages 14-17 | Registration preferred | Pick up the book from Miller Branch's customer service desk* | Pizza included!
Windows allow us to experience other cultures, and mirrors reflect parts of our own. Read and discuss books from diverse viewpoints over pizza, in HCLS' Windows & Mirrors Book Club for Teens.
May book: Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Pérez. Prefer to listen? Try an audiobook for free with Libby.
*Books for this book club have been set aside for students who would like to attend the book club. Ask for one at Miller's customer service desk.
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Book description: "This is East Texas, and there's lines. Lines you cross, lines you don't cross. That clear?" New London, Texas, 1937. Naomi Vargas and Wash Fuller know about the lines in East Texas as well as anyone. They know the signs that mark them. They know the people who enforce them. But sometimes the attraction between two people is so powerful, it breaks through even the most entrenched color lines. And the consequences can be explosive. Ashley Hope Pérez takes the facts of the 1937 New London school explosion, the worst school disaster in American history, as a backdrop for a riveting novel about segregation, love, family, and the forces that destroy people." --Amazon."
Read more about the book here.
See other Windows & Mirrors Book Club events here.
Completion of the book is encouraged but NOT required.
FAM
Film & Author event - The Sledges (Placeholder)
Date: 05/25/24Time: 3:00pm - 5:00pm
Branch: Central Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Race, Equity & Inclusion
Description:
Veterans Book Group 2024 (virtual)
Date: 06/02/24Time: 1:30pm - 3:00pm
Branch: Online Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Community & Culture
Description:
Veterans, both active and retired military, are invited to this online discussion series. During five monthly facilitated sessions, discussions center on military experiences and a unique set of readings, which may include classics, fiction, memoirs, poetry, short stories, articles, and essays. The readings relate in some way to military experiences or offer a veteran’s perspective.
Participants are encouraged to attend all sessions. Registration is open to veterans/active duty only, please.
All reading materials are provided. Space is limited.
1st Sundays; February 4 - June 2 from 1:30 - 3:00 pm. Online.
The Veterans Book Group is moderated by David Owens. David Owens is a Navy veteran who served for six years onboard two U.S. Navy warships. Owens attended the U.S. Naval Academy and now runs a small media content production business based in the D.C. metropolitan area. Owens loves to read and, even more so, enjoys the discussions and camaraderie of the veteran book groups!
The Veterans Book Group is coordinated statewide by Maryland Humanities and is presented locally in partnership with Howard County Library System. The Veterans Book Group is supported in part by the Wawa Foundation.
Reading Selections:
February 4: The Bastard Brigade: The True Story of the Renegade Scientists and Spies Who Sabotaged the Nazi Atomic Bomb by Sam Kean
March 3: The Healer's War: A Fantasy Novel of Vietnam by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough
April 7: A Constellation of Vital Phenomena: A Novel by Anthony Marra
May 5: My Life as a Foreign Country: A Memoir by Brian Turner
June 2: Suddenly We Didn't Want to Die: Memoirs of a World War I Marine by Elton Mackin
Please register with an email address to receive an immediate registration confirmation with a link to join the class/event. This email will also contain the dial-in information if you wish to participate by telephone. For any questions, please email [email protected].