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 23 upcoming classes.
Asian American Literature book club (Online)
Date: 01/24/22Time: 7:00pm - 8:00pm
Branch: Online Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Book Clubs
Description:
Read and discuss books by Asian authors or based on the Asian experience.
3rd Mondays; 7 - 8 pm.
Join for an online discussion of the following titles:
April 19: Minor Feelings by Cathy Park Jong
May 17: Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu
June 21: Miracle Creek by Angie Kim
July 19: Birth of Korean Cool: How One Nation Is Conquering the World Through Pop Culture by Euny Hong
August 16: Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu
September 20: Rent a Boyfriend by Gloria Chao
October 18: The Only Child by Mi-Ae Seo
December 20: Days of Distraction by Alexandra Chang
Jan. 24 2022: Crying in H-Mart by Michelle Zauner
Feb. 28 2022: Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Registered customers should place a hold request on the title using their library card in order to receive a copy to read before the discussion. For physical copies, please follow procedures to set up a contactless pick-up appointment once you receive a notice that your hold has come in for you.
Availability of physical copies is not guaranteed.
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.
Author Works: Roseanne Brown (In-Person)
Date: 01/25/22Time: 6:00pm - 7:00pm
Branch: Savage Branch
Age group: Ages 11-13 (Middle School), Ages 14 - 18 (High School), Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Writing
Description:
Special Offer! 30 attendees will be randomly selected to receive a free copy of the the first book in this duology, A Song of Wraiths and Ruins.
Winners will need to pick-up the book from a HCLS Library Branch. Books will not be shipped.
Event will be held in-person as well as virtually.
To register for the Online event, click here.
Come enjoy a conversation with author Roseanne Brown about her first book, A Song of Wraiths and Ruin, and her brand new sequel!
The first in a gripping fantasy duology inspired by West African folklore in which a grieving crown princess and a desperate refugee find themselves on a collision course to murder each other despite their growing attraction—from debut author Roseanne A. Brown. This New York Times bestseller is perfect for fans of Tomi Adeyemi, Renée Ahdieh, and Sabaa Tahir.
For Malik, the Solstasia festival is a chance to escape his war-stricken home and start a new life with his sisters in the prosperous desert city of Ziran. But when a vengeful spirit abducts his younger sister, Nadia, as payment to enter the city, Malik strikes a fatal deal—kill Karina, Crown Princess of Ziran, for Nadia’s freedom.
But Karina has deadly aspirations of her own. Her mother, the Sultana, has been assassinated; her court threatens mutiny; and Solstasia looms like a knife over her neck. Grief-stricken, Karina decides to resurrect her mother through ancient magic . . . requiring the beating heart of a king. And she knows just how to obtain one: by offering her hand in marriage to the victor of the Solstasia competition. When Malik rigs his way into the contest, they are set on a heart-pounding course to destroy each other. But as attraction flares between them and ancient evils stir, will they be able to see their tasks to the death?
"Magic creates a centuries-long divide between peoples in this stunning debut novel inspired by North African and West African folklore. An action-packed tale of injustice, magic, and romance, this novel immerses readers in a thrilling world and narrative reminiscent of Children of Blood and Bone." (
-Publishers Weekly, "An Anti-Racist Children's and YA Reading List")
Don't miss the second book in this epic duology, A Psalm of Storms and Silence!
Roseanne A. Brown is an immigrant from the West African nation of Ghana and a graduate of the University of Maryland, where she completed the Jimenez-Porter Writers’ House program. Her debut novel A Song of Wraiths and Ruin was an instant New York Times Bestseller, an Indie Bestseller, and received six starred reviews. You can visit her online at roseanneabrown.com or on Instagram or Twitter at @rosiesrambles.
Author Works: Roseanne Brown (Online)
Date: 01/25/22Time: 6:00pm - 7:00pm
Branch: Online Branch
Age group: Ages 11-13 (Middle School), Ages 14 - 18 (High School), Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Racial Equity
Description:
Special Offer! 30 attendees will be randomly selected to receive a free copy of the the first book in this duology, A Song of Wraiths and Ruins.
Winners will need to pick-up the book from a HCLS Library Branch. Books will not be shipped.
This event will be held in-person as well as virtually. To attend the event in-person, register here.
Come enjoy a conversation with author Roseanne Brown about her first book, A Song of Wraiths and Ruin, and her brand new sequel!
The first in a gripping fantasy duology inspired by West African folklore in which a grieving crown princess and a desperate refugee find themselves on a collision course to murder each other despite their growing attraction—from debut author Roseanne A. Brown. This New York Times bestseller is perfect for fans of Tomi Adeyemi, Renée Ahdieh, and Sabaa Tahir.
For Malik, the Solstasia festival is a chance to escape his war-stricken home and start a new life with his sisters in the prosperous desert city of Ziran. But when a vengeful spirit abducts his younger sister, Nadia, as payment to enter the city, Malik strikes a fatal deal—kill Karina, Crown Princess of Ziran, for Nadia’s freedom.
But Karina has deadly aspirations of her own. Her mother, the Sultana, has been assassinated; her court threatens mutiny; and Solstasia looms like a knife over her neck. Grief-stricken, Karina decides to resurrect her mother through ancient magic . . . requiring the beating heart of a king. And she knows just how to obtain one: by offering her hand in marriage to the victor of the Solstasia competition. When Malik rigs his way into the contest, they are set on a heart-pounding course to destroy each other. But as attraction flares between them and ancient evils stir, will they be able to see their tasks to the death?
"Magic creates a centuries-long divide between peoples in this stunning debut novel inspired by North African and West African folklore. An action-packed tale of injustice, magic, and romance, this novel immerses readers in a thrilling world and narrative reminiscent of Children of Blood and Bone." (
-Publishers Weekly, "An Anti-Racist Children's and YA Reading List")
Don't miss the second book in this epic duology, A Psalm of Storms and Silence!
Roseanne A. Brown is an immigrant from the West African nation of Ghana and a graduate of the University of Maryland, where she completed the Jimenez-Porter Writers’ House program. Her debut novel A Song of Wraiths and Ruin was an instant New York Times Bestseller, an Indie Bestseller, and received six starred reviews. You can visit her online at roseanneabrown.com or on Instagram or Twitter at @rosiesrambles.
Holocaust Remembrance Day Book Group: Night by Elie Wiesel (ONLINE)
Date: 01/27/22Time: 6:30pm - 7:30pm
Branch: Online Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Racial Equity
Description:
UPDATE: 1/12/22: This event is being shifted to an online format. Please register with an email address to receive a link to join the Zoom discussion.
----
To mark Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Howard County Office of Human Rights & Equity, Howard County Library System and Jewish Federation of Howard County are partnering to host a book discussion group of Nobel Peace Prize winning author Elie Wiesel and his powerful novel Night.
“A slim volume of terrifying power.” ―The New York Times
Night is Elie Wiesel's masterpiece, a candid, horrific, and deeply poignant autobiographical account of his survival as a teenager in the Nazi death camps.
Elie Wiesel is the author of more than fifty books, including Night, his harrowing account of his experiences in Nazi concentration camps. The book, first published in 1955, was selected for Oprah's Book Club in 2006. Wiesel is Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Boston University, and lives with his family in New York City. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986.
This event is co-sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Howard County.
Please register with an email address to receive an immediate registration confirmation. Please note that your email may be shared with Howard County Office of Human Rights & Equity for communication related to this event.
Registered customers should place a hold request on the title using their library card in order to receive a copy to read before the discussion. Availability of physical copies is not guaranteed.
Author Works: Mark Oppenheimer - Squirrel Hill: The Tree of Life Synagogue Shooting and the Soul of a Neighborhood (Online)
Date: 02/02/22Time: 7:00pm - 8:00pm
Branch: Online Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Racial Equity
Description:
A HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY EVENT
“[A] rare narrative about how a community tiptoes through the wake of a hate crime.”
—Christopher Borrelli, Chicago Tribune
Oppenheimer is sympathetic to the ways Jewish culture stands at the crossroads of proud resistance and self-protective withdrawal, bold activism and self-effacement. The people he highlights are treated with a knowing, affectionate wink, a landsman’s recognition.”
—Irina Reyn, The New York Times
ABOUT SQUIRREL HILL
A piercing portrait of the struggles and triumphs of one of America’s renowned Jewish neighborhoods in the wake of unspeakable tragedy that highlights the hopes, fears, and tensions all Americans must confront on the road to healing.
Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh, is one of the oldest Jewish neighborhoods in the country, known for its tight-knit community and the profusion of multigenerational families. On October 27, 2018, a gunman killed eleven Jews who were worshipping at the Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill–the most deadly anti-Semitic attack in American history.
Many neighborhoods would be understandably subsumed by despair and recrimination after such an event, but not this one. Mark Oppenheimer poignantly shifts the focus away from the criminal and his crime, and instead presents the historic, spirited community at the center of this heartbreak. He speaks with residents and nonresidents, Jews and gentiles, survivors and witnesses, teenagers and seniors, activists and historians.
Together, these stories provide a kaleidoscopic and nuanced account of collective grief, love, support, and revival. But Oppenheimer also details the difficult dialogue and messy confrontations that Squirrel Hill had to face in the process of healing, and that are a necessary part of true growth and understanding in any community. He has reverently captured the vibrancy and caring that still characterize Squirrel Hill, and it is this phenomenal resilience that can provide inspiration to any place burdened with discrimination and hate.
MARK OPPENHEIMER is the author of five books, including Knocking on Heaven’s Door: American Religion in the Age of Counterculture and The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia. He was the religion columnist for The New York Times from 2010 to 2016 and has written for The New York Times Magazine, GQ, Mother Jones, The Nation, and The Believer, among other publications. The host of Tablet magazine’s podcast Unorthodox, Oppenheimer has taught at Stanford, Wellesley, and Yale, where since 2006 he has directed the Yale Journalism Initiative. He lives with his family in New Haven, Connecticut.
Photo: © Mistina Hanscom, Lotta Studio
This event is part of the Brave Voices Brave Choices series, presented by Howard County Library System.
Presented in partnership with Baltimore Jewish Council and the Jewish Federation of Howard County.
Please register with an email address to receive an immediate registration confirmation.
Veterans Book Group 2022 (Online)
Date: 02/06/22Time: 1:30pm - 3:00pm
Branch: Online Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Book Clubs
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 6 - June 5 from 1:30 - 3:00 pm
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 Lockheed Martin, David Bruce Smith and the Wawa Foundation.
Reading Selections:
February 6: The Last True Story I’ll ever tell: An Accidental Soldier’s Account of the War in Iraq by John Crawford, Patrick Lawlor, et al
March 6: The Forgotten 500: The Untold Story of the Men Who Risked All for the Greatest Rescue Mission of World War II by Gregory A. Freeman
April 3: Shooting Ghosts: A U.S. Marine, a Combat Photographer, and their Journey Back From War by Thomas J. Brennan USMC (Ret) and Finbarr O'Reilly
May 1: The Strong Ones: How a Band of Civilian Women Made Their Mark on the Army by Sara Hammel
June 5: Black Frontiersman: The Memoirs of Henry O. Flipper, The First Black Graduate of Westpoint by Theodore D. Harris
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].
The Citizens’ Guide to the 1619 Project (Online)
Date: 02/10/22Time: 7:00pm - 8:00pm
Branch: Online Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Racial Equity
Description:
Have you heard of the The 1619 Project? Published in 2019, The 1619 Project was a special edition of The New York Times’ Magazine that sought to focus readers’ attention upon the centrality of race slavery in American history, and analyzed how slavery impacted the social, economic, and political institutions in America.
In this fascinating talk, Dr. Richard Bell compares and discusses four of The 1619 Project’s central theses with evidence in the historical record.
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.
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.
Lady Brion: The Anthem ( Poetry Slam workshop 1)
Date: 02/16/22Time: 7:00pm - 8:30pm
Branch: Central Branch
Age group: Ages 14 - 18 (High School), Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Racial Equity
Description:
These workshops will be held in-person at HCLS, Central Branch.
"I am spoken courage passed down..."
--Lady Brion
Howard County Library System brings an exceptional series of four Poetry Slam workshops with Lady Brion.
Brion uses her poetry—focused on the black struggle, gender equality and women’s empowerment, and religious themes—to merge the space between art and activism.
The Anthem - February 16. Participants will explore writing celebratory unapologetic anthems about themselves, especially in the midst of an oppressive society that rarely gives space for anyone to express their fullest and truest identity. REGISTER.
Picketed - March 9. Participants will discuss the history of social movements and the way that radical demonstrations and protests can lead to change. This context will be used to have students create their own picket signs and craft a poem from it. REGISTER.
If these streets could talk - March 16. Participants will explore a social justice issue that is important to them by personifying a space, place, or object connected to their chosen social ill. REGISTER.
Open Mic - March 23. Participants will be encouraged to share poems created in one of the previous workshops or any other work that they have created. Host Lady Brion will feature sharing some of her social justice related works. REGISTER.
Lady Brion is an international spoken word artist, poetry coach, activist, organizer, and educator.
She has performed across the world including London, Ghana, Zanzibar and many US states. Her educational career includes teaching creative writing at the middle and elementary school level, coaching poetry teams in over 10 institutions for the Louder Than A Bomb poetry program and residencies in over 15 K-12 institutions. Brion is a board member for Dew More Baltimore, an art centered non-profit using spoken word as a tool to foster community and civic engagement.
During her time as a competitor in slam competitions including becoming the 2016 National Poetry Slam Champion and the 2017 Southern Fried Regional Slam Champion. From 2015 to the present she has represented Baltimore in a number of other national competitions including the Individual World Poetry Slam and the Women of the World Poetry Slam.
Brion is a recipient of the Open Society Institute Fellowship centered around her project facilitating poetry workshops in prisons and group homes throughout Maryland. She also received the 2017 Salzburg Fellowship for Social Innovators. She received her B.A. in Communications from Howard University and her MFA in Creative Writing & Publishing Arts from the University of Baltimore.
Please register with an email address to receive an immediate registration confirmation. Register for each workshop separately.
Reading Human Rights - Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson
Date: 02/23/22Time: 6:30pm - 7:30pm
Branch: Central Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Racial Equity
Description:
This class is being presented in-person at HCLS Central branch.
Reading Human Rights is a monthly book discussion hosted by the Howard County Office of Human Rights & Equity and Howard County Library System. We read books that promote cultural awareness, diversity, equity.
“A transformative new framework through which to understand identity and injustice in America.”
—Justin Worland, Time
The Pulitzer Prize–winning, bestselling author of The Warmth of Other Suns examines the unspoken caste system that has shaped America and shows how our lives today are still defined by a hierarchy of human divisions.
In this brilliant book, Isabel Wilkerson gives us a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched narrative and stories about real people, how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings.
NAMED THE #1 NONFICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR BY TIME, ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY People • The Washington Post • Publishers Weekly AND ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review • O: The Oprah Magazine • NPR • Bloomberg • Christian Science Monitor • New York Post • The New York Public Library • Fortune • Smithsonian Magazine • Marie Claire • Town & Country • Slate • Library Journal • Kirkus Reviews • LibraryReads • PopMatters
Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize • National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist • Dayton Literary Peace Prize Finalist • PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction Finalist • PEN/Jean Stein Book Award Longlist.
Isabel Wilkerson, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Humanities Medal, is the author of the critically acclaimed New York Times bestseller The Warmth of Other Suns. Her debut work won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction and was named to Time’s 10 Best Nonfiction Books of the 2010s and The New York Times’s list of the Best Nonfiction of All Time. She has taught at Princeton, Emory, and Boston Universities and has lectured at more than two hundred other colleges and universities across the United States and in Europe and Asia.
Please register with an email address to receive an immediate registration confirmation. Please note that your email may be shared with Howard County Office of Human Rights & Equity for communication related to this event.
Registered customers should place a hold request on the title using their library card in order to receive a copy to read before the discussion. Availability of physical copies is not guaranteed.
Author Works: Arielle Skinner & "I Am A Sunflower, The Sunflower Is Me" (In-Person)
Date: 02/26/22Time: 1:00pm - 2:00pm
Branch: Elkridge Branch
Age group: All Ages / Families
Program type: Racial Equity
Description:
Join author Arielle Skinner at the Elkridge Branch of the Howard County Library System as she discusses her debut book: I Am A Sunflower, The Sunflower Is Me.
The book highlights qualities of a sunflower and its needs, while giving the reader an opportunity to reflect on her own unique qualities and needs to grow and be the best version of herself. It affirms the reader’s worthiness, uniqueness, needs to be loved, and overall resilience.
Arielle Skinner is a self-published author, book enthusiast, and licensed social worker who hails from Norfolk, Virginia. Quickly realizing her passion for foster youth and mental health, Arielle completed her Bachelor’s degree in Social Work at Norfolk State University. She later went on to complete her Master’s of Social Work degree with Louisiana State University. Arielle is the owner of B & S Publishing Co., and a proud member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated.
Arielle is a former foster youth who consults with foster care agencies and uses her voice and experiences to encourage those aging out of foster care as well as advocate for them.
She now lives in Maryland with her husband and son. When not reading or writing, she can be found exploring new eats, traveling, chasing her toddler, and whatever else adds a little more joy to her day.
Copies of I Am A Sunflower, The Sunflower Is Me will be available for purchasing and signing immediately following the event.
Please register with an email address to receive an immediate registration confirmation.
Lady Brion: Snow Date
Date: 03/02/22Time: 7:00pm - 8:30pm
Branch: Central Branch
Age group: Ages 14 - 18 (High School), Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Racial Equity
Description:
These workshops will be held in-person at HCLS, Central Branch.
"I am spoken courage passed down..."
--Lady Brion
Howard County Library System brings an exceptional series of four Poetry Slam workshops with Lady Brion.
Brion uses her poetry—focused on the black struggle, gender equality and women’s empowerment, and religious themes—to merge the space between art and activism.
The Anthem - February 16. Participants will explore writing celebratory unapologetic anthems about themselves, especially in the midst of an oppressive society that rarely gives space for anyone to express their fullest and truest identity. REGISTER.
Picketed - March 9. Participants will discuss the history of social movements and the way that radical demonstrations and protests can lead to change. This context will be used to have students create their own picket signs and craft a poem from it. REGISTER.
If these streets could talk - March 16. Participants will explore a social justice issue that is important to them by personifying a space, place, or object connected to their chosen social ill. REGISTER.
Open Mic - March 23. Participants will be encouraged to share poems created in one of the previous workshops or any other work that they have created. Host Lady Brion will feature sharing some of her social justice related works. REGISTER.
Lady Brion is an international spoken word artist, poetry coach, activist, organizer, and educator.
She has performed across the world including London, Ghana, Zanzibar and many US states. Her educational career includes teaching creative writing at the middle and elementary school level, coaching poetry teams in over 10 institutions for the Louder Than A Bomb poetry program and residencies in over 15 K-12 institutions. Brion is a board member for Dew More Baltimore, an art centered non-profit using spoken word as a tool to foster community and civic engagement.
During her time as a competitor in slam competitions including becoming the 2016 National Poetry Slam Champion and the 2017 Southern Fried Regional Slam Champion. From 2015 to the present she has represented Baltimore in a number of other national competitions including the Individual World Poetry Slam and the Women of the World Poetry Slam.
Brion is a recipient of the Open Society Institute Fellowship centered around her project facilitating poetry workshops in prisons and group homes throughout Maryland. She also received the 2017 Salzburg Fellowship for Social Innovators. She received her B.A. in Communications from Howard University and her MFA in Creative Writing & Publishing Arts from the University of Baltimore.
Please register with an email address to receive an immediate registration confirmation. Register for each workshop separately.
Veterans Book Group 2022 (Online)
Date: 03/06/22Time: 1:30pm - 3:00pm
Branch: Online Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Book Clubs
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 6 - June 5 from 1:30 - 3:00 pm
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 Lockheed Martin, David Bruce Smith and the Wawa Foundation.
Reading Selections:
February 6: The Last True Story I’ll ever tell: An Accidental Soldier’s Account of the War in Iraq by John Crawford, Patrick Lawlor, et al
March 6: The Forgotten 500: The Untold Story of the Men Who Risked All for the Greatest Rescue Mission of World War II by Gregory A. Freeman
April 3: Shooting Ghosts: A U.S. Marine, a Combat Photographer, and their Journey Back From War by Thomas J. Brennan USMC (Ret) and Finbarr O'Reilly
May 1: The Strong Ones: How a Band of Civilian Women Made Their Mark on the Army by Sara Hammel
June 5: Black Frontiersman: The Memoirs of Henry O. Flipper, The First Black Graduate of Westpoint by Theodore D. Harris
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].
Lady Brion: Picketed ( Poetry Slam workshop 2)
Date: 03/09/22Time: 7:00pm - 8:30pm
Branch: Central Branch
Age group: Ages 14 - 18 (High School), Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Racial Equity
Description:
These workshops will be held in-person at HCLS, Central Branch.
"I am spoken courage passed down..."
--Lady Brion
Howard County Library System brings an exceptional series of four Poetry Slam workshops with Lady Brion.
Brion uses her poetry—focused on the black struggle, gender equality and women’s empowerment, and religious themes—to merge the space between art and activism.
The Anthem - February 16. Participants will explore writing celebratory unapologetic anthems about themselves, especially in the midst of an oppressive society that rarely gives space for anyone to express their fullest and truest identity. REGISTER.
Picketed - March 9. Participants will discuss the history of social movements and the way that radical demonstrations and protests can lead to change. This context will be used to have students create their own picket signs and craft a poem from it. REGISTER.
If these streets could talk - March 16. Participants will explore a social justice issue that is important to them by personifying a space, place, or object connected to their chosen social ill. REGISTER.
Open Mic - March 23. Participants will be encouraged to share poems created in one of the previous workshops or any other work that they have created. Host Lady Brion will feature sharing some of her social justice related works. REGISTER.
Lady Brion is an international spoken word artist, poetry coach, activist, organizer, and educator.
She has performed across the world including London, Ghana, Zanzibar and many US states. Her educational career includes teaching creative writing at the middle and elementary school level, coaching poetry teams in over 10 institutions for the Louder Than A Bomb poetry program and residencies in over 15 K-12 institutions. Brion is a board member for Dew More Baltimore, an art centered non-profit using spoken word as a tool to foster community and civic engagement.
During her time as a competitor in slam competitions including becoming the 2016 National Poetry Slam Champion and the 2017 Southern Fried Regional Slam Champion. From 2015 to the present she has represented Baltimore in a number of other national competitions including the Individual World Poetry Slam and the Women of the World Poetry Slam.
Brion is a recipient of the Open Society Institute Fellowship centered around her project facilitating poetry workshops in prisons and group homes throughout Maryland. She also received the 2017 Salzburg Fellowship for Social Innovators. She received her B.A. in Communications from Howard University and her MFA in Creative Writing & Publishing Arts from the University of Baltimore.
Please register with an email address to receive an immediate registration confirmation. Register for each workshop separately.
Lady Brion: If these streets could talk ( Poetry Slam workshop 3)
Date: 03/16/22Time: 7:00pm - 8:30pm
Branch: Central Branch
Age group: Ages 14 - 18 (High School), Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Racial Equity
Description:
These workshops will be held in-person at HCLS, Central Branch.
"I am spoken courage passed down..."
--Lady Brion
Howard County Library System brings an exceptional series of four Poetry Slam workshops with Lady Brion.
Brion uses her poetry—focused on the black struggle, gender equality and women’s empowerment, and religious themes—to merge the space between art and activism.
The Anthem - February 16. Participants will explore writing celebratory unapologetic anthems about themselves, especially in the midst of an oppressive society that rarely gives space for anyone to express their fullest and truest identity. REGISTER.
Picketed - March 9. Participants will discuss the history of social movements and the way that radical demonstrations and protests can lead to change. This context will be used to have students create their own picket signs and craft a poem from it. REGISTER.
If these streets could talk - March 16. Participants will explore a social justice issue that is important to them by personifying a space, place, or object connected to their chosen social ill. REGISTER.
Open Mic - March 23. Participants will be encouraged to share poems created in one of the previous workshops or any other work that they have created. Host Lady Brion will feature sharing some of her social justice related works. REGISTER.
Lady Brion is an international spoken word artist, poetry coach, activist, organizer, and educator.
She has performed across the world including London, Ghana, Zanzibar and many US states. Her educational career includes teaching creative writing at the middle and elementary school level, coaching poetry teams in over 10 institutions for the Louder Than A Bomb poetry program and residencies in over 15 K-12 institutions. Brion is a board member for Dew More Baltimore, an art centered non-profit using spoken word as a tool to foster community and civic engagement.
During her time as a competitor in slam competitions including becoming the 2016 National Poetry Slam Champion and the 2017 Southern Fried Regional Slam Champion. From 2015 to the present she has represented Baltimore in a number of other national competitions including the Individual World Poetry Slam and the Women of the World Poetry Slam.
Brion is a recipient of the Open Society Institute Fellowship centered around her project facilitating poetry workshops in prisons and group homes throughout Maryland. She also received the 2017 Salzburg Fellowship for Social Innovators. She received her B.A. in Communications from Howard University and her MFA in Creative Writing & Publishing Arts from the University of Baltimore.
Please register with an email address to receive an immediate registration confirmation. Register for each workshop separately.
Reading Human Rights - The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See
Date: 03/22/22Time: 6:30pm - 7:30pm
Branch: Central Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Racial Equity
Description:
This class is being presented in-person at HCLS Central branch.
Reading Human Rights is a monthly book discussion hosted by the Howard County Office of Human Rights & Equity and Howard County Library System. We read books that promote cultural awareness, diversity, equity.
A stupendous multigenerational family saga, See’s latest also provides an enthralling cultural anthropologyhighlighting the soon-to-be-lost, matriarchal haenyeo phenomenon and an engrossing history of violently tumultuous twentieth-century Korea.
— Terry Hong, Booklist, STARRED review
THE ISLAND OF SEA WOMEN deftly explores the complexities of female friendship and introduces readers to the remarkably strong and spirited female divers of Jeju Island. It’s also an eye-opening portrait of a country ravaged by decades of conflict and unrest, and a searing examination of the effects that foreign intervention can have on the evolution of a nation and of course individual lives. It asks the eternal questions: How do we find forgiveness? Can we find forgiveness?
This book follows Young-sook and Mi-ja, girls from strikingly different backgrounds who bond over their shared love of the sea. Working in their village’s all-female diving collective, the two friends come of age in a community where gender roles are anything but typical. Here, women are the primary breadwinners, the heads of household in all but name, and yet, as Mi-ja and Young-sook come to realize, there are limits to their control that can prove devastating.
Lisa See is the New York Times bestselling author of The Island of Sea Women, The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Peony in Love, Shanghai Girls, China Dolls, and Dreams of Joy, which debuted at #1. She is also the author of On Gold Mountain, which tells the story of her Chinese American family's settlement in Los Angeles. See was the recipient of the Golden Spike Award from the Chinese Historical Association of Southern California and the History Maker's Award from the Chinese American Museum. She was also named National Woman of the Year by the Organization of Chinese American Women.
Please register with an email address to receive an immediate registration confirmation. Please note that your email may be shared with Howard County Office of Human Rights & Equity for communication related to this event.
Registered customers should place a hold request on the title using their library card in order to receive a copy to read before the discussion. Availability of physical copies is not guaranteed.
Lady Brion: Open Mic ( Poetry Slam workshop 4)
Date: 03/23/22Time: 7:00pm - 8:30pm
Branch: Central Branch
Age group: Ages 14 - 18 (High School), Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Racial Equity
Description:
These workshops will be held in-person at HCLS, Central Branch.
"I am spoken courage passed down..."
--Lady Brion
Howard County Library System brings an exceptional series of four Poetry Slam workshops with Lady Brion.
Brion uses her poetry—focused on the black struggle, gender equality and women’s empowerment, and religious themes—to merge the space between art and activism.
The Anthem - February 16. Participants will explore writing celebratory unapologetic anthems about themselves, especially in the midst of an oppressive society that rarely gives space for anyone to express their fullest and truest identity. REGISTER.
Picketed - March 9. Participants will discuss the history of social movements and the way that radical demonstrations and protests can lead to change. This context will be used to have students create their own picket signs and craft a poem from it. REGISTER.
If these streets could talk - March 16. Participants will explore a social justice issue that is important to them by personifying a space, place, or object connected to their chosen social ill. REGISTER.
Open Mic - March 23. Participants will be encouraged to share poems created in one of the previous workshops or any other work that they have created. Host Lady Brion will feature sharing some of her social justice related works. REGISTER.
Lady Brion is an international spoken word artist, poetry coach, activist, organizer, and educator.
She has performed across the world including London, Ghana, Zanzibar and many US states. Her educational career includes teaching creative writing at the middle and elementary school level, coaching poetry teams in over 10 institutions for the Louder Than A Bomb poetry program and residencies in over 15 K-12 institutions. Brion is a board member for Dew More Baltimore, an art centered non-profit using spoken word as a tool to foster community and civic engagement.
During her time as a competitor in slam competitions including becoming the 2016 National Poetry Slam Champion and the 2017 Southern Fried Regional Slam Champion. From 2015 to the present she has represented Baltimore in a number of other national competitions including the Individual World Poetry Slam and the Women of the World Poetry Slam.
Brion is a recipient of the Open Society Institute Fellowship centered around her project facilitating poetry workshops in prisons and group homes throughout Maryland. She also received the 2017 Salzburg Fellowship for Social Innovators. She received her B.A. in Communications from Howard University and her MFA in Creative Writing & Publishing Arts from the University of Baltimore.
Please register with an email address to receive an immediate registration confirmation. Register for each workshop separately.
Veterans Book Group 2022 (Online)
Date: 04/03/22Time: 1:30pm - 3:00pm
Branch: Online Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Book Clubs
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 6 - June 5 from 1:30 - 3:00 pm
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 Lockheed Martin, David Bruce Smith and the Wawa Foundation.
Reading Selections:
February 6: The Last True Story I’ll ever tell: An Accidental Soldier’s Account of the War in Iraq by John Crawford, Patrick Lawlor, et al
March 6: The Forgotten 500: The Untold Story of the Men Who Risked All for the Greatest Rescue Mission of World War II by Gregory A. Freeman
April 3: Shooting Ghosts: A U.S. Marine, a Combat Photographer, and their Journey Back From War by Thomas J. Brennan USMC (Ret) and Finbarr O'Reilly
May 1: The Strong Ones: How a Band of Civilian Women Made Their Mark on the Army by Sara Hammel
June 5: Black Frontiersman: The Memoirs of Henry O. Flipper, The First Black Graduate of Westpoint by Theodore D. Harris
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].
Book Bingo (ages 6-11) TK
Date: 04/12/22Time: 3:30pm - 4:15pm
Branch: Central Branch
Age group: Ages 6 - 11 (Grades 1-6)
Program type: Author & Literary Events
Description:
Ages: 6-11; 60 min. Ticketed required. Tickets will be available 15 minutes before class.
Play Bingo featuring book characters, and maybe win a book!
Book Bingo (ages 6-11, TK)
Date: 04/14/22Time: 2:00pm - 2:45pm
Branch: Elkridge Branch
Age group: Ages 6 - 11 (Grades 1-6)
Program type: Author & Literary Events
Description:
Ages: 6-11; 60 min. Ticketed required.
Play Bingo featuring book characters, and maybe win a book!
Veterans Book Group 2022 (Online)
Date: 05/01/22Time: 1:30pm - 3:00pm
Branch: Online Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Book Clubs
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 6 - June 5 from 1:30 - 3:00 pm
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 Lockheed Martin, David Bruce Smith and the Wawa Foundation.
Reading Selections:
February 6: The Last True Story I’ll ever tell: An Accidental Soldier’s Account of the War in Iraq by John Crawford, Patrick Lawlor, et al
March 6: The Forgotten 500: The Untold Story of the Men Who Risked All for the Greatest Rescue Mission of World War II by Gregory A. Freeman
April 3: Shooting Ghosts: A U.S. Marine, a Combat Photographer, and their Journey Back From War by Thomas J. Brennan USMC (Ret) and Finbarr O'Reilly
May 1: The Strong Ones: How a Band of Civilian Women Made Their Mark on the Army by Sara Hammel
June 5: Black Frontiersman: The Memoirs of Henry O. Flipper, The First Black Graduate of Westpoint by Theodore D. Harris
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].
Author Works: Sarah Gailey 'The Echo Wife' (Online)
Date: 05/10/22Time: 7:00pm - 8:00pm
Branch: Online Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Book Clubs
Description:
"Cooked right, science fiction and murder mysteries taste great together, and Gailey layers those ingredients together with a chef's kiss." —NPR
A Top Ten LibraryReads Pick - The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey
I’m embarrassed, still, by how long it took me to notice. Everything was right there in the open, right there in front of me, but it still took me so long to see the person I had married.
It took me so long to hate him.
Martine is a genetically cloned replica made from Evelyn Caldwell’s award-winning research. She’s patient and gentle and obedient. She’s everything Evelyn swore she’d never be.
And she’s having an affair with Evelyn’s husband.
Now, the cheating bastard is dead, and both Caldwell wives have a mess to clean up.
Good thing Evelyn Caldwell is used to getting her hands dirty
Sarah Gailey is a Hugo Award Winning and Bestselling author of speculative fiction, short stories, and essays. They have been a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards for multiple years running. Their bestselling adult novel debut, Magic For Liars, was published by Tor Books in 2019. Their most recent novel, The Echo Wife, and first original comic book series with BOOM! Studios, Eat the Rich, are available now. Their shorter works and essays have been published in Mashable, The Boston Globe, Vice, Tor.com, and the Atlantic. Their work has been translated into seven different languages and published around the world. You can find links to their work at sarahgailey.com and on social media at @gaileyfrey.
Please register with an email address to receive an immediate registration confirmation.
Juneteenth: The Destruction of Slavery in the Civil War (Online)
Date: 06/02/22Time: 7:00pm - 8:00pm
Branch: Online Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Racial Equity
Description:
Over the course of four years, enslaved people worked to turn the Civil War into a freedom war. Slowly but surely, they pushed President Abraham Lincoln and his commanders in the field toward embracing emancipation as a war aim and to compel them to take the giant steps forward needed to abolish slavery once and for all.
On June 19, 1865, the federal government finally met that objective, declaring slavery dead across the country. This momentous event marked a new birth of freedom—an occasion we now commemorate as Juneteenth.
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.
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.
Veterans Book Group 2022 (Online)
Date: 06/05/22Time: 1:30pm - 3:00pm
Branch: Online Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Book Clubs
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 6 - June 5 from 1:30 - 3:00 pm
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 Lockheed Martin, David Bruce Smith and the Wawa Foundation.
Reading Selections:
February 6: The Last True Story I’ll ever tell: An Accidental Soldier’s Account of the War in Iraq by John Crawford, Patrick Lawlor, et al
March 6: The Forgotten 500: The Untold Story of the Men Who Risked All for the Greatest Rescue Mission of World War II by Gregory A. Freeman
April 3: Shooting Ghosts: A U.S. Marine, a Combat Photographer, and their Journey Back From War by Thomas J. Brennan USMC (Ret) and Finbarr O'Reilly
May 1: The Strong Ones: How a Band of Civilian Women Made Their Mark on the Army by Sara Hammel
June 5: Black Frontiersman: The Memoirs of Henry O. Flipper, The First Black Graduate of Westpoint by Theodore D. Harris
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].
