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.
Author Works: David Hugo Barrett & "A Newark Childhood"
Date: 09/30/23Time: 2:00pm - 3:00pm
Branch: Miller Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Community & Culture
Description:
David Hugo Barrett Reading and Discussing “A Newark Childhood”
Come hear Howard County resident David Hugo Barrett reading and discussing his memoir about growing up in Newark, NJ.
The program, “A Newark Childhood: How Should a Father Answer Questions from His Adult Son,” features Barrett in conversation with his son, Brandon, a Columbia resident.
David Hugo Barrett discusses his memoir, A Newark Childhood. Weaving through African American music, folklore, and more, A Newark Childhood is a coming-of-age story that journeys from the author’s years in kindergarten through high school graduation.
About the Author
David Hugo Barrett spent his formative years growing up in Newark, New Jersey. He attended Newark’s public schools before earning his undergraduate degree in mathematics from Rutgers University and a Master’s degree in computer science from Howard University. His community service, all in Howard County, includes director on the board of the Alpha Foundation of Howard County, Inc. and the Howard County Poetry and Literature Society, past chairman of The Alpha Foundation of Howard County, Inc., former director of the Horizon Foundation and past president of the Kappa Phi Lambda Chapter of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., among other accomplishments. Learn more at davidhugobarrett.com.
Book Club Revue (Online)
Date: 10/03/23Time: 7:00pm - 8:00pm
Branch: Online Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Community & Culture
Description:
Join us online for our annual Book Club Revue. Get HCLS' "Books for Discussion 2024" list as we promote some of the year's most discussable works of fiction and nonfiction. Get tips to optimize your discussions. Learn about upcoming events.
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.
Find It! Library Skills for Teens
Date: 10/09/23Time: 7:00pm - 8:00pm
Branch: Miller Branch
Age group: Ages 11-13 (Middle School), Ages 14 - 18 (High School)
Program type: Writing
Description:
Ages 11-18 | Registration required, walk-in students welcome while space allows. [perfect for students working on National History Day, or any school research projects]
Ever have trouble finding books, and other resources at your local library? In this fun, interactive workshop, students will learn and practice library skills to help them find books, databases and other resources needed for school projects and to remain life long learners. Students will:
- explore tricks to efficiently navigate the HCLS website
- expand your understanding of the Dewey Decimal system
- discover tips to borrowing beyond Howard County
- participate in online & branch wide scavenger hunts to practice the skills you've learned
Laptops are provided, but students may bring their own.
FAM: Fun at Miller
Maximize Your History Day Research
Date: 10/10/23Time: 6:30pm - 8:00pm
Branch: Miller Branch
Age group: Ages 11-13 (Middle School), Ages 14 - 18 (High School)
Program type: Writing
Description:
Ages: 11-17, parents and guardians welcome. Registration required. Please only register your student.
Assigned a National History Day project? Our research experts have tips and tools for you. Presenters from Enoch Pratt (our state library), Maryland Humanities, and Miller Branch will help you learn about statewide and local resources to help you on your NHD journey.
FAM
Battle of the Books 2024 Information Meeting (Online)
Date: 10/11/23Time: 7:00pm - 8:00pm
Branch: Online Branch
Age group: Ages 6 - 11 (Grades 1-6), 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 meeting is for the general public and will provide basic information and a general overview of this year's Battle, which will take place in April 2024.
What's On Your Shelf? Fiction and Nonfiction Book Chat
Date: 10/12/23Time: 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).
Freedom to Read Presentation and Roundtable (In-Person)
Date: 10/15/23Time: 1:30pm - 4:00pm
Branch: Miller Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Race, Equity & Inclusion
Description:
This event is also being presented virtually. To attend the virtual session, register HERE.
Join with librarians, publishers, authors and your community in supporting the essential right to read at the Freedom to Read Presentation and Roundtable, presented in partnership by the Howard County Library System (HCLS) and the Howard County Poetry and Literature Society (HoCoPoLitSo).
At 1:30 PM, come to the Miller Branch for thoughtful discussion and readings by distinguished award-winning poets and publishers Grace Cavalieri and Truth Thomas, and stay to watch and participate in the virtual Roundtable panel discussion at 2:30 PM with award-winning author, musician, and screenwriter James McBride, Washington Post satirist and author Alexandra Petri, renowned historian and author Dr. Richard Bell, and American Library Association President Emily Drabinski.
(Read the entire American Library Association’s Freedom to Read Statement here.)
This event will be free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served. Includes a Complimentary copy of The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store.
In-Person Presenters at 1:30 PM:
Grace Cavalieri: is an American poet, playwright, and radio host of the Library of Congress program “The Poet and the Poem.” In 2019, she was appointed the tenth Poet Laureate of Maryland.
Truth Thomas is a singer-songwriter and poet born in Knoxville, Tennessee and raised in Washington, DC. He studied creative writing at Howard University and earned his MFA in poetry at New England College. His collections include Party of Black, A Day of Presence, Bottle of Life and Speak Water, winner of the 2013 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work in Poetry.
Virtual Roundtable Panelists at 2:30 PM:
James McBride is a national bestselling, award-winning author, musician, and screenwriter. His landmark memoir, The Color of Water (1996), has sold millions of copies and spent more than two years on The New York Times bestseller list. His 2013 novel, The Good Lord Bird, about American abolitionist John Brown, won the National Book Award for Fiction. In 2015, he was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Obama “for humanizing the complexities of discussing race in America.”
Alexandra Petri is a humorist and columnist for The Washington Post. She studied English and classics at Harvard and has received the National Press Club Angele Gingras Award for Humor Writing and the Shorty Award, been recognized in Forbes 30 Under 30 and in the Fifty Funniest People Right Now (Rolling Stone).
Dr. Richard Bell is Professor of History at the University of Maryland. He is an Andrew Carnegie Fellow (2021-2023) and has held research fellowships at more than two dozen libraries and institutes including residencies at the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Abolition, and Resistance at Yale University and the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress.
Emily Drabinski is the current President of the American Library Association and Associate Professor at the Queens College Graduate School of Library and Information Studies.
Please register with an email address to receive an immediate registration confirmation.
Freedom to Read Roundtable (Virtual)
Date: 10/15/23Time: 2:30pm - 4:00pm
Branch: Online Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Race, Equity & Inclusion
Description:
This event is also being presented In-Person at the Miller branch library. To attend in-person, register HERE.
Chance to Win a Book: Five attendees will be randomly selected to receive a copy of The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. Winners will be contacted by email with more details.
Join with librarians, publishers, authors and your community in supporting the essential right to read at the Freedom to Read Presentation and Roundtable, presented in partnership by the Howard County Library System (HCLS) and the Howard County Poetry and Literature Society (HoCoPoLitSo).
At 1:30 PM, come to the Miller Branch for thoughtful discussion and readings by distinguished award-winning poets and publishers Grace Cavalieri and Truth Thomas, and stay to watch and participate in the virtual Roundtable panel discussion at 2:30 PM with award-winning author, musician, and screenwriter James McBride, Washington Post satirist and author Alexandra Petri, renowned historian and author Dr. Richard Bell, and American Library Association President Emily Drabinski.
This event will be free and open to the public.
(Read the entire American Library Association’s Freedom to Read Statement here.)
Virtual Roundtable Panelists at 2:30 PM:
James McBride is a national bestselling, award-winning author, musician, and screenwriter. His landmark memoir, The Color of Water (1996), has sold millions of copies and spent more than two years on The New York Times bestseller list. His 2013 novel, The Good Lord Bird, about American abolitionist John Brown, won the National Book Award for Fiction. In 2015, he was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Obama “for humanizing the complexities of discussing race in America.”
Alexandra Petri is a humorist and columnist for The Washington Post. She studied English and classics at Harvard and has received the National Press Club Angele Gingras Award for Humor Writing and the Shorty Award, been recognized in Forbes 30 Under 30 and in the Fifty Funniest People Right Now (Rolling Stone).
Dr. Richard Bell is Professor of History at the University of Maryland. He is an Andrew Carnegie Fellow (2021-2023) and has held research fellowships at more than two dozen libraries and institutes including residencies at the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Abolition, and Resistance at Yale University and the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress.
Emily Drabinski is the current President of the American Library Association and Associate Professor at the Queens College Graduate School of Library and Information Studies.
Please register with an email address to receive an immediate registration confirmation.
Horror Film Highlights
Date: 10/19/23Time: 7:00pm - 8:00pm
Branch: Central Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Movies
Description:
Calling all horror movie fans! Come share & discuss favorite horror movies, hear about under-represented voices in horror, and get going on your own 31 days of horror!
Good Endeavor: A Book Discussion with Author Ned Tillman
Date: 10/23/23Time: 6:30pm - 7:00pm
Branch: Elkridge Branch
Age group: Ages 14 - 18 (High School), Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: History & Genealogy
Description:
Join award-winning author Ned Tillman in a discussion about his book, Good Endeavor. Following this book discussion, Mr. Tillman will give a presentation on 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.
Historical Fiction as a Lens For the Future
Date: 10/23/23Time: 7:00pm - 8:00pm
Branch: Elkridge Branch
Age group: Ages 14 - 18 (High School), Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: History & Genealogy
Description:
Award-winning author Ned Tillman discusses how historical fiction provides perspective on the challenges we face today. Tillman is the author of four books-- two non-fiction and two fiction. Tillman discusses the value of both genres for telling the stories of our past and how they can be used to get a sense of how life really was like over the centuries.
His books provide the reader with insight and perspective on the parallels to challenges we see in our lives today. His latest book, Good Endeavor, uses his 300-year-old childhood homestead as his setting to explore social and environmental challenges down through the centuries. He discusses how he created a series of colorful characters to share realistic stories of their lives, loves, and losses during five different generations of this Maryland family.
Prior to the presentation, Mr. Tillman will host a discussion of his newest book, Good Endeavor.
Reading Human Rights: Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist by Judith Heumann
Date: 10/24/23Time: 6:30pm - 7:30pm
Branch: Elkridge Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Race, Equity & Inclusion
Description:
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 Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year for Nonfiction
"...an essential and engaging look at recent disability history."— Buzzfeed
One of the most influential disability rights activists in US history tells her personal story of fighting for the right to receive an education, have a job, and just be human.
A story of fighting to belong in a world that wasn’t built for all of us and of one woman’s activism—from the streets of Brooklyn and San Francisco to inside the halls of Washington—Being Heumann recounts Judy Heumann’s lifelong battle to achieve respect, acceptance, and inclusion in society.
Paralyzed from polio at eighteen months, Judy’s struggle for equality began early in life. From fighting to attend grade school after being described as a “fire hazard” to later winning a lawsuit against the New York City school system for denying her a teacher’s license because of her paralysis, Judy’s actions set a precedent that fundamentally improved rights for disabled people.
Judith Heumann (1947–2023) was an internationally recognized leader in the Disability Rights Independent Living Movement. She served in the Clinton and Obama administrations, and she was the World Bank’s first adviser on disability and development. Heumann was the author of a memoir, Being Heumann, and her story was featured in the Netflix documentary Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution (2020).
Kristen Joiner is a writer, activist, and producer. She is the co-author of the book.
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.
Scary Stories in the Dark
Date: 10/30/23Time: 7:30pm - 8:30pm
Branch: Elkridge Branch
Age group: Ages 11-13 (Middle School), Ages 14 - 18 (High School)
Program type: Community & Culture
Description:
Listen to selections from Scary Stories in the Dark and other short horror fiction on our outdoor patio in a mock campfire. Enjoy warm treats. All monsters welcome.
Native American Heritage Month / One Maryland One Book Discussion
Date: 11/01/23Time: 7:00pm - 8:00pm
Branch: Central Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Race, Equity & Inclusion
Description:
Join us during Native American Heritage month for an in-person discussion of "There There" by Tommy Orange, at the HCLS Central Branch. This novel was a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize.
Register with an email address to receive an immediate registration confirmation.
Beginning Friday, September 8, 2023, registrants will be able to collect a copy of the novel, from the HCLS Central Branch Customer Service Desk, while supplies last. The book will be yours to keep.
This book discussion is part of the 2023 One Maryland One Book (OMOB) series.
This is also part of HCLS' Native American Heritage Month series. Click here for the full schedule of classes and events for all ages.
Meet the Young Adult Author: Nic Stone (ages 12-18) RG
Date: 11/09/23Time: 4:00pm - 6:00pm
Branch: East Columbia Branch
Age group: Ages 11-13 (Middle School), Ages 14 - 18 (High School)
Program type: Author & Literary Events
Description:
MEET famed young adult author, Nic Stone as she shares the inspiration behind her critically-acclaimed novel Dear Martin and other featured works.
When we hear someone tell their story, we connect to them in a deep and more meaningful way. Author Nic Stone says that stories link us together; when we listen to the lives and experiences of people who are different from us, we’ll discover our common ground.
She says that sharing our stories is vital to doing the essential, necessary work of racial and social justice.
Visions: Tuba with Spoken Word
Date: 11/12/23Time: 2:00pm - 3:00pm
Branch: Miller Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Race, Equity & Inclusion
Description:
The arts at their core are about telling stories. Jasmine Pigott, tuba, is exploring multiple art forms in her program "Visions" combining her writing of spoken word with composition for solo tuba.
Each of the pieces in this 45 minute program tells a story--stories with themes of overcoming adversity, fighting inner-demons in mental health battles, and navigating this world as a Black woman in America.
Jasmine “Jazzie” Pigott is a tuba player, composer, podcaster, and writer based in Baltimore, MD. Believing in the power of representation, Jasmine is a solo performer on a mission to empower the next generation of musicians of color. She has placed in numerous solo competitions, including first place in Peabody’s Yale Gordon Competition and bronze in the Leonard Falcone Tuba Student Competition, and she released her EP, Revolution, in July 2022.
Jasmine is a co-founder and member of the Chromatic Brass Collective. Outside of music, Jasmine ran a podcast Harmony and Healing, centered around health and wellness for musicians from July 2021 to September 2022. She holds degrees from Ithaca College (B.M.) and Michigan State University (M.M.) and is working on her DMA in tuba performance at the Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins.
Please register with an email address to receive an immediate registration confirmation.
Native Expulsion & Manifest Destiny (Online)
Date: 11/13/23Time: 7:00pm - 8:00pm
Branch: Online Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Race, Equity & Inclusion
Description:
This talk explores westward expansion and its impact upon Native communities.
Even though the phrase ‘manifest destiny’ was not used in print until 1845, the spirit of American expansionism that it referred to was very apparent long before the 1840s. Americans had been talking about pushing westward as if it was their manifest destiny ever since folks in Jamestown in the 1600s had started eyeing the land that Natives were settled on.
University of Maryland historian Richard Bell will begin by tracking the story of Native expulsion and westward expansion from the Revolution era up through the 1850s, paying particular attention in the second half to the ways in which the West and Westward Expansion came to be romanticized in the American imagination.
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: History Central
Please register with an email address to receive an immediate registration confirmation and a link to join the event.
Battle of the Books 2024 Mandatory Coaches' Meeting (Online)
Date: 11/14/23Time: 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 battle and expectations of teams and coaches.
If you attend the online meeting on 11/14, you do not need to attend the in-person meeting, but you will need to pick up your team's books from the HCLS Miller Branch lobby at one of the following times:
Wednesday, Nov 15 from 7pm - 8pm
Friday, Nov 17 from 5pm to 5:45pm
Saturday, Nov 18 from 11am-1pm.
This meeting will be recorded and available on the Battle of the Books page of the website by November 22.
Battle of the Books 2024 Mandatory Coaches' Meeting
Date: 11/15/23Time: 7:00pm - 8:00pm
Branch: Miller 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 to pick up their team's book set and receive information about the battle and expectations of teams and coaches.
If you attend the online meeting on 11/14, you do not need to attend the in-person meeting, but you will need to pick up your team's books from the HCLS Miller Branch lobby at one of the following times:
Wednesday, Nov 15 from 8pm-9pm
Friday, Nov 17 from 5pm to 5:45pm Branch closes at 6pm
Saturday, Nov 18 from 11am-1pm
Reading Human Rights: The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America From 1890 to the Present by David Treuer
Date: 11/28/23Time: 6:30pm - 7:30pm
Branch: Elkridge Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Race, Equity & Inclusion
Description:
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.
FINALIST FOR THE 2019 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2020 ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
Named a best book of 2019 by The New York Times, TIME, The Washington Post, NPR, Hudson Booksellers, The New York Public Library, The Dallas Morning News, and Library Journal.
"Chapter after chapter, it's like one shattered myth after another." - NPR
"An informed, moving and kaleidoscopic portrait... Treuer's powerful book suggests the need for soul-searching about the meanings of American history and the stories we tell ourselves about this nation's past.." - New York Times Book Review, front page
A sweeping history—and counter-narrative—of Native American life from the Wounded Knee massacre to the present.
In The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee, Treuer melds history with reportage and memoir. Tracing the tribes' distinctive cultures from first contact, he explores how the depredations of each era spawned new modes of survival. The devastating seizures of land gave rise to increasingly sophisticated legal and political maneuvering that put the lie to the myth that Indians don't know or care about property. The forced assimilation of their children at government-run boarding schools incubated a unifying Native identity. Conscription in the US military and the pull of urban life brought Indians into the mainstream and modern times, even as it steered the emerging shape of self-rule and spawned a new generation of resistance. The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee is the essential, intimate story of a resilient people in a transformative era.
David Treuer is Ojibwe from the Leech Lake Reservation in northern Minnesota. The author of four previous novels, most recently Prudence, and two books of nonfiction, he has also written for The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Esquire, Slate, and The Washington Post, among others. He has a Ph.D. in anthropology and teaches literature and creative writing at the University of Southern California.
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: Wendy Eckel's Killer in a Winter Wonderland
Date: 12/02/23Time: 2:00pm - 3:00pm
Branch: Miller Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Community & Culture
Description:
In Killer in a Winter Wonderland, the much-anticipated holiday-themed fourth book in the Rosalie Hart Cozy Mystery Series, Wendy Sand Eckel once again brings the fictional town of Cardigan, Maryland to life and delights with suspense, humor, and mouth-watering menus.
Holidays are fickle things — often good, but sometimes not so good. It’s December in the quirky town of Cardigan, and Rosalie Hart has been thrown several curve balls. For one, her ex-husband has booked a semester break vacation to Dubai with their only daughter, Annie, leaving Rosalie alone for Christmas. And following a renovation, Rosalie’s restaurant, the Day Lily Café, is open for business with an expanded dining room and a chef with an inflated ego. To make matters worse, when her head waiter and best friend Glenn Breckinridge is concerned about a neighbor who hadn’t returned home, they learn he had been murdered while riding his bike on River Road.
In the midst of the holiday hustle and bustle, Rosalie and Glenn pair up once again to uncover who killed Bill Rutherford on that raw wintry night.
With delectable menus, high stakes sleuthing, and the rich atmospheric scenes only the holiday season can provide, Killer in a Winter Wonderland is a cornucopia of delicious fare, compelling new and returning characters, and a fast-paced tale that will keep one riveted to the last page.
Wendy Sand Eckel is the award-winning author of the Rosalie Hart Mystery Series. Holiday-themed Killer in a Winter Wonderland, the fourth in the series, will be released in November, 2023.
Wendy studied criminology in undergrad and earned a Master’s in Social Work. Before becoming a writer she worked as a psychotherapist, helping families and adolescents.
Her mystery series has been awarded ‘Best Cozy’ by Suspense magazine and Mystery at Windswept Farm, the third book in the series, made the humorous novel bestseller list on Amazon. A trained life coach, Wendy writes the advice column for the Maryland Writers’ Association newsletter and enjoys mentoring aspiring authors.
She lives in a small town on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, a unique and quirky part of the country, which is also the setting for her series. In addition to her husband, she lives with two male orange tabbies, Frodo and Sam, who her daughter rescued from a soybean field.
Her favorite writing moment is when a minor character takes center stage and completely changes the story, which she says happened twice while writing Killer in a Winter Wonderland. She loves to cook and is happiest when her kitchen is filled with friends and family and the table is brimming with savory food and wine.
Please register with an email address to receive an immediate registration confirmation.
Author Works - Growing an Edible Landscape: How to Transform Your Outdoor Space into a Food Garden
Date: 12/04/23Time: 7:00pm - 8:15pm
Branch: Elkridge Branch
Age group: Ages 19+ (Adults)
Program type: Gardening & Environment
Description:
Authors Gary Pilarchik of @therustedgarden and Dr. Chiara D’Amore discuss their new collaborative book, Growing an Edible Landscape: How to Transform Your Outdoor Space into a Food Garden. Learn how you can convert your lawn and landscape areas into fruitful edible gardens with this practical guide overflowing with ideas, plans, designs, and know-how.
About the Authors
Gary Pilarchik has been gardening for most of his life. His grandfather taught him about vegetable gardening in first grade, and it ignited a passion that has been with him ever since. Gary started his YouTube channel, The Rusted Garden, in 2011 as a way to enjoy himself and teach others about gardening. He has since grown his following of dedicated subscribers, and started a second channel, My First Vegetable Garden, a few years later to cater to first-time vegetable growers. His belief is that a garden wants to give, vegetables want to grow, and everyone can have a successful garden. Providing information and options in his videos, Gary’s goal is to educate viewers so they can make informed choices about their gardens. He enjoys meeting gardeners from around the world through his social media reach and responds to every question and comment people leave for him. Gary sees vegetable gardening as a global hobby that brings people together across cultures and geographical boundaries.
Dr. Chiara D’Amore is the Executive Director of the Community Ecology Institute, a non-profit organization working to cultivate communities in which people and nature thrive together. She holds a PhD in Sustainability Education and MS in Environmental Science and Engineering and teaches courses related to climate change, civic ecology, experiential education, and research design. She worked as an environmental consultant for over 15 years serving clients such as the United Nations and the US Environmental Protection Agency. Dr. D’Amore also holds Master Gardener and Permaculture Design certificates.
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 April 4.