Events: Calendar of Events

Filters On: Topic(s): Literature

Sadeqa Johnson | The House of Eve

Thu, February 9, 2023 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: FREE

REGISTER In conversation with Jennifer Weiner Acclaimed for their explorations of marital fidelity, friendship, and the difficulties of connecting in modern life, Sadeqa Johnson ’s novels include And Then There Was Me , Second House from the Corner , and Yellow…

Adult

Author Events - Free Series

Love at the Library: The History and Culture of Aphrodisiacs

Mon, February 13, 2023 6:00 P.M.
Culinary Literacy Center at Parkway Central Library

In honor of Valentine's Day, the Culinary Literacy Center presents the world's most romantic foods: aphrodisiacs. Join us for an exploration of aphrodisiacs throughout history and across cultures. In a chef-led workshop, guests will learn about ingredients traditionally associated…

Adult
Senior

Culinary Literacy

Shakespeare in Love: Open Mic Poetry Night

Tue, February 14, 2023 6:00 P.M.
Literature Department at Parkway Central Library

“ The course of true love never did run smooth .” From Shakespeare, Lord Byron, Pablo Neruda, Langston Hughes, and more, we’re celebrating the greatest love poets from around the world on the most romantic day of the year! The Literature Department invites you to…

The Typewriter in the Workplace

Wed, February 15, 2023 5:30 P.M.
Literature Department at Parkway Central Library

Join the Literature Department and Philly Typewriter for this 8-part typewriter series. Bryan Kravitz will share applications of the typewriter and how the machine changed industries for women, the railroad and more. The program will take place onsite in the Heim Center. You must enter…

Third Thursday Teen Book Club

Thu, February 16, 2023 3:30 P.M.
Field Teen Center at Parkway Central Library

The Field Teen Center's *NEW* monthly book club meets on the third Thursday of every month! Teens who register at the Field Teen Center can pick up their free copy of Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay during January and February and return on Thursday, February 16 for discussion,…

Young Adult

Joseph Earl Thomas | Sink: A Memoir

Tue, February 21, 2023 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: FREE

REGISTER In conversation with Elias Rodriques Referred to by Carmen Maria Machado as “all blood and nerve and near-unbearable beauty,” Joseph Earl Thomas ’ Sink is a coming-of-age memoir that chronicles the author’s escape from an upbringing of deprivation and…

Adult

Author Events - Free Series

Paul Harding | This Other Eden with Hanna Pylväinen | The End of Drum-Time

Thu, February 23, 2023 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: FREE

REGISTER Paul Harding won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for Tinkers , “an astringent meditation on loss, family ties, and the presence of the past” ( The Guardian ) in which a dying elderly man wanders through the rooms of his life’s large and quiet moments.…

Adult

Author Events - Free Series

Happy Hour: A Play Reading by Paul Hood

Sat, February 25, 2023 2:00 P.M.
Literature Department at Parkway Central Library

One man's path to inner peace does not go smoothly. Enter beer, hypocrisy, betrayal and sexual enhancements to keep life interesting. This lively play reading will bring together actors from Harrisburg and Philadelphia together. Please register for this free event at…

Live Performances

Reginald Dwayne Betts | Redaction

Mon, February 27, 2023 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: FREE

REGISTER A “powerful work of lyric art” and “tour de force indictment of the carceral industrial state” ( The New York Times Book Review ), Reginald Dwayne Betts’ poetry collection Felon won the NAACP Image Award, the American Book Award, and was a…

Adult

Author Events - Free Series

Exhibition: Visual Elegy: Prints inspired by bell hooks' Appalachian Elegy

Now through Tue, February 28, 2023 5:00 P.M.
Art Department at Parkway Central Library

The Literature Department and Print and Picture Collection invite you to visit a special collaborative exhibition on view in the Art and Literature Hallways on the 2nd floor of Parkway Central Library . The prints in this exhibit come from Visual Elegy , a 2016 collaborative portfolio…

Exhibition: Visual Elegy: Prints inspired by bell hooks' Appalachian Elegy

Now through Tue, February 28, 2023 5:00 P.M.
Literature Department at Parkway Central Library

Exhibition: Visual Elegy: Prints inspired by bell hooks' Appalachian Elegy

Now through Tue, February 28, 2023 5:00 P.M.
Print and Picture Collection at Parkway Central Library

Innovations & Standardization of the Typewriter

Wed, March 15, 2023 5:30 P.M.
Literature Department at Parkway Central Library

Join the Literature Department and Philly Typewriter for this 8-part typewriter series. Bryan Kravitz will discuss the QWERTY keyboard to Magic Margins, a look at the evolution of the Typewriter & its functional staying power. The program will take place onsite in the Heim Center. You…

Connie Briscoe | You Never Know: A Novel of Domestic Suspense

Mon, March 20, 2023 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: Free

REGISTER Acclaimed for her literary portrayals of Black women’s relationships, Connie Briscoe's historical and romance novels have found acclaim and a wide readership for nearly three decades. Sisters and Lovers , her first novel, sold 500,000 copies and her second novel, Big Girls…

Adult

Author Events - Free Series

Emily St. John Mandel | Sea of Tranquility

Tue, March 28, 2023 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: $16.50

TICKETS In conversation with Laura McGrath, Assistant Professor of English at Temple University A “soul-quaking” ( Los Angeles Review of Books ) meditation on the everyday miracles we take for granted set amongst the travels and travails of a Shakespearean acting troupe in the…

Adult

Author Events - Ticketed Series

Vanessa Hua | Forbidden City

Mon, April 3, 2023 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: Free

REGISTER A former longtime columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle , Vanessa Hua has written about Asia and the diaspora from countries such as China, Burma, and South Korea, and has contributed articles to The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic . She is the author of the…

Adult

Author Events - Free Series

Neil King Jr. | American Ramble: A Walk of Memory and Renewal

Tue, April 18, 2023 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: Free

REGISTER In conversation with Signe Wilkinson A Wall Street Journal correspondent for two decades, Neil King Jr. reported from more than 50 countries, served as the newspaper’s chief diplomatic correspondent, national political reporter, and global economics editor in Washington, D.C., and…

Adult

Author Events

Author Events - Free Series

The Personal life of the Typewriter

Wed, April 19, 2023 5:30 P.M.
Literature Department at Parkway Central Library

Join the Literature Department and Philly Typewriter for this 8-part typewriter series. Bryan Kravitz will share how the Typewriter found its home in the lives of artists, musicians and in our homes. The program will take place onsite in the Heim Center. You must enter through the Wood…

Daniel Torday | The 12th Commandment with Nana Kwame Adjie-Brenyah | Chain Gang All-Stars

Mon, May 8, 2023 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: Free or add The 12th Commandment $27.99 and/or Chain Gang All-Stars $27

REGISTER/TICKETS With characters situated in surreal, Twilight Zone -esque, yet all-too-familiar positions of oppression within our most venerable institutions, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah ’s 2018 debut fiction collection, Friday Black , was praised as a…

Adult

Author Events - Free Series

IBM & The Rise of the Selectric

Wed, May 17, 2023 5:30 P.M.
Literature Department at Parkway Central Library

Join the Literature Department and Philly Typewriter for this 8-part typewriter series. Bryan Kravitz will discuss how IBM and their “Mechanical Computer” became the secretarial standard. The program will take place onsite in the Heim Center. You must enter through the Wood…