Eve Ensler | The Apology

Wed, May 22, 2019 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: FREE

One of  Newsweek ’s “150 Women Who Shake the World” and the Guardian ’s “Top 100 Women,” Tony Award–winning playwright Eve Ensler is a performer, activist, and author. Her phenomenon  The Vagina Monologues  has been…

Adult Author Events Speakers and Lectures Author Events - Free Series Author Events

John Waters | Mr. Know-It-All: The Tarnished Wisdom of a Filth Elder

Thu, May 23, 2019 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: $47/$32 couple + book/single + book
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Purchase couples ticket here In conversation with Jason Freeman John Waters’s transgressive movies include  Pink Flamingos ,  Hairspray ,  Cry-Baby ,  Serial Mom , and  Cecil B. Demented . He is also the author of  Shock Value ,  Crackpot , …

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Watermelon: A Celebration of Summer with Ronna Welsh

Thu, May 30, 2019 6:00 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: $30 single / $45 couple

Ronna Welsh has been a professional cook for over 20 years. She has worked as an executive chef, pastry chef, consulting chef, and recipe developer for Saveur, Whole Living Magazine, Bon Appetit Magazine, Martha Stewart Living, and many others. As the owner and founder…

Adult Young Adult Senior Community Events Author Events Workshops and Enrichment Culinary Literacy

Rick Atkinson | The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775–1777

Thu, May 30, 2019 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: FREE

Rick Atkinson won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for  An Army at Dawn , the first volume in his Liberation trilogy, a “densely researched but supremely readable” ( New York Times Book Review ) history of the Allied victory in World War II. His other bestselling books include  The…

Adult Author Events Speakers and Lectures Author Events - Free Series Author Events History

James Patterson | Unsolved in conversation with Elin Hilderbrand

Mon, June 3, 2019 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: $32—single ticket + book; $28—simulcast ticket + book
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In conversation with nos. 1 bestselling author Elin Hilderbrand James Patterson holds the Guinness World Record for the most number-one New York Times bestsellers, and his books have sold more than 375 million copies worldwide. A tireless champion of the power of books and reading,…

Adult Author Events Speakers and Lectures Author Events - Ticketed Series Author Events Fiction

James Ellroy | This Storm

Tue, June 4, 2019 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: FREE

In his bestselling L.A. Quartet mysteries and the Underworld USA trilogy, James Ellroy “has vigorously redefined the well-shadowed turf of contemporary crime fiction” ( Atlanta Journal Constitution ). He is also the author of the Lloyd Hopkins trilogy of novels, several collections…

Adult Author Events Speakers and Lectures Author Events - Free Series Author Events Fiction

Nicole Dennis-Benn | Patsy with Rebecca Makkai | The Great Believers

Thu, June 6, 2019 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: FREE

Here Comes the Sun , Nicole Dennis-Benn ’s debut novel about a young Jamaican struggling to protect her sister and village as she experiences feelings for another woman, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the New York Public Library’s Young Lions Fiction…

Adult Author Events Speakers and Lectures Author Events - Free Series Author Events Fiction Literature

Jacob Shell | Giants of the Monsoon Forest: Living and Working with Elephants

Tue, June 11, 2019 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: FREE

In conversation with Nikil Saval A professor of geography and urban studies at Temple University, Jacob Shell is the author of Transportation and Revolt: Pigeons, Mules, Canals, and the Vanishing Geographies of Subversive Mobility , a historical study of the connections between modes of transit…

Adult Author Events Speakers and Lectures Author Events - Free Series Author Events History

Mark Kram Jr. | Smokin’ Joe: The Life of Joe Frazier

Thu, June 13, 2019 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: FREE

In conversation with Steve Ross Mark Kram Jr. won the 2013 PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing for Like Any Normal Day , the tragic story of two brothers bonded but separated by a devastating sports injury. He formerly wrote for the Philadelphia Daily News and Philadelphia Magazine and…

Adult Author Events Speakers and Lectures Author Events - Free Series Author Events Biography & Autobiography Sports & Recreation

Esi Edugyan | Washington Black

Tue, June 18, 2019 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: FREE

Esi Edugyan’s novel Half-Blood Blues , the story of a World War II–era mixed-race jazz band’s abducted star trumpeter, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, among other honors. She is also the author of another novel, The Second Life of Samuel Tyne , and Dreaming of…

Adult Author Events Speakers and Lectures Author Events - Free Series African American Author Events Fiction Literature

Frank Langfitt | The Shanghai Free Taxi: Journeys with the Hustlers and Rebels of the New China

Wed, June 19, 2019 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: FREE

In conversation with Bill Marimow As NPR's Correspondent in Shanghai, Frank Langfitt created a free-taxi service where he offered rides in exchange for passenger's stories and candid conversation. He met a motley crew of characters whose lives he followed for years as they navigated the…

Adult Author Events Speakers and Lectures Author Events - Free Series Author Events General Research

Jason Baumann | The Stonewall Reader with Mark Segal, Karla Jay and Joel Hall

Thu, June 20, 2019 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: FREE

On the eve of the 50th anniversary of the riots that started the fight for American LGBTQ+ rights, The Stonewall Reader highlights some of the movement’s most iconic moments and figures in the years before and after those tumultuous events. Assembling archival research and first-person…

Adult Author Events Speakers and Lectures Author Events - Free Series Author Events LGBTQ History

Elaine Welteroth | More Than Enough: Claiming Space for Who You Are (No Matter What They Say)

Tue, June 25, 2019 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: FREE

The firebrand former editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue and the first African American ever to hold the post of beauty and health director in Condé Nast’s 107-year history, Elaine Welteroth “masterminded the reinvention of the beauty and fashion magazine as a voice for social…

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Rachel Louise Snyder | No Visible Bruises: What We Don’t Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us

Wed, June 26, 2019 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: FREE

PLEASE NOTE: THE EVENT WITH OTTESSA MOSHFEGH HAS BEEN CANCELLED AND WILL NOT BE RESCHEDULED. The recipient of an Overseas Press Award for her contributions to This American Life , Rachel Louise Snyder is the author of No Visible Bruises . A “gut-wrenching” ( Esquire ) and intimate…

Adult Author Events Speakers and Lectures Author Events - Free Series Author Events Law Politics Psychology Social Science

Libraries for Illustrators

Fri, June 28, 2019 10:00 A.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: FREE

Do you make picture books? Are you interested in illustrating books for children? With nearly100,000 picture books in the collection, the Free Library of Philadelphia is an incredible resource for authors and illustrators. But that’s only scratching the surface; from art books to special…

Adult Young Adult Senior Arts and Crafts Programs Author Events Discussion and Participation Workshops and Enrichment Art Makers & Makerspaces Rare Books, Manuscripts, & Digital Collections Special Collections Maps Print and Picture Collection arts & crafts Book Arts children's literature Five Senses

Jennifer Weiner | Mrs. Everything

Tue, July 9, 2019 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: FREE

“One of the biggest names in popular fiction” ( USA Today ), Jennifer Weiner is the beloved number-one  New York Times  bestselling author of more than a dozen novels—including Good in Bed , All Fall Down , and In Her Shoes , which was made into a major motion picture…

Adult Author Events Speakers and Lectures Author Events - Free Series Author Events Fiction

Mary Pope Osborne | Magic Tree House: To the Future, Ben Franklin! with Natalie Pope Boyce

Thu, July 11, 2019 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: $13.99--book with ticket
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Tickets on sale Tuesday, April 23 at 10:00 a.m. Mary Pope Osborne is the prolific author of the beloved Magic Tree House series of children’s books. Featuring time-traveling brother and sister Jack and Annie, the wildly popular books have been translated into nearly three dozen languages…

Adult School Age Author Events Speakers and Lectures Author Events - Ticketed Series Author Events Children Fiction Philadelphia History History children's literature

Andrew Shaffer | Hope Rides Again: An Obama Biden Mystery

Mon, July 15, 2019 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: FREE

They’re back! In Andrew Shaffer’s sequel to the New York Times bestseller Hope Never Dies , the bromantic thriller that saw the former president and vice president tumble down a Delaware rabbit hole of conspiracy and murder, Obama and Biden are once again drawn into a web of intrigue…

Adult Author Events Speakers and Lectures Author Events - Free Series Author Events Fiction

Julie Salamon | An Innocent Bystander: The Killing of Leon Klinghoffer

Tue, July 16, 2019 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: FREE

Exploring an astonishing range of genres and subject matter, Julie Salamon is the author of a score of novels, children’s books, and nonfiction books. Initially a longtime banking reporter and film critic for the Wall Street Journal , then a TV critic and arts reporter at the New York…

Adult Author Events Speakers and Lectures Author Events - Free Series Author Events History

Richard A. Clarke and Robert K. Knake | The Fifth Domain: Defending Our Country, Our Companies, and Ourselves in the Age of Cyber Threats

Thu, July 18, 2019 7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Cost: FREE

Veteran counterterrorism czar and one of the world’s leading experts on cyberspace security, Richard A. Clarke worked for seven presidents and devoted three decades of his professional life to combating threats to the United States. He is the author of four novels and four nonfiction…

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