Calendar

Oct
6
Thu
Working with Decorative & Fine Art
Oct 6 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

This event will be a prime opportunity for attendees to experience decorative arts as well as fine arts. Two very important aspects to decorating a home are art and rugs. You will experience the decorative art of Stephanie Saunders and the fine art of Dover Rug. The history, inspiration, and correlation behind the two types of arts and those involved in making them.

stephanie-saunders-art-dover-rug

This event will teach attendees a scope of matters. Those attending the event will learn the fine art of rug making and what goes in to it. For three generations, The Jafri family has been designing, weaving, and exporting fine, hand-knotted rugs and carpeting from Pakistan, India and Nepal to Western Europe, The United States and, to other parts of the world. At this event, the attendees will be able to have a look into this journey and learn how the rugs are made. The attendees will also have the opportunity to learn about Stephanie Saunders Art Gallery. Stephanie Saunders, who is the owner and artist of Stephanie Saunders Art Gallery and a graduate of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston will be displaying pieces of art and explaining to guests the inspiration behind her paintings and the process of her work. Both Dover Rug and Stephanie will also let the attendees know how to decorate their homes with art and how art and rugs are to match and compliment one another in the home.

Apr
23
Sun
29th Annual Literary Lights
Apr 23 @ 6:00 pm

The Associates of the Boston Public Library is pleased to invite you to the 29th Annual Literary Lights awards dinner.

Join the BPL on Sunday, April 23, 2017, at the Boston Park Plaza for a spectacular black tie (optional) evening honoring distinguished authors from the Northeast for their contributions to literature and the written word. The evening begins with a reception at 6:00 PM, followed by dinner and the awards program at 7:00 PM.

The Associates of the Boston Public Library are honored to recognize the following authors as their 2017 Literary Lights:

Kwame Anthony AppiahKwame Anthony Appiah 

Presented by: Hentry Louis Gates, Jr.

Appiah is a philosopher, novelist, professor and cultural theorist.  He grew up in Ghana and earned a Ph.D. in Philosophy at Cambridge University in London. Professor Appiah has lectured around the world and taught at Princeton, Yale, Cornell, Duke and Harvard Universities before moving to New York University where he now teaches in the Department of Philosophy. In 2009 Forbes Magazine named him one of the world’s most powerful thinkers, in 2010 he was on the list of Foreign Policy Magazine’s top global thinkers, and he was awarded the National Humanitarian Medal at a White House ceremony in 2012. Appiah, the author of numerous books and articles, has traveled around the world giving lectures on multiculturalism, global citizenship, courage, identity, and religion. One of his early books, In My Father’s House, which explores the role of African American intellectuals in shaping contemporary African life, won the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award and the Herskovits Award for the most important scholarly work on African studies published in English. Appiah is well known for his columns and podcasts as the Ethicist for the New York Times.

 

Susan FaludiSusan Faludi

Presented by: Christopher Lydon

Faludi is a journalist and author who has written extensively on gender issues. In 1991 she was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism for a piece on the leverage buyout of Safeway Stores, focusing on the “human cost of high finance.”  After graduating from Harvard University, where she wrote for The Harvard Crimson, she was a contributor to the New Yorker, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Nation, as well as many other publications. In the 1980s Faludi wrote several pieces on the feminist movement and the resistance to it, resulting in her 1991 book, Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women, for which she won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction.  She went on to write Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man, The Terror Dream, and, most recently, The Darkroom, which was inspired by her father’s transsexuality. She was a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies in the 2008-2009 academic year and a 2013-2014 Tallman Scholar in the Gender and Women’s Studies Program at Bowdoin College.

 

Wally LambWally Lamb

Presented by: Andre Dubus III

Lamb is the best-selling author of She’s Come Undone, I know This Much is True, The Hour I First Believed, and Wishin’ and Hopin’. His first two books were selected for Oprah’s Book Club, were New York Times best-sellers, New York Times Notable Books of the Year and, between them, have been translated into 18 languages. His latest novel is We Are Water.  Lamb has also edited two volumes of essays: Couldn’t Keep it to Myself and I’ll Fly Away, written by students in his writing workshops at a women’s prison in Connecticut. He has taught creative writing in the English department at the University of Connecticut, was founder and director of the Writing Center at Norwich Free Academy, has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and Connecticut Commission for the Arts, and was honored with the Connecticut Center for the Book’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

 

Brian SelznickBrian Selznick

Presented by: Gregory Maguire

Selznick graduated from RISD where he studied illustration and, while there, took classes in set design at Brown University. After graduation, he worked at a children’s book store in New York City while writing his debut book, The Houdini Box. In 2008 he won the Caldecott Medal from the American Library Association, for The Invention of Hugo Cabret, the first such award for a book this long; 533 pages with 284 illustrations. The book was adapted into a 2011 film, Hugo, directed by Martin Scorsese. He has also been awarded a 2002 Caldecott Honor for his illustrations of Barbara Kerley’s The Dinosaurs of Waterhorse Hawkins.  In addition, Mr. Selznick has received the Texas Bluebonnet Award, the Rhode Island Children’s Book Award and the Christopher Award, given to media which “affirm the highest values of the human spirit.”

 

Chief Justice Margaret MarshallChief Justice Margaret H. Marshall (Keynote Speaker)

Presented by: David Leonard

Marshall was born in South Africa where, as a student, she led the National Union of South African Students, working to end oppressive minority rule and achieve equality for all South Africans.  Marshall first came to the US as a high school exchange student in Wilmington, DL in 1962, as the civil rights battles were beginning to boil over, and later returned to the US for graduate school, where she became involved with the anti-war and the women’s movements. After Yale Law School, she entered private practice, became President of the Boston Bar Association, Vice President & General Counsel for Harvard University, and then went on to the State’s Supreme Court, where she became the first female Chief Justice of the oldest continuously serving appellate court in the Western Hemisphere. Though she has had many accomplishments, Justice Marshall is most renowned for her 2003 opinion which led Massachusetts to become the first state in the nation to outlaw the ban on same-sex marriage. Although she loved her time on the bench, Justice Marshall stepped down in 2010. She now mentors young lawyers at her former law firm, Choate Hall & Stewart, and teaches at Harvard University.

 


 

In addition to celebrating the accomplishments of these outstanding writers, proceeds from Literary Lights support the David McCullough Conservation Fund, William O. Taylor Art Preservation Fund, Associates Endowment Fund, and the Associates of the Boston Public Library’s operations. The Associates created the McCullough Fund in 2001 to provide a consistent source of funding for the conservation and preservation of books, manuscripts, works of art and historic documents in the BPL’s Special Collections.

If you would prefer to receive a mailed invitation or for more information about sponsorship opportunitiesplease contact the Associates office at associates@bpl.org or (617) 536-3886. Thank you.

Dec
7
Thu
Beers & Bites: Bone Up Brewing Co.
Dec 7 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Taste & Talk Beer with Bone Up Brewing Co.Founder Liz Kiraly

Up-and-coming Bone Up Brewing makes meticulously crafted beers that are drinkable, sometimes zany, and all about being sociable. Call up your friends, and join us for a evening of tasting and talking beer with co-founder and brewer Liz Kiraly, from how they created tonight’s special brew to what it took to build their brewery from the ground up.

Your ticket includes a welcome beer and a flight of craft beers with delectable bar bites created especially by our chef.

Come at 6:00pm to find a seat and mingle. Guided tasting starts at 6:30pm.

Click here for tickets

Dec
14
Thu
Beers & Bites: Lamplighter Brewing Co.
Dec 14 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Once you taste beer with Liz Starks,in-house cicerone (think: beer sommelier) at Lamplighter Brewing Co., you’ll understand the nuances of flavor and aroma that make a great brew. Join Newsfeed Cafe and you’ll walk away with the knowledge that will make every beer an experience and will impress your friends at the next holiday party.

Lamplighter Brewing Co. at Newsfeed Cafe, Boston Back Bay

Your ticket includes a welcome beer and a flight of craft beers with delectable bar bites created especially by our chef.

Come at 6:00pm to find a seat and mingle. Guided tasting starts at 6:30pm.

Click here for tickets

Jan
30
Tue
Boston Public Library Hosts NOVA’s Science Trivia Night
Jan 30 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Boston Public Library Invites You for NOVA’s First Ever Science Trivia Night

NOVA's Science Trivia Night at Boston Public Library, Boston Back Bay

Join the Boston Public Library for NOVA’s first ever Science Trivia Night! Bring your friends and form a team of up to six participants or meet fellow NOVA fans and form some bonds (pun intended). Get ready for some creative categories and great prizes as we test your knowledge of the natural world, space, the history of science, and more!

Food and drinks are available for purchase at the Newsfeed Café.

For more information, click here.

Feb
8
Thu
Vino & Verse: A Valentine’s Open Mic
Feb 8 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Vino & Verse: A Valentine's Open Mic @ Newsfeed Cafe at the Boston Public Library | Boston | Massachusetts | United States

Sip & Share Love-Themed Poetry at Newsfeed Cafe

In honor of Valentine’s Day, Newfeed Cafe invites you to join local poets Kurt Klopmeier and Krysten Hill as they host an open mic of love-themed poetry for the in-love, lovesick, lovelorn, and forlorn.

In partnership with Mass Poetry, Newsfeed Cafe is inviting all poetry fans to bring a favorite poem about the effects of Cupid’s arrow, either pleasurable or painful. Fortify yourself with a glass of liquid courage, and give a recitation to a crowd of fellow lovers of vino and verse, who’ll be there to cheer you on. Whether you read a poem of your own or one by Christina Rossetti or The Beatles, don’t worry; no one will  judge. Just bring your chosen poem and join in the love and fun!

Your ticket ($10) includes a free drink. Wine of all varieties will be plentiful, as well as a broad selection of craft beers, house-made sodas, and barista beverages. Guests will also receive a snack bag with their purchase, with further food available to order at the counter. Valid ID required for purchase of alcohol.

Feb
21
Wed
Beers & Bites: Spencer Brewery
Feb 21 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Have you ever had beer brewed by monks? Here’s your chance to try Spencer Brewery beer!

Come taste beer with Spencer Brewery, one of only 14 Trappist breweries in the world and the only one in the United States. Kevin Kervick, co-manager of sales and marketing, will present the great story of monks making beer in both Europe and America. He will also guide you through a tasting of their incredible beers, including their classic Trappist Ale.

Spencer Brewery

Ticket includes a flight of Spencer Trappist beer with delectable bar bites specially created and matched to the beer by the Newsfeed Cafe’s chef.

Come at 6:00pm to find a seat and mingle. Guided tasting starts at 6:30pm.

Must be 21 or older. IDs will be checked at the door.

For more information and to purchase tickets, please click here.

Feb
22
Thu
Chief Chat with David Leonard, President of the Boston Public Library
Feb 22 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

SPARK Boston’s Chief Chats, which bring together city officials and young adult residents in dialogue about improving our city, comes to Newsfeed Café!

Chief Chat at the Boston Public Library

 

In the past several years, the Boston Public Library has transformed into a 21st-century institution providing dynamic library experiences to the residents of Boston and beyond. In this panel discussion, David Leonard, President of the Boston Public Library, will be discussing the role of a public library in 2018, how the Boston Public Library keeps up to date with technological advancements and the diverse needs of the communities it serves, and how young people get involved with their local library branch. Laura Koenig, Children’s Services Team Leader at the Central Library, and Angela Veizaga, Systemwide Youth Programs Librarian, join David Leonard on the panel.

For more information and to register for this event, please click here.

Mar
8
Thu
Beers & Bites: Castle Island Brewing Co.
Mar 8 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Try the Best New Brewery in Massachusetts at March’s Beers & Bites

Castle Island Brewing Co. is all about consistency in quality and accessibility, as evidenced by their being named Best New Brewery in Massachusetts for 2017 by Rate Beer. In this tasting, you’ll hear the story of why and how Castle Island’s founder and president Adam Romanow was able to open and operate a successful brewery in the quickly expanding craft beer market of New England. He’ll also delve into how he was inspired to build their brand through a five-year journey that brought the brewery to where they are today. This will be a look behind the beer with fantastic food to match, one you certainly won’t want to miss!

Beers & Bites

Your ticket includes a flight of Castle Island beer with delectable bar bites specially created and matched to the beer by our chef.

Come at 6:00pm to find a seat and mingle. Guided tasting starts at 6:30pm.

For more information, please click here.


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