Now @ MPL...

October 14-20, 2007

1. Poster Contest

Your library wants you to submit posters based on the theme “LOL @ Your Library.”

Entries by teens age 13-18 will be accepted October 1-12 at all Milwaukee Public Libraries. Posters must be done by hand (not computer-generated) in any other medium including: pencil, chalk, ink, marker, paints, etc. Posters must be submitted on 8.5 x 11” paper. Each entry will be judged on composition, quality of drawing, originality, and how closely it relates to the theme. Winning posters will be displayed on the library’s web page.

PRIZES
1st place – $50 Target gift card
2nd place – $25 Target gift card
3rd place – $15 Target gift card

2. ComedySportz @ Washington Park Library (2121 N. Sherman Blvd.)
Thursday, October 18, 2007 6:30 p.m.
Sit back and laugh, or take the opportunity to stand up and make people laugh during this interactive improv comedy performance suitable for all ages. The entire show is fueled by audience suggestions and participation.

3. Meet the Author: Sonia Hayes @ Center Street Library (2727 W. Fond du Lac Ave.)
Saturday, October 20, 2007 3:00 p.m.
Sonia Hayes, author of Ms. Thang and Urban Goddess, will present a book discussion based on her novels entitled: Flavor of Love Adolescents age 12-18 will be invited to explore the concept of love in various relationships including friends, family, romantic and, most importantly, self-love.

Please join the Milwaukee Public Library and Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops in welcoming Caroline Kennedy to Central Library on Thursday, December 13. Beginning at 6:00 p.m., Ms. Kennedy, editor of A Family Christmas, will be signing books in the Richard E. and Lucile Krug Rare Books Room. The Milwaukee Children's Choir will also be part of the evening's festivities. Tickets for the event are $32 and may be purchased at any Harry W. Schwartz Bookshop or online at www.schwartzbooks.com. One ticket includes admission to the event, an autographed copy of A Family Christmas and a $5 tax deductible contribution to the Milwaukee Public Library Foundation. Tickets and additional books will be available at the event. We hope that you will be able to join us!

The staff of the Adult Programming Committee prepared a tea party to celebrate the 232nd birthday of Jane Austen. A beautiful display of the Milwaukee Public Library staff’s tea cups and related items was prepared to complement the celebration.

Authors Victoria Hinshaw and Kim Wilson in the Rare Books Room.

Regency romance author Victoria Hinshaw and tea aficionado and author Kim Wilson gave talks about Jane Austen’s life, her books and the history of tea in England. A trivia quiz was distributed and the authors’ books were given as prizes. Several kinds of teas and cookies, some brought by generous participants, were enjoyed by all.

The event took place in the Richard E. and Lucile Krug Rare Books Room at the Central Library on Saturday, December 8, from 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. The event was a great success with the 28 participants raving about the program and there were several requests that a similar program take place on an annual basis.

Central Library will host The American Presidency Traveling Exhibit from Saturday, February 16 through Monday, February 18. This museum-quality exhibit contains 80 objects from the two largest private presidential memorabilia collections in the country. Among some of the rare and unique items on display are campaign buttons, state dinner menus and seating arrangements, and an original key to the White House. MPL has supplemented this exhibit with items from its own collection, as well as donations from library patrons and friends.

Along with the exhibit, Jordan M. Wright, author of Campaigning for President, will be discussing and signing his book on Sunday, February 17 from 2:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. in Central Library's First Floor Meeting Room. Copies of his work will be available for purchase at the event.

**MPL is partnering with HarperCollins Publishing and FOX News to bring this exhibit to Milwaukee.**

This Saturday, February 23 from 2:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m., the author of Milwaukee's Bronzeville 1900-1950 will be giving a talk at the Villard Library. Paul H. Geenen will share a slide presentation that discusses the history and stories of Bronzeville, and explores the cultural achievements of African Americans of that time.

Bronzeville was an area that centered around Walnut Street, with the heart of the area between 3rd and 12th streets. In the time period between 1900 and 1950 the area was predominantly African-American. In the 1950s, the neighborhood disappeared after a majority of the buildings were razed to make way for the I-43 north-south freeway.

This program is part of the Milwaukee Public Library's Big Read celebration which features Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.

Milwaukee resident Frank D. Alioto, a Lieutenant with the Milwaukee Fire Department and local historian will present his new book, Milwaukee's Brady Street Neighborhood, along with a slide presentation including pictures from his book.

The author will sign copies of his book along with copies being sold at the discussion.

Saturday, April 12
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.

East Library
1910 E. North Ave
(414) 286-3058

On Sunday, April 6 at 1:30 p.m. in Central Library's Centennial Hall, native Milwaukeean Susan Firer will be inducted as the city's Poet Laureate for 2008-09. Firer will read from her latest poetry collection, Milwaukee Does Strange Things to People, which includes new and selected poems from 1979 to 2007. Her other collections include The Laugh We Make When We Fall (2002), The Underground Communion Rail (1992), My Life With the Tsar and Other Poems (1979), and The Lives of Saints and Everything (1993), which won that year's Cleveland State University Poetry Center Prize. Firer is an assistant professor in the English Department of UWM, where she teaches courses in creative writing and women's studies.

The Friends of the Milwaukee Public Library will hold their annual Spring Literary Luncheon on Monday, May 19 from 11:00 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. at the Wisconsin Club, located at 900 W. Wisconsin Ave. This year's event will feature award-winning author Louise Erdrich. She is the author of over a dozen novels, including Love Medicine, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award. On May 19, she will be signing copies and reading from her latest book, The Plague of Doves.

Reservations are required for this event. Each reservation includes an autographed hardcover copy of The Plague of Doves or a Schwartz Bookshops gift card of equal value. Please call 286-8720 for more information.

Meet new author Professor E. Adekunlewilson, Ed. S. who will discuss her first book Celebrating Black Men: Because You Said I Couldn’t SERIES (Book I). Celebrating Black Men paints a picture for the kind of personal character, routines and priorities that enabled Black Americans to endure, persevere and progress as a people. Readers are provided with a behind-the-achievement glimpse into the mindsets of faith, determination and creativity. She will be signing copies as well.

East Library
Tuesday, June 24th
6:30 PM
286-3058

On Wednesday, August 27 at 6:30 p.m. in Central Library, author Eddee Daniel will be speaking and signing copies of his latest book, Urban Wilderness.

In this work, Daniel guides readers down the waterways of the Menomonee River watershed and reveals how preserving urban rivers is key to modern-day city life. Urban Wilderness charts the exemplary preservation efforts to rescue the river from pollution and neglect, ultimately showing how parks and nature preserves are crucial to the quality of life and economic success of a thriving city such as Milwaukee.

Mr. Daniel will discuss and show slides from his book, and copies will be available for purchase. While you are here, don't forget to check out the Menomonee River exhibit on the second floor of the library!

Mr. Schlesinger will discuss and read an excerpt from his book followed by a Q&A and book signing. Books will be sold by Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops. Located in the Loos Room.

2:00 PM - Centennial Hall
Saturday, September 13, 2008

"In White House Ghosts, veteran Washington reporter Robert Schlesinger opens a fresh and revealing window on the modern presidency from FDR to George W. Bush. This is the first book to examine a crucial and often hidden role played by the men and women who help presidents find the words they hope will define their places in history."

Join us for the final presentation in MPL's program series on the Menomonee River Valley!

Milwaukee author and historian John Gurda will be speaking at Central Library on Wednesday, September 17 at 7:00 p.m. in the first floor meeting room. His topic will be the Menomonee River Valley's rich past, in a presentation entitled, In the Beginning was the Valley: The History of Milwaukee’s Menomonee Valley. This program is sponsored by the Map Society of Wisconsin.

(Photo courtesy of Milwaukee Neighborhoods Digital Collection, UWM Libraries)

Robert Booth Fowler, the author of Wisconsin Votes: An Electoral History will be in the Central Library to discuss his book as well as the 2000, 2004, and the upcoming elections.

Mr. Fowler is professor emeritus of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

His book looks at the entire history of voting in Wisconsin from 1848 to present day. In his book, he explores various historic and current trends in the voting of ethnic and religious groups in Wisconsin. He also discusses the triumphs and failures of the two major parties as well as Wisconsin's third parties, such as the Socialists, the Progressives and others.

If you are interested in the electoral history of Wisconsin, come to this program at the Central Library on Wednesday, October 1 at 7:00 p.m.

This year, the Third Annual Milwaukee Book Festival runs from October 5th through the 14th. With events happening every day at many different locations there is something for everyone who loves the literary arts.

The Milwaukee Public Library is participating with a talk by Jim Schley about the poetry of Robert Frost. The program takes place Thursday, October 9th, at 7:00 p.m. in the Central Library's Centennial Hall.

Many other programs will be happening at UW-Milwaukee, Marquette University, and more. Check out the entire list of events. All the programs are free, though some may require registration.

Dale Van Atta will be at the Central Library's Centennial Hall to discuss his book With Honor: Melvin Laird in War, Peace, and Politics.

The first book ever to focus on Laird's legacy, this authorized biography reveals his central and often unrecognized role in managing the crisis of national identity sparked by the Vietnam War -and challenges, ethical and political, that confronted him along the way.

Books will be available for purchase courtesy of Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops. Located in the Loos Room.

This is part of the Get Political @ your Milwaukee Public Library series. No registration is necessary.

Central Library-Centennial Hall
Tuesday, October 14, 7:00 p.m.

As the new digital age of television approaches, join MPL as we reminisce about the early days of television in Milwaukee.

Dick Golembiewski, local author of Milwaukee Television History: the analog years, will be speaking at Central Library on February 14, 2009 at 2:30 p.m. about his research on the history of Milwaukee television. Mr. Golembiewski began researching Milwaukee broadcasting history in 1996, and in 2002 launched a Website dedicated to the city’s old TV horror hosts and shows. He will sign his books, which will be available for purchase, following his presentation. Light refreshments will be served.

Come to a special presentation of "Tea with Jane Austen" at the Rare Books Room of the Central Library. Not only will tea be served, but costumed performers from the Milwaukee Rep's production of Pride and Prejudice will be on hand to model the fashions of the era.

In addition to that, Marsha Huff (president of the Jane Austen Society of North America) will discuss Jane Austen's writing of Pride and Prejudice. Kim Wilson, the author of Tea with Jane Austen and In the Garden with Jane Austen, will discuss tea in the novel and the play.

Admission to the event is free. However, seating is limited and reservations are required, so call (414) 286-8720 to reserve your spot.

Saturday, March 21, 2009
1:30 PM
Central Library

Public Enterprise: How the Socialists Saved Milwaukee, a presentation from local author and historian John Gurda, will be held Tuesday, March 24 at 7:00 p.m. in Central Library's Centennial Hall.

At the turn of the 20th Century, Milwaukee, like most large American cities, was a civic cesspool of corruption, inefficiency, and inequality. Bending their lofty ideology to the common-sense concerns of the working class, the Socialists took charge of local government. They were highly effective champions of public enterprise for 50 years and the expectations they created still carry weight today. John Gurda will shed light on a critical period and some critically important figures in the life of the modern city.

*This program is sponsored by the Frank P. Zeidler Memorial Lecture Series and the Argosy Foundation, the International Institute of Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Public Library and Milwaukee Public Television.*

Meet local poets Rebecca Dunham, Judith Harway, Derrick Harriell, Angela Sorby, and Milwaukee's Poet Laureate Susan Firer at the Central Library. The poets will be reading selections from their works under Central's beautiful rotunda on Thursday, April 23rd at 6:00 p.m.

These local poets have all received honors and accolades for their poetry. In addition to Susan Firer being Milwaukee's Poet Laureate, Rebecca Dunham received the 2006 T.S. Eliot Prize and is the author of The Miniature Room. Derrick Harriell has had poetry has published in the Cream City Review. Judith Harway's poems have earned her fellowships with the Wisconsin Arts Board and she is a faculty member of the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. Angela Sorby is the author of Bird Skin Coat and is also a recipient of the Brittingham Prize.

The event is free and open to the public, but seating is limited and reservations are required. Please call (414) 286-8720 or send an email to the Friends of the Milwaukee Public Library to register for this event.

Each spring, when the ice clears, the Anishinabe harvest fish from the lakes of Wisconsin and Minnesota, a tradition protected by treaties and reinforced by Federal Court rulings. However, for a number of years the spear fishermen were confronted with violence and racial epithets from local sports fishermen, resort owners and other white neighbors.

Join Walleye Warriors author Rick Whaley, and Dave Denomie of the Bad River Chippewa and Milwaukee spokesperson for Witness for Non-Violence, as they explain how a multi-race and class alliance of Anishinabe, local residents, and activists defused these confrontations by witnessing and documenting them.

This program is offered in conjunction with the PBS Native American history series We Shall Remain to be broadcast in April and May. This May 9 program will take place before the final installment Wounded Knee, which describes the takeover of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Oglala Lakota Reservation and the beginning of the reassertion of political rights by the Indian nations.

Walleye Warriors
Saturday, May 9, 2009
2:00 p.m.
Central Library

Author Lea E. Williams will be at the Capitol Library on Saturday, June 13th to discuss her book Servants of the People: The 1960s Legacy of African American Leadership.

The book profiles six civil rights leaders and discusses their impact a generation later. The people profiled are A. Philip Randolph, Frederick D. Patterson, Thurgood Marshall, Whitney M. Young, Adam Clayton Powell, and Fannie Lou Hamer.

The author will discuss the book and her experiences in getting it published. Copies of the book will be available for purchase, and she will be on hand after the discussion to sign copies of the book.

This event is co-sponsored by the Wisconsin Black Librarians’ Network and the Milwaukee Public Library.

Saturday, June 13, 2009
2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Capitol Library

The Friends of the Milwaukee Public Library present: Jeffrey A. Krames, the author of The Unforced Error: Why Some Managers Get Promoted While Others Get Eliminated, Inside Drucker's Brain and more.

As former publisher of a major business book company, Krames has personally edited and published more than 275 business books, including many award-winning, best-selling titles that include such business luminaries as Jack Welch, Michael Ovitz, Ross Perot, Bill Gates and more.

The event takes place November 3, 2009, from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. in the Business and Periodicals room on the second floor of the Central Library.

Coffee, juice and rolls will be served.

Boswell Book Company will be there to sell books.

Admission is $10. Please contact John Menzel for reservations at 414-908-0557 or jmenzel@bizjournals.com by October 28th.

This event is sponsored by: The Business Journal

Thursday, Audrey Niffenegger will visit MPL to talk about her new book entitled Her Fearful Symmetry. (Her debut book was The Time Travelers Wife.) Niffenegger's visit is sponsored by Boswell Book Company and the Friends of the Milwaukee Public Library.
Boswell will be offering a special price on Her Fearful Symmetry - $13.50 each - and Ms. Niffenegger will sign copies of them. Other books will be available for purchase.

The event is free and open to the public:

Thursday, January 14 - 7:00 p.m.
Centennial Hall, 733 N. 8th St.