Now @ MPL...

Are you an auto racing enthusiast? 2012 marks the 100th anniversary of the historic Vanderbilt Cup and Grand Prix races in Milwaukee. "Milwaukee's Speed Carnival" was an international road race run on country roads just northwest of Milwaukee's city limits.

Come celebrate this historic event with John Haydon, auto and racing enthusiast and author of Historic Road Racing in Milwaukee: The 1912 Vanderbilt Cup, Grand Prize and Related Road Races. The event will be held on Tuesday, June 12 from 6:30 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. in the Krug Rare Books Room in the Central Public Library.

Seating is limited, please call 414.286.3011 to register.

David Maraniss, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and critically acclaimed biographer of Bill Clinton, will talk about his ground-breaking biography Barack Obama: The Story, a sweeping, multigenerational portrait of the 44th President of the United States. By evoking the times, places, and forces that shaped Obama's personality and life choices, Maraniss rovides the fullest portrayal to date of the man and the politician.

David Maraniss's previous works include First in His Class: A Biography of Bill Clinton, praised by Gary Wills as "the best biography ever written about a president in office." Maraniss's study of the Vietnam War, They Marched into Sunlight: War and Peace, Vietnam and America, October 1967, was called a "must-read nonfiction book" by Maureen Corrigan on National Public Radio.Maraniss has also written acclaimed biographies of Vince Lombardi and Roberto Clemente.

Meet Sherman Alexie author of Blasphemy: New and Collected Stories on Tuesday, November 13th! Sherman Alexie's stature as a writer of stories, poetry, and novels has soared over the course of his twenty-two-book, twenty-year career. His wide-ranging and adventurous fiction from The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven to his most recent PEN/Faulkner Award-winning War Dances, have established him as a star in contemporary American literature.

A bold and irreverent observer of life among Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest, the daring, versatile and funny Alexie showcases his many talents in Blasphemy. Included here are some of his most esteemed tales, including "What You Pawn I Will Redeem," in which a homeless Indian man quests to win back a family heirloom; "This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona," a road-trip morality tale; "The Toughest Indian in the World," about a night shared between a writer and a hitchhiker; and his most recent, "War Dances," about a man grappling with sudden hearing loss in the wake of his father's death.

It was 230 years ago that Washington Irving was born into this world. Most famous for his short stories Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Both found in his book The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon), Irving became the first internationally acclaimed and best-selling American author. He also wrote many works of nonfiction, from biographies of George Washington to works about Spain. Irving himself even spent some time appointed as the United States Minister to Spain. An American original, and a literary pioneer to boot, it's easy to see why his writing is still relevant and loved today. So why not celebrate Mr. Irving's birthday right and pick up any of his numerous works at your local library?

Donate a book to the library and join nationally-acclaimed author of Case Histories Kate Atkinson for a book talk. This event is free and open to the public.

Friday, April 19, 6:30 p.m.
Milwaukee Public Market
400 N. Water St., 2nd Level

Boswell Book Company and the Milwaukee Public Library invite you to Fill the Shelves during Gallery Night in the Third Ward. Popular books from the Library's wish list will be available for purchase and donation to the library's collection. This is the only chance to donate books to be part of the library's collection. Donations will be recognized with a personalized bookplate.

Kate Atkinson will discuss her newest release Life After Life. This book is a thrilling, humorous, horrifying, inspiring, and philosophical contemplation of a life lived, for better or worse (and relived and relived...). Life After Life will be available for purchase at the event from Boswell Book Company.

For more information visit www.mpl.org or www.boswellbookcompany.com.