Each month, The New York Public Library is proud to offer a curated selection of non-fiction authors discussing their work and answering questions at Mid-Manhattan Library. This February, distinguished scholars and authors will examine everything from punk rock music to the human genome.
Author talks take place at 6:30 PM on the 6th floor of the library, unless otherwise noted. No reservations are required. Seating is first come, first served. You can also request a library copy of the authors' books by using the catalog links below.
| Wednesday, February 1, 2017 A History of Brooklyn Bridge Park: How a Community Reclaimed and Transformed New York City's Waterfront with Nancy Webster, executive director of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy, and journalist David Shirley. This illustrated lecture recounts the grassroots, multi-voiced, and contentious effort, beginning in the 1980s, to transform Brooklyn's defunct piers into a beautiful urban oasis. |
| Thursday, February 2, 2017 If Our Bodies Could Talk: A Guide to Operating and Maintaining a Human Body with Dr. James Hamblin, a writer and senior editor at The Atlantic magazine. This lecture explores the human stories behind health questions that never seem to go away—and which tend to be mischaracterized and oversimplified by marketing and news media. Topics include sleep, aging, diet, and much more. |
| Monday, February 6, 2017 Have I Got a Story for You: More Than a Century of Fiction from the Forward with Ezra Glinter, the Forward’s former deputy culture editor and current critic-at-large. This illustrated lecture highlights some of the published wartime novellas, avant-garde fiction and satirical sketches about immigrant life from acclaimed Yiddish writers in The Forward's 120-year history. |
| Wednesday, February 8, 2017 Love Voltaire Us Apart: A Philosopher’s Guide to Relationships with Julia Edelman, a comedy writer. This illustrated lecture features a hilarious spoof relationship guide with a philosophical edge. |
| Thursday, February 9, 2017 Irena's Children: The Extraordinary Story of the Woman Who Saved 2,500 Children from the Warsaw Ghetto with Tilar J. Mazzeo, the New York Times bestselling author of "The Widow Clicquot," "The Secret of Chanel No. 5," and "Hotel on the Place Vendôme." This illustrated lecture tells the story of Irena Sendler—the “female Oskar Schindler”—who took staggering risks to save 2,500 children from death and deportation in Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II. |
| Monday, February 13, 2017 The Genome Factor: What the Social Genomics Revolution Reveals about Ourselves, Our History, and the Future with Dalton Conley, Henry Putnam University Professor of Sociology at Princeton University. This illustrated lecture describes the astonishing discoveries being made at the scientific frontier where genomics and the social sciences intersect. |
| Wednesday, February 15, 2017 Eight Flavors: The Untold Story of American Cuisinewith Sarah Lohman, who works with museums and galleries around the country to create public programs focused on food. This illustrated lecture offers a fascinating look at our past and uses long-forgotten recipes to explain how eight flavors changed how Americans eat. |
| Thursday, February 16, 2017 The Women Who Made New York with Julie Scelfo, former staff writer for The New York Times, and Hallie Heald, freelance illustrator and stylist. This talk provides a dynamic introduction to the women behind our great city. |
| Tuesday, February 21, 2017 Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness with Peter Godfrey-Smith, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the City University of New York Graduate Center. This illustrated lecture combines science and philosophy with first-hand accounts of the remarkable intelligence of the octopus and explores how primitive organisms bobbing in the ocean began sending signals to each other and how these early forms of communication gave rise to the advanced nervous systems that permit cephalopods to change colors and human beings to speak. The author shares from his underwater adventures and sheds new light on the octopus brain, the human brain, and the evolution of consciousness. |
| Wednesday, February 22, 2017 Speaking American: How Y’all, Youse , and You Guys Talk: A Visual Guide with Josh Katz, graphics editor at "The New York Times." This illustrated lecture is a delightful exploration of American language, taking the audience on an extraordinary and beautiful tour through the American vernacular. |
| Thursday, February 23, 2017 New York Rock: From the Rise of The Velvet Underground to the Fall of CBGB with Steven Blush, music writer and bestselling author of "American Hardcore." This illustrated lecture explores the rock scene's half-century connection to New York. |
| Monday, February 27, 2017 Before the Fires: An Oral History of African American Life in the Bronx from the 1930s to the 1960s with Bob Gumbs, an artist, publisher, and author, and Mark Naison, Professor of History and African American Studies at Fordham University. This illustrated lecture tells the personal stories of seventeen African-American men and women who lived in the South Bronx before the social and economic decline of the area that began in the late 1960s. |
| Tuesday, February 28, 2017 Manhattan Churches with Richard Panchyk, author of 25 books, including "New York City Skyscrapers," "German New York City," "Catholic New York City," and "New York City History for Kids." This illustrated lecture celebrates the wonderful diversity of churches in New York City’s oldest borough. |
As always, we have many interesting and informative films, book discussions, and computer and technology classes on our program calendar. If you enjoy sitting back and listening to a good story, try our Story Time for Grown-ups. This month's theme is African-American Voices to celebrate Black History Month. If you like to share your literary discoveries with other readers, join us on Friday, February 10 for Open Book Night. The theme this month is Ain't Nothin' but a Love Thang. If you'd prefer a book discussion group, we hold a monthly Contemporary Classics Book Discussion. This month's book is The Hairdresser of Harare by Tendai Huchu. We are also excited to present a brand-new series at the library called Mid-Sentence: Writers in Conversation.
All of our programs and classes are free, so why not come and check one out? Hope to see you soon at the library!