Faire on the Square

This Saturday is Watertown’s Annual Faire on the Square. This year, we’re participating with several events based on our community reading program, One Book, One Watertown.

Because we’ve been reading Jhumpa Lahiri’s novel, The Namesake, all three events we have planned celebrate Indian culture:

Taal Tales Dancing: Learn about traditional Indian dancing with Tara Ahmed.
Saturday, September 27 at 11: 30 AM

This 45-minute lecture/demonstration presents a history of classical South Indian dance and performances of dance pieces celebrating various deities. You will see analogies between art from India and America, and learn to understanding parallels between art forms and cultures. In this highly interactive program, the participants are engaged by asking and answering questions throughout the entire program. A small group is invited to get up to learn some movement, and there is a Question & Answer period at the end of the program.

Henna Tattoos: Get your own henna tattoo with Sue Murad.
Saturday, September 27 starting at 2 PM

Express your appreciation for Indian culture on your skin. Visual artist Sue Murad specializes in hand drawing these gorgeous henna tattoos that will last about two weeks. The Watertown Free Public Library has invited “Henna Sue” to help us celebrated Faire on the Square and One Book, One Watertown.

Drop In Crafts: Learn how to make Indian Block Prints in an event hosted by our Children’s Department.
Saturday, September 27 from 2-4 PM.

The Children’s Department will host Open Craft from 2-4 pm in the Watertown Savings Bank Room. Stop by to learn about Indian Block Printing and make your own print!

One Book, One Watertown Report!

We kicked off our first ever One Book One Watertown Community Read with a talk by Professor Bakirathi Mani, who teaches at Swarthmore College.  About 70 people attended the event, nearly filling up the room.  After Professor Mani spoke about the Namesake and Jhumpa Lahiri, people asked questions, and told their own family stories of immigration and relocation.

It was a great event, and we’d like to thank everyone for attending.  Hopefully we’ll see you all again next Saturday, September 27th for the events we have planned for Faire on the Square.

Bakirathi Mani Kicks Off One Book, One Watertown

Next week will finally see the official start to the events for our community reading program, One Book, One Watertown.

Swarthmore College Professor, Bakirathi Mani, will visit the library to give an engaging lecture on The Namesake and Jhumpa Lahiri.

Bakirathi Mani is a professor at Swarthmore College, and the Chair of their Women’s Studies Department. She has Pd.D.s in Modern Thought and Literature and Cultural and Social Anthropology, and specializes in studying the South Asian diaspora in the United States. As such, she is a scholarly authority on Jhumpa Lahiri and her works.

Refreshments will be provided for guests by our own cafe.  No registration required.

One Book, One Watertown Events

Are you looking forward to September?  You will be when you see the finalized list of events we’re putting on for our One Book, One Watertown program.

• SEPTEMBER 18 AT 7 PM:  Swarthmore College Professor Bakirathi Mani will kick- off the events with a lecture on Jhumpa Lahiri and the book, The Namesake.
• SEPTEMBER 24 AT 10 AM: Senior Center Book Discussion
• SEPTEMBER 25 AT 6:30 PM: Teen Book Discussion
• SEPTEMBER 27 AT 11:30 AM: Taal Tales Dancing – Learn traditional Indian dances with Tara Ahmed
• SEPTEMBER 27 AT 2 PM: Henna Tattoos with Sue Murad
• SEPTEMBER 27 AT 2-4 PM: Drop In Crafts hosted by the Children’s Department – learn how to make Indian block prints.
• OCTOBER 1 AT 7 PM: Adult Book Discussion
• OCTOBER 5 AT 1 PM: Film Screening of The Namesake and Discussion with Anne Benaquist
• OCTOBER 7 AT 12 PM: Brown Bag Lunch Book Discussion
• OCTOBER 9 AT 7 PM: Food Tasting and Lecture provided by Tamarind Bay

We’ll have more information on each event soon, so keep an eye on this space for updates!

The Namesake is In!

All of the new copies of the Namesake are now in, so come in and get your copy to read, or place a request online. They’re all brand new, clean, and easy to carry paperbacks, so you can take your copy with you to read on the bus, train, or, if you’re very coordinated, while you’re walking around town.

The events for this program will kick off in September, so you have over a month to read the acclaimed book by Jhumpa Lahiri, if you haven’t already.

One Book, One Watertown

This fall, the library is going to launch a community reading program for Watertown called “One Book One Watertown.”

Thanks to a grant from the Watertown Community Foundation and funding from the Library Building Foundation, we’ll be able to buy enough copies of Jhumpa Lahiri’s exiting novel, The Namesake, for everyone in town to read. And we mean everyone! So, stop by over the next couple of months and pick up a copy, because starting in the fall, we’ll be having book discussions, special events, lectures, crafts, food and more.

If you aren’t tempted yet, let me tell you a little bit more about the book. The Namesake is a family history, encompassing two generations of the Ganguli family, an immigrant family that gains and loses more than they expect in their pursuit of the American Dream. There’s the father, Ashoke Ganguli, who leaves Calcutta with his wife Ashima to settle in Central Square, in Cambridge, and their two children, Gogol and Sonali. The book is primarily concerned with the son, Gogol, and how he struggles against his parents cultural values, even though he shares them more than he thinks.

The New York Times called the book, “that rare thing: an intimate, closely observed family portrait that effortlessly and discreetly unfolds to disclose a capacious social vision.”

So get reading! More updates will be posted as we finalize event dates, so stay tuned.

Poetry Reading: Kathleen Spivack

Date: Saturday, June 7

Time: 2:30 PM

Location: Watertown Savings Bank Room, in the Watertown Free Public Library

Longtime Watertown resident and internationally acclaimed poet, Kathleen Spivack, will be coming to the library to read from her work, including her newest collection of poetry, Moments of Past Happiness.

If you aren’t familiar with her work, the library has several of her books on hand for you to take a peak at before the event, including The Beds We Lie In, Flying Inland, The Honeymoon: Stories, The Jane Poems, and Swimmer in the Spreading Dawn. All of these titles are on display on the second floor of the library.

Her newest collection of poetry, Moments of Past Happiness, was created in collaboration with editor and bookstore ownder, Ifeanyi Menkiti, and illustrator Karyl Klopp, both of whom also have deep roots in the Boston poetry community. Copies of the book will be available at the presentation for purchase, and at the reception following.

Apo Torosyan presents his documentary film, Voices

The Watertown Free Public Library is hosting the first of several presentations from Filmmaker’s Collaborative on Thursday, May 22nd at 7 PM.

A gripping documentary film of four interviews with survivors of the Armenian and Greek genocide, Voices tells the stunning tale of a million and a half people who were tortured, starved, and murdered by the Turkish government from 1915 to 1923. The presentation will include a question and answer session with director Apo Torosyan. Sponsored by the Filmmakers Collaborative and the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

In Voices, Apo interviewed three survivors of the Armenian Genocide and one survivor of the Greek Genocide. These mass murders of innocent civilians between 1915 and 1923 in Turkey claimed the lives of 1.5 million Armenian and 1 million Greek and Assyrian citizens. The Turkish government still has not officially recognized these crimes against humanity.

Linda Merlino and Belly of the Whale

We have a lot of events going on in May, and one of the first one’s coming up is Linda Merlino’s author talk.  Merlino’s first book, Swan Boat Souvenir, was set in Boston and enjoyed a lot of local success.   Her newest book Belly of the Whale (April 2008), is also already highly recommended by reviewers.

The novel is about a young woman with breast cancer, Hudson Catalina, and the day she gives up hope – only to be taken hostage by a murderer more deadly than her disease.  Joann DiFabio of Identity Magazine says that Belly of the Whale “…is smartly crafted with the perfect combination of sympathy, suspense, and sentiment.”

So come to the library on May 5 at 7 PM to meet Linda Merlino and hear her read from Belly of the Whale.

The Green World of Watertown

On Wednesday, April 23rd at 7 PM, Carole Berney will be coming to the Watertown Free Public Library to reprise her excellent show, The Green World of Watertown.

This multimedia presentation celebrates, appreciates, and urges us to care for the natural spaces and wildlife in our town. Carole’s color photographic images of the Charles River, Mount Auburn Cemetery, and other public parks and private spaces (including gardens, trees, wildflowers, and wildlife that make these their home) will feature some humorous and surprising stories of animal encounters in our densely settled, semi-urban setting. Also celebrated will be local “green” efforts on the part of citizens and organizations to enhance the environmental health of our natural resources.

If you’ve attended previous performances, feel free to attend again. Or, tell your friends!