Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library - Central Library

DC Public Library Haiku Contest 2021

Do you HAIKU? Celebrate National Poetry Month this April by participating in our Haiku Contest! Click here to sign up. En abril, celebre el Mes Nacional de la Poesía participando en nuestro concurso de Creación de Haiku. Haga click aquí para entrar.

Poetry Month

Books to Measure Time By

With the imminent arrival of spring, it feels like maybe a bit of lightness has been entering folks’ collective consciousness.

The Score Collection: American Women in Music

For Women's History Month, check out a score to practice at home

Celebrate Women’s History Month and discover DC Public Library’s music score collection to inspire your creative side! With over 10,000 circulating scores, DC Public Library card holders can explore musical genres from classical to contemporary, rock, pop, jazz and everything in between.

Black and white photo of author Octavia Butler. The author is slightly smiling.

Octavia's Kin

The Lineage of Science Fiction/Fantasy Writers from the African Diaspora

The historical lack of gender and racial diversity among authors promoted by the Science Fiction/Fantasy book industry has not destroyed the creative imaginations of writers of African descent who embrace the genre. Black Science Fiction/Fantasy writers do indeed exist and have a kaleidoscope of stories to add to the field.

"Daughters of Jane" Meet & Greet

Introducing a new Regency Romance book club

Do you love Regency Romance or Victorian literature? Come meet like-minded literary souls as we celebrate the kickoff of Daughters of Jane on Tuesday, March 16 at 6 p.m. This will be the first in a series of yearlong celebrations of women authors and their influence. Starting each March, we will honor a new woman author as we read and chat throughout the year about her work, as well as the work of other writers who have been impacted by her.

Black Future Month Happy Hour

Join our Community Read & follow up with a fun chat

It is both Black History Month and Black Future Month at DC Public Library, so don't miss our Black Future Month Happy Hour! Join our Community Read of author N.K. Jemisin's How Long 'Til Black Future Month? On Friday, Feb. 19 at 6 p.m., we'll chat and share insights as we explore the worlds within Jemisin's short stories together.

Celebrating "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" Podcast

Annual MLK Library tradition returns as a virtual event

Pictured: Martin Luther King, Jr. with his son, Martin Luther King III, and Walter Fauntroy on March 12, 1967 in a convertible at the start of a parade at Dunbar High School that ended at Cardozo High School. King was in D.C. to promote Fauntroy's MICCO program and Shaw neighborhood development.

Bicycle Journeys

More Than Words

A reading list by and about America's Veterans

DC Public Library is honoring Veterans all month. Read along with us as we discover the stories of Veterans and books about their experiences as they walk the battlefield and the streets of home. Fiction

Morale Music: The War Years

DC Public Library has been honoring Veterans all month long with a variety of special events. The impact of music on the war weary at home and abroad is of special note. Through the years, American popular music has connected those serving overseas with memories of home and hope. Civilians back home often associated pop songs of a given era with life during wartime and family members fighting far from home. The music of three distinct eras had an emotional impact during a time of war. The Civil War