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Preschool Story Time

Tuesday, January 21, 2020, 11:00 am

Share the fun of reading with your children ages 3-5 years old. Children and their grownups will explore stories and activities to encourage children to develop a lifelong love of reading and learning. These 30-to-40-minute programs are designed to promote language and listening skills, expand children’s imaginations and arouse their curiosity about the world around them.

Shakespeare Society: Richard III

Tuesday, January 21, 2020, 6:30 pm

Please join us for a discussion on Richard III. The Shakespeare Society is a monthly Shakespeare reading and discussion group. We meet on the third Tuesday of every month in the Conference Room. Series 2 will focus on Shakespeare's histories; the full reading list for Series 2 is as follows: Jan 21 | Richard III Feb. 18 | King John

Zumba Gold

Wednesday, January 22, 2020, 1:00 pm

A fun, easy to follow dance exercise class that meets Wednesdays 1 - 2 p.m. and Fridays 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. The class introduces easy-to-follow Zumba® moves at a lower intensity designed for older adults. Enjoy Latin-inspired movements that provide a great aerobic workout while also focusing on balance, range of motion and coordination.

Family Craft

Wednesday, January 22, 2020, 4:00 pm

Join us for arts & crafts in the children's area. We will provide supplies. Recommended for ages 5-10.

Ori Soltes Discussion Series: The Iliad and the film Troy (2004)

Wednesday, January 22, 2020, 6:30 pm

Join us for a lecture on The Iliad and the film Troy. Please see library staff for assistance with the reading materials, which are available upon request. All gatherings are from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the West End Library Conference Room or Large Meeting Room. About the Series The West End Library Friends Present: The 2020 Ori Z. Soltes Classical Book Discussion Series

Baby and Toddler Story Time

Thursday, January 23, 2020, 10:00 am

These 20-to-30-minute story times are full of books, songs, rhymes and finger plays for children birth to 2 years old. Baby and Toddler Story Time features more activity and movement than the Lap Time program. Children and their grownups are encouraged engage with the books and songs and to actively participate in the program. West End Library Baby and Toddler Story Time is a great way to introduce your child to language skills in a positive and fun environment.

Baby Lap Time

Thursday, January 23, 2020, 1:00 pm

A story time experience for our youngest library users and their caregivers. These 20-to-30-minute story times introduce books, songs, rhymes, tickles and bounces developmentally appropriate for children from birth to when they start walking. Baby Lap Time is a wonderful way to introduce your child to the joys of reading in a positive and fun atmosphere. This story time is designed so the baby will be in their caregiver’s lap and the grownup is actively involved in the program.

Shut Up & Write

Friday, January 24, 2020, 10:00 am

Come by for an hour of morning writing with fellow creative folks. Everyone works on their own thing. No obligation to share. Just show up and write! What to expect?

Zumba Gold

Friday, January 24, 2020, 11:30 am

Little Builders

Saturday, January 25, 2020, 10:00 am

Build, construct, and explore with blocks, DUPLOS, and LEGOs

Pages

Book Club Pick 'o the Month

'Lord of the Flies' by William Golding

The West End Fiction Book Club will meet Tuesday, May 19, 2015 at 12:30 p.m. to discuss Lord of the Flies by Nobel Prize-winning author William Golding.

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty

New Adult Grab Bag

All About That... Angst

Though there seem to be clear markers of the sub-genre, "New Adult Fiction" is a slightly contentious label. The term was coined to individuate books about people navigating an entry into the "real world" that follows high school and/or college.

Walt Whitman on Abraham Lincoln and Civil War Washington

A talk by a local expert

To commemorate the 150th anniversary of President Lincoln's assassination, Martin G. Murray, Founder, Washington Friends of Walt Whitman, will speak on the poet's reflections on the slain leader and on life in the wartime Capital, accompanied by slide illustations, on Tuesday, April 14, at 7 p.m., and in celebration of April as National Poetry Month.

West End Fiction Book Club Presents . . .

A tribute to America's best-loved poet

The West End Fiction Book Club will meet Tuesday, April 21 at 12:30 p.m. to read/discuss "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening," "The Road Not Taken," "Tuft of Flowers," "Birches," "Mending Wall," "Out, Out--," "Death of the Hired Man" and other poems by Robert Frost (1874-1963), in celebration of April as National Poetry Month.

Head shot of recently deceased poet Claudia Emerson

'Lament for the Makers'

A tribute to recently deceased poet Claudia Emerson and others

Please join us for a reading of poems in memory of Claudia Emerson (1957-2014), winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in poetry and former Poet Laureate of Virginia, as well as anecdotes and tributes to this remarkable and beloved poet, and with apologies to Scottish poet William Dunbar (c.1460-c.1513),

Weekly Online Trivia Contest!

Women's History Month

Join us in celebrating Women's History Month, and win fantastic prizes! Every Monday in March, a new trivia question will be posted on Twitter (@dcpl) and Facebook. Respond by Friday with the correct answer using #herstoryDCPL, and get entered to win a different prize each week! We'll reveal the correct answer at the end of the week.

Image of book cover for Kate Chopin's "The Awakening"

Book Club Pick of the Month

'The Awakening' by Kate Chopin

The West End Book Club will meet to discuss The Awakening by Kate Chopin, in celebration of March as Women's History Month. Copies are available a the library. Please pick one up and join us!

CANCELED: Abraham Lincoln and the Cosmos

A talk on the 16th president as an amateur astronomer

This event has been canceled due to a change in the speaker's travel plans. Commander Kirk R. Benson, Precise Time and Astometry Technical Lead, Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command, will speak on President Lincoln's interest in the heavens on Wednesday, March 11, at 7 p.m. in the library's meeting room.

Library Closed February 17

DC Public Library is closed Tuesday, Feb. 17 due to inclement weather.

Sonnet Reading

Celebrating the versatility, longevity, and flexibility of the sonnet form

Sonneteers, unite . . . and join us for a reading from the new Sonnet issue of Beltway Poetry Quarterly on Thursday, Jan. 22 at 7 p.m., featuring Washington, D.C.-based poets Holly Bass, Holly Karapetkova and Melanie Henderson. Editor Michael Gushue and Kim Roberts also will read selected poems from the issue, and Deborah Ager will host. Shakespeare, Spenser, and Petrarch as masters of the sonnet will attend in spirit :>)

West End Neighborhood Library