West End
Neighborhood Library

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.

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 :>)

Image of book cover for Stephen A. Hansen's "History of Dupont Circle"

'A History of Dupont Circle: Center of High Society in the Capital'

A talk by author Stephen A. Hansen

Please join us Tuesday, Jan. 20, at 7 p.m. in the meeting room for a talk by Stephen A. Hansen, longtime D.C. resident, architectural historian, historic preservation specialist, and author of A History of Dupont Circle: Center of High Society in the Capital (History Press, 2014).

Image of book cover for George Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four"

Big Brother Is Watching . . .

A discussion of '1984' by George Orwell

The West End Fiction Book Club will meet Tuesday, Jan. 20, at 12:30 p.m. to discuss George Orwell's classic novel 1984, in keeping with system-wide programming on the topic of government transparency and personal privacy in the digital age. Copies are available at the branch. Please pick one up and join us!

West End Neighborhood Library