Upcoming Events
Showing 1 to 20 of 46
Amy Tan | The Backyard Bird Chronicles
Mon, April 29, 2024
7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library
TICKETS In conversation with Beth Kephart A “master of illusion, and one of the best storytellers around” (NPR), Amy Tan is the author of the beloved novels The Joy Luck Club , a finalist for the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award, for…
Virtual Event - Author Talk: Churchill's American Network
Tue, April 30, 2024
6:00 P.M.
Parkway Central Library
Join author Cita Stelzer in a discussion about her new book, Churchill's American Network: Winston Churchill and the Forging of the Special Relationship . Her work offers a revelatory portrait showing how the famed British statesman created a network of American colleagues and friends…
Dasha Kiper | Travelers to Unimaginable Lands: Stories of Dementia, the Caregivers, and the Human Brain
Tue, April 30, 2024
7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library
REGISTER In conversation with Dr. Jason Karlawish In partnership with the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society The clinical consulting director of support groups at The CaringKind (formerly The Alzheimer's Association), Dasha Kiper has an MA in clinical psychology from Columbia…
Karen Valby | The Swans of Harlem: Five Black Ballerinas, Fifty Years of Sisterhood, and Their Reclamation of a Groundbreaking History
Thu, May 2, 2024
7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library
REGISTER Featuring: Lydia Abarça, Sheila Rohan, Marcia Sells, and Karlya Shelton In conversation with Shelly Power, The Dr. Carolyn Newsom Executive Director, Philadelphia Ballet Karen Valby ’s The Swans of Harlem tells the remarkable and—until…
Erik Larson | The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War
Sun, May 5, 2024
7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library
TICKETS “America’s most compelling popular historian” (The Christian Science Monitor) , Erik Larson is the bestselling author of eight critically acclaimed books, including The Splendid and the Vile , a chronicle of Winston Churchill and London during the…
Liz Montague Author Visit
Tue, May 7, 2024
10:30 A.M.
Parkway Central Library
Liz Montague will be visiting The Free Library of Philadelphia in celebration of the release of The Equinox Test (School for Unusual Magic # 1)! Liz Montague began as a cartoonist for The New Yorker in 2019. She is the author-illustrator of the graphic novel memoir Maybe an Artist, which was…
Sephardic Culinary Heritage: Conversation and Reception with Helene Jawhara Piñer and Mike Solomonov
Tue, May 7, 2024
6:00 P.M.
Parkway Central Library
Celebrate Jewish American Heritage Month at the Free Library of Philadelphia with two renowned Culinarians, Dr Helene Jawhara Piñer and Chef Mike Solomonov . In conversation in the Skyline Room, Piñer and Solomonov will deep dive into the culinary heritage of Sephardim- Jews…
Renée Watson | skin & bones: A Novel
Wed, May 8, 2024
7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library
REGISTER In conversation with Jeannine Cook, owner of Harriett’s Bookshop and Ida’s Books Renée Watson is the no. 1 New York Times bestselling author of 15 young adult books, including Piecing Me Together , which earned a Coretta Scott King…
Author Talk: Local History and Literacy Exploration with Charles Wiedenmann
Thu, May 9, 2024
6:00 P.M.
Parkway Central Library
Literature enthusiasts, readers, and fans will have the chance to dive into local author Charles Wiedenmann’s Lawndale: Stories from my Youth: Growing up in Northeast Philadelphia in the 60s and 70s, and Down the Shore - Stories from my Summers in Wildwood in the 70s. Learn about the…
Frank Bruni | The Age of Grievance
Thu, May 9, 2024
7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library
TICKETS In conversation with Karen Heller, former national features writer and current contributor for The Washington Post, formerly a metro and features columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, and a finalist for the 2001 Pulitzer Prize in commentary. A journalist…
Jen Psaki | Say More: Lessons from Work, the White House, and the World
Fri, May 10, 2024
7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library
TICKETS An “unflappable and genial point-person” ( The New York Times ), Jen Psaki served as the thirty-fourth White House Press Secretary under President Biden until May 2022. Currently the host of MSNBC’s Sunday afternoon and Monday evening program, …
Author Event: Stephanie Feldman
Mon, May 13, 2024
5:30 A.M.
Falls of Schuylkill Library
Join Stephanie Feldman for a reading and Q & Q about her most recent novel, Saturnalia , a fantasy-thriller set in a near-future Philadelphia. Stephanie Feldman is also the author of the award-winning novel The Angel of Losses . She teaches fiction writing at Acadia…
Artist Talk: Linda Gail Sanders and Her Deep Rivers Mural
Mon, May 13, 2024
5:00 P.M.
Joseph E. Coleman Northwest Regional Library
Germantown artist Linda Gail Sanders discusses her mural, Deep Rivers, which tells the story of 19th century African American historical figures and their notable accomplishments. Sanders chose six figures to commemorate: composer and band leader Francis Johnson, physician…
Colm Tóibín | Long Island: A Novel
Mon, May 13, 2024
7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library
TICKETS “His generation’s most gifted writer of love’s complicated, contradictory power” (Los Angeles Times) , Colm Tóibín is the author of an impressive list of novels, short stories, essays, plays, poetry, and criticism. His novels The…
Claire Messud | This Strange Eventful History: A Novel
Wed, May 15, 2024
7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library
REGISTER In conversation with Laura McGrath, Assistant Professor of English at Temple University “Among our greatest contemporary writers” ( The Miami Herald ), Claire Messud is the author of The Emperor’s Children , a cutting portrait of life among…
Paul Hendrickson | Fighting the Night: Iwo Jima, WW II and a Flyer’s Life
Thu, May 16, 2024
7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library
REGISTER In conversation with Wil Haygood Paul Hendrickson ’s books include Sons of Mississippi , winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award; Hemingway’s Boat: Everything He Loved in Life, and Lost, 1934–1961 , a National Book Critics Circle Award…
Imagine More Story Adventures with Thembi Palmer
Fri, May 17, 2024
12:30 P.M.
Fishtown Community Library
Join the ever amazing Thembi Palmer of Imagine More: Story Adventures for a fantastic story time! Thembi Palmer is committed to promoting literacy by developing a love of reading and books in young children, pre-K through 4th grade. She collaborates with Philadelphia schools, libraries, museums,…
George Stephanopoulos | The Situation Room: The Inside Story of Presidents in Crisis
Fri, May 17, 2024
7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library
TICKETS Meelya Gordon Memorial Lecture In conversation with Tamala Edwards, anchor, 6abc Action News morning edition. ABC News’ Chief Anchor, the host of This Week with George Stephanopoulos , and co-anchor of Good Morning America , George Stephanopoulos joined…
Author Event | In Whose Ruins: Power, Possession, and the Landscapes of American Empire
Tue, May 21, 2024
6:00 P.M.
Parkway Central Library
Room 108 Historian Alicia Puglionesi will discuss her latest book, which Kirkus called “ a first-rate work of historical research and storytelling. ” Winding through the US landscape, from Native American earthworks in the Ohio Valley to the Manhattan Project in New Mexico,…
Daniel Schlozman and Sam Rosenfeld | The Hollow Parties: The Many Pasts and Disordered Present of American Party Politics
Tue, May 21, 2024
7:30 P.M.
Parkway Central Library
REGISTER In conversation with author and Pennsylvania State Senator, Nikil Saval In The Hollow Parties , Daniel Schlozman and Sam Rosenfeld present a comprehensive history of the rise of American mass party politics through the Jacksonian era up through the years of Barack Obama to the…