SPRING 2021 OFF THE SHELF A LOOK INSIDE BROOKLYN PUBLIC LIBRARY FEATURE A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT upgraded fleet of flexible, tech-savvy Bookmobiles will bring WiFi as well as March marks one year since our city A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT books throughout the borough. And our went into lockdown and our lives—and librarians continue to provide one-on-one Library—totallyThis summer, transformed. tens of thousands Twelve of phone training for older adults Zooming monthsBlack later, Lives our librarians Matter protesters and staff gathered for the very first time. “After six months on the steps of Central Library to BPL POET- are still finding new ways to reach of being alone… your wonderful classes Brooklynitesdemand across racial the justice distance. in our city and came to me,” one of them recently wrote. across the nation. As painful as it is We are now providing grab-and-go lobby “I again began to feel that I am still a IN-RESIDENCE BPL Poet-in-Residence Cyrée Jarelle Johnson to confront the racism that continues service at 48 neighborhood libraries, person able to create, to learn, and to to shape our country and its many BPL, in collaboration with Brooklyn where patrons can pick up books, job interact socially with a new group of the 2020 Lambda Literary Award in institutions, including our own, it has Poet Laureate Tina Chang, has named search kits, arts and crafts supplies, and understanding people.” Gay Poetry. Johnson earned an MFA in also renewed our sense of purpose as Cyrée Jarelle Johnson as the Library’s more. Hundreds of thousands of children, Creative Writing from Columbia University a public library. There is perhaps no Against the odds, Brooklyn Public first ever Poet-in-Residence. teens, adults and older adults continue with support from the Davis-Putter institution better poised to help peopleLibrary continues to ensure that every to tune into our virtual programs, from Scholarship Fund. understand our shared past and move Brooklynite has the resources and The Poet-in-Residence program offers financial coaching to grief support toward a genuinely democratic future.opportunities they need to create, to the recipient space at BPL’s Central Johnson noted, “A lot of my poetry groups to writing workshops with our first learn and to find their community. Library, research support, a stipend education focused on individual poems To that end, hundreds of our librarians ever Poet-in-Residence. and mentorship. The program, which of first books. I can’t wait to explore and library staff joined virtual was initiated by Chang, is designed to what comes after that with Tina’s For thoseconversations without affordable about how broadband BPL can enhance the Library’s poetry collections guidance. I hope to make the most of at home,cultivate we’re ain culture the midst of racial of installing justice and programs while amplifying the mentorship by completing my second rooftopwithin antennas our institution on 46 branches and every which Linda E. Johnson voices of Brooklyn writers in the service and third manuscripts tentatively entitled will extendneighborhood free, reliable we WiFiserve, into and the formed a President & CEO of positive change and social justice. Psychedelica and Travesties respectively. surroundingDiversity communities. Council to translateSoon, our ideas into Eligible candidates had to demonstrate I also look forward to planning events action. residency in Brooklyn and have no more that bring disabled poetics to a wider As you will see in this issue of Off the than one published collection. Nearly 80 audience, particularly in a city as Shelf, despite the ongoing pandemic, applicants were evaluated on originality, inaccessible as New York can be.” In This Issue Brooklyn Public Library continues to skill, vision and commitment to literary Poet-in-Residence ...... 01 The Poet-in-Residence is made possible by the take action. At the Center for Brooklyn civic engagement. Outlining the qualities Academy of American Poets with funds from Older Adults...... 02 History, we are democratizing access. that led to Johnson’s selection, Chang the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. BookMatch...... 04 stated, “Cyrée’s powerful intelligence, Below is an excerpt from Johnson’s “an eight Bklyn Reach ...... 05 commitment to underrepresented year old with asperger’s contemplates suicide” Today’s Teens, Tomorrow’s Techies & communities, loyalty to teaching and when I was a child on the lips of the woods Librarians of Tomorrow...... 06 research, and undeniable talent in the preachers lectured on Jonah’s hubris and I’d think I don’t need to know this BrooklynologyLinda E.. .Johnson ...... 08 field of poetry demonstrates all that is I just wanted to live in the sea. no good Grab & PresidentGo Programming & CEO...... 10 possible now.” was religion, I’d set my inner visions Donor Spotlight...... 12 on the brooks and the rivers A poet and writer, Johnson’s work has BPL Presents ...... 13 that drained in the sea—a giver appeared in The New York Times, Boston who held us imprisoned, but diluted their poisons All photos, unless indicated, by Gregg Richards Review, Vice, Rewire News and The Root, with conch shells and salt memory. in play-doh Cover: Valentine’s Day grab-and-go craft kits at among other publications. Slingshot, his and felt I’d sculpt blue whale and narwhal, Bay Ridge Library so deeply I felt first collection of poetry, was awarded I belonged to the sea Inside front cover: A wall of patrons’ Valentine’s Day notes to BPL at Greenpoint Library
OFF THE SHELF SPRING 2021 1 FEATURE
Floral arranging at Carroll Gardens Library Detail from a Landscape Painting class (pre-pandemic)
English and Chinese), Chair Yoga, The highly popular Books by Mail program, American Sign Language, Falls Prevention run by Coordinator Judith Blaise, provides (held in English, Spanish and Russian), books, audiobooks and videos to people Latin Dance: Salsa and Merengue, who are homebound or have a visual Charcoal Drawing and Thanksgiving disability. The program was on hiatus in the from a Lenape Perspective, conducted in spring and summer but resumed in the fall. SERVICES partnership with the Lenape Center. Creative Aging art classes, with support from the Sills Family Foundation and Apple Because many older patrons were Bank, also moved online and continue not familiar with virtual platforms, SOA to offer an essential lifeline to Brooklyn’s staff provided one-on-one assistance FOR older adults. over the phone to directly assist those encountering challenges accessing In the words of Fay N., one of the programs online. A writing program Creative Aging participants: OLDER ADULTS at Midwood Library called “What’s Your Story?... We’d like to know!” was “I cannot adequately express my For older adults, the challenge of staying connected conducted via teleconferencing to ensure thanks for Brooklyn Public Library’s has been amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic. all participants could have access. Creative Aging program. After six
It has not been easy for any of us to devising innovative strategies to reach out SOA also launched Telephone Buddies, months of being alone and depressed, readjust our lives to the restrictions and to older Brooklynites. an initiative that pairs BPL staff members your offer of wonderful classes came necessary safety measures brought on with older patrons to make weekly Led by Lyman Clayborn, Coordinator of to me…I again began to feel that I by the COVID-19 pandemic. But for older check-in calls. Since the program,s launch Services for Older Adults, the committed am still a person able to create, to adults, many of whom are not familiar in May, BPL has made over 2,200 calls. To staff of SOA have worked with librarians at with current technology or have limited reach older adults who may not be regular learn and to interact socially with a branches across the BPL system to adapt access to it, the situation has been even library users, SOA partnered with the New new group of understanding people.” and develop new programs for virtual more challenging. York City Housing Authority to install BPL platforms targeting older adults with a apps and programs on the tablets NYCHA In order to assist older adults in remaining range of interests and needs. Offerings To learn more about BPL’s provides to their older residents in order to engaged and connected to the world, have included: Finances in Difficult Times, Services for Older Adults and help them them more easily connect to the BPL’s Services for Older Adults (SOA) a James Baldwin Birthday Celebration, our upcoming programs, Library’s offerings. department has been hard at work Landscape Painting (conducted in both visit: bklynlibrary.org/ outreach/older-adults
2 OFF THE SHELF SPRING 2021 OFF THE SHELF SPRING 2021 3 BKLYN BKLYN REACH: BOOKMATCH WOMEN’S EXPANDING WI-FI HISTORY BEYOND THE BRANCHES MONTH Internet access is a lifeline for those applying for jobs, completing schoolwork or accessing trusted To date, thanks to the generosity of EDITION information and social services. About individuals, private foundations and a third of Brooklyn households lack corporations, Bklyn Reach has been wireless internet at home and two- implemented at over 20 BPL branches, thirds of those households lack cellular with priority given to neighborhoods To celebrate the 2021 iteration of Women’s History Month, this booklist, created by BPL data plans. When the Library closed most adversely impacted by the digital librarian Juanita James, features books that celebrate the contributions, sacrifices and its branches a year ago in response divide. Over the next few months, Bklyn triumphs of women from all walks of life, backgrounds and nationalities. BookMatch is a to COVID-19, one of the ongoing Reach will be extended to over 50 readers’ advisory service that uses what readers like (and dislike) to create customized concerns was how to continue branches. Look for the distinctive Bklyn reading recommendations based on the interests or needs of patrons. You can request your offering essential digital connectivity Reach banner outside participating own BookMatch list here: bklynlibrary.org/bookmatch to communities. In the previous fiscal locations or search for the network year, patrons logged over 1.2M WiFi name Brooklyn Public Library in your Kamala Harris: When I Was Puerto Rican A Black Women’s History of sessions at our 59 locations. With Rooted in Justice Esmeralda Santiago the United States WiFi settings on your phone, tablet branches closed since March 2020, Nikki Grimes A young woman’s journey from Daina Ramey Berry & or computer. There is no password Kali Nicole Gross patrons have acutely felt the loss Discover the profound story of a the mango groves and barrios of needed. Just log in and enjoy the young daughter of immigrants who Puerto Rico to Brooklyn, NY, and A history that emphasizes the of internet access. In fact, since our perspectives and stories of African internet on us! grows up to be the first Black- eventually to Harvard University. closure, BPL has recorded between South Asian woman elected as American women and shows Vice President of the United States. Legendary Children: The First how they are and have always 1,000-1,600 WiFi sessions per day from Decade of RuPaul’s Drag been instrumental in shaping patrons still accessing our WiFi from In Praise of Difficult Women: Race and the Last Century of our country. Life Lessons from 29 Heroines Queer Life library stoops. Who Dared to Break the Rules Tom Fitzgerald & Good Talk: A Memoir in Karen Karbo Lorenzo Marquez Conversations In response to this heightened need, An ode to the smart, sassy and An examination and illustration of Mira Jacob BPL has launched Bklyn Reach. unapologetically feminine women queer life in the modern age and This memoir delves into the difficult Through the installation of access of modern history. how it is tied to specific aspects conversations about race, sex, love
and/or certain legendary figures of and family that seem unavoidable points on the roof of branch buildings, A mother and son using BPL’s free WiFi outside The Last Girl: My Story of queer cultural history. in these strange times, and does BPL is able to extend its wireless Captivity, and My Fight of Flatbush Library. so with humor and uniquely internet signal up to 300 feet in all Against the Islamic State Blood Letters: The Untold graphic recollections. Bklyn Reach: Expanding WiFi Beyond the Branches Nadia Murad Story of Lin Zhao, a Martyr in directions, allowing the public to is generously supported by The JPB Foundation, The Charles H. Revson Foundation, Robin Hood This autobiography describes the Mao’s China connect from outside the branch 24 Lian Xi Foundation, Schmidt Futures, Goldman Sachs, harrowing account of how Murad hours a day. Brooklynites can use Solomon Wilson Family Foundation, 1834 Project, was captured and enslaved by the The fascinating story of Lin Zhao, Get your own Andrea Bozzo & John Martinez, Nancy & Chad Islamic State during the Second a poet, journalist and devout BookMatch list at these networks to obtain online access Dickerson, Jodi Green & Mike Halperin, Karoly & bklynlibrary.org/ for school, work and more. Hank Gutman, Jill Simeone & Stephen Kitts, E. Wachs Iraqi Civil War. Christian who was arrested by the Family Foundation and Anonymous (2). Chinese authorities in 1960 and bookmatch imprisoned, tortured and executed by the regime. Learn more at 4 OFF THE SHELF SPRING 2021 bklynlibrary.org/reach OFF THE SHELF SPRING 2021 5 FEATURE BPL makes a special effort to engage, The Librarians of Tomorrow internship inform and entertain teenagers, whose program serves 10th–12th grade students use of the Library can drop when they and includes an October–June internship enter high school. Programs include for 55 teens and a summer internship for gaming clubs, anime and graphic design 10 of them. Interns participate in workshops Today’s Teens, workshops, and book discussion groups. and field trips covering valuable leadership, Two of our most popular and successful communication, work and college Tomorrow’s Techies teen programs—Today’s Teens, readiness skills, and are placed in branches Tomorrow’s Techies and Librarians of or an administrative department where they Tomorrow—provide Brooklyn teens learn about the work of library staff with the with opportunities to learn valuable guidance of trained staff mentors. skills, gain practical experience in real work environments and make direct Librarians of Tomorrow teens assist in contributions to their neighborhoods. a variety of BPL departments including the Business & Career Center, Outreach Today’s Teens, Tomorrow’s Techies is Services, Strategic Planning and Volunteer a year-long internship that provides Resources, and also help out with special Librarians Brooklyn youth with hands-on training events such as outreach for the 2020 and meaningful volunteer experiences. Census and our annual Summer Reading of Tomorrow For teens who love technology and want to program. In addition, each teen creates make a difference in their community, the a capstone project based on an area of program introduces them to the information interest that dovetails with the Library’s technology field and the experience of overall mission. Past projects focused providing direct support to the public. on topics ranging from activism, college readiness and meditation to origami and Each year, 80-90 teens attend an intensive LGBTQ teen wellness. two-week Summer Technology Institute and are then placed at a BPL branch (or at Over 200 teens have participated in Central Library’s Information Commons), the program since it launched in 2017. where they help patrons use library computers and printers, set up email As a recent participant noted, “This accounts, navigate the internet and use experience has given me insight as basic software. Teens are mentored by a to how it is in the real world. I have BPL staff member who also helps them learned valuable social skills and had the create their own technology training opportunity to meet so many people and workshop designed to meet a specific be a part of my community.” community need (for instance, How to Use Google, Understanding Internet Security, Librarians of Tomorrow is made possible through the etc.). Since it began in 2004, the program generous support of the Institute of Museum and Library has provided training, leadership skills Services, the Charles Hayden Foundation and the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation. Today’s Teens, Tomorrow’s and volunteer experience to over 1,500 Techies is made possible through the generous support of The Hearst Foundation, Altice USA and NYC’s Mayor’s Brooklyn youth ages 14-18 who in turn have Office of Chief Technology Officer through the NYC helped thousands of Brooklynites with their Connected Communities program. Additional funding is provided by the Novack Family Foundation and the technology needs. Pinkerton Foundation.
6 OFF THE SHELF SPRING 2021 OFF THE SHELF SPRING 2021 7 Teens participating in a Librarians of Tomorrow opening forum event at Central Library (pre-pandemic) participating in a Librarians of Tomorrow Teens BR0OKLYNOLOGY other U.S. public libraries. The program Dyker Heights Civic Association and the assists public libraries in beginning or Coney Island Polar Bear Club (part of continuing their web archiving efforts. the Brooklyn Organizations & Projects collection). Local politicans’ websites and For its part in the project, BPL’s Twitter feeds are also archived in the initial focus was on archiving entire Brooklyn Politics collection. newsletters, given that in recent years most local news publications have Web archiving is still very new relative WEB ARCHIVING moved exclusively online. Priority was to other kinds of archiving. The goal of given to smaller, more local sites that the Community Webs program is to help SAVING BROOKLYN’S WEB are accessed frequently in our collection initiate this work at public libraries across but may also be at a higher risk of the country. As more of civic life moves AT BPL CONTENT ONE URL AT A TIME disappearing. Examples of sites saved online, archiving the digital presence include the Brooklyn Heights Blog, of local institutions and organizations Gowanus Lounge and Hey Ridge (all becomes ever more important, ensuring Did you know that Brooklyn Public a link that led to a defunct web page has part of the Brooklyn Blogs collection) as that future scholars will have the primary Library has a web archive? In 2017, experienced this firsthand. It’s one of the well as web pages associated with the materials to write the history of our time. the Brooklyn Collection (now part of consequences of the dynamic and ever- West Indian Day Carnival Association, the new Center for Brooklyn History) changing nature of the internet. joined Internet Archive’s Community Webs program and has been archiving Internet Archive is an American Brooklyn web content ever since. non-profit digital library that
Web archiving is the process by which provides free public access to websites and web content are saved and much of its vast collections. preserved in a stable and static archival A signature feature of the Internet Leave Your Legacy for format. A tool called a web crawler Archive is the Wayback Machine, which digitally “crawls” through a website’s has archived more than 430 billion (!) LEARNING & DISCOVERY many layers to document and save its web pages. You can type in any URL content. Though popular belief is that the Remembering Brooklyn Public Library in your and if it’s been archived, you can view internet is forever, in reality the average will or estate plan secures your legacy while past versions of that site by the date lifespan of a website is only 100 days. supporting the Library’s important work. it was captured. In 2017, the Internet Thus even as the internet enables us to Planned donations of any size can make a Archive launched the Community Webs create information at an unprecedented significant impact on the Library’s future. program. BPL was awarded a place in the rate, we’re also losing more information Community Webs cohort, along with 26 To learn about creating your own will and than ever before. Anyone who’s clicked estate plan, join us for a free virtual seminar. Estate Planning Basics Tuesday, April 27 at 12 pm on Zoom RSVP required: [email protected] or call 718.230.2009 For more information about including BPL as a beneficiary of your will, estate plan or financial accounts, please visit bklynlib.org/planned-giving
8 OFF THE SHELF SPRING 2021 OFF THE SHELF SPRING 2021 9 FEATURE
GRAB & GO KIT
grab & go kits containing a variety of art supplies. BPL provides some kits directly to senior centers that distribute them GRAB & GO to members but also makes individuals kits available for pick-up outside of neighborhood libraries. PROGRAMS There are grab & go kits for teens as BPL’s Business & Career Center provides well. DeKalb Library recently offered an grab & go kits for job seekers at all open online Zoom workshop featuring a local branches and at Central Library. These How do you go to the library when you One example is Walt Whitman Library’s artist who taught teens how to make essential kits include resume templates can’t go to the library? You “grab & go!” Make Your Own Puppet Monster series, 3D pop-up cards using colored paper and job search tips as well as referrals While 48 BPL branches currently offer which offers a grab & go kit that includes that the kits provided. Bay Ridge Library to support organizations and training limited lobby service, due to ongoing a paper bag, colored feathers, pom has also offered several online guided opportunities. safety concerns patrons still cannot poms, pipe cleaners, googly eyes and craft sessions for older teens and adults, browse our shelves or attend programs glue sticks. A video on the Walt Whitman including programs on sculpture using in person. But thanks to the ingenuity of Library Facebook page guides children To date, nearly 100 programs air-dry clay kits. our amazing librarians and programming in creating their own paper bag monster have provided over 2,500 staff, patrons currently have access puppet. Similarly, Arlington Library has But grab & go is not just for young people. to a wide range of “grab & go” kits for offered a bilingual Storytime and Crafts A perfect example is the Drawing and individuals with a grab & go kit! interactive storytimes, adult learning program with grab & go bags that provide Painting Memories of Home program at classes, arts and crafts programs, job Opposite page: grab & go coloring kits at The Annex; books in English and Spanish along with Paerdegat Library aimed at older adults. This page clockwise from left: grab & go Make Your search assistance and more. craft supplies so that children can read This three-session program features Own Puppet Monster kits at Walt Whitman Library; along and then participate in a craft activity grab & go Make Your Own Mini-Robot kits at Caribbean and Asian artists who share Bay Ridge Library; Picking up a grab & go kit at related to the story. At Bay Ridge Library, memories of their homelands and Central Library kits have featured elements that staff immigrant experiences through online created using the branch’s 3D printer for visual art instruction and provides online guided craft sessions including making dinosaur keychains and toy robots.
10 OFF THE SHELF SPRING 2021 OFF THE SHELF SPRING 2021 11 DONOR SPOTLIGHT: HOWARD SCHULTZ
Unless otherwise noted, all events are virtual or take place at Central Library’s Plaza. For Howard Schultz, former ceo and chairman emeritus of Starbucks, visiting the library was a formative experience when he was growing up in Brooklyn. But those visits might not be what you imagine. As he recounted in his book, From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America, “During elementary school, [my mother] often picked me up after school and we’d walk hand in hand to a windowless little truck with LIBRARY ON WHEELS painted on its sides. Through a door behind the The project considers the many registers back wheel of the vehicle, I would enter of personal and public experience, as they become living history. Taken together, each a mobile library whose packed shelves element of The Parts develops an alterna- gave me access to worlds beyond tive archive capturing and processing the my own.” shared context of national current events, © Texas Isaiah including the deaths of George Floyd and That little truck was a circa 1960s EXHIBITION Breonna Taylor, social resistance move- BPL Bookmobile that regularly visited BPL Bookmobile circa 1960s and the newest addition to the Bookmobile fleet ments and pandemic flashpoints. Schultz’s childhood neighborhood in The Parts constitutes an unusually intimate Canarsie, Brooklyn. Despite the hardships branch. A rooftop antenna provides free CHLOË BASS: form of public address, inviting all of us to of his youth, the wonder and value of WiFi for anyone within a 300-foot radius, reflect on how personal and public histories the experience stayed with him and he and portable tables, chairs and umbrellas THE PARTS intersect and providing language and recently returned the favor by contributing create welcoming outdoor public spaces May 8 – September 20, 2021 feeling through which to process the crises funds to purchase the newest addition for patrons to browse and relax, weather Multiple locations and positive developments around us. to BPL’s fleet of Bookmobiles. Now even permitting. The new model aims to be Programs include a creative writing more Brooklynites can experience the BPL is proud to present The Parts, a more flexible and nimble, allowing for easy workshop with Bass and a guest poet, multiform project by artist Chloë Bass. magic of a vehicle filled with books and collections rotation to meet the needs and a conversation with scholar Bass is BPL’s 2021 Katowitz-Radin the thrill of taking those stories home. of each community and offering a safer Hannah Zeavin. They are held in Artist-in-Residence. partnership with Art World Conference BPL’s newest Bookmobile represents an alternative to indoor gathering. and the CUNY Graduate Center’s Center The Parts consists of images from the innovative model of “walk-up” vs. “walk- The Bookmobile funded by Mr. Schultz is for Humanities, where Chloë Bass is artist’s daily life and reflective personal in” service. Upon its arrival, staff unload dedicated to his mother, Eileen Schultz, currently a Fellow of Public Engagement. texts, which reside at the intersection of portable carts of library materials that whom he credits with widening his aphorism, diary entry and prose poetry. Chloë Bass: The Parts is made possible by the patrons can peruse and then check out via horizons and his future. We are grateful Born on Instagram, the series is now being Katowitz Radin Endowment and by the Brooklyn a customer service window located at the to Mr. Schultz for ensuring that a new translated into various physical and digital Eagles—a group of young and engaged supporters of Brooklyn Public Library. back. They can also apply for library cards, generation of Brooklyn kids can have forms, all publicly accessible at multiple ask reference questions and place holds their own transporting encounters with library branches. Photo credit: Chloë Bass, Personal Choice #1, 2020, on materials to be picked up at any BPL a BPL Bookmobile. courtesy of Modesto Covarrubias.
For complete listings visit: bklynlibrary.org/event-series/ Forevents-for-youth-and-family more information visit: bklynlibrary.org/exhibitions/chloë-bass-parts
12 OFF THE SHELF SPRING 2021 OFF THE SHELF SPRING 2021 13
THE REVIEW PANEL WITH DAVID COHEN Thursdays at 7 pm April 8 & June 10 Virtual A BPL Film Leading art critics join in lively debate about Festival current exhibitions— WHISPERING About Writers virtual and physical— around the five boroughs. May 3–9, 2021 Presented in association LIBRARIES with artcritical.com www. Available online now and outdoors beginning April 1 bklynlibrary. org/litfilm CLASSICAL Hear the library speak, or whisper even: BPL’s Whispering INTERLUDES Libraries are curated playlists of music, poetry, podcast excerpts and spoken literature, played for the public after Sundays at 4 pm hours and at select times of day outdoors at 10 of our Virtual neighborhood libraries. March 28 ForSample more the information: playlists here and plan to listen Invoke bklynlib.org/podcasts/whispering-librariesoutdoors this spring: bklynlibrary.org/podcasts/ whispering-libraries April 25 Brooklyn Art Song Society: The Dichter Five Boroughs Project: Bertolt Brecht
Music Festival Presents May 2 TERRA NOVA Gabriel Martins Saturday, June 6 Saturday, May 15 / 4 pm Central Library, Plaza Central Library, Plaza VIBRATE HIGHER Sybarite5 TALIB KWELI Five Boroughs Music Festival presents Terra Nova, a new concert-length song cycle created by the members of FATIMA SHAIK & JENNIFER EGAN ON ECONOMY HALL: Thursday, April 8 THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF A FREE BLACK BROTHERHOOD composer-collective Oracle Hysterical and performed in 6:30 pm, Virtual collaboration with the contemporary mixed-instrument Tuesday, April 27 / 7 pm, Virtual quartet Hub New Music. Inspired by a range of ambitious, Vibrate Higher is a gritty (and sometimes naïve, cruel and myopic) explorers, In the face of an oppressive white society, members of memoir and a collection the songs of Terra Nova are by turns darkly ironic, the Société d’Economie et d’Assistance Mutuelle built a of essays that illuminates heartrending and straight-up fun (and occasionally a community and held it together through the era of slavery, Kweli’s upbringing and confounding mix of all three), coalescing into a powerful Photo credits: Five Boroughs Music the Civil War, Reconstruction and Jim Crow terrorism. artistic success. experience of both text and music. Festival Presents Terra Nova (top, bottom) Top, Hub New Music ©Robert Torres Bottom, Oracle Hysterical ©Pierre Lidar BPLPresents @BPL_Presents @bplpresents Sybarite5 ©Brian Braun
14 OFF THE SHELF SPRING 2021 OFF THE SHELF SPRING 2021 15 EVENTSFOR YOUTH & FAMILIES DONORS CARA’S CATERPILLARS! STOMP, CLAP April 20
& SING Clap, dance, sing and party Every other Tuesday along with Cara Samantha Brooklyn Public Library gratefully acknowledges the Call or visit bklynlibrary.org/support many donors who have provided generous support to learn about the many ways you can at 11 am and her magical musicians. for BPL Presents programs, including: Cheryl and support Brooklyn Public Library. BPL’s Facebook George Haywood Endowment for Cultural Diversity, BEE PARKS AND The Kahn Endowment for Humanities Programs, The Donor Support & Monthly Giving THE HORNETS LITTLE MAESTROS Miriam Katowitz and Arthur Radin Fund, Mapleton Elizabeth Morrel May 4 April 6 Endowment, National Endowment for the Arts, 718.230.2462 New York State Council on the Arts, Sandra and [email protected] The Hornets perform high- You and your child will love Peter Schubert Endowment Fund, The Morris & energy shows that combine Individual & Planned Giving our original music, musi- Alma Schapiro Fund, WarnerMedia, the Emily Hall Lauren Arana rockin’ music, puppetry and Tremaine Foundation’s Innovation Fund, Humanities cal storytime, language 718.230.2009 audience participation. New York, the Estate of Pearl S. Reuillard in memory development segments, [email protected] puppet shows and “bubble of her parents Yetta and Louis Schwartz, the AUTHOR READING & Brooklyn Eagles—a group of young and engaged Corporate Partnerships music.” ACTIVITY supporters of Brooklyn Public Library and many Samantha Dodds other generous supporters. 718.230.2718 Wednesdays, 3:30 pm [email protected] Author’s Facebook and Programs are also supported by Brooklyn Public Foundation & Government Grants Instagram Library’s Fund for the Humanities which was Noella Scott March 24 established through the generous support of the 718.230.2087 National Endowment for the Humanities, The Hearst [email protected] Foundation, Inc., Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, STELLA DIAZ DREAMS BIG General Inquiries Angela Dominguez The Starr Foundation, the Leon and Muriel Gilbert Charitable Trust, Henry and Lucy Moses Fund, Inc. [email protected] and a gift in memory of Samuel and Pauline Wine. Brooklyn Public Library gratefully acknowledges the generous support of our corporate donors (fiscal year 2020 – 2021). © Margaret Grace Margaret © ELLIS ISLAND: GATEWAY TO A DREAM A one-hour musical about the journey of immigrants through Ellis Island, presented by Sundog Theatre
Saturday, April 17 / 1 pm, Virtual April 21
Ellis Island served as the portal for immigrants coming GEORGIE’S BEST BAD DAY into the USA from 1892 to 1954. Before its closing, an Ruth Chan Printed on Rolland Enviro Print, 70 lb Text. This paper contains 100% post-consumer fiber, is estimated 12 million people passed through on their way May 12 to a new life in America. This one-hour musical geared manufactured using renewable energy–Biogas and processed chlorine free. towards young audiences as well as the entire family SUNDAY FUNDAY IN captures the essence of their journey. KOREATOWN Aram Kim For complete listings visit: bklynlibrary.org/ event-series/events-for-youth-and-family
16 OFF THE SHELF SPRING 2021 6055.BR / 2.21 Central Library 10 Grand Army Plaza Brooklyn, NY 11238
For more information visit bklynlibrary.org
Brooklyn Public Library BKLYNLibrary
@BKLYNLibrary @BKLYNLibrary