December 2015 find your story Holiday hours The Library will be closed on Thurs- Meet author Thomas Vinciguerra and day, December 24, Friday, December 25, Thursday, December 31 and discover the early days of The New Yorker Friday, January 1. Happy holidays! On Tuesday, December 8 at 7:30 routinely tell his underlings, “I’m fir- TechDesk p.m., Friends of the Library welcomes ing you because you are not a genius.” Every Wednesday from 2 to 4 p.m., author Thomas Vinciguerra, who will Joining the cast are the mercu- bring your tech questions and de- discuss his new book, Cast of Charac- rial, blind James Thurber, a brilliant vices to the Reference Desk in the ters: Wolcott Gibbs, E.B. White, James cartoonist and wildly inventive fabu- South Wing for some friendly, one- Thurber, and the Golden Age of The list, and the enigmatic E.B. White, on-one assistance. Learn to use the New Yorker. an incomparable prose stylist and Library’s online resources and get From its birth in 1925 to the Ross’s favorite son, who married The tips on how to make the most of early days of the Cold War, The New New Yorker’s formidable fiction edi- your gadgets. Don’t forget to bring Yorker took hold as the country’s most tor, Katharine Angell. Then there is your passwords! prestigious and entertaining periodi- the dashing St. Clair McKelway, who cal. In Cast of Characters, Vinciguerra was married five times and claimed New! Computer basics paints a portrait of the magazine’s to have no fewer than twelve person- One-on-one instruction for com- cadre of charming, wisecracking, alities, but was nonetheless a superb puter beginners is now offered on driven, troubled, brilliant writers and reporter and managing editor. Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2 to editors. Many of these characters be- Thomas Vinciguerra is a founding 5 p.m. Call the Computer Services He introduces us to Wolcott came legends in their own right, but editor of The Week and a regular con- Desk at 516-883-4400, ext. 171 to Gibbs, theater critic, all-around wit, Vinciguerra also shows how, as a tributor to The New York Times. He is the make an appointment. and author of an infamous 1936 group, The New Yorker’s inner circle editor of Conversations with Elie Wiesel parody of Time magazine. We meet brought forth a profound transforma- and Backward Ran Sentences: The Best of the demanding and eccentric found- tion in how life was perceived, inter- Wolcott Gibbs from The New Yorker. He Homework Help ing editor Harold Ross, who would preted and written about in America. lives on Long Island. Kids in elementary school can get homework help from Schreiber vol- unteers every Monday from 5:30 to 6:45 p.m. No registration is neces- sary—just bring homework! Please Traditional Appalachian music with Rose Tree note that there will be no session on December 28. group of Long Island musicians is years, her name became synonymous dedicated to traditional music, and with Appalachian music. Ritchie lived Homebound service will honor Ritchie’s roots by focus- with her family in Port Washington for PWPL makes housecalls! If you or ing on the old-time sounds of Ap- many years, and was a long-time mem- a loved one is unable to visit the palachia. ber of the Library’s Music Advisory Library, let us know and we will ar- Bandleader Larry Moser plays Council. range for free delivery of books and hammered dulcimer, English con- other materials. For more informa- certina, accordion and guitar. Mary tion contact Keith Klang, Head of Nagin plays fiddle, Maria Fairchild Adult Services, at 516-883-4400, ext. plays clawhammer-style banjo, and 135 or [email protected]. multi-instrumentalist Max Rowland plays accordion, concertina, banjo, mandolin and autoharp. Taproot Workshops Jean Ritchie (1922–2015) grew Taproot is a workshop group for up singing the old music brought writers aged 55 and over that meets over by her ancestors from Scotland, on Tuesdays at PWPL. The group The Music Advisory Coun- Ireland and England. She occasion- welcomes new members—for more cil welcomes Rose Tree on Sunday, ally accompanied herself on auto- information, contact John Delach at December 13 at 3 p.m. for the an- harp, guitar and handmade plucked [email protected]. nual Jean Ritchie Folk Concert. This lap or mountain dulcimer. Over the Friends of the Library bolsters Visit Strawberry Fields and Folsom Prison Walkin’ the Line with special collections Tom Cavanagh: A Tribute to Johnny Cash • Friday, December 11 at 7:30 p.m. Beyond Fab: Celebrating The Beatles To honor individuals who ment created by a generous grant • have made a difference to our Li- from the Bogen family which the Sunday, December 20 brary and community, the Friends Friends administers. Since its in- at 3 p.m. of the Library (FOL) created and ception, the Bogen Fund has con- oversees three special collections. tributed more than $40,000 to the Distinguished by unique book- library’s book budget, enabling the plates, each collection saw new titles purchase of 2,000 books, e-books, added in 2015. For ease of patron and audiobooks of “literary signif- access, special collection books are icance” for readers of all ages. Re- Be a special part of the new Children’s Library! shelved within the library stacks cent titles include On The Road by among books in the library’s regular Jack Kerouac, Black Boy by Rich- collection. ard Wright, and Muse by Jonathan The Susan Isaacs Collection, Galassi. 2016 named in honor of Port’s own best- The Edmund L. Epstein Me- 2016 selling novelist, was established in morial Collection was established Jackie and Harold 2005 and is celebrating its 10th an- in 2013 as a result of a gift to the Jackie and Harold niversary. The collection honors the FOL from the Epstein family that Spielman Children’s Library Spielman author for her support and devotion also funded several lectures on Children’s Library to the FOL and the library. It con- literature in Professor Epstein’s tains dozens of books on women’s memory. Ed Epstein was a long- issues particularly balancing work time resident of Port and an inter- Your Family Name and motherhood, and also garden- nationally known scholar who spe- (Grand)Parents ing, two areas of passionate inter- cialized in James Joyce. He died in est for Ms. Isaacs. Recent additions 2012. The collection now contains Children include #GIRLBOSS by Sophia 20 volumes of literary classics in- Donated By Amoruso, Lean In: Women, Work cluding Heretics and Heroes: How Your Family Name Grandparents and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sand- Renaissance Artists and Reforma- Children berg, and Essential Perennials: The tion Priests Created Our World by Complete Reference to 2700 Peren- Thomas Cahill, The Human Com- nials for the Home Garden by Ruth edy: Selected Stories by Honore de A $100 donation entitles you to a commemorative book plate in the new Rogers Clausen and Thomas Chris- Balzac, and Heart of Darkness by Children’s Library collection. To make a donation, visit pwpl.org/foundation, topher. Joseph Conrad. click on the blue offer button and select the $100 option to view the book list . The Ruth D. Bogen Memo- The FOL welcomes ideas rial Collection, established in 2000 and gifts in support of new collec- in memory of our long-time FOL tions. For more information on the board member, is celebrating its Friends or to donate, visit www. 15th anniversary. It is supported pwpl.org/fol. Shop and support the by the Bogen Fund, an endow- Library Foundation Support the Library Foundation by doing your holiday shopping Want new movies? Check out a Roku. Plug it in. at participating Americana Manhasset and select Wheatley Plaza stores from Watch new movies. Easy. Thursday, December 3 to Sunday, December 6. pwpl.org/roku Select PWLF when registering for your Champion Card. Champions for Charity is a holiday shopping benefit where 25 percent of your full-price, pre-tax purchase will be donated to charities you select. For more information, visit championsforcharity.org, call Librarian Brooke Salit retires 516-627-2277 or visit Americana Manhasset’s Brooke Salit joined the PWPL staff Concierge Store. in 1993, after a long-term career as a law librarian. Initially a member of the Refer- ence team, she was promoted to Head of Technical Services in 2003. Brooke says of her time at the Library, “Even though I am retiring from PWPL, I will be taking with me invaluable friend- ships as well as the experience of having worked with an amazing, professional, knowledgeable and creative group of peo- ple.” Happy retirement, Brooke! A special SoundSwap event David Bennett Cohen to record live album at PWPL Join us on Wednesday, De- the folks who come to see me play at cember 16 at 7:30 p.m. for a unique the library, and it really brings out SoundSwap event, when pianist and the best in me. I’m thrilled that the songwriter David Bennett Cohen library has agreed to allow me to re- will record his fourth solo album live cord here.” in front of a PWPL audience. The new live album will join David Bennett Cohen has been David Bennett Cohen’s previous solo delighting audiences at the Library releases, At the Piano (1984), In the since he first appeared here with Pocket (2004) and Cookin’ with Cohen Rich Ticho and the Mellow Dramat- (2007). These recordings document ic Band in October, 2009.