There are no products in your shopping cart.
Joseph Fox Bookshop
1724 Sansom Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
215.563.4184
Store Hours:
9:30AM - 6:00PM Monday - Saturday
9:30AM - 7:00PM Wednesday
Closed Sunday
04 / 11
| ||
04 / 12
| ||
04 / 13
Start: 7:30 pm
Soul of a Citizen: Living with Conviction in a Cynical Time Paul Rogat Loeb A lifelong participant in social and environmental causes, Seattle-based scholar, Paul Rogat Loeb calls for a renewal of personal engagement and a return to the community involvement and activism of the 60s. In this updated edition of his best-selling Soul of a Citizen, Loeb profiles new stories of social commitment, drawing inspiration from the accomplishments of individuals who believe that striving for a better world is worth the effort. Howard Zinn pronounced it, “An essential book for anyone who wants to work for change.”
Central Library This is a FREE event; no tickets or reservations are required. For more information, call 215.567.4341, or click here | ||
04 / 14
Start: 7:30 pm
How to Hire A-Players: Finding the Top People for Your Team - Even If You Don't Have a Recruiting Department Eric Herrenkohl How to find great employees, make great hires, and take your business to the next level It is always easy to find people who want a job, but it's never easy to find and hire A-players. In How to Hire A-Players, consultant Eric Herrenkohl shows owners, executives, and managers of small and medium-size businesses where and how to find A-player employees. It is these individuals who will help keep quality high and growth and profits strong. Herrenkohl explains how to use your existing marketing, sales, and networking efforts to find top candidates. He provides current examples of companies that consistently hire A-players without big recruiting departments as well as step-by-step explanations for making these strategies work in your own company.
A-player employees are the life blood of any growing business. This handy hiring guide shows you where to look, what to ask, and who to hire to boost your business today
Annenberg Center for Outreach and Education F.M. Kirby Auditorium
National Constitution Center This is a FREE event; no tickets or reservations are required. For more information, call 215.409.6700, or click here
| ||
04 / 15
Start: 5:30 pm
ROAR! Get Heard in the Sales and Marketing Jungle Kevin Daum Please join us at the Sofitel Philadelphia for the Philadelphia book launch of marketing consultant Kevin Daum's ROAR! Get Heard in the Sales and Marketing Jungle. Kevin is an author, marketer, and Inc. 500 entrepreneur who combines 25 years of experience in theatre, finance and marketing. Kevin has used his expertise and writing to help individuals build their dream homes, manage the financial aspects of going green and communicate effectively to reach their goals in business and life. ROAR! is a captivating business parable that reveals exactly how to create the right marketing message, deliver it consistently, connect with different buyers, run a business efficiently, and still have plenty of time for family. It may be a jungle out there, but it's a little less scary once you know how to ROAR! The Joseph Fox Bookshop would like to extend our thanks to Sofitel Philadelphia for graciously hosting this special event. Please visit Sofitel Philadelphia for more information about this refined 4-star hotel, offering the height of contemporary comfort and convenience in downtown Philadelphia. Sofitel Philadelphia 120 South 17th Street Philadelphia, PA, 19103 This is a FREE event, but reservations are required. RSVP for this special book launch at http://registration.sbnonline.com/KevinDaum or email ccalfee@sbonlie.com For more information about Kevin Daum, please visit his website. | ||
04 / 16
Start: 10:00 am
Start: Fri, 04/16/2010 - 10:00am
End: Sat, 04/17/2010 - 6:00pm
GreenSense for the Home: Rating the Real Payoff from 50 Green Home Projects Kevin Daum and Eric Corey Freed Please join Kevin Daum at the Philadelphia Go Green Expo, one of the nation's largest eco-friendly business and consumer lifestyle showcases. Go Green Expo invites business leaders, eco-minded consumers and their families to explore every aspect of green living and sustainable business practices including energy, home and building, transportation, electronics, food, and health & beauty. Kevin will join various eco-experts for the lectures "Greening Your Business" (Friday, April 16th at 11:00AM), covering all aspects of managing a business in a sustainable, eco-conscious way, and "Living Eco-logically/Green Homes" (Saturday, April 17th at 3:00PM), evaluating costs and relative values of environmentally friendly home improvements, including converting to solar energy, composting and recycling, upgrading appliances, and building with reclaimed materials. Greater Philadelphia Expo Center This is a TICKETED event; for complete Go Green Expo information, please click here | ||
04 / 17
End: 6:00 pm
Start: Fri, 04/16/2010 - 10:00am
End: Sat, 04/17/2010 - 6:00pm
GreenSense for the Home: Rating the Real Payoff from 50 Green Home Projects Kevin Daum and Eric Corey Freed Please join Kevin Daum at the Philadelphia Go Green Expo, one of the nation's largest eco-friendly business and consumer lifestyle showcases. Go Green Expo invites business leaders, eco-minded consumers and their families to explore every aspect of green living and sustainable business practices including energy, home and building, transportation, electronics, food, and health & beauty. Kevin will join various eco-experts for the lectures "Greening Your Business" (Friday, April 16th at 11:00AM), covering all aspects of managing a business in a sustainable, eco-conscious way, and "Living Eco-logically/Green Homes" (Saturday, April 17th at 3:00PM), evaluating costs and relative values of environmentally friendly home improvements, including converting to solar energy, composting and recycling, upgrading appliances, and building with reclaimed materials. Greater Philadelphia Expo Center This is a TICKETED event; for complete Go Green Expo information, please click here Start: 11:00 am
Start: Sat, 04/17/2010 - 11:00am
End: Sun, 04/18/2010 - 6:00pm
Free Library Festival Join us for the 4th annual Free Library Festival at the Parkway Central Library on Saturday and Sunday, April 17 & 18, 2010, from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The Festival weekend will be packed with free events for the whole family, including celebrity author appearances, live musical performances, and children’s authors and entertainment—plus a bustling Street Fair and Literary Marketplace showcasing what’s new in the publishing world. The Joseph Fox Bookshop will be the official bookseller for all adult author events. Check back regularly for individual event listings. For more information about the Free Library Festival, please click here Start: 12:00 pm
If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This Robin Black Robin Black’s stories and personal essays have appeared in numerous publications including Alaska Quarterly Review, Colorado Review, Bellevue Literary Review, The Southern Review, and the anthology The Best Creative Nonfiction. She has received multiple special mentions by the Pushcart Prizes, as well as fellowships from the Leeway Foundation and the MacDowell Colony. Of her debut collection, author Jim Shepard writes, “Few first collections … are as intelligent and as moving about both the durability of love and the implacability of loss.” Writers Salon: Room 108
Free Library Festival Festival events are free and open to the public. Seating begins 15 minutes prior to event start times. Seating is first come, first seated. Space is limited in some venues. Authors will be on-hand to sign copies of their books after their events, unless noted. Books are sold on-site. For more information about this event, please click here For more information about the Free Library Festival, please click here Start: 12:00 pm
Be U: Be Honest, Be Beautiful, Be Intentional, Be Strong, Be You! Tina Campbell of the urban gospel duo Mary Mary The urban gospel duo Mary Mary, comprised of sisters Erica and Tina Campbell, first came to national attention with a song for the Prince of Egypt soundtrack. Since then, they have released five platinum- or gold-certified albums, and have won three Grammy Awards, two American Music Awards, an NAACP Image Award, and a BET Award, among others. Their music is widely praised for crossing genre boundaries, with gospel songs including “Shackles (Praise You),” “Get Up,” and “God In Me,” all of which became top hits on both R&B and pop music charts. Their first book, Be U encourages young women to discover themselves by focusing on their natural beauty, and utilizing their unique inner strengths and talents.
Main Stage
Free Library Festival Festival events are free and open to the public. Seating begins 15 minutes prior to event start times. Seating is first come, first seated. Space is limited in some venues. Authors will be on-hand to sign copies of their books after their events, unless noted. Books are sold on-site. For more information about this event, please click here For more information about the Free Library Festival, please click here Start: 12:00 pm
The Stranger Manual Catie Rosemurgy The recipient of a Rona Jaffe Award for Emerging Female Writers and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, Catie Rosemurgy contributes poetry to a number of periodicals, including Best American Poetry, Ploughshares, River Styx, Verse, and Poetry Northwest. In a review of her first book of poetry, My Favorite Apocalypse, former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins praised her “clear, authentic, compelling voice.” The Stranger Manual is her second collection of poems, all following the story of the eccentric original character Miss Peach. Skyline Room
Free Library Festival Festival events are free and open to the public. Seating begins 15 minutes prior to event start times. Seating is first come, first seated. Space is limited in some venues. Authors will be on-hand to sign copies of their books after their events, unless noted. Books are sold on-site. For more information about this event, please click here For more information about the Free Library Festival, please click here Start: 1:00 pm
Caught Harlan Coben Mystery writer Harlan Coben has won the Edgar Award, the Shamus Award, and the Anthony Award; he is the first author ever to win all three. His books have debuted at #1 on the New York Times Best Sellers list, and his novel Tell No One was adapted into a critically acclaimed French film. The author of more than 37 books, his work includes bestselling novels Long Lost and Hold Tight, as well as the Myron Bolitar mysteries, stories of an ex-basketball star turned sports agent who works part-time as a private investigator. Caught is his latest thriller. Main Stage
Free Library Festival Festival events are free and open to the public. Seating begins 15 minutes prior to event start times. Seating is first come, first seated. Space is limited in some venues. Authors will be on-hand to sign copies of their books after their events, unless noted. Books are sold on-site. For more information about this event, please click here For more information about the Free Library Festival, please click here Start: 1:00 pm
The Girl Who Fell From the Sky Heidi W. Durrow A timely and moving bicultural coming-of-age tale about the daughter of a Danish immigrant and an African-American G.I., Heidi W. Durrow’s debut novel, The Girl Who Fell From the Sky, is the winner of the 2008 Bellwether Prize for best fiction manuscript addressing issues of social justice. In the tradition of Jamaica Kincaid's Annie John and Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, The Girl Who Fell From the Sky is a portrait of a young girl—and society’s ideas of race, class, and beauty. Durrow is the co-host of the award-winning weekly podcast Mixed Chicks Chat, and the co-founder and co-producer of the Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival, an annual free public event, that celebrates stories of the Mixed experience. Writers Salon: Room 108
Free Library Festival Festival events are free and open to the public. Seating begins 15 minutes prior to event start times. Seating is first come, first seated. Space is limited in some venues. Authors will be on-hand to sign copies of their books after their events, unless noted. Books are sold on-site. For more information about this event, please click here For more information about the Free Library Festival, please click here Start: 1:00 pm
Morning Haiku Sonia Sanchez An acclaimed poet, activist, and scholar, Sonia Sanchez is the former Laura Carnell Professor of English and Women's Studies at Temple University. Called a “lion in literature’s forest” by Maya Angelou, Sanchez has written more than a dozen books of poetry, including the American Book Award-winner Homegirls and Handgrenades. Her new book of poems is a collection of haiku that celebrates the lives and mourns the deaths of revered African-American leaders. Skyline Room
Free Library Festival Festival events are free and open to the public. Seating begins 15 minutes prior to event start times. Seating is first come, first seated. Space is limited in some venues. Authors will be on-hand to sign copies of their books after their events, unless noted. Books are sold on-site. For more information about this event, please click here For more information about the Free Library Festival, please click here Start: 2:00 pm
The Eerie Silence: Renewing the Search for Alien Intelligence Paul Davies The acclaimed British-born theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and astrobiologist Paul Davies is the director of the Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science and co-director of the Cosmology Initiative, both at Arizona State University. He also chairs the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence’s (SETI) Post-Detection Taskgroup. Among his numerous scientific distinctions, Davies is a recipient of the prestigious Templeton Prize for his work on science and religion. His writings include the bestsellers The Mind of God, About Time, How to Build a Time Machine, The Fifth Miracle, and The Goldilocks Enigma. In his provocative new book, Davies challenges existing ideas of what form an alien intelligence might take, how it might try to communicate with us, and how we should respond if we ever do make contact.
Main Stage
Free Library Festival Festival events are free and open to the public. Seating begins 15 minutes prior to event start times. Seating is first come, first seated. Space is limited in some venues. Authors will be on-hand to sign copies of their books after their events, unless noted. Books are sold on-site. For more information about this event, please click here For more information about the Free Library Festival, please click here Start: 3:00 pm
Kitty Kelley Oprah: A Biography Kitty Kelley is the most widely read biographer of our times. Her previous subjects have included the Bush dynasty (The Family), the British royal family (The Royals), Nancy Reagan (Nancy Reagan: The Unauthorized Biography), and Frank Sinatra (His Way)—each of these books debuted at #1 on the New York Times Best Sellers list. With Oprah: A Biography, she brings new insight into the life of talk show icon Oprah Winfrey. Based on years of research and reporting, as well as 850 interviews with sources, many of whom have never before spoken for publication, Oprah is the first comprehensive biography of one of the most influential, powerful, and admired public figures of our time.
Main Stage
Free Library Festival Festival events are free and open to the public. Seating begins 15 minutes prior to event start times. Seating is first come, first seated. Space is limited in some venues. Authors will be on-hand to sign copies of their books after their events, unless noted. Books are sold on-site. For more information about this event, please click here For more information about the Free Library Festival, please click here Start: 2:00 pm
The Surrendered Chang-rae Lee Native Speaker, Chang-rae Lee’s widely acclaimed debut novel, explored the alienation that modern-day immigrants face—from both American culture and the cultures they leave behind. The book went on to win several awards, including the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award for first fiction. His subsequent novels, the New York Times bestseller Aloft and the New York Times Notable Book A Gesture Life, reflect on similar themes. The Surrendered, his new novel, “looks to be Lee’s epic masterpiece,” commented novelist Junot Díaz. Following three characters throughout the Korean War and well into its aftermath, the novel “bursts with drama and human anguish as it documents the ravages and indelible effects of war…not to be missed,” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). Room 108
Free Library Festival Festival events are free and open to the public. Seating begins 15 minutes prior to event start times. Seating is first come, first seated. Space is limited in some venues. Authors will be on-hand to sign copies of their books after their events, unless noted. Books are sold on-site. For more information about this event, please click here For more information about the Free Library Festival, please click here Start: 2:00 pm
The Living Fire: New and Selected Poems Edward Hirsch The president of the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and a former MacArthur fellow, Edward Hirsch received the Lavan Younger Poets Award from the Academy of American Poets for his first book of poetry, For the Sleepwalkers, and the National Book Critics Circle Award for his second collection, Wild Gratitude. He has since written five more books of poetry and the bestselling nonfiction guide, How to Read a Poem. His work is regularly published in national poetry journals and magazines, including the Paris Review and American Poetry Review. Skyline Room
Free Library Festival Festival events are free and open to the public. Seating begins 15 minutes prior to event start times. Seating is first come, first seated. Space is limited in some venues. Authors will be on-hand to sign copies of their books after their events, unless noted. Books are sold on-site. For more information about this event, please click here For more information about the Free Library Festival, please click here Start: 3:00 pm
A User's Guide to the Universe: Surviving the Perils of Black Holes, Time Paradoxes, and Quantum Uncertainty Dave Goldberg and Jeff Blomquist In A User’s Guide to the Universe, Drexel University professor Dave Goldberg and Boeing Aerospace engineer Jeff Blomquist share the answers to pressing science questions about science like: Will the Large Hadron Collider destroy the world? Can we really build time machines? What is the probability of finding intelligent life on other planets? Their funny, clear, and illustrated explanations lead the reader through new and exciting discoveries in physics and cosmology. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jonathan Weiner commends, “I wish I’d had Goldberg and Blomquist as my physics teachers.” Writers Salon: Room 108
Free Library Festival Festival events are free and open to the public. Seating begins 15 minutes prior to event start times. Seating is first come, first seated. Space is limited in some venues. Authors will be on-hand to sign copies of their books after their events, unless noted. Books are sold on-site. For more information about this event, please click here For more information about the Free Library Festival, please click here Start: 4:00 pm
Beatrice and Virgil Yann Martel Yann Martel is the author of The Life of Pi, winner of the 2002 Man Booker Prize. The story of a young boy—shipwrecked and stranded at sea—with a Bengal tiger and other wild animals, The Life of Pi explores issues of spirituality and practicality through the child’s relationships with the animals aboard his lifeboat. The novel, which earned comparisons to the works of Hemingway, Marquez, and Beckett, became an international bestseller, with more than three million copies sold worldwide. In his long-awaited new novel, Beatrice and Virgil, Martel also uses animals to discuss the human condition, in this case, the limitations of language in understanding and describing the horrors of the Holocaust. Main Stage
Free Library Festival Festival events are free and open to the public. Seating begins 15 minutes prior to event start times. Seating is first come, first seated. Space is limited in some venues. Authors will be on-hand to sign copies of their books after their events, unless noted. Books are sold on-site. For more information about this event, please click here For more information about the Free Library Festival, please click here Start: 3:00 pm
A Heartbeat and a Guitar: Johnny Cash and the Making of Bitter Tears Antonino D'Ambrosio In A Heartbeat and a Guitar, writer/filmmaker Antonino D’Ambrosio tells the story behind Johnny Cash’s little-known 1964 protest album, Bitter Tears: Ballads of the American Indian. Inspired by the Native People’s rights movement, Cash’s controversial lyrics were deemed “unpatriotic,” the Ku Klux Klan threatened stores that carried the album, and radio stations across the country pulled the album from rotation. D’Ambrosio is the writer behind the book and documentary Let Fury Have the Hour: The Punk Politics of Joe Strummer, inspired by The Clash’s cultural activism; he also wrote, directed, and produced the film No Free Lunch starring comedian Lewis Black. Performance Stage: Shakespeare Park
Free Library Festival Festival events are free and open to the public. Seating begins 15 minutes prior to event start times. Seating is first come, first seated. Space is limited in some venues. Authors will be on-hand to sign copies of their books after their events, unless noted. Books are sold on-site. For more information about this event, please click here For more information about the Free Library Festival, please click here Start: 4:00 pm
Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang Chelsea Handler Proclaimed one of the “Queens of Comedy” by Vanity Fair, Chelsea Handler recently earned the A-List Funny Award from Bravo, beating out Tina Fey, Conan O'Brien, Ricky Gervais, and Amy Poehler. Her late-night talk show Chelsea Lately is consistently the highest-rated program on E!, and her live stand-up comedy routines play to sold-out audiences nationwide. Called a “terrific comedian and a hilarious writer” by Jay Leno, Handler is also the author of the internationally bestselling book My Horizontal Life and the follow-up Are You There, Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea, which debuted at no. 1 on the New York Times Best Sellers list. Her latest book Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang follows in their irreverent tradition, a collection of hilarious essays that reflect on both her personal life and her outrageous family life. SIGNING ONLY LOCATION TBA
Free Library Festival Festival events are free and open to the public. Seating begins 15 minutes prior to event start times. Seating is first come, first seated. Space is limited in some venues. Authors will be on-hand to sign copies of their books after their events, unless noted. Books are sold on-site. For more information about this event, please click here For more information about the Free Library Festival, please click here Start: 3:00 pm
Houses are Fields Taije Silverman Taije Silverman’s poems have appeared in journals such as Poetry, Shenandoah, Ploughshares, Five Points, Massachusetts Review, and Prairie Schooner. She has won several first-place awards from the Academy of American Poets, held residencies from the MacDowell Colony and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and was the 2005-2007 Emory University Creative Writing Fellow. Houses are Fields, a moving collection of elegies for her mother, is her first book of poetry. Skyline Room
Free Library Festival Festival events are free and open to the public. Seating begins 15 minutes prior to event start times. Seating is first come, first seated. Space is limited in some venues. Authors will be on-hand to sign copies of their books after their events, unless noted. Books are sold on-site. For more information about this event, please click here For more information about the Free Library Festival, please click here
Start: 4:00 pm
Although Of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip with David Foster Wallace David Lipsky One of the most talented authors of his generation, David Foster Wallace achieved international literary success with Infinite Jest, a darkly comic and sprawling novel that Time magazine included on its 100 Best English-Language Novels list. In his new book, David Lipsky recalls a five-day period he spent with Wallace during the last leg of the Infinite Jest tour. He offers new insight into the troubled literary genius—relaying intimate conversations he had with Wallace about Wallace’s writing and interior life. Lipsky is a contributing editor to Rolling Stone magazine, with articles and short fiction appearing in the New Yorker, New York Times, New York Times Book Review, and Harper's. His nonfiction book Absolutely American: Four Years at West Point won the Time magazine Best Book of the Year Award. Room 108
Free Library Festival Festival events are free and open to the public. Seating begins 15 minutes prior to event start times. Seating is first come, first seated. Space is limited in some venues. Authors will be on-hand to sign copies of their books after their events, unless noted. Books are sold on-site. For more information about this event, please click here For more information about the Free Library Festival, please click here Start: 4:00 pm
Last Looks, Last Book: Stevens, Plath, Lowell, Bishop, Merrill Helen Vendler The eminent critic Helen Vendler is the A. Kingsley Porter University Professor at Harvard University. She writes poetry reviews and articles for the New York Times Book Review and, from 1978-1990, served as poetry critic for the New Yorker. Her work includes studies of poets W.B. Yeats, George Herbert, Wallace Stevens, John Keats, William Shakespeare, and Seamus Heaney, as well as an award-winning collection of criticism, Part of Nature, Part of Us: Modern American Poets. In Last Looks, Last Book, Vendler examines the ways in which five great modern American poets—writing at the end of their lives—evolved new styles that attempt to do justice to life and death alike. Skyline Room
Free Library Festival Festival events are free and open to the public. Seating begins 15 minutes prior to event start times. Seating is first come, first seated. Space is limited in some venues. Authors will be on-hand to sign copies of their books after their events, unless noted. Books are sold on-site. For more information about this event, please click here For more information about the Free Library Festival, please click here Start: 5:00 pm
The 188th Crybaby Brigade: A Skinny Jewish Kid from Chicago Fights Hezbollah Joel Chasnoff Unsatisfied with his life upon graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, stand-up comedian Joel Chasnoff decided to follow his dream of giving back to Israel by joining the Israeli Defense Force. What follows is both a hilarious and disturbing coming-of-age story, as he wages war against Hezbollah and bonds with the 18-year-old soldiers of the 188th Armored Brigade, mama’s boys who would do anything to avoid service. An inside look at one of the world’s most embattled armies, Anthony Swofford, author of Jarhead, says, “Chasnoff does for the IDF what Mailer did for the Pacific campaign and O'Brien for the war in Vietnam.” As a comedian, Chasnoff has opened for Jon Stewart and Lewis Black, done voice work for cartoons, and recently returned from a U.S.O. Comedy Tour of Japan and Korea, where he entertained American Marines. Writers Salon: Room 108
Free Library Festival Festival events are free and open to the public. Seating begins 15 minutes prior to event start times. Seating is first come, first seated. Space is limited in some venues. Authors will be on-hand to sign copies of their books after their events, unless noted. Books are sold on-site. For more information about this event, please click here For more information about the Free Library Festival, please click here | ||
04 / 18
End: 6:00 pm
Start: Sat, 04/17/2010 - 11:00am
End: Sun, 04/18/2010 - 6:00pm
Free Library Festival Join us for the 4th annual Free Library Festival at the Parkway Central Library on Saturday and Sunday, April 17 & 18, 2010, from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The Festival weekend will be packed with free events for the whole family, including celebrity author appearances, live musical performances, and children’s authors and entertainment—plus a bustling Street Fair and Literary Marketplace showcasing what’s new in the publishing world. The Joseph Fox Bookshop will be the official bookseller for all adult author events. Check back regularly for individual event listings. For more information about the Free Library Festival, please click here Start: 12:00 pm
1000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die: A Listener's Life List Tom Moon Tired of listening to the same old music? Check out Tom Moon’s 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die. A music critic for the Philadelphia Inquirer for nearly 20 years, Moon is a two-time recipient of the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Music Journalism Award and has contributed reviews to GQ, Rolling Stone, and National Public Radio's All Things Considered, among others. In this book, Moon uses his expert knowledge to direct listeners to exceptional recordings in genres ranging from classical to jazz, rock, pop, blues, country, folk, musicals, hip-hop, and more. Writers Salon: Room 108
Free Library Festival Festival events are free and open to the public. Seating begins 15 minutes prior to event start times. Seating is first come, first seated. Space is limited in some venues. Authors will be on-hand to sign copies of their books after their events, unless noted. Books are sold on-site. For more information about this event, please click here For more information about the Free Library Festival, please click here Start: 12:00 pm
The End of the West Michael Dickman Michael and Matthew Dickman, twin brothers and poets from Portland, Oregon, have enjoyed a recent swift rise in the poetry world. Recently profiled in Poets & Writers and The New Yorker, both brothers have newly-published debut poetry collections. In her New Yorker profile, Rebecca Mead characterizes each: “Reading Michael is like stepping out of an overheated apartment building to be met, unexpectedly, by an exhilaratingly chill gust of wind; reading Matthew is like taking a deep, warm bath with a glass of wine balanced on the soap dish.” Michael Dickman is the recipient of the 2010 Hodder Fellowship from Princeton University, and his debut collection, The End of the West, explores drug abuse and domestic violence in simple, spare language. Poetry Salon: Skyline Room
Free Library Festival Festival events are free and open to the public. Seating begins 15 minutes prior to event start times. Seating is first come, first seated. Space is limited in some venues. Authors will be on-hand to sign copies of their books after their events, unless noted. Books are sold on-site. For more information about this event, please click here For more information about the Free Library Festival, please click here Start: 12:00 pm
Push Sapphire Sapphire is the author of two collections of poetry, American Dreams and Black Wings & Blind Angels, as well as the brutal, poignant novel, Push. In Push—the basis for the 2009 prize-winning film Precious—Precious Jones can find no way to make a better life for herself. Physically and emotionally abused by her mother, sexually abused by her father, overweight and illiterate, Precious is saved by an incredibly determined teacher who teaches her to read and shows her the power of telling her own story. The film adaptation won the 2009 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize as well as the Audience Award and was nominated for three 2010 Golden Globe Awards. Main Stage
Free Library Festival Festival events are free and open to the public. Seating begins 15 minutes prior to event start times. Seating is first come, first seated. Space is limited in some venues. Authors will be on-hand to sign copies of their books after their events, unless noted. Books are sold on-site. For more information about this event, please click here For more information about the Free Library Festival, please click here Start: 12:00 pm
IFLIFE Bob Perelman Bob Perelman is the associate chair of the Department of English at the University of Pennsylvania and a leading figure in the language poetry movement. His work includes two books of criticism that focus on modern poetry, The Trouble with Genius and The Marginalization of Poetry, and more than 15 poetry collections, among them Braille, Face Value, Ten to One, and Virtual Reality. He is described by a reviewer in Publishers Weekly as a “sort of poker-faced, technocratically versed Ginsberg.” Skyline Room
Free Library Festival Festival events are free and open to the public. Seating begins 15 minutes prior to event start times. Seating is first come, first seated. Space is limited in some venues. Authors will be on-hand to sign copies of their books after their events, unless noted. Books are sold on-site. For more information about this event, please click here For more information about the Free Library Festival, please click here Start: 1:00 pm
Birdology: Adventures with a Pack of Hens, a Peck of Pigeons, Cantankerous Crows, Fierce Falcons, Hip Hop Parrots, Baby Hummingbirds, and One Murderously Big Living Dinosaur Sy Montgomery Sy Montgomery is “part Indiana Jones and part Emily Dickinson” writes one Boston Globe reviewer. An author, scriptwriter, and radio commentator, Montgomery works to bring the plight of endangered animals to the attention of children and adults alike, traveling the globe to seek out new stories. Her award-winning books include The Good Good Pig, Journey of the Pink Dolphins, Spell of the Tiger, and Search for the Golden Moon Bear. In Birdology, Montgomery explores the natural history of birds, highlighting their unique abilities and little-known emotional capacities. Writers Salon: Room 108
Free Library Festival Festival events are free and open to the public. Seating begins 15 minutes prior to event start times. Seating is first come, first seated. Space is limited in some venues. Authors will be on-hand to sign copies of their books after their events, unless noted. Books are sold on-site. For more information about this event, please click here For more information about the Free Library Festival, please click here Start: 1:00 pm
The Wisdom of Sam: Observations on Life from an Uncommon Child Daniel Gottlieb Psychologist Daniel Gottlieb hosts WHYY’s mental health radio call-in show Voices in the Family and wrote a highly regarded column for the Philadelphia Inquirer for 15 years. He is the author of two award-winning works: the self-improvement book Learning from the Heart and a collection of letters addressed to his autistic grandson, Letters to Sam. The Wisdom of Sam is a touching follow-up that shares the invaluable lessons his grandson has taught him about acceptance, compassion, and joy. Main Stage: Montgomery Auditorium
Free Library Festival Festival events are free and open to the public. Seating begins 15 minutes prior to event start times. Seating is first come, first seated. Space is limited in some venues. Authors will be on-hand to sign copies of their books after their events, unless noted. Books are sold on-site. For more information about this event, please click here For more information about the Free Library Festival, please click here Start: 1:00 pm
Why Translation Matters Edith Grossman Born in Philadelphia and a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Edith Grossman is now one of the most important American translators of current Spanish-language literature. In an award-winning career that has spanned nearly 40 years and more than 30 books, Grossman has translated the work of authors such as Gabriel García Márquez, Mario Vargas Llosa, Mayra Montero, and Carlos Fuentes. Her nationally bestselling 2003 adaptation of Don Quixote was widely praised, with Carlos Fuentes himself calling it “truly masterly.” In her new book, Grossman argues the importance of translation as a way to intimately experience cultures and viewpoints other than your own. Critic Harold Bloom praises, “Edith Grossman, the Glenn Gould of translators, has written a superb book on the art of the literary translation…this should become a classic text.” Skyline Room
Free Library Festival Festival events are free and open to the public. Seating begins 15 minutes prior to event start times. Seating is first come, first seated. Space is limited in some venues. Authors will be on-hand to sign copies of their books after their events, unless noted. Books are sold on-site. For more information about this event, please click here For more information about the Free Library Festival, please click here Start: 2:00 pm
Me, the Mob, and the Music: One Helluva with Tommy James & the Shondells Tommy James Legendary rock and roll artist Tommy James is the creator of dozens of memorable hit songs, including “I Think We’re Alone Now,” “Mony Mony,” “Crimson and Clover,” “Sweet Cherry Wine,” “Crystal Blue Persuasion,” and “Draggin’ the Line.” As the leader of Tommy James and the Shondells he has sold over 100 million records, has been awarded 23 gold singles, and nine gold and platinum albums. His songs regularly appear on television and film soundtracks, and they have been covered by many famous artists, including Joan Jett, Billy Idol, Tiffany, and Prince. His new book follows his lengthy career, from his start at age 12 in a small town in Michigan, to his work with Morris Levy—the infamous “godfather” of the music business—at Roulette Records. Val Kilmer praises “This book not only takes me into Tommy’s charmed and tragic personal life, but into the dark side of a music industry few have seen.”
Main Stage
Free Library Festival Festival events are free and open to the public. Seating begins 15 minutes prior to event start times. Seating is first come, first seated. Space is limited in some venues. Authors will be on-hand to sign copies of their books after their events, unless noted. Books are sold on-site. For more information about this event, please click here For more information about the Free Library Festival, please click here Start: 3:00 pm
Alphabet Juice: The Energies, Gists, and Spirits of Letters, Words, and Combinations Thereof; Their Roots, Bones, Innards, Piths Roy Blount, Jr. Admired for his off-center perceptions and sense of humor, multitalented Roy Blount, Jr. is a prolific author, performer, and broadcaster. A panelist on NPR’s Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me, Blount has also performed stories and verses on A Prairie Home Companion, and appears on the CBS Morning Show, Tonight Show, David Letterman Show, Good Morning America, Today Show, and Larry King. He has contributed to more than 166 publications, including Sports Illustrated, New Yorker, Atlantic, New York Times, Esquire, Playboy, Rolling Stone, and GQ. Blount is the author of more than 21 books on a wide range of subjects, from the first woman president of the United States to what barnyard animals are thinking—among his most notable titles are About Three Bricks Shy: And the Load Filled Up, Crackers, One Fell Soup, First Hubby, Feet on the Street, and Alphabet Juice. Blount also appeared in the Off-Broadway one-man show, Roy Blount's Happy Hour and a Half, and performs with the Rock Bottom Remainders.
Main Stage
Free Library Festival Festival events are free and open to the public. Seating begins 15 minutes prior to event start times. Seating is first come, first seated. Space is limited in some venues. Authors will be on-hand to sign copies of their books after their events, unless noted. Books are sold on-site. For more information about this event, please click here For more information about the Free Library Festival, please click here Start: 2:00 pm
Jesus , Jobs, and Justice: African Amaerican Women and Religion Bettye Collier Thomas The recipient of numerous fellowships and awards, Bettye Collier-Thomas is the director of the Temple University Center for African-American History and Culture and an important figure in the study of African American women’s history. She formerly served as the founding Executive Director of the Bethune Memorial Museum, the nation’s first museum and archives for Black women's history. Her previous nonfiction books include Daughters of Thunder: Black Women Preachers and Their Sermons and Sisters in the Struggle: African-American Women in the Civil Rights–Black Power Movement. In her new book, which a New York Times reviewer calls “a revelation,” Collier-Thomas shows the important roles Black women played in developing African-American religion, politics, and culture. Writers Salon: Room 108
Free Library Festival Festival events are free and open to the public. Seating begins 15 minutes prior to event start times. Seating is first come, first seated. Space is limited in some venues. Authors will be on-hand to sign copies of their books after their events, unless noted. Books are sold on-site. For more information about this event, please click here For more information about the Free Library Festival, please click here Start: 3:00 pm
All the Whiskey in Heaven Charles Bernstein A professor at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of 40 books, poet Charles Bernstein has held fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. He is co-founder of both the influential poetry journal L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E, considered the leading outlet for the post-modern “language” school of poetry, and the Electronic Poetry Center at SUNY-Buffalo. All the Whiskey in Heaven brings together some of his best poetry from over the past 30 years. Skyline Room
Free Library Festival Festival events are free and open to the public. Seating begins 15 minutes prior to event start times. Seating is first come, first seated. Space is limited in some venues. Authors will be on-hand to sign copies of their books after their events, unless noted. Books are sold on-site. For more information about this event, please click here For more information about the Free Library Festival, please click here Start: 4:00 pm
Human Dark with Sugar Brenda Shaughnessy Born in Okinawa, Japan, and raised in Southern California, Brenda Shaughnessy is the poetry editor of Tin House magazine and Tin House Books. Her acclaimed debut collection, Interior with Sudden Joy—“a heady, infectious celebration of the range and peculiarity of erotic life” (The New Yorker)—was a finalist for the Lambda Award. Her new collection, Human Dark with Sugar, won the James Laughlin Award from the Academy of American Poets and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. “Human Dark with Sugar is both wonderfully inventive… and emotionally precise,” writes Matthea Harvey, a judge for the Laughlin Award. “Her ‘I’ is madly multidexterous—urgent, comic, mischievous—and the result is a new topography of the debates between heart and head.” Skyline Room
Free Library Festival Festival events are free and open to the public. Seating begins 15 minutes prior to event start times. Seating is first come, first seated. Space is limited in some venues. Authors will be on-hand to sign copies of their books after their events, unless noted. Books are sold on-site. For more information about this event, please click here For more information about the Free Library Festival, please click here Start: 4:00 pm
Scent of The Missing: Love and Partnership with a Search-and-Rescue-Dog Susannah Charleson Susannah Charleson’s Scent of the Missing explores the complex relationship she shares with her search-and-rescue (SAR) dog, a feisty golden retriever named Puzzle. It begins as they as they train to certify together as a canine SAR team, and follows them as they join the Metro Area Rescue K9 unit in Dallas, Texas, and track missing children, strayed Alzheimer’s patients, drowning victims, and pieces of the downed Columbia shuttle. Kirkus Reviews calls the book, “An inspiring collection of rescue tales ideal for dog lovers and armchair detectives.”
Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know Alexandra Horowitz Alexandra Horowitz holds a Ph.D. in Cognitive Science from the University of California and has spent years studying the cognition of humans, rhinoceroses, bonobos—and dogs. In her New York Times bestselling book, Inside of a Dog, she offers insight into the unique worldview of man’s best friend, by considering the world from a dog’s-eye view.
One Nation Under Dog: Adventures in the New World of Prozac-Popping Puppies, Dog-Park Politics, and Organic Pet Food Did you know Americans spend more than $40 billion a year on their pets? A sympathetic insider—with a depressed St. Bernard to prove it—author Michael Schaffer reflects on modern dog life in One Nation Under Dog, covering everything from Chihuahua social networking, hypoallergenic-kitty breeders, leash-law political activists, chew-toy industrialists, pet-bereavement counselors, and more from every corner of our pet-crazed country. Jonathan Yardley in the Washington Post calls the book, “informative, entertaining, and sobering…As the man says in this terrific book, it’s not about the dogs, it’s about the people.” Main Stage
Free Library Festival Festival events are free and open to the public. Seating begins 15 minutes prior to event start times. Seating is first come, first seated. Space is limited in some venues. Authors will be on-hand to sign copies of their books after their events, unless noted. Books are sold on-site. For more information about this event, please click here For more information about the Free Library Festival, please click here Start: 5:00 pm
A Friend of the Family Lauren Grodstein Washington Post book reviewer Ron Charles, finds Lauren Grodstein’s new novel, A Friend of the Family, to be “such an incisive diagnosis of aspirational America that someone should hand out copies at Little League games and ballet recitals… Horrifyingly plausible and deeply poignant, [it] will leave you shaken and chastened – and grateful for the warning.” The book has received wide critical acclaim and was selected as a New York Times Editor’s Pick and a Washington Post Book of the Year. Grodstein is author of the highly praised novel Reproduction is the Flaw of Love, the short story collection The Best of Animals, and Girls Dinner Club, a young adult novel published pseudonymously. Writers Salon: Room 108
Free Library Festival Festival events are free and open to the public. Seating begins 15 minutes prior to event start times. Seating is first come, first seated. Space is limited in some venues. Authors will be on-hand to sign copies of their books after their events, unless noted. Books are sold on-site. For more information about this event, please click here For more information about the Free Library Festival, please click here | ||
04 / 19
| ||
04 / 20
Start: 7:30 pm
Pearl of China: A Novel Anchee Min Praised for her lyrical writing and historical knowledge, Anchee Min is the author of the bestselling memoir Red Azalea. Growing up during the Cultural Revolution in China, Min spent time in a labor camp and was chosen for a lead role in a propagandist movie before the Mao communist regime collapsed. The New York Times Book Review said that Red Azalea, her account of that time, exists as "a powerful political as well as literary statement.” Min has since written five other works of historical fiction, among them Becoming Madame Mao and Empress Orchid. Her new novel is an intimate portrayal of Nobel Laureate Pearl S. Buck, exploring the fateful friendship between the writer and a young Chinese woman.
Central Library This is a TICKETED event; $14 General Admission, $7 Students. Tickets on sale Friday, January 15 at 10:00 a.m. at freelibrary.org/authorevents or by phone at 1-800-595-4TIX (4849). For more information, call 215.567.4341, or click here | ||
04 / 21
Start: 6:30 pm
Unhibited, Robust, and Wide-Open: A Free Press for a New Century Lee Bollinger Lee Bollinger, President of Columbia University, is one of the nation’s foremost experts on the First Amendment. In his new book, Uninhibited, Robust, and Wide-Open: A Free Press for a New Century, Bollinger explores the troubled history of a free press in America and looks toward the challenges ahead. The First Amendment guarantees freedom of the press in seemingly clear terms. However, over the course of American history, Bollinger notes, the idea of freedom of the press has evolved, in response to social, political, technological, and legal changes. It was not until the twentieth century that freedom of the press came to be understood as guaranteeing an “uninhibited, robust, and wide-open” public discourse. But even during the twentieth century, the government has tried to erect barriers: the sedition laws of WWI, the use of libel law, the Pentagon Papers case, and efforts to limit press access to information. Bollinger sheds light on this history and explores the meaning of freedom of the press in our globalized, internet-dominated era. Bill Marimow, editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer, moderates. Annenberg Center for Outreach and Education F.M. Kirby Auditorium
National Constitution Center This is a TICKETED event; $9 for members, $15 for non-memebers, $7 for students & teachers, FREE for 1787 Society members. Reservations required. Please call 215.409.6700 or click here. Start: 7:30 pm
Everything but the Coffee: Learning About America from Starbucks Bryant Simon Bryant Simon’s new book, Everything but the Coffee, looks at Starbucks’ psychological, emotional, political, and sociological power to discover how the chain’s explosive success and rapid deflation reflect American culture today. Most importantly, it shows that Starbucks speaks to a deeply felt American need for predictability and class standing, community and authenticity, and reveals that Starbucks’ appeal lies not in the product it sells, but in the easily consumed identity it offers.
Appetite for America: How Visionary Businessman Fred Harvey Built a Railroad Hospitality Empire That Civilized the Wild West Stephen Fried A two-time winner of the National Magazine Award and a professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Stephen Fried is the author of Thing of Beauty, Bitter Pills, The New Rabbi, and Husbandry. In Appetite for America, he tells the story of entrepreneur Fred Harvey, founder of the renowned “Harvey House” hotels, restaurants, and bookstore chains that served patrons along the Santa Fe railroad well into the 1960’s and became a family empire whose marketing and business innovations are still used in chain stores and restaurants today.
Central Library This is a FREE event; no tickets or reservations are required. For more information, call 215.567.4341, or click here | ||
04 / 22
Start: 5:00 pm
Lunch in Paris: A Love Story, with Recipes Elizabeth Bard In Paris for a weekend visit, Elizabeth Bard sat down to lunch with a handsome Frenchman--and never went home again. Was it love at first sight? Or was it the way her knife slid effortlessly through her pave au poivre, the steak's pink juices puddling into the buttery pepper sauce? Lunch in Paris is a memoir about a young American woman caught up in two passionate love affairs--one with her new beau, Gwendal, the other with French cuisine. Packing her bags for a new life in the world's most romantic city, Elizabeth is plunged into a world of bustling open-air markets, hipster bistros, and size 2 femmes fatales. She learns to gut her first fish (with a little help from Jane Austen), soothe pangs of homesickness (with the rise of a chocolate souffle) and develops a crush on her local butcher (who bears a striking resemblance to Matt Dillon). Elizabeth finds that the deeper she immerses herself in the world of French cuisine, the more Paris itself begins to translate. French culture, she discovers, is not unlike a well-ripened cheese-there may be a crusty exterior, until you cut through to the melting, piquant heart. Peppered with mouth-watering recipes for summer ratatouille, swordfish tartare and molten chocolate cakes, Lunch in Paris is a story of falling in love, redefining success and discovering what it truly means to be at home. Grange Marketplace Design Center, #106 2400 Market Street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19103 This is a FREE event, but reservations are required. Please RSVP by April 19th by calling 215.217.1367, or emailing marketing@grangeny.com Start: 5:30 pm
Why the Dreyfus Affair Matters Louis Begley In December 1894, Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a brilliant French artillery officer and a Jew of Alsatian descent, was court-martialed for selling secrets to the German military attaché in Paris based on perjured testimony and trumped-up evidence. The sentence was military degradation and life imprisonment on Devil’s Island, a hellhole off the coast of French Guiana. Five years later, the case was overturned, and eventually Dreyfus was completely exonerated. Meanwhile, the Dreyfus Affair tore France apart, pitting Dreyfusards—committed to restoring freedom and honor to an innocent man convicted of a crime committed by another—against nationalists, anti-Semites, and militarists who preferred having an innocent man rot to exposing the crimes committed by ministers of war and the army’s top brass in order to secure Dreyfus’s conviction. Was the Dreyfus Affair merely another instance of the rise in France of a virulent form of anti-Semitism? In Why the Dreyfus Affair Matters, the acclaimed novelist draws upon his legal expertise to create a riveting account of the famously complex case, and to remind us of the interest each one of us has in the faithful execution of laws as the safeguard of our liberties and honor.
Rosenwald Gallery, Van Pelt-Dietrich Library, 6th Floor University of Pennsylvania 3420 Walnut Street Philadelphia, PA, 19104 This is a FREE event, but reservations are requested. For reservations, click here. Please RSVP by April 14th. For more information, call 215-665-2300 or click here Start: 6:30 pm
Ballistics Billy Collins Billy Collins served two terms as the Poet Laureate of the United States, from 2001 to 2003, and was selected as the New York State Poet from 2004 to 2006. One of America’s bestselling poets, Collins writes with a feel for the mystery of the everyday and is lauded as “a poet of plentitude, irony, and Augustan grace” (The New Yorker). His acclaimed books include Questions About Angels; The Art of Drowning; Picnic, Lightning; and Sailing Alone Around the Room. In Ballistics, Collins employs his trademark wit and comic insight as he considers the difficult topics of death and loneliness.
Central Library This is a TICKETED event; $14 General Admission, $7 Students. Tickets on sale Friday, January 15 at 10:00 a.m. at freelibrary.org/authorevents or by phone at 1-800-595-4TIX (4849). For more information, call 215.567.4341, or click here Start: 8:00 pm
The Rock Bottom Remainders The Rock Bottom Remainders, a band of bestselling and award-winning authors, are playing a special benefit concert on Thursday, April 22nd at the Electric Factory. Featuring a musical line-up including Amy Tan, Scott Turow, Mitch Albom, Dave Barry, Ridley Pearson, Roy Blount, Jr., Greg Iles, James McBride, and Kathi Goldmark--plus some surprise guests!--the Rock Bottom Remainders will take to the stage during their first-ever stop in Philadelphia! Since the band's inception in 1992, the Rock Bottom Remainders have generously donated proceeds to literary organizations, and this year, the Free Library will receive 100 percent of the ticket profits in Philadelphia. Merchandise sales and proceeds from an exciting auction, as well as profits from a special VIP reception with members of the band, will benefit the Free Library and its valuble programs, services, and resources. General Admission Ticket Information General admission tickets cost $35 and are available for purchase at ticketmaster.com. Doors open at 7:30PM, and the concert runs from 8:00PM to 9:30PM. VIP Ticket Information This rockin' evening includes an exclusive VIP reception at 6:30PM (doors at 6:15PM), where guests can mix and mingle with the band while enjoying appetizers by Stephen Starr Events and drinks from an open bar. All of the authors' latest works will be for sale during the reception, and guests may have their books signed by the band. These guests will also have access to the VIP area throughout the reception and the concert that follows. VIP Tickets are $150.00 and can be optained by calling Sabrina at 215.567.7710. Electric Factory For more information about this special benefit concert, please click here | ||
04 / 23
| ||
04 / 24
| ||
04 / 25
| ||
04 / 26
| ||
04 / 27
Start: 10:00 am
Start: Tue, 04/27/2010 - 10:00am
End: Sat, 05/01/2010 - 6:00pm
Philadelphia International Children's Festival Shows for the young and young-at-heart! The 26th annual Philadelphia International Children's Festival at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts will be April 27th-May 1st. Enjoy a variety of family-friendly performances including a live-action musical version of The Little Engine That Could by Omaha Theater Company, a comical puppetry adaptation of The Man Who Planted Trees by Puppet State Theatre Company of Scotland, the explosive hip-hop and break-dance moves of STREET BEAT and a sing along musical journey through African American history with Linda Tillery & The Culteral Heritage Choir. In addition, famillies can participate in a host of fun and interactive activities for free in the FUN ZONE on the Outdoor Plaza including crafts, face painting, jugglers, musicians and more! On Saturday, May 1st, join the Joseph Fox Bookshop and the actors from The Little Engine That Could for an autograph signing after the 1:00PM performance, and the actors from The Man Who Planted Trees for an autograph signing after the 2:30PM performance! Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts 3680 Walnut Street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19104 This is a TICKETED event; all tickets are $10 each, groups of ten or more, $8 each. For tickets, call 215.898.3900, group orders call 215.898.6789. For more information, please click here Start: 7:30 pm
Wait and
On Whitman C.K. Williams A winner of the Pushcart Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Pulitzer Prize, and the National Book Award, C.K. Williams has been called “one of the most distinguished poets of his generation,” by the Times Literary Supplement. He writes with harrowing psychological insight about war, death, and desire in his poems. His books include The Singing, which won the National Book Award; Repair, winner of a Pulitzer Prize; and Flesh and Blood, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award. Wait is his new collection of poems. In On Whitman, Williams examines why Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass remains so important both to the public and to himself. Former Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky describes the book as “the exuberant, true book of a poet, of two poets: a personal, illuminating, and beautiful demonstration of the truest reading.”
Central Library This is a FREE event; no tickets or reservations are required. For more information, call 215.567.4341, or click here | ||
04 / 28
(all day)
Start: Tue, 04/27/2010 - 10:00am
End: Sat, 05/01/2010 - 6:00pm
Philadelphia International Children's Festival Shows for the young and young-at-heart! The 26th annual Philadelphia International Children's Festival at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts will be April 27th-May 1st. Enjoy a variety of family-friendly performances including a live-action musical version of The Little Engine That Could by Omaha Theater Company, a comical puppetry adaptation of The Man Who Planted Trees by Puppet State Theatre Company of Scotland, the explosive hip-hop and break-dance moves of STREET BEAT and a sing along musical journey through African American history with Linda Tillery & The Culteral Heritage Choir. In addition, famillies can participate in a host of fun and interactive activities for free in the FUN ZONE on the Outdoor Plaza including crafts, face painting, jugglers, musicians and more! On Saturday, May 1st, join the Joseph Fox Bookshop and the actors from The Little Engine That Could for an autograph signing after the 1:00PM performance, and the actors from The Man Who Planted Trees for an autograph signing after the 2:30PM performance! Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts 3680 Walnut Street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19104 This is a TICKETED event; all tickets are $10 each, groups of ten or more, $8 each. For tickets, call 215.898.3900, group orders call 215.898.6789. For more information, please click here | ||
04 / 29
(all day)
Start: Tue, 04/27/2010 - 10:00am
End: Sat, 05/01/2010 - 6:00pm
Philadelphia International Children's Festival Shows for the young and young-at-heart! The 26th annual Philadelphia International Children's Festival at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts will be April 27th-May 1st. Enjoy a variety of family-friendly performances including a live-action musical version of The Little Engine That Could by Omaha Theater Company, a comical puppetry adaptation of The Man Who Planted Trees by Puppet State Theatre Company of Scotland, the explosive hip-hop and break-dance moves of STREET BEAT and a sing along musical journey through African American history with Linda Tillery & The Culteral Heritage Choir. In addition, famillies can participate in a host of fun and interactive activities for free in the FUN ZONE on the Outdoor Plaza including crafts, face painting, jugglers, musicians and more! On Saturday, May 1st, join the Joseph Fox Bookshop and the actors from The Little Engine That Could for an autograph signing after the 1:00PM performance, and the actors from The Man Who Planted Trees for an autograph signing after the 2:30PM performance! Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts 3680 Walnut Street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19104 This is a TICKETED event; all tickets are $10 each, groups of ten or more, $8 each. For tickets, call 215.898.3900, group orders call 215.898.6789. For more information, please click here Start: 12:00 pm
Every Last One Anna Quindlen The no. 1 New York Times bestselling author Anna Quindlen has made her mark writing about families, relating domestic concerns to wider social issues. Quindlen earned earning the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for commentary for her New York Times column “Public and Private,” and she now writes the “My Turn” column for Newsweek. Her bestselling books include the novels Object Lessons and One True Thing, the collection Living Out Loud, and the bestseller A Short Guide to a Happy Life. Her new novel portrays a loving mother, her depressed son, and the explosive, violent consequences of what seem like inconsequential actions.
Central Library This is a FREE event; no tickets or reservations are required. For more information, call 215.567.4341, or click here Start: 3:00 pm
How Enemies Become Friends: The Sources of Stable Peace Charles Kupchan Is the world destined to suffer endless cycles of conflict and war? Can rival nations become partners and establish a lasting and stable peace? How Enemies Become Friends provides an account of how nations escape geopolitical competition and replace hostility with friendship. Drawing on historical examples that span the globe range from the thirteenth century through the present, Kupchan explores how can transform enmity in amity - and he exposes prevalent myths about the causes of peace. Dr. Kupchan is senior fellow for Europe studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), as well as professor of international affairs at the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He was previously director for European affairs at the National Security Council (NSC) during the Clinton administration. Before joining the NSC, he worked in the U.S. Department of State on the policy planning staff. Prior to government service, he was an Assistant Professor of Politics at Princeton University. He is the author of multiple books and articles, including The End of the American Era: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Geopolitics of the Twenty-first Century (2002), Power in Transition: The Peaceful Change of the International Order (2001), Civic Engagement in the Atlantic Community (1999), and Atlantic Security: Contending Visions (1998).
Foreign Policy Research Institute Library This is a FREE event; however reservations are requested. For more information, call 215-732-3774, email lux@fpri.org or click here Start: 7:30 pm
Parrot and Olivier in America Peter Carey Peter Carey “has built a distinguished career out of offbeat, risk-taking novels,” writes Time magazine critic Paul Gray. He has won the prestigious Man Booker Prize twice, for his novel Oscar and Lucinda and for True History of the Kelly Gang, a fictionalized memoir of legendary Australian outlaw Ned Kelly. With inventiveness and humor, Carey’s new novel explores the unlikely friendship between a Frenchman and an Englishman working in early 19th-century America.
Central Library This is a FREE event; no tickets or reservations are required. For more information, call 215.567.4341, or click here | ||
04 / 30
(all day)
Start: Tue, 04/27/2010 - 10:00am
End: Sat, 05/01/2010 - 6:00pm
Philadelphia International Children's Festival Shows for the young and young-at-heart! The 26th annual Philadelphia International Children's Festival at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts will be April 27th-May 1st. Enjoy a variety of family-friendly performances including a live-action musical version of The Little Engine That Could by Omaha Theater Company, a comical puppetry adaptation of The Man Who Planted Trees by Puppet State Theatre Company of Scotland, the explosive hip-hop and break-dance moves of STREET BEAT and a sing along musical journey through African American history with Linda Tillery & The Culteral Heritage Choir. In addition, famillies can participate in a host of fun and interactive activities for free in the FUN ZONE on the Outdoor Plaza including crafts, face painting, jugglers, musicians and more! On Saturday, May 1st, join the Joseph Fox Bookshop and the actors from The Little Engine That Could for an autograph signing after the 1:00PM performance, and the actors from The Man Who Planted Trees for an autograph signing after the 2:30PM performance! Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts 3680 Walnut Street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19104 This is a TICKETED event; all tickets are $10 each, groups of ten or more, $8 each. For tickets, call 215.898.3900, group orders call 215.898.6789. For more information, please click here | ||
05 / 1
End: 6:00 pm
Start: Tue, 04/27/2010 - 10:00am
End: Sat, 05/01/2010 - 6:00pm
Philadelphia International Children's Festival Shows for the young and young-at-heart! The 26th annual Philadelphia International Children's Festival at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts will be April 27th-May 1st. Enjoy a variety of family-friendly performances including a live-action musical version of The Little Engine That Could by Omaha Theater Company, a comical puppetry adaptation of The Man Who Planted Trees by Puppet State Theatre Company of Scotland, the explosive hip-hop and break-dance moves of STREET BEAT and a sing along musical journey through African American history with Linda Tillery & The Culteral Heritage Choir. In addition, famillies can participate in a host of fun and interactive activities for free in the FUN ZONE on the Outdoor Plaza including crafts, face painting, jugglers, musicians and more! On Saturday, May 1st, join the Joseph Fox Bookshop and the actors from The Little Engine That Could for an autograph signing after the 1:00PM performance, and the actors from The Man Who Planted Trees for an autograph signing after the 2:30PM performance! Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts 3680 Walnut Street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19104 This is a TICKETED event; all tickets are $10 each, groups of ten or more, $8 each. For tickets, call 215.898.3900, group orders call 215.898.6789. For more information, please click here Start: 9:00 am
Start: Sat, 05/01/2010 - 9:00am
End: Sun, 05/02/2010 - 1:00pm
Living Beyond Breast Cancer 4th Annual Conference for Women Living with Advanced Breast Cancer: Enhancing Your Health and Quality of Life Join Living Beyond Breast Cancer for a national conference focusing on the unique needs of women living with advance breast cancer. Leaders in breast cancer research and support will explore the medical, emotional, and practical concerns affecting this group of women. Featuring The Council of Dads: My Daughters, My Illness, and the Men Who Could Be Me Bruce Feiler Bestselling author Bruce Feiler was a young father when he was diagnosed with cancer. He instantly worried what his daughters' lives would be like without him. "Would they wonder who I was? Would they wonder what I thought? Would they yearn for my approval, my love, my voice?" Three days later he came up with a stirring idea of how he might give them that voice. He would reach out to six men from all the passages in his life, and ask them to be present in the passages in his daughters' lives. The Council of Dads is the inspiring story of what happened next. Feiler introduces the men in his Council and captures the life lesson he wants each to convey to his daughters. He mixes these with an intimate, highly personal chronicle of his experience battling cancer while raising young children, along with vivid portraits of his father, his two grandfathers, and various father figures in his life that explore the changing role of fathers in America. Through Rose Colored Glasses Donna Deegan Donna Deegan is the evening anchor for First Coast News in Jacksonville, Florida. She will share her inspiring journey of thriving while managing breast cancer. After her initial diagnosis, Ms. Deegan established The Donna Foundation, which provides financial support to northern Florida women living with breast cancer. Deegan also founded 26.2 with Donna: The National Marathon to Fight Breast Cancer, the only marathon in the country that is dedicated exclusively to raising funds for breast cancer research and care.
Her first book, The Good Fight, chronicles her second bout with breast cancer and the on-line journal that she kept during that time. Deegan's second book, Through Rose Colored Glasses, gives hope to women living with the reality of breast cancer and inspires them to not let this reality damage their spirit and outlook on life.
Philadelphia Marriot West 111 Crawford Avenue West Conshohocken, PA, 19428 For full conference information, including registration, please click here Start: 5:30 pm
Dreaming of Dior: Every Dress Tells a Story Charlotte Smith Charlotte Smith had already had more than her fair share of fabulous dresses and adventures. She lived life to the fullest in London, Paris and New York before falling in love with Australia and making it her home.Then she discovered that she had inherited a priceless vintage clothing collection from her American Quaker godmother, Doris Darnell.When the boxes started arriving, they were filled with more than three thousand pieces dating from 1790 to 1995, from Dior and Chanel originals to a dainty pioneer dress.But when she unearthed her godmother’s book of stories, the true value of what she had been given hit home. This wasn’t merely a collection of beautiful things; it was a collection of lives. Women’s lives. Tiny snapshots of our joys and disappointments, our entrances and exits, triumphant and tragic.This is a book for any woman who knows a dress can hold a lifetime of memories. The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Historic Landmark Building 118 North Broad Street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 19102 This is a TICKETED event; $50 Admission. Reservations are required; please contact the Alliance Francaise at 215.735.5283 | ||
05 / 2
End: 1:00 pm
Start: Sat, 05/01/2010 - 9:00am
End: Sun, 05/02/2010 - 1:00pm
Living Beyond Breast Cancer 4th Annual Conference for Women Living with Advanced Breast Cancer: Enhancing Your Health and Quality of Life Join Living Beyond Breast Cancer for a national conference focusing on the unique needs of women living with advance breast cancer. Leaders in breast cancer research and support will explore the medical, emotional, and practical concerns affecting this group of women. Featuring The Council of Dads: My Daughters, My Illness, and the Men Who Could Be Me Bruce Feiler Bestselling author Bruce Feiler was a young father when he was diagnosed with cancer. He instantly worried what his daughters' lives would be like without him. "Would they wonder who I was? Would they wonder what I thought? Would they yearn for my approval, my love, my voice?" Three days later he came up with a stirring idea of how he might give them that voice. He would reach out to six men from all the passages in his life, and ask them to be present in the passages in his daughters' lives. The Council of Dads is the inspiring story of what happened next. Feiler introduces the men in his Council and captures the life lesson he wants each to convey to his daughters. He mixes these with an intimate, highly personal chronicle of his experience battling cancer while raising young children, along with vivid portraits of his father, his two grandfathers, and various father figures in his life that explore the changing role of fathers in America. Through Rose Colored Glasses Donna Deegan Donna Deegan is the evening anchor for First Coast News in Jacksonville, Florida. She will share her inspiring journey of thriving while managing breast cancer. After her initial diagnosis, Ms. Deegan established The Donna Foundation, which provides financial support to northern Florida women living with breast cancer. Deegan also founded 26.2 with Donna: The National Marathon to Fight Breast Cancer, the only marathon in the country that is dedicated exclusively to raising funds for breast cancer research and care.
Her first book, The Good Fight, chronicles her second bout with breast cancer and the on-line journal that she kept during that time. Deegan's second book, Through Rose Colored Glasses, gives hope to women living with the reality of breast cancer and inspires them to not let this reality damage their spirit and outlook on life.
Philadelphia Marriot West 111 Crawford Avenue West Conshohocken, PA, 19428 For full conference information, including registration, please click here | ||
05 / 3
Start: 6:30 pm
We Don't Know We Don't Know Nick Lantz Nick Lantz is a former Jay C. and Ruth Halls Poetry Fellow at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Called a startling new voice, he is author of We Don’t Know We Don’t Know, winner of the Breadloaf Writers’ Conference Bakeless Prize and Winner of the 2008 Katharine Bakeless Nason Prize for Poetry.
Central Library This is a FREE event; no tickets or reservations are required. For more information, call 215.567.4341, or click here | ||
05 / 4
Start: 11:00 am
Farrow & Ball: The Art of Color
Barry Dixon Interiors Brian Coleman Inspiration is the beginning of any good design, establishing a particular ambience and appeal. Brian Coleman, author of Farrow & Ball®: The Art of Color and Barry Dixon Interiors, and nationally recognized designer Barry Dixon take us on a tour of homes Barry has designed, from an urban loft in New York to an idyllic mountain villa in the Caribbean, giving us perspective and inspiring design tips and advice.
Marketplace Design Center This is a FREE event; no tickets or reservations are required. For more information, call 215.561.5000 or click here Start: 7:30 pm
Isabel Allende Island Beneath the Sea: A Novel Isabel Allende takes traditional Latin-American magical realism and bends it to her own purposes to weave beguiling historic, political, and feminist narratives. Her first international bestseller was The House of the Spirits, which was adapted into the eponymous film starring Meryl Streep. She is the author of several other popular novels, including Daughter of Fortune (a 2000 Oprah Book Club selection), Zorro, and Portrait in Sepia. She has also written a collection of stories, three memoirs, and a trilogy of young adult novels. Her books have been translated into more than 27 languages and are bestsellers across four continents. Her new novel tells of Tété, a slave and concubine, and her struggle for independence.
Central Library This is a TICKETED event; $14 General Admission, $7 Students. Tickets on sale Friday, January 15 at 10:00 a.m. at freelibrary.org/authorevents or by phone at 1-800-595-4TIX (4849). For more information, call 215.567.4341, or click here | ||
05 / 5
Start: 5:30 pm
Plain, Honest Men: The Making of the American Constitution Richard Beeman In May 1787, in an atmosphere of crisis, delegates met in Philadelphia to design a radically new form of government. Distinguished historian Richard Beeman captures as never before the dynamic of the debate and the characters of the men who labored that historic summer. Virtually all of the issues in dispute-the extent of presidential power, the nature of federalism, and, most explosive of all, the role of slavery-have continued to provoke conflict throughout our nation's history. This unprecedented book takes readers behind the scenes to show how the world's most enduring constitution was forged through conflict, compromise, and fragile consensus. As Gouverneur Morris, delegate of Pennsylvania, noted: "While some have boasted it as a work from Heaven, others have given it a less righteous origin. I have many reasons to believe that it is the work of plain, honest men."
Athenaeum of Philadelphia This is a FREE event, but reservations are required; please contact Susan Gallo at 215-925-2688 or sgallo@philaathenaeum.org For more information, please click here Start: 6:30 pm
The Living Constitution David A. Strauss
Guns and Violence: The English Experience Joyce Lee Malcolm Join the National Constitution Center for a conversation with Joyce Lee Malcolm and David A. Strauss about one of the most important and controversial case before the Supreme Court this term: the Chicago gun-rights case. At issue in McDonald v. Chicago is whether the right to keep and bear arms is a fundamental constitutional privilege - like freedom of speech, press and religion - that can be invoked by individuals against the actions of state and federal government. As the briefs start coming to the Court for the case, a battle is brewing over the so-called "incorporation doctrine" which has applied most, but not all, guarantees of the federal Bill of Rights to state and local governments.
Annenberg Center for Education and Outreach This is a FREE event, but reservations are required. Please call 215.409.6700 or click here Start: 7:30 pm
Dead in the Family: A Sookie Stackhouse Novel Charlaine Harris Dead in the Family is book 10 of Charlaine Harris’s no. 1 New York Times bestselling Sookie Stackhouse series. The basis for the hit HBO series True Blood, the novels follow telepathic barmaid Sookie Stackhouse as she navigates a southern Louisiana world full of vampires, werewolves, shape shifters, and fairies. The books have garnered an Agatha Award nomination and an Anthony Award for best paperback original; the television series has won Golden Globe, People’s Choice, and Emmy awards. Harris is the author of three more mystery series (Aurora Teagarden, Lily Bard, and Harper Connelly), as well as the stand-alone mysteries, Sweet and Deadly and A Secret Rage.
Central Library This is a FREE event; no tickets or reservations are required. For more information, call 215.567.4341, or click here | ||
05 / 6
Start: 7:30 pm
Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Iquiry into the Value of Work Matthew B. Crawford In Shop Class as Soul Craft, Matthew B. Crawford—a mechanic with a Ph.D. in political philosophy from the University of Chicago—examines the pretentions of the high-prestige workplace and, he writes, “advances a nestled set of arguments on behalf of work that is meaningful because it is genuinely useful. It also explores what we might call the ethics of maintenance and repair.” Francis Fukuyama, in his New York Times review, called Shop Class as Soul Craft “a beautiful little book about human excellence and the way it is undervalued in contemporary America.” As jobs become increasingly abstract, Crawford offers a moving reflection on why and how to live more meaningfully in the world.
Central Library This is a FREE event; no tickets or reservations are required. For more information, call 215.567.4341, or click here | ||
05 / 7
| ||
05 / 8
Start: 4:00 pm
White Cat (The Curse Workers, Book One) Holly Black
City of Glass (The Mortal Instruments, Book Three) Cassandra Clare White Cat is the first of the Curse Workers books, the highly-anticipated new fantasy series from Holly Black. Black isthe New York Times bestselling author of The Spiderwick Chronicles, basis for the successful eponymous feature film. With White Cat, Black leaves behind tales of old-world faerie mischief for a modern-day dark fantasy caper complete with con artists, criminal curses, family intrigue, and romance. Black’s first book, Tithe: A Modern Faerie Tale, was included in the American Library Association’s Best Books for Young Adults; her other young adult novels include Valiant and Ironside, winner of the Andre Norton Award for excellence in young adult literature.
Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments series has a fan in Twilight author Stephenie Meyer, who writes, “The Mortal Instruments series is a story world that I love to live in… if it has to end, then City of Glass is the most perfect way for that to happen. Beautiful!” Beginning with City of Bones and City of Ashes—both New York Times bestsellers—this dark, urban fantasy tells the story of Clary Fray, a teenage girl who becomes entangled with Shadowhunters—a race of powerful, demon-destroying warriors—and the quest to find the “mortal instruments” that can control them. Clare’s next book, Clockwork Angel, is due to be released in September 2010.
Central Library This is a FREE event; no tickets or reservations are required. For more information, call 215.567.4341, or click here | ||
05 / 9
| ||
05 / 10
| ||
05 / 11
Start: 6:30 pm
Revolutionaries: A New History of the Invention of America Jack Rakove On the release of his newest book, Revolutionaries: A New History of the Invention of America, Pulitzer Prize-winner Jack Rakove joins the National Constitution Center to discuss how the country came to be and why the idea of America endures. Richard Beeman moderates. Rakove tells the stories of the founders before they were fully formed leaders, as individuals whose lives were radically altered by the explosive events of the mid-1770s. They were ordinary men who became extraordinary. Spanning the two crucial decades of the country's birth, from 1773 to 1792, Rakove uses little-known stories of these famous (and not so famous) men to capture--in a way no single biography ever could--the intensely creative period of the republic's founding. From the Boston Tea Party to the First Continental Congress, from Trenton to Valley Forge, from the ratification of the Constitution to the disputes that led to our two-party system, he explores the competing views of politics, war, diplomacy, and society that shaped our nation.
Annenberg Center for Education and Outreach This is a FREE event, but reservations are required. Please call 215.409.6700 or click here
Start: 7:00 pm
Ask Arthur Frommer: And Travel Better, Cheaper, Smarter Arthur Frommer Fifty years ago, only the rich vacationed in Europe. Then along came the guidebook Europe on $5 a Day. Traveling was changed forever! Travel writing legend Arthur Frommer continues to inform the world with books, blogs, articles, and interviews. His latest book, Ask Arthur Frommer: And Travel Better, Cheaper, Smarter is an indispensible addition to anyone's travel library with savvy advice on everything from internet tools to exposing the myths of modern travel. His daughter carries on the family tradition in 14 of her own award-winning Pauline Fommer Guides with more tips on how to Spend Less, See More...in Paris, New York, London, Costa Rica, and more destinations worldwide. The Geographical Society welcomes this unique father/daughter team for an evening of outspoken and entertaining commentary on travel.
Hyatt Regency Philadelphia at Penn's Landing This is a TICKETED event; $25 for program only, $90 for program & dinner. Reservations are required. Please RSVP by May 1st. For more information, call 610.649.5220, or click here
Start: 7:30 pm
Beat Cop to Top Cop: A Tale of Three Cities John F. Timoney Named “America’s Top Cop” by Esquire magazine, John F. Timoney has served as First Deputy Commissioner for the New York Police Department, Police Commissioner for the City of Philadelphia, and Chief of Police for the City of Miami. An immigrant from Dublin, Ireland, Timoney joined the New York Police Department, serving as a Narcotics Specialist in the South Bronx and rising to become the youngest four-star chief in the history of the NYPD. At the NYPD, he helped develop CompStat, a crime analysis and police management process, which he also implemented in Philadelphia to great success—crime decreased in all categories, especially homicide. Beat Cop to Top Cop is a riveting ride through Timoney’s career and offers advice on how police departments can make lower crime rates last.
Central Library This is a FREE event; no tickets or reservations are required. For more information, call 215.567.4341, or click here | ||
05 / 12
Start: 12:00 pm
The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of Little Bighorn Nathaniel Philbrick The author of modern and authoritative historical narratives, New York Times bestselling author Nathaniel Philbrick won the National Book Award in 2000 for In the Heart of the Sea, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Mayflower in 2007, and won the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award for Revenge of the Whale. In The Last Stand, Philbrick evokes the history, geography, and haunting beauty of the Great Plains and tells one of the most iconic and misunderstood stories of the American West.
Central Library This is a FREE event; no tickets or reservations are required. For more information, call 215.567.4341, or click here Start: 5:30 pm
Crime Does Pay A Special Panel Discussion featuring William Lashner, Merry Jones, George Anastasia, Gerald Kolpan, and Jonathan Levitan with moderator Codelia Frances Biddle Join local authors William Lashner, Merry Jones, George Anastasia, Gerald Kolpan, Jonathan Levitan, and moderator Cordelia Frances Biddle for a lively discussion of the art of mystery and suspense writing. Whether the genre is historical, thriller, traditional, or true crime with plots ripped out of the daily headlines, these experts will reveal their fascination with all things dangerous and sinister.
Athenaeum of Philadelphia This is a FREE event, but reservations are required; please contact Susan Gallo at 215-925-2688 or sgallo@philaathenaeum.org For more information, please click here | ||
05 / 13
| ||
05 / 14
Start: 7:30 pm
One Hundred Great French Books: From the Middle Ages to the Present Lance Donaldson-Evans One Hundred Great French Books invites readers to discover - or rediscover - some of the major achievements of French culture and civilization. Concise, provocative, and entertaining, it features one hundred timeless masterworks across ten centuries of writing in French. Many of the famous classics of French literature are presented, along with political, philosophical, and devotional texts, and detective novels and science fiction. Each of the chronologically arranged entries introduces one book in its historic, cultural, and social context, provides key information about the author, and gives a clear and focused summary of its content. Included are books by writers from metropolitan France as well as by francophone authors from Canada, the Caribbean, Africa, Belgium, and Switzerland. One Hundred Great French Books offers a rich, varied, and multicultural panorama of one of the most beloved and inpiring literatures in the world. Lance Donaldson-Evans is Professor of Romance Languages at the University of Pennsylvania, where he has taught courses on all periods of French literature and culture for some forty years. In 2008, the French government awarded him the rank of Chevalier in the Ordre des Palmes Academiques for his services in helping spread French literature and culture.
Ethical Society of Philadelphia This is a FREE event; no tickets or reservations are required. For more information, call 215.735.5283, or click here | ||
05 / 15
| ||
05 / 16
| ||
05 / 17
Start: 8:00 pm
No Wonder My Parents Drank: Tales from a Stand-Up Dad Jay Mohr From Saturday Night Live to stand-up, from a blockbuster film career to the star of CBS’s hit television show Gary Unmarried, Jay Mohr is one of the funniest people in comedy today. Now, in this down and dirty tale of modern fatherhood, Mohr shares his stories as a first-time parent. No Wonder My Parents Drank reveals the details behind Mohr’s humiliating test-tube conception attempts and then recounts the trauma of not only having to keep this child alive, but having to spend time alone with him! He waxes poetic about dirty diapers; spins theories on spanking; and mulls over the more hidden advantages of parenthood, like carpool lane access, carte blanche to use the ladies restroom, and an alibi for missing family dinners. Mohr describes, in painfully funny detail, the bizarre situations that all parents inevitably face but can never prepare for as well as moments of pure joy like taking his son to his first baseball game. Riotously acerbic and refreshingly honest, No Wonder My Parents Drank casts the very funny Jay Mohr with an even funnier mini-me sidekick as a supporting character in a little comedic love story that every person who either is a parent or has a parent will find delightful.
Helium Comedy Club This is a TICKETED event; $30 General Admission, $35 Reserved. To order tickets, please call 215.496.9001 or click here
| ||
05 / 18
Start: 7:30 pm
Hellhound On His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the International Hunt for His Assassin Hampton Sides Hampton Sides is an acclaimed bestselling author and a National Magazine Award nominated journalist. He won the PEN USA Award for nonfiction and the 2002 Discover Award from Barnes and Noble for Ghost Soldiers, a historical narrative following the rescue of WWII Bataan Death March survivors that was later adapted into the Miramax feature film The Great Raid. His next book, Blood and Thunder, was adapted into an episode of the Public Broadcasting Service’s American Experience series. Hellhound On His Trail, is a taut and thrilling account of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the 65-day manhunt for his killer, the longest in American history.
Central Library This is a FREE event; no tickets or reservations are required. For more information, call 215.567.4341, or click here | ||
05 / 19
| ||
05 / 20
Start: 7:30 pm
War Sebastian Junger A contributing editor to Vanity Fair, Sebastian Junger has won both the SAIS Novartis Prize for journalism and a National Magazine Award. His first book, The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea, was a surprise bestseller and became a hit feature film, starring George Clooney. In War, Junger explores closely the physical, social, and psychological impacts of war by recounting time spent with a U.S. Army platoon engaged in Afghanistan. CBC (Canada) news anchor Peter Mansbridge calls War, “frontline, raw, combat reporting the quality of which you don't often read, because quite frankly, most war reporters never see it.”
Central Library This is a FREE event; no tickets or reservations are required. For more information, call 215.567.4341, or click here | ||
05 / 21
| ||
05 / 22
Start: 2:00 pm
The Clock Without a Face Augustus Twintig Twelve (real) emerald-studded numbers from the (fictional) Emerald Khroniker clock—each handmade and one-of-a-kind—have been buried across the United States. These treasures will belong to whoever digs them up first. The question: Where to dig? The answer: Clues are hidden in the detailed drawings of the 13 floors of Ternky Tower in The Clock Without a Face, online at gustwintig.com, and at author appearances! The hunt is updated in real time on the authors’ Twitter feed, @GusTwintig. Co-author Eli Horowitz edits and designs books and journals for McSweeneys; Mac Barnett is the author of the acclaimed children’s books The Brixton Brothers: The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity, Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem, and Guess Again!
Central Library This is a FREE event; no tickets or reservations are required. For more information, call 215.567.4341, or click here | ||
05 / 23
| ||
05 / 24
Start: 7:30 pm
Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities Martha Nussbaum “Among academic stars, Nussbaum is one of the brightest,” writes one Publishers Weekly reviewer. One of America’s most influential philosophers, she is the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics in the Philosophy Department, Law School, and Divinity School at the University of Chicago. With clarity and intelligence, Nussbaum has written on liberal education, feminism, and social justice, and the influence of emotion on society. Her award-winning books include Cultivating Humanity, Sex and Social Justice, and Hiding from Humanity. In Not for Profit the celebrated philosopher makes a passionate case for the reinstatement of the liberal arts at the center of all levels of education as a way to give students the capacity to be true democratic citizens.
Central Library This is a TICKETED event; $14 General Admission, $7 Students. Tickets on sale Friday, January 15 at 10:00 a.m. at freelibrary.org/authorevents or by phone at 1-800-595-4TIX (4849). For more information call 215.567.4341, or click here | ||
05 / 25
| ||
05 / 26
| ||
05 / 27
Start: 7:30 pm
Future Tense: Jews, Judaism, and Israel in the Twenty-First Century Rabbi Jonathan Sacks Jonathan Sacks is Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of Great Britain and the Commonwealth. A frequent contributor to The Times (London) and the BBC, Rabbi Sacks was knighted in 2005 and granted life peerage in the House of Lords in 2009. He has authored more than 15 books, including The Dignity of Difference, which was awarded the 2004 Grawemeyer Prize for religion, and A Letter in the Scroll, winner of the 2000 National Jewish Book Award. Rabbi Sacks is an expert on Jewish tradition and a strong advocate for the peaceful coexistence of all religions. His most recent work argues that Jews should transform themselves from “the people that dwells alone,” into a community willing to work with others in order to achieve freedom and social justice.
Central Library This is a TICKETED event; $14 General Admission, $7 Students. Tickets on sale Friday, January 15 at 10:00 a.m. at freelibrary.org/authorevents or by phone at 1-800-595-4TIX (4849). For more information, call 215.567.4341, or click here | ||
05 / 28
Start: 6:00 pm
Bicycles: Love Poems Nikki Giovanni Art Sanctuary presents the 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award to world-renowned poet, writer, commentator, activist and educator Nikki Giovanni. One of the most widely read American poets and the author of more than 30 books for adults and children, Giovanni prides herself on being "a Black American, a daughter, a mother and a professor of English." The celebration includes a performance by jazz guitarist Monette Sudler-Honesty featuring the Original SNCC Freedom Singers; words from illustrator Bryan Collier, author Derrick Barnes, and US Representative Chaka Fattah; a special tribute by Philadelphia's own Sonia Sanchez, HBO Def Poet Bassey Ikpi and wordsmith Oni Lasana; and a hip-hop video tribute including Questlove of The Roots. Author Veronica Chambers hosts. Church of the Advocate This is a TICKETED event; for pricing and registration, click here.
| ||
05 / 29
Start: 9:30 am
End: 5:30 pm
The 26th Annual Celebration of Black Writing Festival The purpose of the Celebration of Black Writing Festival is to deepen Philadelphia's literary life and polish its tourist shine with a rich infusion of African-American writers in all genres during the week of Memorial Day. Join Art Sanctuary for inspiring workshops and panel discussions, fun family activities, powerful performances, a book fair with author signings, delicious food, fabulous crafts and much more! Authors appearing throughout the day include Solomon Jones (Payback: The Return of C.R.E.A.M.), Lise Funderburg (Pig Candy: Taking My Father South, Taking My Father Home), Steven Barnes (Shadow Valley), Sonia Sanchez (Morning Haiku), and Haki R. Madhubuti (Tough Notes: A Healing Call for Creating Exceptional Black Men), and many more. The Celebration of Black Writing Festival also includes performances of poetry, music, and dance by local talents such as Jean Baylor, one half of the hit duo Zhane, who will perform songs from her gorgeous solo debut album Testimony: My Life Story, Misty Sol, Davina, Art Sanctuary's North Stars, and Haiku Writing Contest winners. Dynamic spoken word artist K.D. Morris hosts.
Temple University Campus Ritter Hall Annex This is a FREE event, but tickets to lectures, workshops, and panel discussions are required. For registration and a complete event listing, click here.
| ||
05 / 30
| ||
05 / 31
| ||
06 / 1
Start: 6:30 pm
The War Lovers: Roosevelt, Lodge, Hearst, and the Rush to Empire, 1898 Evan Thomas The National Constitution Center presents bestselling historian and Newsweek Assistant Managing Editor Evan Thomas for a conversation about his new book, The War Lovers, the story of six men at the center of a transforming event in U.S. history and why the Spanish-American war has uncanny resonance today. On February 15, 1898, the USS Maine exploded in Havana Harbor. Despite the fact that the explosion was almost certainly a self-inflicted accident, Teddy Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge, along with newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst, fabricated evidence of a Spanish attack. As they had long hoped, President McKinley soon declared war, which would turn out to be a bloody quagmire that would come at a tremendous cost. The war would ultimately transform Roosevelt into an American hero, but would shatter friendships among Roosevelt, Lodge, their close friends and former allies, philosopher William James and the powerful Speaker of the House, Thomas Reed. Princeton historian Sean Wilentz returns to the Center to moderate the conversation.
Annenberg Center for Education and Outreach This is a FREE event, but reservations are required. Please call 215.409.6700 or click here Start: 7:30 pm
Role Models John Waters On Role Models—the new memoir from legendary American filmmaker, actor, and writer John Waters—author Augusten Burroughs comments, “How did somebody from a quiet Baltimore neighborhood grow up to become the outlandish, brilliant, and insane John Waters? Two words: Johnny Mathis.” In addition to the cult films he is famous for—among them Hairspray, Pink Flamingos, and Polyester—Waters has published two previous books, Shock Value and Crackpot, a collection of essays. A window into one of the most unique and entertaining artists of our time, Role Models is a self-portrait told through intimate descriptions of the people who have both inspired and subverted him, including playwright Tennessee Williams, atheist leader Madalyn Murray O’Hair, the insane martyr Saint Catherine of Siena, and of course, singer Johnny Mathis.
Central Library This is a TICKETED event; $14 General Admission, $7 Students. Tickets on sale at freelibrary.org/authorevents or by phone at 1-800-595-4TIX (4849). For more information, call 215.567.4341, or click here | ||
06 / 2
Start: 5:30 pm
Haunt Me Still Jennifer Lee Carrell Kate Stanley, Jennifer Lee Carrell's dauntless Shakespearean scholar- turned-director, made a memorable-and New York Times bestselling-debut in Interred with Their Bones. Having chased down her mother's killer (and recovering one of Shakespeare's lost plays in the process), Kate's fame as a director with an expertise in "occult Shakespeare" catapults her-and Ben Pearl, her partner in crime- solving-into a new production of Macbeth, showcasing a fabled collection of objects relating both to the play and the historical Scottish king for whom it is named.
Athenaeum of Philadelphia This event is FREE for Athenaeum Members; $10 admission for non-members. Reservations are required; please contact Susan Gallo at 215-925-2688 or sgallo@philaathenaeum.org. For more information, please click here | ||
06 / 3
Start: 7:30 pm
Ayaan Hirsi Ali Nomad Born in Somalia and raised Muslim, Ayaan Hirsi Ali fled to Holland—where she eventually became a member of the Dutch parliament—to avoid a forced marriage. An outspoken advocate for women’s rights and a staunch critic of Islamic extremism, Ali made a documentary about domestic abuse among Muslim women with director Theo van Gogh, who was subsequently killed by an Islamic extremist. Continuing death threats have forced her into hiding. Her first book, The Caged Virgin, was a collection of essays concerning the oppression of Muslim women. In Nomad—the follow up to her no. 1 bestselling memoir Infidel—Ali tells the story of her search for a new life in the United States.
Central Library This is a TICKETED event; $14 General Admission, $7 Students. Tickets on sale Friday, January 15 at 10:00 a.m. at freelibrary.org/authorevents or by phone at 1-800-595-4TIX (4849). For more information, call 215.567.4341, or click here | ||
06 / 4
| ||
06 / 5
Start: 2:00 pm
Mohamed's Ghosts: An American Story of Love and Fear in the Homeland Stephan Salisbury Please join CAIR-PA for a screening of Inside Islam: What a Billion Muslims Really Think, a new documentary film from Unity Productions Foundation, and a discussion after the film, featuring author Stephan Salisbury and many more. Inside Islam: What a Billion Muslims Really Think, a new documentary film from Unity Productions Foundation, explores the expertly gathered opinions of Muslims around the globe as revealed in the world’s first major opinion poll, conducted by Gallup, the preeminent polling organization. Gallup researchers began by asking the questions on every American’s mind. Why is there so much anti-Americanism in the Muslim world? Who are the extremists and how do Muslims feel about them? What do Muslims like and dislike about the West? What do Muslim women really want? Focused on the issues of Gender Justice, Terrorism, and Democracy –the film presents this remarkable data deftly, showing how it challenges the popular notion that Muslims and the West are on a collision course. Like the research, the film highlights a shared relationship that is based on facts – not fear.
International House Philadelphia This is a FREE event, but tickets are required. For complete event information and to reserve tickets, please click here
| ||
06 / 6
| ||
06 / 7
Start: 6:30 pm
Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone Rajiv Chadrasekaran In this acclaimed firsthand account, the former Baghdad bureau chief of The Washington Post gives us an intimate portrait of life inside this Oz-like bubble, which continued unaffected by the growing mayhem outside. This is a quietly devastating tale of imperial folly, and the definitive history of those early days when things went irrevocably wrong in Iraq.
Among Empires: American Ascendancy and its Predecessors Charles Maier To inquire about empire is to ask what the United States has become as a result of its wealth, inventiveness, and ambitions. It is to confront lofty national aspirations with the realities of the violence that often attends imperial politics and thus to question both the costs and the opportunities of the current U.S. global ascendancy. With learning, dispassion, and clarity, "Among Empires" offers bold comparisons and an original account of American power. It confirms that the issue of empire must be a concern of every citizen.
The Rule of Empires: Those Who Built Them, Those Who Endured Them, and Why They Always Fall Timothy Parsons In The Rule of Empires, Timothy Parsons gives a sweeping account of the evolution of empire from its origins in ancient Rome to its most recent twentieth-century embodiment. He explains what constitutes an empire and offers suggestions about what empires of the past can tell us about our own historical moment.
Annenberg Center for Education and Outreach
This is a FREE event, but reservations are required. Please call 215.409.6700 or click here
| ||
06 / 8
Start: 7:30 pm
Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer Novella Carpenter Novella Carpenter studied under writer and food guru Michael Pollan for two years at Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. In Farm City—a book that one New York Times reviewer compared to both Julie Powell’s Julie & Julia and Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love and Pollan found “by turns edgy, moving, and hilarious”—she chronicles the creation and maintenance of her urban farm in Oakland, California, where she raises vegetables, chickens, rabbits, ducks, goats, turkeys, pigs, and bees. “The fast-paced account of the day-to-day drama unfolding in one backyard in Oakland… transforms Carpenter's personal experience into a broader, more engaging inquiry into our culture's complex relationship with food.”(San Francisco Chronicle)
Central Library This is a FREE event; no tickets or reservations are required. For more information, call 215.567.4341, or click here | ||
06 / 9
| ||
06 / 10
Start: 7:30 pm
Globish: How the English Language Became the World's Language Robert McCrum Robert McCrum is the associate editor of The Observer (London) and co-author of the bestseller The Story of English, a history of the English language, that went on to be adapted into an Emmy Award-winning nine-part PBS television series. He is the author of six works of fiction, including In the Secret State and Mainland. Among his nonfiction books are the acclaimed biography Wodehouse: A Life and the memoir My Year Off: Recovering Life after a Stroke. In Globish, McCrum argues, “that a seismic shift in the foundations of our lingua franca has transformed [British and American English] from an expression of Anglo-American cultural sovereignty into a supra-national phenomenon, with its own powerful inner dynamic.”
Central Library This is a FREE event; no tickets or reservations are required. For more information, call 215.567.4341, or click here | ||
![[]](/sites/all/modules/ubercart/uc_cart/images/bullet-arrow-up.gif "Expand cart block."){kind=icon}
There are no products in your shopping cart.
| 0 Items | Total: $0.00 |
Search by title, author, keyword or ISBN. If an item is currently out of stock, we will order it as quickly as possible-it will often arrive in a couple of days!