Upcoming Events at the Springfield City Library!

There is so much waiting for you to do at the Springfield City Library this month! Celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday on THURSDAY and SATURDAY, take a class, submit a poem to our contest, or simply find a good book to read. And don't miss our WONDERFUL line-up of award-winning authors who will be visiting to read from their books, answer your questions, and sign copies of their works. Please share this information widely with friends, clients, and colleagues, and let me know if you have any comments or suggestions. All my contact information can be found at the end of this email, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Información en español abajo. Information in Spanish below.

Keep reading! ~Jean Canosa Albano,
Springfield City Library


CELEBRATE DR. SEUSS’ BIRTHDAY AT THE LIBRARY!: The spirit of Springfield’s native son lives on in the Flow Circus juggling, magic, and comedy show
Celebrate the birthday of Springfield’s favorite children’s book author by coming to a lively, zany, non-stop action-packed show at the Springfield City Library. Paul Miller’s Flow Circus will bring you juggling, comedy, magic, and improvisation in his show inspired by Dr. Seuss. You have two chances to join us for this free program: Thursday, March 6, at 4 p.m. at the Central Library’s Community Room, 220 State Street (263-6828, ext. 201) and Saturday, March 8, at 1:30 pm at Sixteen Acres Branch, 1187 Parker Street (263-6858).

Funding for this program is provided by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency. For more information, call the Children’s Room, 263-6828, ext. 201.

SPACES AVAILABLE IN FREE PRE-GED CLASSES
Are you thinking about taking the next step in your education? Have you thought about taking the GED, but think you need some refresher classes first? The Springfield City Library has openings in the free evening Pre-GED classes offered through its Read/Write/Now program. In small, supportive classes, adults can focus on improving the reading, writing, and mathematics skills necessary for GED success. Students also have opportunities to work on computer skills. This class meets twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:00 to 8:30 at the Pine Point Branch Library, 204 Boston Road, Springfield. If you think you or a friend might benefit from attending this class, please call 263-6839 to learn about the day and evening classes offered at Read/Write/Now.

Read/Write/Now (www.springfieldlibrary.org/rwn/about.htm) helps adults living in the greater Springfield area to achieve their basic education goals as family members, workers and community members. We provide an adult basic education program at no cost to participants that promotes self-directed learning and recognizes and values the strengths and knowledge that adults bring to learning. Read/Write/Now, part of the Springfield City Library, is funded by grants from the Massachusetts Department of Education and Wallace-Reader's Digest Funds as well as other public and private funds.

POETRY THRIVES AT THE LIBRARY: CONTEST ANNOUNCED: Springfield Cultural Council grant supports writing workshops, competition

The Springfield City Library announces the return of its popular poetry contest for teens and adults living in Western Massachusetts. One original, previously unpublished poem in English, Spanish, or both can be entered per person; self-published poems are eligible as well. The poetry can be of all forms, styles, and themes, and should be typed for ease of judging. Entries, accompanied by a cover sheet, may be mailed to Poetry Contest, Springfield City Library, 220 State Street, Springfield 01103; emailed to poetrycontest08@springfieldlibrary.org; or dropped off at any Springfield City Library location. The deadline for submissions is March 15.
The contest is again supported by a grant from the Springfield Cultural Council, a local agency supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, so the Library is hoping to see lots of entries from Springfield residents. The Library has scheduled a number of free writing workshops to be led by professional instructors. Lynn Bowmaster led the first workshop for teens only on Wednesday, February 27 at the Central Library, 220 State Street. Bowmaster, of South Hadley, is a poet and former Development Coordinator for Amherst Writers & Artists who leads regular workshops in area schools and at her home. She will return to the Indian Orchard Branch Library, 44 Oak Street, to offer workshops for writers of all ages on Wednesday, March 5 and 12, from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. Aspiring poets are encouraged to sign up for both sessions. All workshops will include writing exercises and time for feedback from the group.

A unique series called “Writing From the Belly,” designed and facilitated by Springfield poet, teacher, and performer Magdalena Gómez (www.amaxonica.com), will be offered on three Monday evenings in March. The series, for women and girls ages 14 and up, requires a firm commitment to attend all three sessions, to be held Monday the 3rd, 17th, and 24th, from 6:30 - 8:30 pm, at the Central Library. Gómez is the co-founder and Artistic Director of Teatro Vida, a new intergenerational Springfield theater initiative embracing the diverse voices of the city. She designed "Writing From the Belly" to focus on "how we view our bodies, and how that view is affected by media and culture." Participants should dress comfortably and come prepared to "move, write, surprise yourself and have fun!" Space in all of these free workshops is limited; please contact Anna at 263-6828, ext. 426 or abrandenburg@springfieldlibrary.org soon to register or ask questions.

The poetry community has been thriving at the City Library since the last contest, as evidenced by the high turnout at the Library's monthly Open Mic series, hosted by Crystal Senter Brown. A group of writers, spun off from the Open Mic, meets on the first and third Saturday of every month (12:30) at the Central Library to discuss their work and is always open to newcomers.

Other special events include a poetry reading by acclaimed poet Martín Espada on March 8 (see below for more information on his visit) and a poetry slam on April 12. More details on the contest and related programs, as well as the 2006 winning poems, and a printable cover sheet, are on the Library's Poetry Page, www.springfieldlibrary.org/poetry/poetrypage.html. For more information, contact Anna Brandenburg, Adult Program Coordinator at 263-6828, ext. 426 or abrandenburg@springfieldlibrary.org.

BE A “STARR” WHEN YOU VOLUNTEER TO READ TO KIDS!: Springfield City Library now recruiting for training sessions on March 15 and 19

Children who come to school without the necessary skills and motivation to read are at great risk for academic difficulties. That’s why the Springfield City Library is recruiting volunteers for its STARR program: Springfield Tots Are Ready to Read! STARR volunteers read, sing, and use puppetry to motivate children to love reading and to visit the Library. They visit community settings where children and families gather, such as WIC waiting rooms, Head Start classrooms, and the YWCA Family Shelter. To prepare for this important volunteer assignment, attend one of the next STARR training sessions, held in the Central Library’s Community Room, 220 State Street, Springfield, on your choice of Saturday, March 15 or Wednesday, March 19. Both sessions run from 9:30 through 2:30 and include coffee, lunch, and a fun day of interactive learning.

At the training, you’ll learn how to help children develop early reading skills, how to choose good books and incorporate music, puppets and other props to bring excitement to your storytime, and you’ll meet current STARR volunteers. A representative of an agency that hosts STARRs in its waiting room said, “When the STARR volunteers are here, there is joy and magic and music and, most importantly, reading in the air. They are teaching by example that reading to children is one of life’s greatest pleasures.” Space is limited for this free training, so pre-registration is required! Call Janet at 263-6828, ext. 422 to sign up or for more information. The Library provides books, supplies, equipment, training and support, with the help of a generous grant from the Target Foundation. To learn more about other Library events, visit our web site at http://www.springfieldlibrary.org/.

CELEBRATED AUTHORS TO VISIT SPRINGFIELD CITY LIBRARY: Poet Martín Espada kicks off series of Massachusetts Book Award winners, finalists

A world of books, poetry, and acclaimed authors awaits you at the Springfield City Library, and that is especially true this March when readers are invited to meet four diverse authors whose books have been named either Massachusetts Book Award winners or honor books. Following each author’s presentation, copies of the books will be available for purchase and autographing. The events are free and open to the public.

Following the 1 p.m. Open Mic poetry program on Saturday, March 8, join us at 2 p.m. to hear from two-time Massachusetts Book Award Poetry Honor Book recipient Martín Espada at the Central Library, located at 220 State Street, Springfield. Called “the Latino poet of his generation” and “the Pablo Neruda of North American authors,” Martín Espada has published sixteen books as a poet, editor and translator. His eighth book of poems, The Republic of Poetry, received the Massachusetts Book Award 2007 Honor Book award, the 2007 Paterson Award for Sustained Literary Achievement and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His poems have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times Book Review, Harper’s and The Nation. He has also published a collection of essays, Zapata’s Disciple (South End, 1998) and edited two anthologies, Poetry Like Bread: Poets of the Political Imagination from Curbstone Press (Curbstone, 1994) and El Coro: A Chorus of Latino and Latina Poetry (University of Massachusetts, 1997). A former tenant lawyer, Espada is now a professor in the Department of English at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, where he teaches creative writing and the work of Pablo Neruda. This program is supported by a grant from the Springfield Cultural Council, a local agency supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

Meet author Kim McLarin on Thursday, March 13 at 6:30 p.m. at the Pine Point Branch Library, 204 Boston Road. Her book, Jump at the Sun, the Massachusetts Book Award’s Fiction Honor Book for 2007, addresses contemporary issues of race, love, gender, class, and motherhood. In the book, African-American Grace Jefferson seems to have it all - a doctorate in sociology, a loving scientist husband, and two cute young daughters. However, she feels unsuited to her new role of suburban stay-at-home mom. Caught between the only two models of mothering she has ever known - a sharecropping grandmother who abandoned her children to save herself and a mother who sacrificed all to save her kids - Grace longs to embrace her new role, hoping to find a middle ground. But as the days pass and the pressures mount, Grace struggles not to damage her children with her own fears and complications, while her thoughts stray far from the greeting-card picture often expected of mothers in society today.

Kim McLarin is the author of the critically-acclaimed novels Taming it Down, Meeting of the Waters and Jump at the Sun. McLarin is also co-author of the memoir Growing Up X with Ilyasah Shabazz. In addition to being named a Massachusetts Book Award Fiction Honor Book, Jump at the Sun was also nominated for a Hurston-Wright Legacy Award and was chosen by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association as a 2007 Fiction Honor Book. McLarin is a former staff writer for The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Greensboro News & Record and the Associated Press. She has taught at Northeastern University and been a writer-in-residence at Emerson College in Boston. She is currently on leave from Emerson writing a book about Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, president of Liberia. She is the new host of Basic Black, Boston's longest-running weekly television program devoted exclusively to African- American themes, shown on WGBH.

Our next author is Mameve Medwed, who will speak on Tuesday, March 18 at 7:00 p.m. at the East Forest Park Branch Library, 122 Island Pond Road. Her novel, How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life, Fiction Honor Book for 2007,
follows the fortunes of antiques dealer Abby Randolph - divorced, mourning the death of her mother, and suffering a crisis of confidence. Then the Antiques Roadshow comes to Boston, and Abby, carting an old chamber pot that she inherited from her mother, surprisingly gets star treatment. When it’s announced on national television that the pot once belonged to 19th century poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning and is worth tens of thousands of dollars, everything changes – friendships, her career, love affairs, even the way she views herself and others – as life comes rushing back at her full force. Kirkus Reviews calls the book “a sitcom with heart, and a whole lot of fun.”

Mameve Medwed is the author of five novels: Mail, Host Family, The End of an Error, How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life, and the forthcoming Of Men and Their Mothers. Her short stories, essays and book reviews have appeared in many publications, including Yankee, Redbook, Missouri Review, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post and Newsday. Her first novel, Mail, has been optioned for motion picture development by Anand Tucker (Shopgirl, Girl with a Pearl Earring, Hilary and Jackie) and will be directed by Sharon Maguire (Bridget Jones’s Diary) with a screenplay by Wendy Wasserstein. Born in Bangor, Maine, she and her husband have two grown sons and have lived in Cambridge for thirty years in an 1860 red Victorian house on a hill.

This exciting author series is rounded out by a visit from Dawn Clifton Tripp on Saturday, March 29 at 1:00 p.m. at the Sixteen Acres Branch Library, 1187 Parker Street. The Season of Open Water, which won the Massachusetts Book Award Fiction Award for 2006, explores the lives of three generations in a New England seacoast town in the late 1920s. Noel Dowd, once a whaler, now builds boats, while his widowed daughter Cora takes in laundry to make ends meet. Noel has a special fondness for his boyish and willful granddaughter Bridge, who helps him repair boats. Bridge’s close and complicated relationship with her brother Luce is tested by both her passion for World War I veteran Henry, a former doctor shattered by the horrors of war, and Luce’s growing involvement in the dangerous business of rum-running. Perfectly capturing its time and place, The Season of Open Water explores the often inescapable connections between desire and violence.

Dawn Clifton Tripp, who holds a B.A. in literature from Harvard University, is the author of two novels, Moon Tide and The Season of Open Water, and is currently finishing her third. She lives with her husband and two small children on the top floor of what used to be a lobster company in Westport, a small town on the Massachusetts coast. She has strong ties to Springfield, since her mother was born and raised here, and her father was formerly headmaster of The MacDuffie School.

Kim McLarin, Mameve Medwed, and Dawn Clifton Tripp’s programs are generously supported by the Friends of the Springfield Library, Inc. For more information, call the Library, 263-6828, ext. 294. The Massachusetts Book Awards are presented by the Massachusetts Center for the Book; visit http://www.massbook.org/ to learn more.

AMERICAN GIRLS CLUB MEETS AT THE LIBRARY

Every month, fans of the American Girls books and dolls get together to discuss the books and learn about historical events featured in the books by playing games, making crafts, having a snack, and seeing other library materials related to the era portrayed in the book. Girls aged 8 to 12 are welcome to join the club! Meetings are held at the East Springfield Branch Library, located at 21 Osborne Terrace, Springfield. Copies of the books will be available to check out. Space is limited, so pre-registration is required! Call Tricia at 263-6840 to sign up or for more information.
Here’s the schedule:
Wednesday, March 26, 3:45 p.m.: Meet Nicki
Wednesday, April 23, 3:45 p.m.: Meet Julie
Wednesday, May 21, 3:45 p.m.: Meet Josefina
Wednesday, June 18, 3:45 p.m.: Members’ choice!

FREE HI!TECH @ THE LIBRARY COMPUTER CLASSES OFFERED: Drop-in help sessions available, too


Have an opinion you’d like to share with others? Perhaps you’d be interested in setting up your own blog for family and friends to keep up with your news. Learn how to get started at the Blogging Basics class, Tuesday, March 11, from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. Get access to free blogging tools, details about publishing digital photos, and learn how to let others know where to find what you create. Basic computing skills required. With Springfield Intruder blogger Bill Dusty.

Giving Presentations with Microsoft’s PowerPoint, another two-part session, will be offered on March 5 and 12. Both Wednesday classes will be held from 6:00 – 7:30 p.m. Microsoft’s PowerPoint is the most popular presentation software and can turn an ordinary lecture, talk, or class assignment into something impressive and memorable. Learn how to choose a template, create and edit outlines, animate text, work with images, and more in these hands-on workshops. Students need to have basic keyboarding and mouse skills. Please sign up for both sessions!

To register for classes, sign up online at www.springfieldlibrary.org/hitech.html or at the Reference Desk at the Library, call 413-263-6828 ext. 213, or email askalibrarian@SpringfieldLibrary.org. Guest instructors for Hi!Tech classes are funded through the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners with funds from LSTA (Library Services and Technology Act), a Federal source of library funding provided by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 122,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The Institute's mission is to create strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas. EqualAccess Libraries(tm) is a professional development program sponsored by Libraries for the Future.


PARTICIPE EN EL CONCURSO DE POESÍA DE LA BIBLIOTECA: La biblioteca aceptará entradas hasta el 15 de marzo; visita del poeta Martín Espada

La Biblioteca Pública de Springfield invita su participación en un concurso de poesía. Habrá dos divisiones: los jóvenes de 12 a 18 años y los adultos, y los poetas pueden someter un poema original o en inglés o en español, o en las dos lenguas. Los poemas deben ser mecanografiados para que los jueces puedan leerlos con facilidad. La fecha límite para participar es el 15 de marzo, 2008. Los poetas deben vivir en el oeste de Massachusetts.

Otras actividades planeadas son talleres de escritura de poesía. Además recibiremos una visita del gran poeta boricua Martín Espada, el sábado, 8 de marzo, a las 2 de la tarde. Espada leerá poesías de su libro The Republic of Poetry que fue nombrado un Libro de Honor por el comité “Premio del Libro de Massachusetts.” Espada es profesor en la Universidad de Massachusetts.
Habrá una ceremonia reconociendo a los ganadores del concurso y abierta al público que incluirá lectura de poesía, premios, y refrescos. Los poemas galardonados serán publicados en la página del Internet de la biblioteca y en un folleto. La página de la biblioteca, http://www.springfieldlibrary.org/espanol/Inicio.htm, ofrece muchos recursos y enlaces informativos, al igual que los poemas galardonados del concurso del 2006. Se encontrarán las fechas de los talleres y de los demás eventos, y más detalles sobre el concurso. Este proyecto es auspiciado por el Concilio de la Cultura de Springfield, que recibe fondos del Concilio de la Cultura de Massachussets, una agencia estatal, y por los Amigos de las Bibliotecas de Springfield. Para más información y atención en español, llame a Jean Canosa Albano, 263-6828, extensión 291, o visite la biblioteca. Para participar, mande sus preguntas y sus poemas a: poetry08@springfieldlibrary.org ó a

Poetry Contest
Springfield City Library
220 State Street, Springfield, MA 01103
¡Gracias por su interés!