October, 2015

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Create Spokane Arts Month in Full Swing at the Libraries

12-7 Brewsfest_DribbbleThere are several special programs coming right up that are helping us kick off a month that celebrates creativity. You’ll definitely want to mark your calendars and set your GPS (or your internal arts compass) for these!

Jewish Cultural Series for Adults: Music – Tuesday, October 6, 6 p.m. – South Hill.
Join Susan Windham for an interactive introduction to the rich history of music in Jewish life. From liturgical melodies to wild klezmer tunes, Jewish music is characterized by great variety and deep emotion.

American Indians in Cinema: Portrayals and Participation Onscreen and Behind the Scenes – Wednesday, October 7, 4 pm – Shadle. This conversation, led by cinema scholar Lance Rhoades, will prompt us to address the formidable role cinema has played in producing, perpetuating and challenging perceptions of American Indians, past and present.

PC15910PCartooning the Evergreen State – Milt Priggee – Wednesday, October 7, 6:30 p.m. – Downtown. Why is ‘local’ such a strong component in editorial cartoons? In an entertaining presentation that is designed to invite debate, political cartoonist Milt Priggee will challenge audience members’ personal beliefs on local issues. Mr. Priggee will share a collection of images specifically to explore what is considered acceptable commentary in the 21st century. (image used with permission from miltpriggee.com)

GoldfingerSpy Thrillers! – Thursday, October 8, 3:30 p.m. – South Hill. From the Cold War classics to James Bond to Argo, these films provide exciting, fanciful, and occasionally insightful looks into the dangerous lives of spies, detectives, and secret agents. Historian Lance Rhoades will survey scenes from some of the great spy thriller films and provide background on their stories, many of which are based upon actual events!

Poetry Readings with Keith Moul
Friday, October 9, 4:30 pm – Shadle Library and Saturday, October 10, 11 am – South Hill Library
Keith has been a poet for almost 50 years, with hundreds of individual poems and soon to be five collections of poems. He has published hundreds of photos in recent years, including a volume called Reconsidered Light, which consists of 50 photos about which he has written 50 poems.

Support Your Friends!

The Friends raise funds through the bookstore they run in the lobby of the Downtown Library and by holding two large book sales each year. Please come to the Fall Book Sale and support the Friends because they support the library with all their heart!

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A few things you might not know about the Friends of the Library:

  • The Friends of the Library pay for all the Summer Reading giveaway books that kids and teens get when they complete their summer reading challenge.
  • The Friends of the Library are all volunteers and over the course of a year they donate more than 1000 hours of their time to the library.
  • Volunteers from the Friends of the Library were instrumental in passing the library levy in 2013 that made it possible for libraries to expand open hours.

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"Survival is Insufficient"

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Join us for two presentations by award-winning author Emily St. John Mandel on October 29 for this year’s Spokane is Reading program. She will be reading from and discussing her book, Station Eleven as well as answering questions and signing copies of her book. Be part of this community-wide reading event because, as quoted in the book, “survival is insufficient,” we need art and literature to make survival worthwhile.

Special thanks to the Friends of Spokane Public Library for their generous support of this program throughout the years. The Friends certainly know that survival alone is not enough and so they continue to support bringing great authors to Spokane!

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The Fiction Queen Considers The Post Apocalypse

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When it comes to post-apocalyptic literature the Fiction Queen likes to stay away. Who wants all that discomfort and hardship?! That said, if art is involved then she says okay which is why she's a big fan of this year's Spokane is Reading selection, Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. One of the themes of the book is that "survival is insufficient" and so some of the survivors of the massive flu pandemic that starts the novel (and ends the world as we know it) are a part of a traveling Shakespeare and symphonic company. They string their bows with hair from their horse's tails, their stage lights are candles and their costumes are cobbled together but they believe in art as a way to transport people and believe that art makes life better.

Click below for more Fiction Queen musings and additional post-apocalyptic recommendations.

Continue Reading →

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Pay Fines

Kirsten and August walked mostly in silence. A deer crossed the road ahead and paused to look at them before it vanished into the trees. The beauty of this world where almost everyone was gone. If hell is other people, what is a world with almost no people in it?

—Emily St. John Mandel, from Station Eleven, page 148
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