February 2021 Youth and Family Programming
February 2021 Teen Programming
February 2021 Adult Programming
EXHIBITS
To submit a public program or exhibition proposal, click here.
American Sign Language Beginner Classes
Interested in learning another language? Join our 6 week ASL classes and learn the basics. All skill levels are welcome.
MEET DANI!
Meet ASL instructor, Dani! Dani is a trained ASL teacher from the Disabilities Network of Eastern CT (DNEC) and a graduate of the American School for the Deaf in West Hartford, CT.
Registration is required. Seating limited.
Date: Monday, February 1st
Dates in the series: Feb 1st, 8th, 22nd and March 1st, 8th, 15th
Time: 5:15 - 6:15 pm
Virtual: Zoom
**This class is full***
To register, click here
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Women's Empowerment Group Virtual Meetings/Workshops
We are recruiting new participants, and forming committees for year 2021. Some of the committees are art, education and childcare, projects, and recruitment. Learn how to be civically engaged, and connected to others in your community.
Date: Thursdays, February 4th, 11th, 18th, 25th
Time: 4:30 - 5:30 PM
Virtual: Via Zoom
To register call 860-500-8492 or email grivera@hplct.org
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PECES Parenting Workshop Series
Join us with Elina, an expert on the PECES parenting strategies. PECES teaches parents to deal with the typical behavioral problems of their children in a positive manner. Workshops are currently only offered in Spanish. Registration is required, and seats are limited to 12 participants.
Date: Wednesdays, February 3rd, 10th, 17th
Time: 3:00 PM
Virtual: Via Zoom
To register call 860-500-8492 or email grivera@hplct.org
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Beginner Knitting and Heart Health Awareness
Learn how to knit basic stitches, make a heart-themed headband or neck scarf and keep your heart healthy!
Date: Tuesdays, February 9th, 16th, 23rd
Time: 10:00- 11:00 am
Virtual: Zoom
To register, click here (Participant capacity reached. Registration is closed for this program.)
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Valentine's Cookie Pops
Make a treat for your sweetie or a treat for you! This Valentine's week adults can make, decorate, and enjoy their very own cookie pops.
Date: Thursday, February 18th
Time: 2:00- 3:00 pm
Virtual: Zoom
To register, click here
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Embracing Returning Citizens: Building Welcoming Communities 2021 Kickoff
Date: Tuesday, February 23rd
Time: 6-7:30pm
Virtual: Zoom & YouTube (HPLCT)
This event intends to open doors for returning citizens as they embark on their journey to reintegrate into our beloved communities. Returning citizens will share their stories of life post-incarceration, will raise awareness of returning citizen’s needs while reducing the stigma attributed to the re-entry population. The event also provides an opportunity to connect returning citizens to additional resources and channels of community support. Co-hosted by Community Partners in Action.
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Ways to Cultivate Hope - In Person
Come learn ways to cultivate hope and do an art related activity.
Date: Wednesday, February 24th
Time: 11:00- 12:00 pm
CCC, Downtown
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Ways to Cultivate Hope - Virtual
Come learn ways to cultivate hope. Share a quote, poem, song, or book that inspires hope for you.
Date: Thursday, February 25th
Time: 7:00- 8:00 pm
Virtual: Zoom
Please call to register, 860-695-7401 or email iblean@hplct.org, to get a Zoom invite.
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Intermediate Crochet Class
Join us for an Intermediate crochet class on how to create a small tote bag. The class will be offered at 2 times. Registration is required, space is limited.
Dates: Tuesdays, March 9th-30th
Time: 2:00- 3:00 pm OR 7:00-8:00 pm
Virtual: Zoom
To register, click here
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"My favorite weather is bird chirping weather"
Celebrate the coming of spring by making a bird seed treat shaped in one of many spring symbols to hang for the return of migratory birds. Walk away with a poem from the distinguished African American ornithologist, Drew Lanham.
Date: Thursday, March 11th
Time: 3:00- 4:00 pm
Virtual: Outside of the Barbour Branch
Please email iblean@hplct.org to register.
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Owls: A Virtual Presentation and Hour of Relaxation (Camp Field)
Enjoy an hour of relaxation and awe-inspiring photos of owls, listen to their distinctive calls, and learn some fascinating owl facts, while coloring an intricate owl-themed printed design. Registration required. Coloring sheets will be provided by appointment using contact-free pickup.
Date: Wednesday, March 31st
Time: 2:00- 3:00 pm
Virtual: Zoom
Registration link coming soon!
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BOOK CLUBS
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"Reading material for the homies."
Hartford Public Library is a chapter of Noname's Book Club, an online/irl community dedicated to uplifting POC voices. They do this by highlighting two books each month written by authors of color. From cult classics to the words of emergent authors, Noname’s Book Club highlights books that speak on human conditions in critical and original ways. In addition to social media presence have free virtual meet ups to discuss the monthly picks in a safe and supportive environment. Click here for more information on Noname's Book Club. *If you have incarcerated friends/family who would be interested in reading along with us email their information to info@nonamebooks.com and they will send them the books.
Join Noname's Digital Nationwide Monthly Meet Up
March meeting date TBD. Check back for details. If you want to be included in the Zoom conversation, fill out the Google form here. For a list of all of Noname's book picks, click here.
March Picks:
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"How We Get Free" by Keeanga Yamhatta Taylor
The Combahee River Collective, a group of radical black feminists, was one of the most important organizations to develop out of the anti-racist and women's liberation movements of the 1960s and 70s. In this collection, founding members of the organization and contemporary activists reflect on the legacy of its contributions to black feminism and its impact on today's struggles. |
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Three Mothers By Anna Malika Tubbs
In her groundbreaking and essential debut Three Mothers, Anna Malaika Tubbs celebrates Black motherhood by telling the story of the three women who raised and shaped some of America's most pivotal heroes: Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin.
Much has been written about Berdis Baldwin's son James, about Alberta King's son Martin Luther, and Louise Little's son Malcolm. But virtually nothing has been said about the extraordinary women who raised them, all born into the beginning of the 20th century and its deadly landscape of racial prejudice. Jim Crow. Exploitation. Unpoliced violence. Police violence.
These women, in their common goals and differences, as individuals and as mothers, represent a piece of history left untold and a celebration of Black motherhood long overdue.
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Deep Appreciation Book Club
Hartford Public Library and Hartford Stage invites you to the next “Deep Appreciation" book club meeting, a heart-led gathering featuring live readings, interactive dialogue and reflections on fiction and poetry by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) authors, past and present. The book club will meet quarterly to discuss the selection with teens and adults, as well as provide a family friendly book pairing for those who wish to continue the conversation at home.
This month we will discuss How We Became Human by Joy Harjo, accompanied by youth book selection Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story by Kevin Noble Maillard. Our meetup will feature live music by Jennifer Kreisberg and discussion will be facilitated by Leslie Caromile. For more information, and to check out the books from HPL, click here.
Thursday February 25th, 7:00-8:30pm on Zoom. To register, click here
February Picks:
 How We Became Human By Joy Harjo
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This collection gathers poems from throughout Joy Harjo's twenty-eight-year career, beginning in 1973 in the age marked by the takeover at Wounded Knee and the rejuvenation of indigenous cultures in the world through poetry and music. How We Became Human explores its title question in poems of sustaining grace.
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 Fry Bread: A Native Americna Family Story By Kevin Noble Maillard
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This collection gathers poems from throughout Joy Harjo's twenty-eight-year career, beginning in 1973 in the age marked by the takeover at Wounded Knee and the rejuvenation of indigenous cultures in the world through poetry and music. How We Became Human explores its title question in poems of sustaining grace.
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Guest performer: Jennifer Kreisberg
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Mother, Singer, Composer, Producer, Teacher, and Activist - Jennifer (Tuscarora, North Carolina) comes from four generations of Seven Singing Sisters through the maternal line. She is known for fierce vocals, soaring range and lilting, breath-taking harmonies. Jennifer has been singing since she was a child. When she was seventeen, she joined the critically acclaimed Native women's Trio ULALI. Her voice perfectly wove the high strand of Ulali's renowned harmony with incomparable skill and grace for over twenty years. Together, they created a new sound in Indian Country.
Website: http://www.jenniferelizabethkreisberg.com/
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Facilitator: Leslie Caromile
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Leslie Caromile, PhD is an assistant professor at UConn Health in the Center for Vascular Biology, Department of Cell Biology where she is a cancer biologist, a mentor and a community advocate that is working to discover more effective ways of detecting and treating prostate cancer. She was born in Hartford and grew up in East Hartford. She is of Eastern Band Cherokee heritage.
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Hartord Reads in Color
Facilitated by Hartford's L.I.T, Hartford Reads in Color is a book club committed to delving into the narratives and rich diverse voices of communities of color. From the intellectually astute, to the uncouth and wretched, we are reading with no limits. Focused on shedding light on literature across the diaspora while also educating the community of the various authors and stories that sound and look like them.
This group meets every last Sunday of the month. Registration is required. Seating is limited.
 Coldest Winter Ever by Sister Souljah
Renowned hip-hop artist, political activist, and bestselling author Sister Souljah brings the streets of New York to life in a powerful and utterly unforgettable first novel. I came busting into the world during one of New York's worst snowstorms, so my mother named me Winter. Ghetto-born, Winter is the young, wealthy daughter of a prominent Brooklyn drug-dealing family. Quick-witted, sexy, and business-minded, she knows and loves the streets like the curves of her own body. But when a cold Winter wind blows her life in a direction she doesn't want to go, her street smarts and seductive skills are put to the test of a lifetime. Unwilling to lose, this ghetto girl will do anything to stay on top. Featuring a Special Collector’s Edition Reader’s Guide—including an author Q&A, detailed character analyses, and the author’s own remarks about the meaning of her story.
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March Meetup: Sunday March 28th, 2:00pm. Click here to register
March Pick:
 Life After Death by Sister Souljah
Winter Santiaga hit time served. Still stunning, still pretty, still bold, still loves her father more than any man in the world, still got her hustle and high fashion flow. She’s eager to pay back her enemies, rebuild her father’s empire, reset his crown, and ultimately to snatch Midnight back into her life no matter which bitch had him while she was locked up. But Winter is not the only one with revenge on her mind. Simone, Winter’s young business partner and friend, is locked and loaded and Winter is her target. Will she blow Winter’s head off? Can Winter dodge the bullets? Or will at least one bullet blast Winter into another world? Either way Winter is fearless. Hell is the same as any hood and certainly the Brooklyn hood she grew up in. That’s what Winter thinks.
A heart warming, heart burning, passionate, sexual, comical, and completely original adventure is about to happen in real time—raw, shocking, soulful, and shameless. True fans won’t let Winter travel alone on this amazing journey.
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Hartford Reads in Color is facilitated by our longstanding partner, Hartford's L.I.T. For more information about Hartford L.I.T, click here
African American Literature Book Club
The AAL Book Club is for anyone interested in reading and discussing African American literature, both fiction and nonfiction, as well as sharing information and learning about the African American experience. The AAL Book Club will continue to meet on Zoom for the foreseeable future, monthly on the fourth Tuesday of each month from 7:00 - 8:30 pm.
January meetup: Tuesday January 26th, 7:00pm. To register, please email Carolyn Korber at cjkorber@gmail.com.
January Pick:
 The Fire Next Time By James Baldwin
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At once a powerful evocation of James Baldwin's early life in Harlem and a disturbing examination of the consequences of racial injustice, the book is an intensely personal and provocative document from the iconic author of If Beale Street Could Talk and Go Tell It on the Mountain. It consists of two "letters," written on the occasion of the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation, that exhort Americans, both black and white, to attack the terrible legacy of racism. Described by The New York Times Book Review as "sermon, ultimatum, confession, deposition, testament, and chronicle...all presented in searing, brilliant prose," The Fire Next Time stands as a classic of literature.
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VIRTUAL PROGRAMMING LIBRARY
Browse our past online programs and click the links to watch videos! |
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To browse our past virtual Art Inside programs, click here
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To browse our past virtual Reads From the Hart programs, click here
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To browse our past virtual Wellness Wednesdays programs, click here
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To browse our past virtual Home Hacks programs, click here
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To browse our past virtual Friday Jams programs, click here
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To browse our past virtual local business spotlight programs, click here
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ART WALK
ArtWalk at Hartford Public Library offers one of the largest and most stunning exhibition spaces in greater Hartford and the opportunity for Hartford residents and others to view art in a magnificent setting in our city.
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Lost in Color
Erik Williams, Black Frame Vision
UPDATE: Exhibit runs through July 6, 2020
ArtWalk, Downtown Library
Watch Virtual Exhibit HERE
Virtual Artist Talk on @HPLCT Instagram Live:
Watch Recorded Interview HERE
Erik Williams is a street photographer and also the owner of Black Frame Vision, a street photography brand based in Connecticut. He fell in love with this style of photography because of its rawness and the opportunity it creates to capture honest moments. It allows him to connect with people from all walks and to share their stories candidly through the lens of his camera.
"I use my photography to catch a glimpse of what I see, in order to share it with others. I look for the beauty in any and everything that most overlook.
My choice of subject is anything organically appealing to my eye, whether it's a kid sleeping on the city bus or a reflection of a building from a puddle. I enjoy using natural light, shadows, contrast and clarity as a way to communicate the essence of what I see. I'm drawn to people that radiate energy and great character, because that's all that truly matters. I am inspired by their stories."
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Hartford Women: Leading the Way
Online exhibit available HERE!
Actresses, award-winners, broadcasters, business women, politicians, soldiers, students, and truck drivers; all Hartford women who broke barriers and paved the way for other women.
In celebration of Women’s History Month this March, enjoy a selection of photographs of extraordinary Hartford women from the Hartford Times collection housed in the Hartford History Center at Hartford Public Library.
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Ella Brown, Hartford Times photograph by Morton J. Boardman
January 23, 1962
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New Banner at Downtown Library
A banner was recently installed on the northwest corner of Hartford Public Library, 500 Main Street. The banner depicts various library activities.
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When Ramiro Louisa returned to Hartford from the Netherlands, one of the first place he brought his daughter, Delyani, was the Hartford Public Library’s Children’s Department.
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On Wednesday, May 15, Connecticut Ballet came to Hartford Public Library to present a free preview of “Old, New, Borrowed and Blue, an incredibly beautiful show it performed later in the week at The Bushnell. Shown here are Connecticut Ballet dancers are Stephen Diaz and Claire Mazza, performing ‘In The Shadow of Women’ by Marden Ramos.
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Each library in the HPL system tailors its programming to reflect the population it serves. The Downtown Library’s Children’s Department is very popular with Indian-Americans who live in the surrounding area. Each year, the department celebrates both Diwali in the fall and Holi in the spring. Yogitha Sarjay is shown making a decoration for Diwali, also known as the Festival of Lights.
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Phone: (860) 695-6300
