WRITING CIRCLE
Tuesdays, 2:30 - 4:30 PM, January 2 and 9, or Thursdays, 2:00 - 4:00 PM, January 4 and 11

Take time out to find your creative flow through writing. This workshop uses prompts as a springboard, inviting you to write freely, read your work aloud, hear responses, and respond to others’ writing. Responses focus on what works in a piece of writing, giving attention to all aspects of craft and language.

Workshop leader Karen Vrotsos has taught writing at Barnard and Columbia College and has worked with writers at all levels. She is certified in the Amherst Writers and Artists method.

Registration is required. Our Tuesday workshop if full. Space is available in the Thursday workshop.

Please use this link to register for the Thursday afternoon series. The Tuesday workshop is full.

ENJOY A VINTAGE HOLIDAY EXHIBIT
AT THE SALISBURY ASSOCIATION!

Now through mid-January,
Tuesdays - Saturdays, 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM

Don’t miss this fun holiday outing! The Salisbury Association's vintage holiday display has something to captivate everyone. Enjoy important artifacts from the Holley-Williams House and items to delight adults and children alike: an irresistible teddy bear, a child's sleigh, ice skates, notable silver pieces, and other fascinating pieces of Salisbury history, including items never-before or rarely shown. A gift awaits those who visit!

Please note, this exhibit is at the Salisbury Association, 24 Main Street, in Salisbury (just across Library Street from the library).

No registration necessary. Drop in during the hours posted above. For more information about the Salisbury Association and the Holley-Williams House, please visit https://salisburyassociation.org. 

BOOK TALK AND DISCUSSION WITH AUTHOR PETER KAUFMAN
Overreach: The Inside Story of Putin and Russia's War Against Ukraine, by journalist Owen Matthews
Saturday, January 6, 4:00 - 5:00 PM

Peter Kaufman will discuss Overreach, an astonishing investigation into the start of the Russo-Ukrainian war – from the corridors of the Kremlin to the trenches of Mariupol. Drawing on over 25 years of experience as a correspondent in Moscow, and his own family ties to Russia and Ukraine, author Owen Matthews provides a clear, authoritative, and poignant account of history, personalities, and politics. Overreach is a 2023 Pushkin House Book Prize winner and a 2023 New York Times Best Book of Summer.

Peter B. Kaufman, a writer, teacher, and documentary producer, works at MIT Open Learning and the Knowledge Futures Group. He is the author of The New Enlightenment and the Fight to Free Knowledge (Seven Stories Press, 2021) and the forthcoming The Moving Image: A User’s Guide (The MIT Press, 2024).

This event is made possible by generous support from the Friends of the Scoville Library. Thank you, FSL.

This event is full. Please use this link to sign up for the waiting list.

A limited number of copies of the book are available for borrowing at the Scoville Library.

SOPHISTICATED SNOWFLAKES
Sunday, January 7, 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM

Teens & tweens (ages 12-19 years), join Shepherd Myers in this workshop to learn the art of fine-cut snowflakes, taking paper craft to the next level.

Shepherd Myers is an entomologist and illustrator with a decade of experience combining scientific outreach and exhibit design at Bishop Museum in Honolulu, where he managed one of the world's largest insect collections.

This series is made possible by generous support from the Friends of the Scoville Library. Thank you, FSL.

Teens and tweens, please use this link to register.

Adults interested in this program, please email [email protected].
 
*NEW ART PROGRAM*
WINTER DRAWING WORKSHOP
WITH ARTIST PIETER LEFFERTS

Alternate Tuesdays, January 9 & 23, and February 6 & 20, 2:00 - 4:00 PM

Improve your drawing skills with artist and art educator Pieter Lefferts. This class provides instruction for all levels, from beginner to expert. Draw from a photo or still life, or bring in a drawing project of your own. Drawing materials will be provided.

Pieter Lefferts is a professional artist working in oils, acrylics, and pastels. His specialties include landscape paintings of the Adirondacks, the Hudson Valley, and New England. He is the founder of Northlight Art Center in Amenia, New York, and a 2023 Nautilus Book Awards Gold Winner.

This series is made possible by generous support from the Friends of the Scoville Library. Thank you, FSL.

This event is full. Please use this link to sign up for the waiting list.

*NEW* ENGLISH LANGUAGE CLASSES FOR ADULTS
INGLES PARA ADULTOS
Every Thursday, January 11 - February 8,
5:30-6:30 PM

SML's new ESL classes, taught by Annie Musaurieta, offer the chance to learn basic English language skills or improve your current level through reading, listening to stories, watching video clips, and playing interactive games. Drinks and snacks will be available. Adult learners of all levels are welcome. Participants may attend one class, all classes, or as many as they desire.

Annie Muzaurieta has a master’s degree in Teaching English as a Second Language from NYU. She currently teaches in the Global Language department at Indian Mountain School.

Inglés para adultos

Esta clase es una oportunidad para aprender inglés o mejorar su nivel a través de la lectura, la creación de cuentos, vídeos y juegos interactivos. Son bienvenidos los adultos de cualquier nivel. Habrá bebidas y comida.

Esta clase será enseñada por Annie Muzaurieta, quien tiene una maestría en Enseñanza de Inglés como Segundo Idioma de la Universidad de Nueva York. Actualmente enseña en el departamento de Idiomas Globales de Indian Mountain School.

No es necesario registrarse. Comienza el 11 de enero o venga cualquier jueves.

No es necesario asistir a todas las clases.

Registration is optional. To learn more, please use this link.

Participants may attend one class, all classes, or as many as they desire.

CURRENT FICTION BOOK GROUP
Saturday, January 13, 4:00 - 5: 00 PM

Join SML's Current Fiction Book Group leader Claudia Cayne for a discussion of Dinosaurs, by Lydia Millet.

About the book: Gil walks from New York to Arizona to recover from a failed love. After he arrives, new neighbors move into the glass-walled house next door and his life begins to mesh with theirs. In this warmly textured, dryly funny, and philosophical account of Gil’s unexpected devotion to the family, Millet explores the uncanny territory where the self ends and community begins?what one person can do in a world beset by emergencies. (240 pages)

The event meets in the Oak Room. No registration is required. A limited number of books are available to borrow at the Scoville Library.

*NEW EVENT*
52 PLACES TO GO IN 2024: A TALK WITH NEW YORK TIMES TRAVEL EDITOR AMY VIRSHUP
Saturday, January 20, 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Every new year, in mid-January, The New York Times publishes 52 Places to Go, its much-awaited list of outstanding destinations, with gorgeous photographs and videos and insider tips on what to see and do.

Join us for a talk with Times Travel editor Amy Virshup and hear firsthand about the 52 chosen spots for 2024, how this tantalizing travel research gets done, who makes the decisions, what distinguishes a list-maker from a runner up, what Times readers look for in travel, and how Times Travel has changed over the years. Enjoy snacks and libations by preeminent purveyors from our own neck of the woods.

Amy Virshup has been an editor and frequent writer at the Times since 2003 and has been the Times Travel editor since 2018. She has helped shape Times coverage for two decades, starting as an editor of the Escapes section then moving on to Culture, first as Books editor and then as deputy editor. She then ran the Sunday Metropolitan section and later became deputy Metro editor. An intrepid traveler, she lives in NYC and in Salisbury, where she has spent summers since childhood swimming at the Grove.

This event is made possible by generous support from the Friends of the Scoville Library. Thank you, FSL.

Registration is required for this event. Please use this link to register.

LITERARY SEMINAR WITH MARK SCARBROUGH
WILLA CATHER: THE DYSTOPIA OF ORIGINALITY

Tuesdays, January 23 – March 12
10:30 AM - 12:30 PM

Willa Cather’s novels are a riddle: American originals, those seemingly pure but deeply ironic voices from the heartland, once best-sellers, then mid-listers in her own lifetime, once critically favored in colleges, now mostly overlooked. In truth, her works have never settled into the canon of U. S. literature.

In this literary seminar, we’ll look at the first of her prairie novels, then spend most of our time among her mid-career works. These latter show the mid-century fractures of gender, politics, and art that informed both her successful career and her romantic life. The cards were stacked against her, then she stacked them against herself.

This seminar will be offered in a hybrid format: Zoom and in person, concurrently. Zoom access to discussions will be limited, so we urge you to attend in person if you’re able. Cookies will be served!

This series is made possible by generous support from the Friends of the Scoville Library. Thank you, FSL.

In-person registration is full. For ONLINE REGISTRATION, please use this link.

Starting in January, a limited number of books will be available for borrowing at SML.

SOPHOMORES & SENIORS YA BOOK CLUB
Sunday, January 28, 3:00 - 4:00 PM

This book club invites teens and retirees to get together and discuss YA literature. Hotchkiss students Juniper and Sofia will lead the discussion of the The Marrow Thieves, by Cherie Dimaline.

About the book: Humanity has nearly destroyed its world through global warming, but now an even greater evil lurks. The indigenous people of North America are being hunted and harvested for their bone marrow, which carries the key to recovering something the rest of the population has lost: the ability to dream. In this dark world, Frenchie and his companions struggle to survive as they make their way up north to the old lands.

Registration opens at 3:00 PM Sunday, December 31.

SIGN UP FOR SML's TEEN NEWSLETTER!

Be the first to hear about programs for teens! Sign up for SML's Teen Email List and learn about craft projects, events, workshops, volunteer opportunities, and more!

Use this link to sign up for the new teen newsletter.

MEDITATION With Kathy Voldstad

EVERY SUNDAY
9:00 AM on Zoom

Zoom link
password: "peace"

PLAY BRIDGE @ SML With John Dippel

EVERY WEDNESDAY
2:00-4:00 PM

Learn the basics or join in a game with more seasoned players.

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Events Calendar