Labyrinth Books will host an informative presentation on “Abortion Access in NJ: Rights and Realities” on Tuesday, May 23 at 6 p.m.
Amol Sinha, executive director of the ACLU New Jersey, and Jackie Cornell, executive director of Planned Parenthood Action Fund of New Jersey, will discuss how New Jersey fits into the new reality of reproductive health care being tied to and determined by a person’s zip code. more
By Stuart Mitchner
A year before the invasion of Ukraine, I said in the Fall/Winter 2021 Book Scene that while I’d never actually been to Russia, I lived through “a St. Petersburg summer” in Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment and spent “my first Russian winter” reading The Brothers Karamazov. The phrasing suggests a naive belief in a literary realm beyond time, space, and politics, a land of no boundaries when, in fact, the novels I was reading were American editions published in New York. more
Amtrak recently announced that they are the official rail transportation partner for the Broadway show Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, now playing at the Lyric Theatre in New York City. As part of the collaboration with the show and Audience Rewards, the official rewards program for Broadway, Amtrak Guest Rewards members, Broadway enthusiasts, and Wizarding World fans can earn and redeem Amtrak Guest Rewards points on tickets to the show. It’s free for Amtrak Guest Rewards members to register with Audience Rewards. more
On May 26 at 2 p.m., join Labyrinth Books for a special discussion on the art and craft of fiction writing. Princeton University alumnae novelists will read from their work and speak with each other about inspiration, craft, and process. They will discuss the journey to publication, the themes that haunt their writing, completing their sophomore novels, and the lessons they took from writing at Princeton. This will be an open discussion with audience Q&A. more
Join the Friends and Foundation of the Princeton Public Library on April 28 from 12 to 2 p.m. for the annual Book Lover’s Luncheon, featuring author, historian, and journalist Lynne Olson. This year’s event will be held at the Nassau Inn.
Olson is the New York Times best-selling author of Madame Fourcade’s Secret War, Last Hope Island, Those Angry Days, and Citizens of London. She has been a consulting historian for the National WWII Museum in New Orleans and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. more
On Tuesday, April 4 at 7:30 p.m., the State Theatre New Jersey welcomes humorist David Sedaris.
Beloved for his personal essays and short stories, Sedaris is the author of Barrel Fever, Holidays on Ice, Naked, Me Talk Pretty One Day, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls and Calypso, which was a Washington Post Best Book of the Year. more
By Stuart Mitchner
In her introduction to the 20th Anniversary Edition of Joyce Carol Oates’s Blonde, literary critic Elaine Showalter calls it her “most ambitious novel,” in which she “uncannily channels” Marilyn Monroe’s “inner voice and demands that the star be given recognition, compassion, and respect.”
If you have ever fallen in love with Norma Jeane and Marilyn, the Girl and the Vision, it’s hard to believe that any mortal writer could produce such a book without exploiting so exploitable a human subject. But here the nature of exploitation is a given, like wind and rain, sun and shadow, and the book becomes a weather event driven by Oates’s gale force prose. There’s even an underground wind of sorts in one of the best-known images of the star, which Oates describes in Blonde and quotes from on her website Celestial Timepiece: “She’s standing with bare legs apart on a New York subway grating. Her blond head is thrown rapturously back as an updraft lifts her full, flaring skirt, exposing white cotton panties.” more
Love Shakespeare? Savor the sonnets? Looking for an early spring diversion to lift the spirits? Join McCarter Theatre for an in-person “Sonnet Slam” on Tuesday, March 14 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Princeton Public Library’s Community Room. more
On Monday, March 6 at 7 p.m. Labyrinth Books and Princeton Public Library welcome author Aleksandar Hemon for a discussion of his novel, The World and All That It Holds. The in-person event will be held at Princeton Public Library, but there is also the option to participate remotely through a streaming link. more
On Sunday, February 12 at 4 p.m., Princeton Makes, a Princeton-based artist cooperative and Ragged Sky Press, a local publisher focused on poetry, will host a Second Sunday Poetry Reading open to the public. The readings will take place at the Princeton Makes store in the Princeton Shopping Center. The February reading will feature Vida Chu and Bill Wunder. Their readings will be followed by an open mic available to up to 10 audience members who would like to read their own original poetry. more
Author Dan Gutman will lead a virtual talk about his recent Albert Einstein biography for kids at the Princeton Public Library on Saturday, March 11 from 1:30 to 2 p.m. In the second of the “Wait! What?” series, siblings Paige and Turner compete to dig up the weirdest, wackiest, and funniest facts about the world-famous scientist, from his childhood and school days, through his time studying relativity and working on the atomic bomb. In addition, Gutman will answer questions and even give away prizes to a few lucky participants. more
Princeton Public Library (PPL) is accepting applications from authors interested in participating in an Author Fair as part of the library’s 12th Local Author Day, to be held on Saturday, April 29. The Author Fair takes place from 1:30 to 4 p.m. in the library’s Community Room and first floor area. more
Join New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) for Philip Roth Unbound, a weekend-long festival that will celebrate, challenge, and explore the life, legacy, and work of novelist and Newark native Philip Roth, on what would have been his 90th birthday weekend. more
On Thursday, January 12 at 6:30 p.m., join historian Maxine Lurie at Morven Museum & Garden for an evening exploring her new book, Taking Sides in Revolutionary New Jersey: Caught in the Crossfire. The talk will include a book signing with Lurie and her book will be available for purchase on site. more
Princeton Public Library will host Sensory Storytime, a program for children ages 2 and up and is especially welcoming to those who are differently abled, on the autism spectrum, have sensory processing issues or feel overwhelmed by noises and crowds. Children are encouraged to bring a favorite toy or fidget. Registration is required at https://bit.ly/3VGQl1b. more
On Thursday, February 23 at 6 p.m., Labyrinth Books, in partnership with the Princeton Public Library, welcomes MUTTS cartoonist and award-winning author Patrick McDonnell as he discusses his new book, Heart to Heart: A Conversation on Love and Hope for Our Precious Planet. This event will be held at Labyrinth Books and is free to attend.
In this tale, a world-renowned religious leader and an American cartoonist join forces to create a whimsically illustrated volume with deceptively simple messages about saving the planet. The Dalai Lama supplies text and McDonnell provides the charming visuals as a panda comes to call on the Dalai Lama at his residence in Dharamsala, India. more
In May 2022, Rutgers University Press announced the addition of a new series editor to the board of its award-winning scholarly book series, Critical Issues in Health and Medicine. Rana A. Hogarth, a professor of history at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, officially stepped into this new position. more
Shop the Friends of the Lawrence Library January Book Sale for thousands of used, gently read books for readers of all ages. The sale opens to the public on Friday, January 27 from 1 to 4:30 p.m. and ends on Monday, January 30 at 4:30 p.m. at the Lawrence Headquarters Branch of the Mercer County Library System, 2751 Brunswick Pike in Lawrenceville. Cash or checks only. more
By Stuart Mitchner
Paint it, live it, or dream it, sculpt it, or mold it, whether the world going by is Tolkien’s Middle-earth, Tudor England, the rocky landscape of Cézanne’s Provence or the grottoes of Courbet’s Franche-Comté. Put Cézanne’s hypothetical minute between covers, and there’s room for the Night Kitchen visions of Maurice Sendak, and the pottery of Old Edgefield’s enslaved artisan David Drake. more
In advance of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra’s upcoming performance of “Knoxville: Summer of 1915” by Samuel Barber, the Princeton Public Library and the Orchestra present a behind-the-scenes discussion taking place on Thursday, January 12 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. more
