Virtual program

An Evening with Laird Hunt, author of the 2021 National Book Award finalist “Zorrie”

Author event, Notices, Virtual program / By /
Laird Hunt
Laird Hunt

Join the Indiana Center for the Book and the Rhode Island Center for the Book for An Evening with Laird Hunt, author of the 2021 National Book Award finalist, “Zorrie.” This title is being featured by both Indiana and Rhode Island at the National Book Festival. “Zorrie” tells the story of one Hoosier woman’s life convulsed and transformed by events of the 20th century, specifically the Great Depression. Set in Clinton County, Indiana, Zorrie is orphaned twice, first by her parents and then her aunt. She ekes out a living, eventually finding work in a radium processing plant in Illinois. However, when Indiana calls her home, she returns and works to build a new life, yet again. Laird Hunt’s novel is a poignant study in rural Midwestern life and an exploration of the passage of time through individuals and communities. Join us to learn more about the author and this fascinating novel.

  • Date: Aug. 2, 2022
  • Time: 7:00 – 7:45 p.m. Eastern
  • Location: Zoom
  • Cost: Free of charge

 Participants must register online. Registered participants will be sent a Zoom link upon registration. The event will be recorded and will be available on the Indiana State Library’s YouTube channel in the days following the event. This program is eligible for one LEU for Indiana library staff.

About Laird Hunt
Laird Hunt is the author of eight novels, including the 2021 National Book Award finalist “Zorrie.” He is the winner of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Fiction, the Grand Prix de Littérature Américaine, the Bridge Prize and a finalist for both the Pen/Faulkner and the Prix Femina Étranger. His reviews and essays have been published in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Daily Beast, the Guardian, the Irish Times and the Los Angeles Times, and his fiction and translations have appeared in many literary journals in the United States and abroad. A former United Nations press officer who was largely raised in rural Indiana, he now lives in Providence, Rhode Island where he teaches in Brown University’s Literary Arts Program.

The next Big Library Read starts Monday, April 4

Book club, eBooks and audio books, Notices, Virtual program / By /
Questlove photo by Daniel Dorsa
Photo by Daniel Dorsa
From April 4 – April 18, readers all over the world will be able to check out the eBook and audiobook of Music is History by Questlove without waitlists or holds. Click here to access the title through HCPL’s OverDrive collection. Music Is History combines Questlove’s deep musical expertise with his curiosity about history, examining America over the past fifty years. This past Sunday, Questlove won the best documentary feature Oscar for his film Summer of Soul about the Harlem Cultural festival of 1969.
Join the conversation online by using the hashtag #biglibraryread on social media for a chance to win a pair of Airpod pros! There is a discussion board available where you can chat with other readers.
Music Is History combines Questlove’s deep musical expertise with his curiosity about history, examining America over the past fifty years.
Focusing on the years 1971 to the present, Questlove finds the hidden connections in the American tapestry, whether investigating how the blaxploitation era reshaped Black identity or considering the way disco took an assembly-line approach to Black genius. And these critical inquiries are complemented by his own memories as a music fan, and the way his appetite for pop culture taught him about America. A history of the last half-century and an intimate conversation with one of music’s most influential and original voices, Music Is History is a singular look at contemporary America.
Download the Discussion Guide
Click image to download the book discussion guide

About Questlove

Academy Award nominated filmmaker, drummer, DJ, producer, director, culinary entrepreneur and New York Times bestseller author Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, is the heartbeat of Philadelphia’s most influential hip-hop group The Roots. He is the Musical Director for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where The Roots also serve as the house band.

Questlove Executive-Produced the acclaimed documentary series, Hip-Hop: The Songs The Shook America on AMC under his production company, Two One Five Entertainment which recently announced a first-look deal with Universal Television to develop scripted and non-scripted programming. He made his directorial debut with the Academy Award nominated feature documentary Summer of Soul. The film premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, where it was awarded the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award for Best U.S. Documentary. The film most recently broke the record for the highest selling documentary to come out of Sundance. Questlove is also set to direct the upcoming feature documentary on Sly Stone.

Additionally, he co-produced the GRAMMY Award winning Original Broadway Cast Recording of Hamilton. Questlove co-starred in Disney Pixar’s Golden Globe-winning animated feature Soul, which landed him an NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance.

Gabrielle Balkan

Author Gabrielle Balkan to visit Heth-Washington Elementary School virtually on April 13, 2022

Notices, Virtual program, Youth Activities / By /

Submitted by Diana Lasky

Harrison County schools were challenged during the Harrison County Public Library’s winter reading program to compete for an author’s visit with Gabrielle Balkan.  HWES averaged more than 12 books per student with a final total of 1,819 books read and is awarded the author visit scheduled for April 13, 2022.

Gabrielle Balkan is best known for her non-fiction books that delight readers ages 5 – 12 with curious and essential facts about the United States, animal record-breakers and ground-breaking artists.  Gabrielle grew up across from the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis and current lives in the Hudson Valley of New York.  She will provide a program for grades K-1, 2-4 and 5-6 that will include a clue and guess the answer segment, talking about the writing process and editing to improve your own writing, and how to make choices when writing, followed by questions from the students.

The Gabrielle Balkan visit will be viewable by the public beginning April 20, 2022, and will be available for one month on the library website at www.hcpl.lib.in.us.  Follow the Harrison County Public Library blog post, HCPL Facebook and Instagram for details and updates.   Gabrielle Balkan is brought to HWES by the library through the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Author Awards grant provided by Indiana Humanities.

Raising a ruckus

Raising a Ruckus: coming to a device near you

Adult Program, Notices, Virtual program / By /

On August 26, 1920, Hoosier women won the right to vote.

At first glance, the meaning behind that statement is simple enough, but the real story goes much deeper. In Indiana, almost seventy years passed between the first calls for women’s voting rights and the passage of the 19th Amendment. Though momentous, 1920 is just one milestone in a long and ongoing journey, and access to the voting booth is just one part of what it means to be an equal part of the democratic process.

Explore this chronological history of women’s suffrage in Indiana on April 20, 2021, at 12:30 pm virtually from your favorite device with access to Facebook!  Join in on HCPL’s Facebook page to view the live virtual presentation “From Amanda to Zerelda: Hoosier Suffragists Who Raised a Ruckus” by Marsha Miller, a member of the Indiana Women’s Suffrage Centennial’s Speaker’s Bureau.

Dressed in historical costume and carrying a suffragist song (or two), special guest speaker Marsha Miller introduces Hoosier women who helped shape the movement, including:

  • Amanda Way, “mother of Indiana suffrage”
  • Helen Gougar, a feisty publisher and lawyer based in Lafayette
  • Zerelda Wallace, one of the founders of Indiana’s Equal Suffrage Society
  • Women who moved into the national suffragist sphere including May Wright Sewall (educator and civic organizer) and Ida Husted Harper (journalist and close friend and biographer of Susan B. Anthony).
Marsha Miller
Marsha Miller

Marsha Miller has taught more than 4,800 information literacy sessions at Indiana State University from 1985-present and coordinates library social media. Her degrees are from Central Michigan University (History) and the University of Michigan (Library Science). Since 2012, as a member of the League of Women Voters of Vigo County, she has served on the steering committee for the annual celebration of Women’s Equality Day. She has created biographical badges of suffragists and collected the songs that they sang when they gathered and marched. She currently serves as the Indiana president of the American Association of University Women, which was founded in 1881. She plays the clarinet and is known as the “Purple Librarian.”

This virtual program was made possible through a grant from the Indiana Women’s Suffrage Centennial, Lilly Endowment, Inc., and Hillenbrand, Inc.

If you cannot make the live event or do not have a Facebook account, it  will be recorded and made available on HCPL’s Program Videos page for future viewing. Click here to view and share the Facebook event.

For more information, call the the Frederick Porter Griffin Center (FPGC) for Local History and Genealogy at 812-738-5412.

Click image to see the Story of Women's Suffrage in Indiana.
Click image to see the Story of Women’s Suffrage in Indiana.

IUS to hold virtual International Festival

exhibit, Notices, Virtual program / By /
Practioners of Bharatanatyam, a sacred dance of India, from the Guru Vandana Arts Academy. Photo courtesy of Akila Iler.
Practioners of Bharatanatyam, a sacred dance of India, from the Guru Vandana Arts Academy. Photo courtesy of Akila Iler.

On April 5, the Study Abroad and Global Awareness (SAGA) Committee will hold the annual virtual International Festival to celebrate cultural diversity. This festival will feature a wide variety of entertainment and cuisine. Christopher Lee Proctor II, the representative of Indiana University Southeasts’s SAGA committee says that “we are excited to welcome international performances from cultures spanning the globe. Examples include, inter alia: Andalusia, Cuba, India, Ireland, West Africa, and Zimbabwe.”

The calendar and registration are available here. Join and explore the world virtually!

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