Pulitzer Prize Winner to Visit Library

The Tompkins County Public Library will host a reading and signing by Pulitzer Prize winner John Matteson, Saturday, August 16, 2008 at 1:00 PM in the Borg Warner Community Meeting Room.

Matteson, a professor of English at John Jay College, won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Biography for his book Eden’s Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father.

Eden’s Outcasts explores the complicated relationship of the famed Little Women author and her father Amos Bronson Alcott. Called “lyrical and thoroughly researched,” Eden’s Outcasts explores the complexities of war, American transcendentalism, abolition and the unbreakable bond of family.

Eden’s Outcasts is a complement to the 2008 Community Read selection, March by Geraldine Brooks, which tells the story of the absentee father from Alcott’s Little Women.

Copies of Eden’s Outcasts will be available for purchase from the Tompkins County Public Library Foundation on the day of the event.

The 2008 Community Read and programs being held in conjunction with the Read have been made possible by the Tompkins County Public Library Foundation through generous gifts from Elizabeth E. Reed and the Brooks Family Foundation.

For more information, contact Carrie Wheeler at (607) 272-4557 extension 248.

Youth Services Department to Get Therapy Dog

The Tompkins County Public Library is pleased to offer the addition of Diesel, a certified therapy dog to our Youth Services offerings.

Diesel is a sweet and patient member of the Tail Waggin’ Tutors Team. Certified by Therapy Dogs International, Diesel will help students who have difficulty with reading or self confidence by attentively listening as they read to him from their favorite books.

Tail Waggin’ Tutors is a program offered by Therapy Dogs International, which brings therapy dogs to schools and libraries to help young people develop a love of reading.

Diesel will be available for book sharing in the Library’s Thaler/Howell Programming Room beginning at 6:00 PM on the following dates:

July 23

August 13

August 27

September 10

September 24

For further information, contact the Youth Services Department at (607)272-4557 Ext.275

Community Read Kick-Off Celebration Planned

Famed Little Women author Louisa May Alcott will make a rare appearance at the Tompkins County Public Library Saturday, July 26, 2008.

What makes the appearance so rare is that Alcott has been dead since 1888. Fortunately, literature lovers still have the opportunity to get an up close and personal glimpse at “one of America’s most prolific writers” through a striking portrayal by Massachusetts-based actress Jan Turnquist.

Turnquist is the director of Orchard House, Alcott’s childhood home in Concord, Massachusetts, and the founder of InterAct Performances.

Through InterAct, Turnquist travels the Northeast using living history to bring the past alive. Rather than telling the story of Louisa May Alcott’s life, she assumes her identity.

During the hour-long performance, Turnquist will provide valuable insight into important 19th Century issues such as suffrage, abolition and the Underground Railroad. She will also share more personal information about Alcott’s life including her friendships with Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson, her unusual Victorian family and her work as a Civil War nurse.

This performance, which begins at 1:00 PM in the Library’s Borg Warner Community Meeting Room, celebrates the kick-off of the 2008 Community Read. This year’s selection, the Pulitzer Prize-winning March by Geraldine Brooks, tells the story of March, the absent father from Alcott’s Little Women, important issues from the Civil War period and the impact of war on family and self.

The kick-off celebration will also feature music from the popular Buffalo-based band City Fiddle, who will delight audiences with their historical attire and lively traditional music.

Other programs being planned in conjunction with the 2008 Community Read are an August 16 reading and signing by 2008 Pulitzer Prize Winner John Matteson, whose biography, Eden’s Outcasts, tells the story of Louisa May Alcott and her father Bronson, book discussion groups and a lecture on the Underground Railroad.

All Community Read programs are free and open to the public. The 2008 Community Read and its corresponding programs are made possible by the Tompkins County Public Library Foundation through generous gifts from Elizabeth E. Reed and the Brooks Family Foundation.

For more information or to request copies of March for your book group, contact Sarah Glogowski at (607) 272-4557 extension 255.