Next week, Tuesday, May 23rd, at 6:30 PM, Mel King, the iconic South End activist, former state legislator, poet and author, will talk about his life's work. He will be introduced by our esteemed State Rep., Byron Rushing. Mel King's recently re-issued book, Chain of Change, will be available for purchase and signing. Seating is limited. Details will be posted on our web site shortly.

The latest Local/Focus installation in the South End library's Tremont Street window features the South End Knitters. The remarkable urban artists have taken the domestic arts of knitting and crocheting into the streets, celebrating color and fiber, and transforming our streetscape with their artful and hunorous creations.

Finally, the exhilarating talk by longtime South End resident and foreign-affairs expert Stephen Kinzer on May 9 was further enhanced by the gracious introduction by Kinzer's admirer and friend, WBUR's OpenSource radio host, Christopher Lydon. The local luminaries each talked about their personal heroes of that era (William James for Lydon and Carl Schurz for Kinzer), passionately detailed in Kinzer's book, The True Flag: Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain and the Birth of American Empire. For details, click here.

South End Branch of the Boston Public Library is located at 685 Tremont Street, Boston 617-536-8241.www.friendsofsouthendlibrary.org