News

News from... Friends Of The South End Library

by Julie Walker
Wednesday Sep 10, 2014

Marlene Nienhuis

The South End library (685 Tremont Street, Boston, MA 02118
617-536-8241) is going full-steam into September with a variety of programs but whatever event will bring you to the branch, leave behind your fears about tripping or twisting your ankle on the pavement in front of its doors: A beautiful new sidewalk section was installed last month.

The 2014/15 author series will start with visits by three local writers: Nationally acclaimed novelist Sue Miller will read from The Arsonist on Tuesday, September 9. On Tuesday, September 23 Jean Gibran will talk about her memoir describing fifty years of wedlock to internationally known sculptor Kahlil Gibran while living on Canton Street in the South End. It's called Love Made Visible: Scenes from a Mostly Happy Marriage (in case you wondered, yes, Kahlil Gibran and the author of The Prophet were namesakes and cousins). And on September 30 Cuban-American writer Johnny Diaz will return to the library to talk about his latest book in the Boston Boys Club series, Looking for Providence.

On Wednesday, September 10, at 6:30 PM, South End activist Frieda Garcia will speak about the history and significance of the magnificent abolitionist sculptures by artists Fern Cunningham and Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller in Harrriet Tubman Park. Though planned with library staff, the location of the lecture is in the park itself, just a block away, at Columbus Avenue and Pembroke Street.

If the recent reports at the BPL about severe reductions of book collections at neighborhood libraries have you concerned, you, too, can have your say: The BPL trustees have their next public meeting on September 16 at 3:00 PM at the West End branch of the BPL, located on Beacon Hill's Cambridge Street. One usually restrained BPL staffer referred to the culling process as 'Kristallnacht.' The new East Boston branch, for example, had its books cut from 68,000 copies to less than 25,000. East Boston locals testified at a recent BPL trustees meeting that people walk in and ask, "Where are the books?"

Next Saturday September 13, at the South End branch, musicians Janet Fink, recorder, and Dylan Sauerwald, harpsichord will perform A Telemann Potpourri. They will play concertos, sonatas, and fantasias by Georg Philipp Telemann. It starts at 1:00 PM.

Two weeks later, on Saturday, September 27, there will be the first organizational meeting of the South End Writers group, organized by Lyle Miller. All levels and genres are welcome. Details will be posted on the web site as they become available. It starts at 11:00 AM.

And finally, on a personal note, after four years of reporting happily about library matters large and small, I will be calling it a day, later this month. Thanks for your many kind and supportive comments over the years, and thanks especially to FOSEL's wonderful web master, P.K. Shiu. He set up the site in 2010 to help fight the proposed closings of up to a third of the BPL branches that year. Obviously, he (and we all) succeeded to reverse that ill-conceived plan. Please continue to support your library, one of the best institutions in town. For the near future, please consult the South End library's web site and the BPL web site for programming. Or call the South End library staff at 617 536-8241.

www.friendsofsouthendlibrary.org,www.bpl.org, www.bpl.org/branches/southend.htm