Rockland Public Library

Catching Up With The Classics is a book group that meets monthly. We will now being meeting in person, in the Children’s Garden, while the weather is nice. The book for October with Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.

We’ll follow that in November with James Baldwin’s, Go Tell It On the Mountain. We’ll close out the year with Willa Cather’s My Antonia.

We’re always looking for new readers! Email pking@rocklandmaine.gov for more info, or call the Library, 207-594-0310, to request a book title.

Enjoy a themed musical storytime, with dancing, songs, rhymes, and 2 books. This program is great for toddlers – early elementary. We will be out on the Library lawn, bring a hat and a blanket! Masks are encouraged for those unvaccinated, but not required.

This event is an educational hands-on session for tweens, teens, and adults on bicycle maintenance. Erik DaSilva, safety education manager for the Bicycle Coalition of Maine, will provide tools, equipment, and guidance for participants to work on their own bikes. Bring your bike and curiosity! Rain location: the Library’s Community Room.

The Bicycle Coalition of Maine (BCM) works to make Maine a better place to bike and walk. They work to expand biking in Maine, improve bike and pedestrian safety, pass bike- and ped-friendly laws, and spread a love of being active to children and adults alike. The BCM is a 501c3 non-profit organization funded predominantly by donations—help make Maine better for biking and walking. Visit bikemaine.org to learn more!

This event can accommodate up to eight people (or eight small groups – i.e. a couple, or a parent and children). Registration is required. Please call the library at (207) 594-0310 or stop by the checkout desk to claim your spot! For more information, please email elewis@rocklandmaine.gov.

Enjoy your favorite picture books as Miss Katie reads them to you! We will be out on the Library lawn so bring a hat and a blanket! Masks are encouraged for those unvaccinated, but not required.

Let’s take a walk!

Wednesday Walkers is back! Join Patty or Jessie every Wednesday at 10:30 for a 45-60 minute stroll around town. Promoting healthy activity and social connections; all abilities are welcome- no walker is left behind! Meet promptly at 10:30 in the Library lobby (White St. entrance).

Broaden Your Literary Horizons with Contemporary Fiction Discussion Group!

Launched in 2020, the Contemporary Fiction Discussion Group (CFDG) enjoys lively and thought-provoking conversations about celebrated novels by prize-winning international authors. The group currently meets via Zoom at 3:00 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month and welcomes new members. The Library invites interested readers to contact: pking@ rocklandmaine.gov for more information.

Maureen Anne Jennings facilitates the CFDG. Maureen is an author and editor who lives in Rockland. Her fiction includes Bartender Wanted and One Too Many, as well as work published in various anthologies.

Fall continues with Booker Prize winner Milkman by Anna Burns for October; November’s pick is Deacon King Kong by James McBride.

The CFDG’s 2020 reading list covered novels that received or were finalists for major international literary prizes, such as the Pulitzer, Booker, National Book, Pen Faulkner, and Dublin International Literary awards. Selected titles included Sing, Unburied Sing; The Underground Railroad; Elsey Come Home; An American Marriage; The Friend; Fates and Furies; Exit West; Machines Like Me; Behold the Dreamers; and Clock Dance.

Sing and sway along with new and familiar nursery rhymes and songs. This storytime is for little ones and music lovers, with lots of songs and one short story at the end. We will be out on the Library lawn, so bring a hat and a blanket! Masks are encouraged for those unvaccinated, but not required.

The Gatherings: Reimagining Indigenous-Settler Relations (University of Toronto Press, 2021), written by fourteen Wabanaki and non-Native co-authors, tells the story of a series of cross-cultural meetings. From 1987 to 1993, Shirley Hager a series of weekend-long meetings between Indigenous and non-Native individuals throughout the Gulf of Maine bioregion, in Wabanaki territory. They sought to explore some of the most pressing questions at the heart of Truth and Healing efforts in the United States and Canada. In this book, she and her co-authors share the lessons they learned, and continue to learn, through their ongoing relationships. The Gatherings shows how indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples can come together to create meaningful and lasting relationships. In this event, two of the co-authors will share their experiences in these meetings as well as stories about the book’s creation.

Shirley N. Hager is a retired associate professor with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. Currently, she serves with the Friends (Quaker) Committee on Maine Public Policy and chairs its Committee on Tribal-State Relations.

T. Dana Mitchell is a Panawahpskek/Penobscot from the Bear Clan. His people carry the name of the river they live on, the Penobscot, which runs through central and eastern Maine. As Dana describes it, the river is their highway, their lifeline, and their bloodline. Dana grew up on Panawahpskek with thirteen siblings, descendants of a long line of tribal leaders.

For Zoom links, please email elewis@rocklandmaine.gov.

Mark your calendars for the Friends of the Rockland Public Library Fall Book Sale!

The October 22 and 23 event will take place in the Flanagan Recreational Center on Limerock Street in Rockland. Friday hours are 1 to 6 p.m.; Saturday hours are 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Book fans take note: each day will be BYOB — Bring Your Own Bag book sale. Fill a (reasonably sized) bag with books for only $10!

Mark your calendars for the Friends of the Rockland Public Library Fall Book Sale!

The October 22 and 23 event will take place in the Flanagan Recreational Center on Limerock Street in Rockland. Friday hours are 1 to 6 p.m.; Saturday hours are 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Book fans take note: each day will be BYOB — Bring Your Own Bag book sale. Fill a (reasonably sized) bag with books for only $10!

Enjoy a themed musical storytime, with dancing, songs, rhymes, and 2 books. This program is great for toddlers – early elementary. We will be out on the Library lawn, bring a hat and a blanket! Masks are encouraged for those unvaccinated, but not required.

Enjoy your favorite picture books as Miss Katie reads them to you! We will be out on the Library lawn so bring a hat and a blanket! Masks are encouraged for those unvaccinated, but not required.

Let’s take a walk!

Wednesday Walkers is back! Join Patty or Jessie every Wednesday at 10:30 for a 45-60 minute stroll around town. Promoting healthy activity and social connections; all abilities are welcome- no walker is left behind! Meet promptly at 10:30 in the Library lobby (White St. entrance).

Sing and sway along with new and familiar nursery rhymes and songs. This storytime is for little ones and music lovers, with lots of songs and one short story at the end. We will be out on the Library lawn, so bring a hat and a blanket! Masks are encouraged for those unvaccinated, but not required.

Maine poet Dave Morrison will celebrate the release of his new collection of poems with a reading in the Community Room. “A Murder of Crows Descended, Displacing an Exultation of Larks” is Morrison’s 16th book of poetry.

This in-person event will offer limited seating and attendees will be asked to wear masks. There will be a simultaneous free livestream to Morrison’s Facebook page.