LPL Calendar Of Events Compiled By Elaine Rosenberger

Wednesday, January 24
"The World in Your Backyard: Immigrants and Refugees Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow"
Presentation by Kenneth J. Kovach
The purpose of the World in Your Backyard Program is to increase cultural awareness and bridge-building among neighbors in diverse communities of Northeast Ohio and introduce to these communities a wide range of "cultural ambassadors" who are available to make presentations to these communities to help residents connect with their diverse neighbors.
7:00 p.m. in the Main Library Auditorium

Saturday, January 27
Film - "The Great Gatsby" (2013)
Directed by Baz Luhrmann
Would-be writer Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire) moves to New York City during the roaring twenties in order to pursue the American dream. His new neighbor is the mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby (Leonardo DiCaprio), who is known for his lavish parties. Nick quickly finds himself drawn into Gatsby’s wealthy world of illusion, love and deceit. Based on the 1925 novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, this film continues our series of movies based on books.
6:00 p.m. in the Main Library Auditorium

Sunday, January 28
Concert - The Hollywood Slim Band
The Hollywood Slim Band is a unique member of Cleveland’s blues family. The band has been entertaining Clevelanders with their swing/jazz/blues music for over 40 years and still enjoys adding arrangements to their repertoire. The band plays rhythm & blues and jazz styles from the 1930s through the 1960s, and gives some of the arrangements their own touch with their three part vocal harmonies.
2:00 p.m. in the Main Library Auditorium

Tuesday, January 30
Author Event - "You're Welcome, Cleveland: How I Helped Lebron James Win a Championship and Save a City"
by Scott Raab
Scott Raab's big-hearted companion to his darkly comic "sports-jeremiad-slash-memoir" "The Whore of Akron" follows the first two years of LeBron James’s return to Cleveland, where everybody just loves a good story of forgiveness—especially when you fulfill your promise and bring home an NBA Championship. "You’re Welcome, Cleveland" is the story of both LeBron’s and Scott’s redemption as they pursue the one thing they crave more than anything in life—an NBA title for the city that made them men.
7:00 p.m. in the Main Library Auditorium

Wednesday, January 31
Lakewood Historical Society
A History of Medications
Presentation by Tom Strong
We have come a long way from the development of the first pharmaceutical drug in 1898: Bayer Aspirin. Bayer was the accessible, over-the-counter remedy everyone knew. Tom Strong, health educator and patient advocate, will take us from these humble beginnings through the evolution of drugs over the past one hundred years. Strong will cover not only how medication has dramatically changed the treatment of disease, but also the dark side of prescription medications, their side effects, costs and scandals.  
7:00 p.m. in the Main Library Auditorium

Thursday, February 1
Author Event - "Mars Girls"
by Mary Turzillo
Nanoannie is bored living on colonized Mars with her parents, sister, and holo-cat. When Kapera, a friend from online school, shows up at her Pharm asking for help, Nanoannie is quick to jump in the rover, but the girls soon find that this adventure is more than they bargained. Turzillo’s 1999 Nebula-winner, “Mars Is No Place for Children” is read on the International Space Station, and her poetry collection, Lovers & Killers, won the 2013 Elgin Award. Books will be available for sale and signing at the event.
7:00 p.m. in the Main Library Auditorium

Thursday, February 1
Book Discussion: "Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City"
Led by Dr. Roland Anglin
Ten million households in America spend more than half of their income on rent and utilities. Libraries across the county will discuss the book "Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City" by Matthew Desmond. Evicted follows the plights of eight Milwaukee families as they struggle financially in the midst of appalling poverty and exploitation by unscrupulous landlords. Leading our discussion of Evicted is Dr. Roland V. Anglin, the Dean of Cleveland State University’s Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs. Join us in finding real solutions to our housing crisis and in celebrating the power of books to create a stronger community. This literature discussion is part of the Cleveland Community Read and is sponsored by libraries throughout the greater Cleveland area and by The City Club of Cleveland.
7:00 p.m. in the Madison Branch Auditorium

Saturday, February 3
Film - "The Color Purple" (1985)
Directed by Steven Spielberg
An uneducated woman named Celie (Whoopi Goldberg) lives in the rural American south. For black women in the early twentieth century the era was marked by domestic violence, poverty and racism. Celie embodies all of these struggles and more. After being raped by her father and giving birth to two children as a result, Celie accepts a life of servitude. The struggles continue as Celie is separated from her sister Nettie (Akosua Busia) and forced into a brutal marriage to “Mister” (Danny Glover). Based on the 1982 novel by Alice Walker, this film continues our series of movies based on books.
6:00 p.m. in the Main Library Auditorium

Sunday, February 4
Performance - Keep Talking
Originally starting out as a way for comedians to tell stories that didn’t quite fit with their open mic setlists, Keep Talking has grown a serious audience for their monthly shows in the basement bar of the Happy Dog, Underdog. For one Sunday only stories will be told in the Library basement as well! Keep Talking features about five storytellers, all of whom have submitted and had their stories approved in advance by organizers Zachariah Durr of Cleveland and Adam Richard of Medina. Something that sets this storytelling performance apart is that the theme is always changing, as well as the people telling the stories.
2:00 p.m. in the Main Library Auditorium

Tuesday, February 6
Author Event - "The Family Gene: A Mission to Turn My Deadly Inheritance into a Hopeful Future"
by Joselin Linder
When Joselin Linder was in her twenties her legs suddenly started to swell. After years of misdiagnoses, doctors discovered a deadly blockage in her liver. Struggling to find an explanation for her unusual condition, Joselin compared the medical chart of her father, who had died from a mysterious disease ten years earlier, with that of an uncle who had died under similarly strange circumstances. Delving further into the past, she discovered that her great-grandmother had displayed symptoms similar to hers before her death. The Family Gene is an important story of a young woman reckoning with her father’s death, her own mortality and her ethical obligations to herself and those closest to her. Books will be available for sale and signing at the event.
7:00 p.m. in the Main Library Auditorium

Wednesday, February 7
Coast Line Poetry Reading Series
Readings by Mary Biddinger, Caryl Pagel and Michelle R. Smith
Akron poet Mary Biddinger is the author of five books of poetry including "Prairie Fever," the chapbook "Saint Monica, O Holy Insurgency," "A Sunny Place with Adequate Water," "Small Enterprise" and a collaboration with Jay Robinson titled "The Czar." She is also the co-editor of a volume of essays, "The Monkey and the Wrench: Essays into Contemporary Poetics." Caryl Pagel is the author of two collections of poetry: "Twice Told" and "Experiments I Should Like Tried At My Own Death." Michelle R. Smith is an Afro-Black writer, educator, feminist and media activist. Her first published volume of poetry is "Ariel in Black" on Guide to Kulchur (GTK) Press.
7:00 p.m. in the Main Library Auditorium