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Join us in Joan Lorentz Park (outside the Main Library) for a Summer Kickoff Party for all ages! Enjoy a live concert with award-winning, GRAMMY nominated folk musician Alastair Moock and friends! Take home a tiny blossom kit and enjoy ice-cream (while supplies last). You can also register for Summer Reading, pick up a bingo board and learn more about special events happening across branches all summer long. The Department of Public Works, Community Gardens, and Office of Sustainability will join us to celebrate summer and the natural world.

The Lion Sisters are a sibling duo with Josi on fiddle and vocals, and Lily on guitar and vocals. They're from New Hampshire, known for tight sister harmonies and genre-blending sound that fuses folk, bluegrass, Irish fiddle, vintage country with a modern edge. PARK SOUNDS 2026 brings free outdoor musical performances featuring local artists to the front lawn of the Cambridge Public Library Main Branch. These events are all-ages. Bring a chair, food, and loved ones to celebrate the summer! Funding is provided by the CPL Foundation in memory of Janet Axelrod.

Join the Cambridge Public Library in welcoming Jeremy David Engels for a reading and discussion of his latest book, On Mindful Democracy: A Declaration of Interdependence to Mend a Fractured World. We find ourselves living through a time when much-needed political discourse seems to be getting increasingly inflammatory and partisan—Jeremy David Engels, in On Mindful Democracy, proposes the benefits of mindfulness in the sociopolitical sphere. Smithsonian called the book "a practical guide to staying open and curious while engaging with all sorts of people and ideas." Registration is required.

Harvard Book Store and the Cambridge Public Library welcome Jacob Weisberg—Chair of The Committee to Protect Journalists, former longtime editor of Slate, and the co-founder of the podcast company Pushkin Industries—for a discussion of his new book, Profiles in Cowardice: A Study of Collaboration in the Trump Era. He will be joined in conversation by Noah Feldman—Arthur Kingsley Porter University Professor, Chair of the Society of Fellows, and founding director of the Julis-Rabinowitz Program on Jewish and Israeli Law, all at Harvard University. Registration is required.

Join this free 1-hour interactive workshop for parents and caregivers ready to spark powerful conversations about race, identity, and belonging. You will gain historical insights, tools to affirm your child’s cultural roots, and connect with others committed to raising antiracist children. The workshop will feature a presentation by Vice Mayor Marc McGovern and a special giveaway: The Village We’re Building digital zine! This is a virtual event, a Zoom link will be sent to all registrants. Cosponsored by the Healthy Children Task Force and Cambridge Public Library.

Harvard Book Store and the Cambridge Public Library welcome Gaelynn Lea—folk musician, Broadway composer, and disability advocate—for a discussion of her new memoir, It Wasn't Meant to Be Perfect. She will be joined in conversation by Adrian Anantawan—violinist, current Chair of Music at Milton Academy, the Artistic Director of Shelter Music Boston, and Associate Professor at Berklee College of Music—and Colleen Flanagan—longtime activist for disability rights, working at the City of Boston Mayor's Commission for Persons with Disabilities as the Outreach and Engagement Specialist. Registration is required.

PanNeubean Steel is a dynamic steelpan guided ensemble delivering vibrant Caribbean rhythms with modern flair. Rooted in tradition and driven by innovation, the band brings energy, precision, and crowd-moving performances to every stage—celebrating culture, community, and the unmistakable sound of steel. PARK SOUNDS 2026 brings free outdoor musical performances featuring local artists to the front lawn of the Cambridge Public Library Main Branch. These events are all-ages. Bring a chair, food, and loved ones to celebrate the summer! Funding is provided by the CPL Foundation in memory of Janet Axelrod.

Harvard Book Store and the Cambridge Public Library welcome Francis Fukuyama—Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and the author of The End of History and the Last Man—for a discussion of his new memoir, In the Realm of the Last Man. More than a conventional memoir, In the Realm of the Last Man is personal history as political history—the story of a life that illuminates the troubled fate of democracy and liberalism over the last fifty years. Registration is required.

Harvard Book Store and the Cambridge Public Library welcome Daniel Pollack-Pelzner—cultural historian, theater critic, and professor of English and theater at Portland State University—for a discussion of his highly anticipated biography of Broadway superstar Lin-Manuel Miranda, titled Lin-Manuel Miranda: The Education of an Artist. He will be joined in conversation by Dani Snyder-Young—esteemed Northeastern University theater professor, who appears in Lin-Manuel Miranda as his director for the Wesleyan production of Jesus Christ Superstar that launched him into collegiate superstardom. Registration is required.

To mark the 250th anniversaries of the American Revolution and the founding of the United States, a coalition of local non-profits and government agencies will present Washington in American Memory, a seven-part speaker series. Debunk myths and trace the evolution of the public memory of George Washington in Cambridge, Massachusetts, featuring: J.L. Bell, author of The Road to Concord: How Four Stolen Cannon Ignited the Revolutionary War and proprietor of Boston1775.net Charles Sullivan, co-author of Building Old Cambridge: Architecture and Development and Executive Director of the Cambridge Historical Commission