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Harvard Book Store and the Cambridge Public Library welcome Davíd Carrasco, the Neil L. Rudenstine Professor of the Study of Latin America at Harvard University, Arthur Kleinman, the Esther and Sidney Rabb Professor of Anthropology at Harvard, Stephanie Paulsell, Professor Emerita at Harvard Divinity School, and Michael Puett, the Walter C. Klein Professor of Chinese History and Anthropology at Harvard, for a discussion of their new book, The Practice of Wisdom: Five Quests. They will be joined in conversation by Rev. Matthew Ichihashi Potts—Minister in the Memorial Church and Plummer Professor of Christian Morals at Harvard University. Registration is required.

Join the Cambridge Public Library for a screening of The Next Dream, an independent documentary about more than one million Temporary Protected Status (TPS) families across the U.S., who are at risk of deportation and family separation. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion and Q&A with members of the National TPS Alliance and the film's producers. Come and meet members of the TPS families, learn about their struggles, and discuss how we may support our neighbors across the country. To learn more about this project, please click here. Registration is encouraged, but not required.

Join us for an afternoon of great poetry and music, featuring a quintet of acclaimed poets: Robert Carr - winner of the 2024 Rane Arroyo chapbook prize and author of three full length collections; Patrick Donnelly - program director of The Frost Place; Matt Donovan - Director, The Boutelle-Day Poetry Center at Smith College; Richard Michelson - former Poet Laureate, Northampton, MA & recipient of a National Jewish Book Award; Dzvinia Orlowsky - award-winning poet & translator and a founding editor of Four Way Books; plus music by tenor saxophonist Jay Hoffman. This event is cosponsored by Cambridge Public Library. Registration is required.

Harvard Book Store and the Cambridge Public Library welcomes Nicholas Epley—John Templeton Keller Professor of Behavioral Science and faculty director of the Roman Family Center for Decision Research at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business—for a discussion of his new book, A Little More Social: How Small Choices Create Unexpected Happiness, Health, and Connection. He will be joined in conversation by Daniel Gilbert—Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology at Harvard University, New York Times bestselling author of Stumbling on Happiness, and host and co-writer of the award-winning NOVA television series This Emotional Life. Registration is required.

Since 2011, the Black Seed Writers Group has been providing a weekly space for homeless, transitional and recently housed writers. Out of this space has come a steady flow of poetry, reportage and prophetic witness from the streets of downtown Boston. Co-founded by Atlantic staff writer James Parker, the BSWG publishes these writers in its magazine The Pilgrim, and in the broadsheets produced by its private imprint No Fixed Address Press. Join Parker and the Black Seed writers, at 7pm on October 21st, for the next in their Out Here series of public readings. Photo credit Edward Boches.

Join the Cambridge Public Library in celebrating Native American Heritage Month by welcoming Morgan Talty, author of the award-winning story collection, Night of the Living Rez, as well as the novel, Fire Exit, published just last summer. Fire Exit—which Booklist called "tender and heartbreaking" in a starred review—is a novel about family secrets and how they inform the stories we tell ourselves about who we are and where we live. After reading from his work, Talty will sit in conversation with Nina MacLaughlin, author or Winter Solstice, followed by a short audience Q&A and book signing. Registration is required.

What happens when AI becomes a friend, a tutor, a therapist, a co-worker? Come find out in this hands-on workshop led by Joint Family in collaboration with the Cambridge Public Library. Test the limitations and capabilities of popular Generative AI tools and how they’re quietly reshaping the way we connect with technology and each other. We'll explore the support gaps they're filling, where we need to draw boundaries and why real world human connections matter more than ever. No prior experience with Generative AI necessary. Caregivers and educators are encouraged to attend. Open to ages 18 and up.

For four decades, Johnisha Matthews Levi believed a conventional story about her birth, picturing her happy parents at the hospital together. While sorting through her late mother's belongings, however, she discovered a document indicating that her father was instead serving time in Lorton Correctional Complex. This revelation, along with rumors about an FBI investigation of her deceased parents' "private business," leads Levi to unearth the hidden history of her family. She ties this story to public policy, demonstrating how state lottery legalization and the War on Drugs disrupted the Black institutions and communities in Washington, DC. Registration is required.

Harvard Book Store and the Cambridge Public Library welcome Peter Guralnick—Grammy Award-winner for his liner notes for Sam Cooke Live at the Harlem Square Club, and prize-winning author of the two-volume biography of Elvis Presley, Last Train to Memphis and Careless Love—for a discussion of his new book The Colonel and the King: Tom Parker, Elvis Presley, and the Partnership that Rocked the World. He will be joined in conversation by Peter Wolf—Boston-based rock ’n’ roll legend and former front man of the legendary J. Geils Band. Registration is required.

The City of Cambridge 911 Clinician is a unique public safety position, as they work directly inside the Emergency Communications Center (ECC) alongside Emergency Telecommunications Dispatchers (ETD). The 911 Clinician may be utilized by dispatchers during emergencies for purposes of crisis intervention/de-escalation or to support callers through vulnerable moments before first responders arrive on-scene when appropriate. A large part of the 911 Clinician’s role is also following up with and providing community members connections to mental health and corresponding services by making referrals, providing resources, facilitating screenings, offering support and advocacy, and short-term case management.