CANCELLED Aging with Mindfulness (Virtual)
This program, led by Zeenat Potia, will introduce and utilize mindfulness techniques to help us examine and regulate everyday life changes with a focus on aging. Participants will learn and benefit from the development of a mindfulness practice to enable responding to getting older in a calm, clear and thoughtful manner.
Presented in Partnership with Cambridge Insight Meditation Center (CIMC). Rooted in the Theravada Buddhist tradition,CIMC is a welcoming refuge and teaching Center for all who seek inner peace through the liberating practice of Insight Meditation (vipassana). As an urban center, and now as an online community, CIMC is dedicated to the integration of practice into every aspect of community and daily life. Visit the CIMC Website.
Registration is required.
This is a virtual event. A Zoom link will be sent to all registered participants 1 hour before the event.
Summer Reading: Dinosaurs! with Dinoman (O'Neill)
With magic, merry mayhem, and magnificent inflatable dinosaurs, Dinoman will take you on a trip through the Mesozoic Era. Recommended for children ages 4 and up and their caregivers. This program will be outdoors.
Funding for Summer Reading has been generously provided by the City of Cambridge, Cambridge Public Library Foundation and Friends of the Cambridge Public Library.
Propagate and Populate: Plant Swap (Central Square)
Calling all plant lovers! Add some green into your home! Bring your own plants to share propagules with others or come to pot a new plant baby for your home collection.
We'll have a small collection of house plant propagules, along with soil and plastic planting containers. Attendees are welcome to bring their own pots as well.
Sahil Bloom presents: The 5 Types of Wealth (Main)
Harvard Book Store and the Cambridge Public Library welcome Sahil Bloom—inspirational writer, owner of SRB Holdings, and content creator, captivating millions of people every week through his insights and biweekly newsletter, The Curiosity Chronicle—for a discussion of his debut book The 5 Types of Wealth: A Transformative Guide to Design Your Dream Life.
Registration is required.
Summer Reading: ¡Música! with Mariana Iranzi (Main)
Join us for a bilingual family concert in English and Spanish. Singing, dancing and tons of fun guaranteed! Recommended for children of all ages and their caregivers.
Funding for Summer Reading has been generously provided by the City of Cambridge, Cambridge Public Library Foundation, Friends of the Cambridge Public Library and the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.
Body Kintsugi with Zanya Harriott (Main)
In honor of Women's History Month, come to the library and experience Body Kintsugi! Zanya Harriott has facilitated this workshop in Boston at the former City Pop Egleston community center and successfully led online sessions with diverse groups of people. Participants left expressing a profound sense of connection and empowerment. A little more info about Body Kintsugi below.
Body Kintsugi is a reflective practice that combines movement, music, and authentic expression to help women embrace and heal their relationships with their bodies. During our guided movement and visualization sessions, participants will be gently encouraged to engage with their physical selves in meaningful ways. This isn’t just movement; it’s a journey toward self-love and body positivity. Picture it as an affirmative yoga experience—aimed at nurturing, rather than challenging, one’s personal journey. Please bring your own yoga mat and any other supplies you may need.
Great Books Book Group (Main/Virtual)
This week's selection: Raymond Carver, "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love," "A Small, Good Thing," and " Cathedral."
Reading Interests: We concentrate on Great Books in the following areas: a long novel over the summer, two sections of poetry and short stories, a book of the Bible, a Shakespeare play, an ancient and modern drama, a work of science, a smaller work of fiction, an even smaller work of fiction, and a rotating mix of politics, philosophy, and religion. Authors read in the past five years include Dickens, Keats and Yeats, O'Connor and Munro, Ecclesiastes, Sophocles and August Wilson, Darwin, Austen, Duras, The Federalist Papers, and Arendt.
How to get the print book: Copies of the reading are set aside at the Main Library. Visit the Main Library at 449 Broadway during current service hours and a staff member can help you get a copy.
How to register: Registration is required. Click the registration link below to register.
This is a hybrid event. A Zoom link will be sent to all registered participants 1 hour before the event.
For more information, contact Drew Griffin (dgriffin@cambridgema.gov)
Adult Book Group (O'Connell)
March selection: Wellness: A Novel by Nathan Hill
Reading Interests: We read mostly contemporary Fiction and Non-Fiction, with forays into older works and classics. Past selections include: The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt and The Midnight Library by Matt Haig.
How to get the print book: Copies of the book are set aside at the O'Connell Branch. Visit during open hours and a staff member can help you check out a copy. Click here for O'Connell Branch Hours
How to get the e-book or digital audiobook: This month’s book is available as a digital audio and e-book through Hoopla.
This book group meets in person at the O'Connell Branch. No registration is needed. Drop-ins welcome.
For more information contact the branch at 617-349-4019.
The City of Cambridge does not discriminate, including on the basis of disability. We may provide auxiliary aids and services, written materials in alternative formats, and reasonable modifications in policies and procedures to people with disabilities. For more information contact us at library@cambridgema.gov, 617-349-4032 (voice), or via relay at 711.
Great Books Book Group (Main/Virtual)
This week's selection: Arthur Rimbaud, "The Drunken Boat," "Vowels," "Eternity," "Memory," "To a Reason," and "Dawn."
Reading Interests: We concentrate on Great Books in the following areas: a long novel over the summer, two sections of poetry and short stories, a book of the Bible, a Shakespeare play, an ancient and modern drama, a work of science, a smaller work of fiction, an even smaller work of fiction, and a rotating mix of politics, philosophy, and religion. Authors read in the past five years include Dickens, Keats and Yeats, O'Connor and Munro, Ecclesiastes, Sophocles and August Wilson, Darwin, Austen, Duras, The Federalist Papers, and Arendt.
How to get the print book: Copies of the reading are set aside at the Main Library. Visit the Main Library at 449 Broadway during current service hours and a staff member can help you get a copy.
How to register: Registration is required. Click the registration link below to register.
This is a hybrid event. A Zoom link will be sent to all registered participants 1 hour before the event.
For more information, contact Drew Griffin (dgriffin@cambridgema.gov)
CANCELED/POSTPONED: Reading Group: How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective (Central Square)
We are postponing today’s session of our reading group. We plan to have our Tuesday discussion about today’s materials!
“If Black women were free, it would mean that everyone else would have to be free since our freedom would necessitate the destruction of all the systems of oppression.”
- Combahee River Collective, April 1977
This event is part 1 of 4 of our reading group to discuss How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor. We will read and discuss the book in sections as follows:
Session 1 - Intro, Barbara Smith
Session 2 - Beverly Smith, Demita Frazier
Session 3 - Alicia Garza, Angela Davis, comments
Session 4 – Reflections on Cambridge present and future
Participants are encouraged to come to as many sessions as they can — and all are welcome! Copies of the book are available for pickup at the Central Square Branch.
This event was created in partnership with Community Conversations: Sister to Sister, the Cambridge LGBTQ+ Commission, and the Cambridge Women’s Commission.