Boston Public Library announces May Author Talks, literary events

• Ken Ludwig, winner of the Falstaff Award for Best Shakespeare Book of 2014, speaks about How to Teach Shakespeare to Children on Wednesday, May 3, at 6 p.m. in Rabb Hall at the Central Library in Copley Square, located at 700 Boylston Street. Part of the Lowell Lecture Series.
• Harvard professor Dr. Elizabeth Hinton discusses her new book From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime: The Making of Mass Incarceration in America on Thursday, May 4, at 6 p.m. at the Grove Hall Branch, located at 41 Geneva Avenue.
• Lori Lyn Price, a professional genealogical speaker, focuses on lessons learned through both successful and unsuccessful oral interviews with her grandfathers as a way to connect with the living past on Wednesday, May 10, at 6 p.m. in the Commonwealth Salon at the Central Library in Copley Square, located at 700 Boylston Street. Part of the Local & Family History Lecture Series.
• A panel discussion for the People’s Climate Justice Forum includes Naomi Klein, journalist and author; Tom Goldtooth, Indigenous Environmental Network; Caroles Marentes Sr., La Villa Campesina, and a speaker from Brazil’s Landless Worker’s Movement (MST) on Wednesday, May 10, at 6:30 p.m. in Rabb Hall at the Central Library in Copley Square, located at 700 Boylston Street.
• Richard Taylor discusses Martha’s Vineyard: Race, Property, and the Power of Place on Thursday, May 11, at 6 p.m. in the Commonwealth Salon at the Central Library in Copley Square, located at 700 Boylston Street.
• Local historian Anthony Sammarco gives a lecture on the history of Jordan Marsh on Thursday, May 11, at 6: 30 p.m. at the West End Branch, located at 151 Cambridge Street.
• James O’Connell tells the history of homeless medicine in Boston, largely through the treatment, triumphs, and tragedies of some of his most memorable  patients in his book Stories from the Shadows: Reflections of a Street Doctor on Tuesday, May 16, at 6 p.m. in the Commonwealth Salon at the Central Library in Copley Square, located at 700 Boylston Street.
• Richard Schweid reads from his book Invisible Nation: Homeless Families in America, which looks at the historical context of family homelessness, as well as at what needs to be done to alleviate this widespread, although often hidden poverty. Thursday, May 18, at 6 p.m. in the Commonwealth Salon at the Central Library in Copley Square, located at 700 Boylston Street.
• The Boston Write-In, a storytelling event in collaboration with GrubStreet, Inc., Boston Public Library, Facing History and Ourselves, The William Joiner Institute, and the City of Boston’s Office of Immigrant Advancement, takes place on Friday, May 19, from 12-2 p.m. on the steps of the Central Library in Copley Square’s Dartmouth Street entrance and civic table outside the entrance to Johnson Building on Boylston Street. All are invited to tell their story and/or to hear the stories of their city. Share an immigration, migration, or refugee story of your own or someone you know. Add your thoughts about what we can do locally to write a better future for all people in Boston.
• Evan Thornberry, Cartographic Reference Librarian at the Norman B. Leventhal Map Center, provides tips for using historical urban atlases for family history research on Wednesday, May 24, at 6 p.m. in the Commonwealth Salon at the Central Library in Copley Square, located at 700 Boylston Street. Part of the Local & Family History Lecture Series.

Boston Public Library has a Central Library, twenty-four branches, map center, business library, and a website filled with digital content and services. Established in 1848, the Boston Public Library has pioneered public library service in America. It was the first large free municipal library in the United States, the first public library to lend books, the first to have a branch library, and the first to have a children’s room. Each year, the Boston Public Library hosts thousands of programs and serves millions of people. All of its programs and exhibitions are free and open to the public. At the Boston Public Library, books are just the beginning. To learn more, visit bpl.org.