Boston Public Library’s February author talks and lectures

Boston Public Library’s February literary events include a romance genre panel, the second Lowell Lecture Series talk focusing on the civil rights movement and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, a visit from New England Patriots player Malcolm Mitchell, and author talks at the Central Library, Grove Hall, Jamaica Plain, and South End branches. All programs and events can be viewed via www.bpl.org/calendar.

• Kevin Powell explores America during the civil rights movement, with an emphasis on the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Thursday, February 1, at 6 p.m. in Rabb Hall at the Central Library in Copley Square, located at 700 Boylston Street. Part of the Lowell Lectures Series “Speaking Up, Speaking Out: Voices of Social Justice.”
• Jamaica Plain resident Rhea Becker, a longtime journalist who grew up sampling the wares in her father’s candy store, shares the history of candy in the Boston area and the United States on Thursday, February 1, at 6:30 p.m. at the Jamaica Plain Branch, located at 30 South Street.
• Leading romance authors Kristan Higgins and Sarah MacLean explore how they write happily-ever-afters when the world can seem a dangerous and scary place in a romance panel moderated by author Caroline Linden. Saturday, February 3, at 2 p.m. in Rabb Hall at the Central Library in Copley Square, located at 700 Boylston Street.
• A joint poetry reading with Heather Derr-Smith, author of the award-winning book Thrust, takes place with local published poets Sonja Johanson (West Roxbury), Frances Donovan (Roslindale), and Erica Charis-Molling (Jamaica Plain) on Saturday, February 3, at 2 p.m. at the Jamaica Plain Branch, located at 30 South Street.
• Karilyn Crockett gives her Local & Family History Lecture Series presentation “People before Highways: Boston Activists, Urban Planners, and a New Movement for City Making” on Wednesday, February 7, at 6 p.m. in the Commonwealth Salon at the Central Library in Copley Square, located at 700 Boylston Street.
• Join Harvard professors Christoph Wolff and Alexander Rehding for an illustrated talk about the relationships of J.S. Bach, Mendelssohn, and Schumann to the first (1781) and second (1884) Gewandhaus concert halls, and to the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. Special attention will be paid to the works on the BSO’s “Leipzig Week” program, and the Gewandhaus-Quartett will perform the first movement of Mendelssohn’s String Quartet in F minor, Op. 80. Wednesday, February 7, at 6 p.m. in Rabb Hall at the Central Library in Copley Square, located at 700 Boylston Street.
• Kendra Taira Field shares her epic family history, which chronicles the westward migration of freedom’s first generation in the fifty years after emancipation in Growing Up with the Country: Family, Race, and Nation After the Civil War. Thursday, February 8, 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 Series.
• Described as “India’s first literary popstar,” Amish Tripathi discusses his works in his “Pushing Liberalism in the Age of Nationalism” talk on Saturday, February 10, at 3 p.m. in Rabb Hall at the Central Library in Copley Square, located at 700 Boylston Street.
• A lecture and conversation with Dr. Ashley Farmer, a history professor at Boston University and author of the new book Remaking Black Power: How Black Women Transformed an Era takes place on Saturday, February 10, at 3 p.m. at the Grove Hall Branch, located at 41 Geneva Avenue.
• Elena Georgiou and KL Pereira lead a join discussion “Lost between Nations―Exploring Immigration, Refugees, and Identity” on Tuesday, February 13, at 6 p.m. in the Newsfeed Café at the Central Library in Copley Square, located at 700 Boylston Street.
• Frances Moore Lappé, legendary activist and author of Diet for a Small Planet, and organizer-scholar Adam Eichen team up to examine the roots of our current anti-democracy crisis, the events that drove us to this moment, and how Americans are uniting in response and discuss their work Daring Democracy: Igniting Power, Meaning, and Connection for the America We Want. Thursday, February 15, at 6 p.m. Rabb Hall at the Central Library in Copley Square, located at 700 Boylston Street.
• Biographer Andrew Morton discusses Wallis in Love: The Untold Life of the Duchess of Windsor, the Woman Who Changed the Monarchy on Wednesday, February 21, at 6 p.m. in Rabb Hall at the Central Library in Copley Square, located at 700 Boylston Street.
• Join New England Patriots wide receiver and author Malcolm Mitchell for magic and fun as he reads from his children’s book The Magician’s Hat on Monday, February 26, at 10:30 a.m. in Rabb Hall at the Central Library in Copley Square, located at 700 Boylston Street.
• Lauren Prescott, historian and executive director of the South End Historical Society, discusses her new book Boston’s South End on Tuesday, February 27, at 6:30 p.m. at the South End Branch, located at 685 Tremont Street. Part of the South End Writes 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.