Muslim Journey: Literary Reflections on Islam: The Conference of the Birds by Farid al-Din Attar, translated by Dick Davis and Afkham Darbandi. Wednesday 23 April 2014, 7 – 9 pm. Please join Marlboro scholar and Professor of Religious Studies, Amer Latif, in a journey through the literature of Islam. Islam has long provided a source of inspiration through which Muslims experience, understand, and guide their everyday lives.

The readings for this theme can be seen as literary reflections on Muslim piety and communal concepts such as ethics, governance, knowledge, and identity. Each one reveals transformations in faith and identity, as Muslims living at different times and in different places have interpreted Islamic traditions to meet their distinctive cultural realities and spiritual needs.

Celebrate your library! For National Library Week, April 13-19, 2014, take a selfie in your favorite spot at Brooks Memorial and post it to your social media (or ours) to show the world the truth of the National Library Week slogan: lives change @ your library. Read on for more information on how it works–and to see more fabulous library selfies!

Take a selfie, alone or with friends, in a favorite spot at Brooks Memorial Library. We recommend filling out a National Library Week thought bubble to include in the picture. It will telegraph the important idea to all the friends who spot you on Facebook, Twitter, or your other favorite social media site.

The series will begin on Wednesday, April 9, 7 PM  with a discussion of The Arabian Night , edited by Muhsin Mahdi, translated by Husain Haddawy. Please join Marlboro scholar and Professor of Religious Studies, Amer Latif, in a journey through the literature of Islam.

The evening reading and discussion series will focus on five books. The Arabian Nights (anonymous), edited by Muhsin Mahdi, translated by Husain Haddawy; The Conference of the Birds by Farid al-Din Attar, translated by Dick Davis and Afkham Darbandi; Snow by Orhan Pamuk, translated by Maureen Freely;  Dreams of Trespass by Fatima Mernissi; and Minaret by Leila Aboulela. Islam has long provided a source of inspiration through which Muslims experience, understand, and guide their everyday lives.

This year’s annual Friends of Library Big Book Sale is coming early with Spring flowers. Join your fellow community members and sift through the thousands of  paperbacks, DVD’s, and audio books for the Big Spring Book Sale, to raise funds for the support of the Friends of Brooks Memorial Library.

The sale is scheduled for Friday, April 11, 10 to 6 and Saturday, April 12, 10  to 2. Books and other items are piling up for this important annual event. Come early for the best selection! Remainders will be on sale during the month of April during regular library hours.

Join Vermont Humanities scholar Richard Wizansky for this reading and discussion series which features the shorter works by the great Russian writer, dissident, and former Cavendish, Vermont resident and includes his most read and highly regarded novella as well as several of his famous speeches. 

The final reading for the series is the 1970 Nobel Lecture; and the 1978 Harvard Class Day Address. Wednesday 26 March 2014, 4:30pm – 6:00pm. 

Please join us. Conductor and pianist Ignat Solzhenitsyn will discuss the writing of his father Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and their family’s life in Cavendish in the 1980s in a talk at Brooks Memorial Library on Friday, March 28, at 7 PM. (This talk was originally scheduled for February 5 at 7:00 pm.)

Solzhenitsyn will recollect his father’s painstaking crafting of the Red Wheel — a history of the Russian Revolution — and his family’s life in Cavendish during Solzhenitsyn’s exile from the Soviet Union. Ignat Solzhenitsyn was born in Moscow in 1972, the middle son of author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

Be the first to know what new titles are coming into the Brooks Library collection. It’s easy and it’s free. Click here for the current online edition of Brooks Memorial Library New Book Alerts. Click here to sign up for New Book Alerts. Happy reading! For more information contact the Brooks Memorial Library at brookslibraryvt.org

Please join Marlboro scholar and Professor of Religious Studies, Amer Latif, in a journey through the literature of Islam. The evening reading and discussion series will focus on five books.

The Arabian Nights (anonymous), edited by Muhsin Mahdi, translated by Husain Haddawy; The Conference of the Birds by Farid al-Din Attar, translated by Dick Davis and Afkham Darbandi; Snow by Orhan Pamuk, translated by Maureen Freely;  Dreams of Trespass by Fatima Mernissi; and Minaret by Leila Aboulela. Islam has long provided a source of inspiration through which Muslims experience, understand, and guide their everyday lives.

Because of snow, Federico Garcia Lorca in Vermont was rescheduled to Saturday, Feb. 22, at 3:00 p.m. in the meeting room.

Please join independent scholar, Patricia Billingsley for a richly illustrated slide talk with vintage photos, maps, and other related images about the friendship between Spanish poet Federico García Lorca and Vermont poet Philip Cummings.

Join Vermont Humanities scholar Richard Wizansky for this reading and discussion series which features the shorter works by the great Russian writer, dissident, and former Cavendish, Vermont resident and includes his most read and highly regarded novella as well as several of his famous speeches.

The 1970 Nobel Lecture; and the 1978 Harvard Class Day Address. Thursday 20 February 2014, 04:30pm – 06:00pm

Sponsored by the Vermont Humanities Council. Location Brooks Library Meeting Room. Contact Info Jerry Carbone 802-254-5290 jerry@brookslibraryvt.org http://brookslibraryvt.org

Because of snow (again!) the Garcia Lorca program scheduled for Wednesday evening has been postponed to Saturday, Feb. 22, at 3:00 p.m. in the meeting room. See you then!

Please join independent scholar, Patricia Billingsley for a richly illustrated slide talk with vintage photos, maps, and other related images about the friendship between Spanish poet Federico García Lorca and Vermont poet Philip Cummings in the Library’s meeting room.

Join author Donna Dearborn on Wednesday, February 12, at 7 PM, (Snowdate, Monday, March 5, 7 PM) for a talk on her book about her father, Frank Dearborn, who was Brattleboro’s Department of Parks and Recreation Director for 33 years. 

Every Sunday–A Daughter’s Enduring Connection is a tribute to her father, the story of a man who lived life with extraordinary kindness and humility. Frank Dearborn was the much-loved Recreation Director and fitness role model for the Town of Brattleboro for 33 years, active in biking, skiing, tennis, and an End-to-End hiker of Vermont’s Long Trail.

The First Wednesdays program with Ignat Solzhenitsyn at the Brooks Library and reception at the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, scheduled for Feb. 5th, have been cancelled due to the winter storm.

We hope to reschedule for a future date and will post it in the library’s events calendar. http://brookslibraryvt.org/