Bestselling author B.A. Shapiro will discuss her new book, Metropolis: A Novel, on Wednesday, July 27 at 7PM via Zoom. Shapiro will be interviewed by Gary Braver, a bestselling and award-winning author of eight critically acclaimed mysteries and medical thrillers.

About The Book: The New York Times bestselling author of The Art Forger delivers a spellbinding and moving novel about what we hang on to, what we might need to let go, and how unexpected events can lead us to deeper truths. Six people, six secrets, six different backgrounds. They would never have met if not for their connection to the Metropolis Storage Warehouse in Cambridge, Massachusetts. When someone falls down an elevator shaft at the facility, each becomes caught up in an intensifying chain of events. Was it an accident? A murder attempt? Suicide? As her characters dip in and out of one another’s lives trying to find answers and battling societal forces beyond their control, B. A. Shapiro both questions the myth of the American dream and builds tension to an exhilarating climax. Taut and emotional, Metropolis is impossible to put down and impossible to forget.

About The Author: B.A. Shapiro is the award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of nine novels, including Metropolis, The Collector’s Apprentice, The Muralist and The Art Forger, which won the New England Book Award for Fiction, among other honors. Her books have been selected as Community Reads throughout the country and have been translated into over a dozen languages. She holds a PhD in sociology and has directed research projects for a residential substance abuse facility, worked as a systems analyst/statistician, headed the Boston office of a software development firm, and served as an adjunct professor teaching sociology at Tufts University and creative writing at Northeastern University. She likes writing novels the best. Barbara splits her time between Boston and Naples, Florida. Learn more about B.A. HERE.

Register directly on Zoom HERE. This virtual event is a collaboration between several libraries.

Learn how to read the landscape, search for wildlife, and understand the ecological relationships between species you may be familiar with on Wednesday, July 27 at 11AM via Zoom. From the rolling dunes of Cape Cod to the rocky North Shore, the beaches of Massachusetts offer unique opportunities for life to converge. How do horseshoe crabs, least tern, ribbed mussels, and people interact on the coastline?

Explore best practices when combing the beach in search of wildlife clues and leave with recommendations from Mass Audubon Teacher-Naturalists on the best places to explore. Led by Douglas Lowry, the Adult Education Specialist for Mass Audubon’s Southeast Region. He’s also a Senior Field Instructor for the National Outdoor Leadership School.

 Register directly on Zoom HERE. This virtual event is a collaboration between several libraries.

Learn how to build relationships that will help your career using both conventional & unusual methods on Monday, July 18 at 2PM via Zoom. Discover effective communication techniques and explore calendar management and research tools. Learn why job seekers should always consider themselves in marketing and sales. Discover how to better market and sell yourself. Led by Ray Mascola, business development advisor, coach and owner of “Targeting Sales Growth.”

Register directly on Zoom HERE. This virtual event is a collaboration between several libraries.

This presentation on Thursday, July 14 at 11AM via Zoom describes some of the common beneficial and pest insects that gardeners encounter in New England. Not all insects are bad for the garden. In fact, we rely on many to rid us of other unwanted invaders. We will take a look at their habits and their life cycles as we discuss how their presence affects the success of our garden year. 

Led by Bonnie Power, who has been a Massachusetts Master Gardener since 2016 and a serious outdoor/indoor gardener most of her life. Curious and research-oriented by nature, she has many horticultural interests and areas of expertise. Bonnie holds both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in Zoology, which informs her perspective on the management of garden insects. She also volunteers at Garden in the Woods, a Native Plant Trust botanical garden in Framingham, where she is a guide.

Register directly on Zoom HERE. This virtual event is a collaboration between several libraries.

Learn the story of the Pack Horse Library initiative, a little known program of FDR’s Work Progress Administration (WPA) on Tuesday, July 12 at 2PM via Zoom.

Its mission, carried out almost entirely by women, was to deliver and distribute reading materials to the far off corners of Appalachia during the darkest hours of the Great Depression. Led by Jeffrey Urbin, Education Specialist at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.

Register directly on Zoom HERE.  This virtual event is a collaboration between several libraries.

Join Leanne Rodd, Director of Talent for FlexProfessionals Boston and Certified Career Coach (BCC) on Monday, July 11 at 2PM via Zoom to help you develop a plan for exploring options and moving forward using a design-thinking framework for both career exploration and exiting a role that no longer fits.

Career transitions can be challenging in the best of times. Add a layer of economic uncertainty, and they can feel overwhelming. If you find yourself considering a career transition – whether chosen or by circumstance – there are steps you can take to help you decide whether now is the right time, plan your path forward, set attainable goals, and keep your momentum. FlexProfessionals delivers the power of an untapped, highly-qualified talent pool to growing businesses while providing meaningful opportunities for professionals seeking part-time and flexible work options. 

Register directly on Zoom HERE. This virtual event is a collaboration between several libraries.

Author Uli Lormier will discuss his new book, The Northeast Native Plant Primer: 235 Plants for an Earth-Friendly Garden, on Wednesday, July 6 at 7PM via Zoom.

Register directly on Zoom HERE. This virtual event is a collaboration between several libraries.

About The Book: Bring your garden to life—and life to your garden. Do you want a garden that makes a real difference? Choose plants native to our Northeast region. The rewards will benefit you, your yard, and the environment — from reducing maintenance tasks to attracting earth-friendly pollinators such as native birds, butterflies, and bees. Native plant expert Uli Lorimer, of the Native Plant Trust, makes adding these superstar plants easier than ever before, with proven advice that every home gardener can follow. This incomparable sourcebook includes 235 recommended native trees, shrubs, vines, ferns, wildflowers, grasses, sedges, and annuals. It’s everything you need to know to create a beautiful and beneficial garden. This is a must-have handbook for gardeners in Massachusetts.

About The Author: Uli Lorimer is the director of horticulture at Native Plant Trust. He is a tireless advocate for native plants in public gardens, the designed landscape, and those found in the wild. Founded in 1900 as the Society for the Protection of Native Plants, the Native Plant Trust is the nation’s oldest plant conservation organization and a recognized leader in native plant conservation, horticulture, and education. The Society’s headquarters, Garden in the Woods, is a renowned native plant botanic garden in Framingham, Massachusetts, that attracts visitors from all over the world. From this base, 25 staff and more than 700 volunteers work throughout New England to monitor and protect rare and endangered plants, collect and preserve seeds to ensure biological diversity, detect and control invasive species, conduct research, and offer a range of educational programs.

Australian award-winning author Sulari Gentill will discuss her new mystery, The Woman In The Library, on Wednesday, June 29 at 7PM via Zoom. 

About The Book: The tranquility of the Boston Public Library’s reading room is shattered by a woman’s terrified scream. Security guards take charge immediately, instructing everyone inside to stay put until the threat is identified and contained. While they wait for the all-clear, four strangers, who’d happened to sit at the same table, pass the time in conversation and friendships are struck. Each has his or her own reasons for being in the reading room that morning—it just happens that one is a murderer. Award-winning author Sulari Gentill delivers a sharply thrilling read with The Woman in the Library, an unexpectedly twisty literary adventure that examines the complicated nature of friendship and shows us that words can be the most treacherous weapons of all.

About The Author: After setting out to study astrophysics, graduating in law, and then abandoning her legal career to write books, Sulari Gentill now grows French black truffles on her farm in the foothills of the Snowy Mountains of Australia.  Gentill’s Rowland Sinclair mysteries have won and/or been shortlisted for the Davitt Award and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, and her stand-alone metafiction thriller, After She Wrote Him, won the Ned Kelly Award for Best Crime Novel in 2018. Her tenth Sinclair novel, A Testament of Character, was shortlisted for the Ned Kelly Best Crime Novel in 2021. Learn more about Sulari HERE.

Register directly on Zoom HERE. This virtual event is a collaboration between several libraries.

Learn which perennials will work best in your gardens and discuss how to keep them in good form on Thursday, June 23 at 11AM via Zoom. Perennials are the workhorses of the garden with most coming back year after year. With a little know-how you can keep your garden in bloom for most of the season. 

Led by Kathi Gariepy, a former special needs preschool and kindergarten teacher, who has been gardening since she was a child. She is a Lifetime Master Gardener with the Massachusetts Master Gardener Association, volunteering more than 10,000 hours, past Vice President of the MMGA, past chair of the Master Gardener Advisory Board, past president of the Attleboro Garden Club and past chair of the Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts’ Gardening Study School. Kathi has worked as lead teacher for the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, education coordinator for MassAudubon and studied landscape design at Rhode Island School of Design. She also owns the garden design company Pleasant Vistas. Kathi lives in an old farmhouse with perennial borders, herb gardens, a vegetable garden, grapes, blueberries, raspberries and some very old, still producing, apple trees.

Register directly on Zoom HERE. This virtual event is a collaboration between several libraries.

Learn how you can support local species on Wednesday, June 22 at 11AM via Zoom by utilizing wildlife-friendly gardening practices in your home, business, and community settings. Simple, easy actions like keeping fall leaves on the ground could have huge effects, and bring in more butterflies, come spring! Learn about what to do, and not do, in your yard, garden, or even container, to support nearby birds, frogs, pollinators, and more in a sustainable fashion.

Led by Tia Pinney, a Biologist, Lead Naturalist, and educator at Mass Audubon’s Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary in Lincoln. Since 1994, when she first started working at the farm, Tia has overseen efforts to maintain New England’s wildlife on our 206-acre property, managing staff and volunteers in planting projects and citizen science.

 Register directly on Zoom HERE.  This virtual event is a collaboration between several libraries.