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Friends of the Library Past Events

 

Composer Jeanine Tesori
Friday April 3, 2008
Tony-nominated theater and film composer Jeanine Tesori, a native of Port Washington and composer of Shrek the Musical, currently on Broadway, headlined a program entitled “From Page to Stage.” More than 90 people attended this fascinating glimpse into the musical. composition process, which also included performances by Ms. Tesori and a young singer.
WSJ Reporter Jon Hilsenrath
Sunday, April 5, 2008
The Wall Street Journal’s Chief Economics Reporter Jon Hilsenrath spoke to an overflow house of more than 120 attendees on “Washington, Obama and the Recession: A Close-Up View.” His lecture included an inside look at the personalities in the Obama adminstration guiding us through this economic crisis.
Lincoln Scholar Harold Holzer Gives the
2009 Ruth D. Bogen Memorial Lecture
Sunday, March 15
Harold Holzer, co-chairman of the U.S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, has written 30 highly lauded books about our revered 16th president. He spoke on his new tome, “Lincoln President-Elect: Abraham Lincoln and the Great Secession Winter 1860-1861,” before a packed house of more than 120 people.
Dr. Irwin Kellner: “The Economy & You”
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Dr. Irwin Kellner, Chief Economist for MarketWatch.com, the leading interactive financial news website, and Distinguished Scholar of Economics at Dowling College, spoke on the current economic crisis and conduct a question and answer session. Dr. Kellner, a Sands Point resident, is widely quoted in the print media as well as the author of many articles dealing with economics, business and banking. He appears regularly on television
2008 Friends & Family Weekend
November 1 and 2
The FOL’s third annual Friends & Family Weekend drew more than 400 patrons to a variety of events including a performance by silent clown Chip Bryant for small children, a film showing of “The Jungle Book” with free popcorn and beverages, a paperback swap where hundreds of books changed hands, and a lecture by noted film critic and author William Wolf.  The Friends also raffled a free bookbag of children’s books and conducted a children’s art contest  in which  younger patrons were encouaged to illustrate a scene from their favorite book. These illustrations were displayed in the Children’s Room.
2008 Book & Author Luncheon
Thursday, May 8
Clubhouse at Harbor Links
A crowd of 200 enjoyed the 39th Annual Richard D. Whittemore Book & Author Luncheon.The event featured editor Barry Day (The Letters of Noel Coward) and author Brian Hall (Fall of Frost: A Novel). Noted British actor Simon Jones and other thespians performed dramatic readings of Noel Coward’s letters as part of the presentation, making for an especially enjoyable and unusual iteration of this much anticipated annual event. Raffles added to the celebratory feeling of this community literary tradition.
Edward Mendelson
Columbia University Professor and Author gives the 2008 Ruth D. Bogen Memorial Lecture on Classic Literature on Sunday, April 27
Edward Mendelson, professor of English and Comparative Literature, and Columbia University’s Lionel Trilling Professor in the Humanities, was the 2008 Ruth D. Bogen Memorial Lecturer.Professor Mendelson’s talk, “From Frankenstein to Mrs. Ramsay: Seven Novels and One Life,” focused on classic authors Mary Shelley, George Eliot, Virginia Woolf and the Bronte sisters.More than 100 attendees were rapt during this Sunday afternoon lecture in the library’s Lapham room, the third annual Bogen Lecture.
Laton McCartney
Author of the acclaimed work of history, The Teapot Dome Scandal: How Big Oil Bought the Harding White House and Tried to Steal the Country

On Tuesday March 11 Author McCartney regaled a crowd of 75 on the amazing, complex, and at times ribald story of how Big Oil handpicked Warren G. Harding, an obscure Ohio senator, to serve as our 23rd president. Mix in hundreds of millions of dollars in petroleum reserves, rapacious oil barons and crooked politicians, under-the-table payoffs, murder, suicide, and blackmail, White House cronyism, and the excesses of the Jazz Age. The result: the granddaddy of all American political scandals, Teapot Dome.
 
Lucette Lagnado
Author of the award-winning memoir
The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit
On Thursday evening November 29 more than 100 patrons heard author Lagnado discuss her award-winning memoir, The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit: My Family’s Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World. Wall Street Journal reporter Lagnado recounts how her once prosperous family lost everything including their identity when they fled her father’s beloved Cairo for New York in the 60s.  The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit is a moving riches-to-rags story of loss, identity, faith, tradition and triumph that has been hailed by The New York Times as a “crushing, brilliant book.”
Friends & Family Day 2007
A New Tradition
On Saturday, November 3, nearly 500 library patrons enjoyed the second annual Friends & Family Day, which showcases the library as a friendly meeting place for patrons of all ages. Events included vaudevillian silent clown Chip Bryant performing for children, author Dan Paisner speaking on the art of ghostwriting, a family movie presentation of Willy Wonka with free popcorn, and a popular afternoon paperback book swap. Teen volunteers helped pass out library literature and sort books.
2007 Book & Author Luncheon
A Roaring Success
Bestselling  novelist Alice Hoffman (Skylight Confessions) and award-winning historian David Nasaw (Andrew Carnegie) wowed a crowd of 200 at the 38th Annual Richard D. Whittemore Book & Author Luncheon on May 11 at the George Washington Manor.

Past speakers at this prestigious event have included John Berendt (The City of Falling Angels), William J. Broad (The Oracle: The Lost Secrets and Hidden Message of Ancient Delphi), Russell Shorto (Island at the Center of the World), Mimi Sheraton (Eating My Words), A. Scott Berg (Lindbergh), Arthur Golden (Memoirs of a Geisha), Dava Sobel (Galileo’s Daughter), Dennis Lehane (Mystic River), and Susan Isaacs.
2007 Bogen Lectures On Shakespeare Draw Crowds
The 2007 Ruth D. Bogen Memorial Lectures in April featured two talks by John Broza, Shakespeare scholar and legendary Schreiber High School teacher. His topics were Aspects of Love in Shakespeare and Bad to the Bone: Some of Shakespeare’s Notorious Villains. Each lecture drew more than 100 attendees to the library’s Lapham Room.
40th Anniversary Celebration WeekendNovember 3-5, 2006
Nearly 400 people attended our Celebration Weekend, which included a family movie night, a vaudeville show for kids, a gospel concert, and a lecture on the future of investigative journalism, among other events.Thanks to the library staff and local businesses who supported us: Dolphin Bookshop, Eckerd on Port Blvd., Frank’s Pizza, and Stop & Shop.Here are the winners of our K-6 Art and Writing Contest on the themes of “The best book I ever borrowed from our library” and “What I love about our library.”Writing:
Cassie Scandalios
Helena Littman
Harry Paul
Annie Rubin

Art:
Clara Teitel
Jenny Aguiar
Kelly To       

Honorable mention for writing and art: Amanda Dumpson