October author talks and lectures coming to Boston Public Library

Boston Public Library’s October author talks and lectures feature a range of authors and topics, including public art, libraries and the digital age, health policy, Boston’s immigration history, southern food & civil rights, and more:

• The South Boston Historical Society presents an author talk with Jim Lynch, who discusses the lives of three generations making a living on Boston’s waterfront in his novel The Longshoremen: Life on the Waterfront on Monday, October 2, at 6:30 p.m. at the South Boston Branch, located at 646 East Broadway.

• Margaret Newell, author and vice chair of the History Department at Ohio State University, explores the stories of Indians enslaved by English colonists in New England and shows how they influenced New England society in crucial ways, including by exposing their captors to Native religion, foods, and technology and fighting for citizenship in cases that had implications for all enslaved peoples in 18th-century America. Wednesday, October 4, at 6 p.m. in the Commonwealth Salon at the Central Library in Copley Square, located at 700 Boylston Street.

• The Boston University Center for the Humanities forum “Recording Lives: Libraries and Archives in the Digital Age” features Robert Darnton, Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor, Emeritus & University Librarian, Emeritus, Harvard University on Thursday, October 5, at 5:30 p.m. in Rabb Hall at the Central Library in Copley Square, located at 700 Boylston Street.

• Westy Egmont and Alvaro Lima unpack the stories behind the maps in the Leventhal Map Center’s exhibition, Who We Are: Boston Immigration Then and Now. Lima examines how transnationalism pushes the boundaries of traditional nation-state rules for citizenship, political rights, and migration, and Egmont discusses how diversity can foster a pluralistic world view and secure communities. After the talk, audience members will be invited to re-examine Who We Are. Thursday, October 5, at 6 p.m. in the Commonwealth Salon at the Central Library in Copley Square, located at 700 Boylston Street.

• Dan Logan speaks about his first book The Dance Dragon, in which he overcomes his fear of dancing and puts forth the effort to learn on Thursday, October 5, at 6:30 p.m. at the West End Branch, located at 151 Cambridge Street.

• Pediatrician Dr. Laura Gold reads from The Silenced Child, which describes the importance of listening in parent/child and doctor/patient relationships on Tuesday, October 10, at 6:30 p.m. at the South End Branch, located at 685 Tremont Street. Part of the South End Writes series.

• In The Health of Newcomers, Wendy E. Parmet and Patricia Illingworth draw on rigorous legal and ethical arguments and empirical studies, as well as personal stories of immigrant struggles, to make the compelling case that global phenomena such as poverty, the medical brain drain, organ tourism, and climate change ought to inform the health policy we craft for newcomers and natives alike. Thursday, October 12, at 6 p.m. in the Commonwealth Salon at the Central Library in Copley Square, located at 700 Boylston Street.

• Kevin Devlin discusses The Southie Pact, which describes the damage that drugs do to ordinary people and to their community on Saturday, October 14,at  11 a.m. at the South Boston Branch, located at 646 East Broadway.

• Claire McMillan, author of The Necklace, and Denise Kiernan, author of The Last Castle: The Epic Story of Love, Loss, and American Royalty in the Nation’s Largest Home speak about their respective books on Saturday, October 14, at 12:30 p.m. in the Commonwealth Salon at the Central Library in Copley Square, located at 700 Boylston Street.

• Nancy Schön, best-known for her iconic Make Way for Ducklings sculpture in Boston’s Public Garden, explores her major public projects and commissions, what inspired them, and what goes into making a beautiful and tactile work of public art in Make Way for Nancy on Thursday, October 19, at 6 p.m. in the Commonwealth Salon at the Central Library in Copley Square, located at 700 Boylston Street. Schön will be interviewed by Anita Diamant, author of The Red Tent and The Boston Girl.

• Frederick Douglass Opie, author of Southern Food and Civil Rights: Feeding the Revolution shares the ways southern food nourished the fight for freedom going back ages along with cherished recipes associated with the era. Monday, October 23, at 6 p.m. in the Commonwealth Salon at the Central Library in Copley Square, located at 700 Boylston Street.

• Lisa Berenson, director of Educational Programming and Development at the Jewish Cemetery Association of Massachusetts, discusses an ambitious initiative to transform and restore a former Jewish mortuary chapel in East Boston into a state-of-the-art exhibit hall on the history of immigration in the Boston area. Wednesday, October 25, at 6 p.m. in the Commonwealth Salon at the Central Library in Copley Square, located at 700 Boylston Street.

• Erica Ferencik details The River at Night, set against the harsh beauty of the Maine wilderness, which charts the journey of four friends as they fight to survive the aftermath of a white water rafting accident on Thursday, October 26, at 6 p.m. in the Commonwealth Salon at the Central Library in Copley Square, located at 700 Boylston Street.

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.