For more information or to register for programs, stop by the library, call 860-668-3896, check suffield-library.org, or follow us on Facebook. All of our programs are free! Most of our programs are funded by The Friends of the Kent Memorial Library. Become a member! Please register for programs.
Continuous Programs
New members welcome!
Photo Café: 1st Tuesday, May 1, 6:30 p.m.
Writer’s Workshop: Fourth Monday, May 21, 7 p.m.
Socrates Café:
No meeting this month.
Ask George:
Ask technical questions about your digital devices, computers & gaming. Sign up for an appointment. Date TBD
Cookbook Club: Tuesday, May 8, 1 p.m.
Book Discussions:
Thursday Readers, May 10, 12:30 p.m.: Rabbit Cake by Annie Hartnett
World Book Group, Thursday, May 17, 7 p.m.: When I Was Puerto Rican by Esmerald Santiago
Books in the Parlor, Tuesday, May 22, 2 p.m.: March by Geraldine Brooks
Suffield By the River, Thursday, May 31, 2 p.m.: Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
Other Events
Wednesday, May 9, 7 p.m. at Ffyler Place. Iron Deposits of Suffield with Al Charman, Past President of Connecticut Valley Mineral Club
Connecticut has 304 identified deposits, the most commonly listed are feldspar, iron, and mica. Suffield and its environs are one of the places with iron ore deposits which were mined at one time. Did you know that bricks made in this area are red due to the high iron content? Al Charman will speak about these things and more!
Monday, May 14, 7 p.m. at 61 Ffyler Place. The Friends of the Kent Memorial Library Annual Meeting
The Friends of Kent Memorial Library is a volunteer organization. Friends are people, like you, who take pride in the library and through their volunteer services support it. Most of the library programs are paid for by the Friends. They also pay for the museum passes, some books and other media, and requests by the staff. Their major fundraising activity is the September book sale held at Sacred Heart Church, at the same time as Suffield on the Green. Volunteers work year-round sorting, culling and organizing donated books into many categories in anticipation of the book sale. The group is always looking for more “Friends”. The annual meeting is a good time to join up and learn about the organization.
Tuesday, May 15, 6:30 p.m. at the Suffield Senior Center. Wadsworth Atheneum Armchair Tour
A Wadsworth Atheneum docent, will lead an interactive discussion of highlighted works from the Wadsworth’s collections for adults. The occasion for this “Wadsworth Atheneum Virtual Art Exploration,” is a public outreach effort celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Docent Council, the organization responsible for a large part of the interaction between the public and the great works of art held in trust for it by the museum. The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art is the oldest continuously operating public art museum in the United States. The museum’s nearly 50,000 works of art span 5,000 years, from Greek and Roman antiquities to the first museum collection of American contemporary art.
Thursday, May 17, 7 p.m. at the Suffield Senior Center. Josiah: A Brand-new Documentary Film about the Slave Who Inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe
Josiah Henson was brutally enslaved for more than forty years. He made a harrowing journey from slavery to freedom in Canada. Josiah rose to become a preacher and orator who used his freedom to uplift his fellow men. Though immortalized by Harriet Beecher Stowe in her seminal novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin and catapulted to international fame in 1852, his story has been largely lost to history. Until now. The filmmaker, Jared A. Brock also wrote a new biography of Josiah entitled, The Road to Dawn: Josiah Henson and the Story That Sparked the Civil War which will be available for purchase and signing.
Monday, June 4, 6:30 at the Suffield Department of Emergency Management & Homeland Security, 205 Bridge Street. Playing with Parkinson’s
Playing with Parkinson’s is a documentary about Sangeeta Michael Bernardi, a successful guitarist, who has played with jazz guests. In the film, Sangeeta plays, but in a different way, because he is also playing with Parkinson’s. The Emergency Aid Association and the Kent Memorial Library (KML) are sponsoring the showing of the film. Resources will be available from the Connecticut Advocates for Parkinson’s. People are welcome to drop in to the program, although, if possible, please register at KML’s website, suffield-library.org or call at 860-668-3896. Light refreshments will be served.
Popular singer Neil Diamond just announced in January, 2018, that he has Parkinson’s disease and will end his 50th anniversary tour early because of it. With each announcement from a celebrity suffering with Parkinson’s, the public becomes more aware of this devastating disease, and more funds will be available for research and a cure. Playing with Parkinson’s shows the difficulties of life with it, but it also inspires by showing the life of a man, who despite the disease, forged a life of creativity and beauty.
My dream is that the film will help folks with disabilities that face difficult challenges daily to tune in to what they can still do instead of focusing on what they cannot do. I know this way of tuning in has generated hope in me and helps my spirit stay positive and strong. It’s kind of like focusing on the donut not the hole. The potential for the film to do good in the world is what keeps us going – Sangeeta