Artists have been inspired to paint the city of Venice for centuries. Their artistic exploration of this fascinating city has left us with captivating images of water, light, architecture, and the glorious coastal landscapes of Venice. If you’ve been to the City of Canals as a tourist, or if you are eager to go, you will relish spending an hour with works that transport us to this unique and magical place. Sponsored by the Friends of the Pennington Public Library and the Hopewell Valley Arts Council. About our Presenter: Janet Mandel taught in New Jersey’s public schools for 32 years, the last eighteen of which were at Columbia High School in Maplewood, where she taught English, art history, and World Languages and Cultures. Now retired, Janet presents illustrated talks on a variety of art history topics at adult schools, libraries, museums, senior centers, community centers, and similar venues.
Wednesday, October 23, 2024, 7:00 pm via Zoom Presenter: Jessica Pearce Rotondi, Author of What We Inherit
Local Author Jessica Pearce Rotondi discusses her memoir What We Inherit with the Pennington Public Library.
A Secret War And A Family’s Search For Answers…
In the wake of her mother’s death, Jessica Pearce Rotondi uncovers boxes of letters, declassified CIA reports, and newspaper clippings that bring to light a family ghost: her uncle Jack, who disappeared during the CIA-led “Secret War” in Laos in 1972. The letters lead her across Southeast Asia in search of the truth that has eluded her family for decades. What she discovers takes her closer to the mother she lost and the mysteries of a secret war that changed the rules of engagement forever.
About the Author Jessica Pearce Rotondi is the author of What We Inherit: A Secret War and a Family’s Search for Answers, the true story of her family’s 36-year search to bring a missing son home from the CIA-led war in Laos. Salman Rushdie called it “exceptional” and O, The Oprah Magazine named it a best book of summer 2020.
Her work has been published by The History Channel, Reader’s Digest (cover story), The Boston Globe, Refinery29, Salon, and Vogue, and featured by NBC and CNN. She is Chair of Legacies Library at Legacies of War and the recipient of a 2024 Poet & Author Fellowship from The Martha’s Vineyard Creative Writing Institute. She has studied at the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Sirenland, and Lighthouse Writers workshop. Jessica grew up in New England and is a graduate of Brown University. She lives outside of New York City with her partner and two young sons and is currently at work on her debut novel about the ripple effects of a flood on a close-knit island community.
Picture This: Cataloging Digital Family Photos Wednesday, June 5, 2024, at 7:00 pm via Zoom Presenter: Nancy Loe, Sassy Jane Genealogy
Recording Available On Request Please email us at OnRequest@PenningtonLibrary.org for a full list of links to Pennington Public Library program recordings that are by request only. Visit our official YouTube Channel for all our public video recordings.
This presentation helps bring order to your family photographs, making every image you own searchable. Family photographs may seem so complex that they defy organizing. Discover the best way to scan images; how to add names, dates, and places inside images; and how to store and safeguard your digital family photographs. With help from archivist Nancy Loe, you’ll create a workflow so you can tame your digital family photographs and records once and for all.
About the Presenter: Archivist, librarian, and genealogist Nancy Loe has been helping researchers with their family trees since 1977. She specializes in US and European family history research, presenting at webinars and conferences in the US, Canada, and Australia. Nancy’s genealogy e-books and free monthly newsletter are available at sassyjanegenealogy.com. Nancy works on her own tree in the US, Prussia, Scotland, Austria, Romania, Norway, and Sweden. So far, she has visited seven of the eight villages of her great-grandparents in Europe.
Sponsored by the Friends of the Pennington Public Library
2024 Big Read Keynote: Madeline Miller in Conversation with Author & Illustrator George O’Connor with Q&A
Miller has been a force in bringing mythology to the masses with her bestselling novels Song of Achilles and Circe. O’Connor has created what is essentially a modern-day D’Aulaires with his bestselling middle-grade graphic novel series, Olympians. Together, they possess the Midas touch when it comes to retelling Greek mythology for a modern age. These stories persist after thousands of years because their themes are universal and still as true as ever. However, most of the stories we have come to know have alternate versions as recorded by various historians. In this keynote talk, Miller and O’Connor will discuss various themes found in Circe, with a focus on the persistence of mythology and how perspective changes a story.
Madeline Miller
She has also studied at the University of Chicago’s Committee on Social Thought, and in the Dramaturgy department at Yale School of Drama, where she focused on the adaptation of classical texts to modern forms.
The Song of Achilles, her first novel, was awarded the 2012 Orange Prize for Fiction and was a New York Times Bestseller. Miller was also shortlisted for the 2012 Stonewall Writer of the Year. Her second novel, Circe, was an instant number 1 New York Times bestseller, and won the Indies Choice Best Adult Fiction of the Year Award and the Indies Choice Best Audiobook of the Year Award, as well as being shortlisted for the 2019 Women’s Prize for Fiction. Circe also won The Red Tentacle Award, an American Library Association Alex Award, and the 2018 Elle Big Book Award. Miller’s novels have been translated into over twenty-five languages including Dutch, Mandarin, Japanese, Turkish, Arabic and Greek, and her essays have appeared in a number of publications including the Guardian, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Telegraph, Lapham’s Quarterly and NPR.org. She currently lives outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
George O’Connor
George O’Connor is an author, illustrator and cartoonist. Above all, George is a Greek mythology buff and a classic superhero comics fan, and he’s out to remind us how much our pantheon of superheroes (Superman, Batman, the X-Men, etc) owes to mankind’s original superheroes: the Greek pantheon. Now he has brought his attention to OLYMPIANS, an ongoing series retelling the classic Greek myths in comics form.
In his New York Times bestselling Olympians series, O’Connor draws from primary documents to reconstruct and retell classic Greek myths. But these stories aren’t sedate, scholarly works. They’re action-packed, fast-paced, high-drama adventures, with monsters, romance, and not a few huge explosions. O’Connor’s vibrant, kinetic art brings ancient tales to undeniable life, in a perfect fusion of super-hero aesthetics and ancient Greek mythology.
George’s first graphic novel, Journey Into Mohawk Country, used as its sole text the actual historical journal of the seventeenth-century Dutch trader Harmen Meyndertsz van den Bogaert, and told the true story of how New York almost wasn’t. He followed that up with Ball Peen Hammer, the first graphic novel written by playwright Adam Rapp, a dark, dystopian view of a society’s collapse. In March 2024, George debuted the first book in his latest series about Norse Gods, titled Asgardians: Odin.
In addition to his graphic novel career, O’Connor has published several children’s picture books, including the New York Times best-sellingKapow!,Sally and the Some-Thing, If I Had a Raptor and If I Had a Triceratops.
George lives in Brooklyn, NY with five terrible cats and one Olympian Goddess.
Co-sponsored by the Miami Book Fair, Hopewell Valley Regional School District and Pennington Public Library
This event is part of the 2024 NEA Big Read – an initiative designed to broaden our imaginations and understanding of our world, our neighbors, and ourselves through the joy of sharing a good book. The featured book Circe by Madeline Miller retells a Greek story from the eponymous heroine’s point of view, giving voice to a lesser goddess of Homer’s The Odyssey. Please visit PenningtonLibrary.org/2024BigRead for a full calendar of events and more information.
Summer reading isn’t just for kids – adult patrons can have a reading adventure, too! Kick off your reading this season by checking out some of our favorite new adult books, listed below. Write brief book reviews or library program reviews and enter to win. One entry per title/event. Enter as many times as you would like! Prize drawings throughout the summer! Pick up entry forms at the circulation desk or fill out online. Submit from 6/1 – 8/31.
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Thursday, March 14, 2024 @ 1:00 pm via Zoom Presenter: Taryn Krietzman, RDN, Robert Wood Johnson Barnabas Health
Have you ever encountered a memorable and mouth watering description of food in a book? Join us as we Greek-out over some seriously delicious literary eats and how they fit into a healthful Mediterranean dietary pattern. In collaboration with RWJBarnabas Hamilton’s Better Health Program.
About the Presenter:
Taryn Krietzman RDN completed her Bachelor’s degree and Dietetic Internship with the University of Massachusetts. After working as manager of the ‘Healthy & Sustainable Option’ dining facility at her alma mater, Taryn returned home to NJ to manage a plant-forward café at Rutgers. When the pandemic upended her career in food service, Taryn shifted gears from serving food to growing it. At the end of the growing season, she became the coordinator and driver of a Mobile Food Pantry. These two positions were incredibly transformative in igniting her passion for learning about agricultural food systems, public health and the links where the two meet. Taryn now works as a Community Nutrition Educator with RWJ Barnabas Hamilton. She gets the most joy from seeing her pupils light up when learning where real food comes from and how transformative food can be.
This event is part of the 2024 NEA Big Read – an initiative designed to broaden our imaginations and understanding of our world, our neighbors, and ourselves through the joy of sharing a good book. The featured book Circe by Madeline Miller retells a Greek story from the eponymous heroine’s point of view, giving voice to a lesser goddess of Homer’s The Odyssey. Please visit PenningtonLibrary.org/2024BigRead for a full calendar of events and more information.
NEA Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.
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About our Presenter: Janet Mandel taught in New Jersey’s public schools for 32 years, the last eighteen of which were at Columbia High School in Maplewood, where she taught English, art history, and World Languages and Cultures. Now retired, Janet presents illustrated talks on a variety of art history topics at adult schools, libraries, museums, senior centers, community centers, and similar venues.
their family trees since 1977. She specializes in US and European family history research, presenting at webinars and conferences in the US, Canada, and Australia. Nancy’s genealogy e-books and free monthly newsletter are available at sassyjanegenealogy.com. Nancy works on her own tree in the US, Prussia, Scotland, Austria, Romania, Norway, and Sweden. So far, she has visited seven of the eight villages of her great-grandparents in Europe.
