Charles Webb Wesconnett Regional Library is closed beginning Monday, April 21 for facilities upgrades.
Celebrated every May, Jewish American Heritage Month brings together hundreds of organizations and Americans of all backgrounds to discover, explore, and celebrate the vibrant and varied American Jewish experience and to honor the generations of Jewish Americans whose contributions have helped form the fabric of American history, culture and society.
Established in 1919, Children’s Book Week is the longest-running national literacy initiative in the country. Every year, young people across the country participate by attending events at schools, libraries and bookstores or by celebrating at home and engaging with book creators both online and in person. This year’s theme speaks to the power that books and stories have to inspire positive change. Books can spark change within an individual reader, a family, a classroom, or a whole community.
May is a really fun time for comic book fans. The first Saturday of the month is Free Comic Book Day (at participating comic book retailers). Over 2000 stores take part annually! Of course, you can check out comics for free any day at the Library (or download them instantly on your favorite device with Hoopla)! Plus, you can meet other comic fans at Willow Branch Library for ComiClub to talk about a wide variety of comics and graphic novels. In addition to superhero comics, they also discuss horror, slice-of-life, nonfiction, and other genres! Beyond the Panel, another graphic novel book club is coming soon to Pablo Creek Library!
May is Preservation Month, a time to celebrate and do our part to save historic places for the purpose of instilling community pride. The theme this year is “People Saving Places," a national high-five to everyone doing the great work of saving places—in ways big and small—and inspiring others to do the same. Jacksonville Public Library is kicking celebrations off with a lively, wide-ranging discussion about Jacksonville's history and architecture with Wayne Wood and Tim Gilmore on Saturday, May 6 at 2 p.m. at the Main Library.
Is 2023 the year you... Make your hobby a side hustle? Start your own business? Or work on taking your business to the next level? In April, we're looking at franchises. Is your business ready to expand? Or are you thinking about buying into a franchise? We have some books and other resources you should check out!
Earth Day is a celebration! The natural beauty and resources we all enjoy here on the First Coast are something to behold. When was the last time you visited the riverfront, our amazing beaches or the Jacksonville Arboretum & Botanical Gardens? Earth Day is also a reminder and a call to action. So many plants and animals call the Earth home! Every generation must do its part to protect it. Even the youngest kids can get in on the fun! For ideas and tools, check out these books about kids who are doing small (and big) things that make difference every day!
Jessica Q. Stark is the author of Buffalo Girl (BOA Editions, forthcoming April 2023), Savage Pageant (Birds, LLC, 2020) and four poetry chapbooks, including INNANET (The Offending Adam, 2021). Savage Pageant was named one of the “Best Books of 2020” in The Boston Globe and in Hyperallergic. Her poetry has most recently appeared or is forthcoming in Best American Poetry, Poetry Society of America, Pleiades, The Southeast Review, Carolina Quarterly, The Boiler, Tupelo Quarterly, Glass Poetry Journal, among others. She is a Poetry Editor at AGNI and is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at the University of North Florida.
Join us for a lively, wide-ranging discussion about Jacksonville's history and architecture, highlighting Wayne's new "Bicentennial Edition" of his local classic book, Jacksonville's Architectural Heritage, as well as several of his previous books. Interviewed by Dr. Tim Gilmore, a colorful and prolific author in his own right, Wayne will present little-known facts about Jacksonville's buildings and will discuss his all-time favorite landmarks in the city.
Celebrate our community's deep pool of creative talent on the first Wednesday of each month in Downtown Jacksonville! The Main Library is directly across from James Weldon Johnson Park, from one of Art Walk's three major hubs of activity, and plays host to student art shows, Author's Roundtables, teen open mic nights and more! Plus, it's the perfect time to take a self-guided tour of murals, maps and public art found throughout your library headquarters.
