Library U

Join us for Art & Conversations, by registering for Lit Chat with Dylan Allen Thursday, May 20, at 7 pm. Author Dylan Allen will chat about her experiences with the romance genre with romance author Brenda Jackson and connect it to MOCA's current group exhibition, Romancing the Mirror.

In connection with MOCA's current group exhibition, Romancing the Mirror(link is external), we present Mirrors to Windows: The Artist as Woman(link is external) for this edition of Screening Room. The film explores three generations of female artists from around the world who are forging their careers in the London art scene.

Interested in learning more about authors from your community? What is their writing process and what inspires them? Learn more at Lit Chat with Therese Tappouni, who will talk about her book, Caught Between Worlds. Tappouni will be joined with moderator Stacey Horan, a local author and podcaster. Both authors reside in Jacksonville and are passionate about living creatively and helping others through their writing.

Are you interested in writing poetry, but don't know where to start? Have you started, but you don't know where to go from there? Join Dr. Laura Minor, an award-winning poet and poetry educator, for a three-week workshop series on the basics of poetry. This series includes hands-on work in generating ideas and revising drafts, as well as a discussion of the process of submitting and publishing poetry.

We all know a “Florida Man”, but how many of us want to admit to being one? In The Thing About Florida, author Tyler Gillespie takes on the strange people and stories of the Sunshine State from the perspective of a fifth-generation Florida native. Gillespie joins us to talk about what he discovered in his quest to learn more about the state we all call home.

Have you ever wondered how a poem gets from a spark of an idea to a written work of art? Find out at our next Lit Chat celebrating National Poetry Month with local poet and educator Tiffany Melanson. Melanson will talk about her poetry and the process of writing in conversation with Yvette Angelique, a local poet and artist.

Frederick Joseph joins us to discuss his book The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person. This book serves as a conversation starter, tool kit, and invaluable window into the life of a former "token Black kid" who now presents himself as the friend many readers need. Frederick Joseph chats with Jacksonville teen, Taylor Richardson who made The Black Friend available to all 21 library locations in Jacksonville. Learn more about Taylor Richardson here.

You’ve got a great story. You’ve made your characters complex. You’ve put everything on the page, with a great fantasy world or a murder mystery hook (or both!), and your word count comes in at a tight short story or novella length. Now what? Author and PseudoPod associate editor M. M. Schill will tell you how to make your short fiction shine above the rest and how to sell it to the right publications.

Marsha Dean Phelts joins us this week to chat about American Beach and her two books, An American Beach for African Americans and The American Beach Cookbook. Phelts will cover the myths of the beach -- what is the first, the most, the oldest? -- and the informational treasures unearthed there. She will also talk about the women of American Beach, including Miss Martha, Emma Morgan, Beach Lady, Annette Myers, and Hurricane Dora.

Alternate history novelist Taylor Anderson joins our Lit Chat series on Tuesday, January 12th, at 7 pm. Taylor will be discussing his Destroyermen series and his most recent and final book, Winds of Wrath.