Sex, Lies, and Menopause:

The Shocking Truth About Hormone Replacement Therapy

Wednesday, October 19
6:00 - 7:30 pm
Main Library Community Room
145 Washington Ave.

Turning thirty years of medical and cultural wisdom on its head, Sex, Lies, and Menopause challenges both the medical establishment and modern feminists to prove that menopause does not have to lead to potentially deadly conditions. The research presented in Sex, Lies, and Menopause will at last allow women to create their own plan of action to put themselves on the path to better health and hormonal balance at any stage of life.

An anthropologist and cultural theorist, T.S. Wiley is a member of the New York Academy of Sciences and has been a guest investigator at Sansum Medical Reserch Institute. She lives in Santa Fe.

This program is free and open to the public.

In New Mexico Writing Mystery

A Book Discussion by
J.P. Hudson and Michael Arkin

Saturday, October 1
2:00 - 3:00 pm
Main Library Community Room
145 Washington Ave.

Kidnapper’s Moon by J.P. Hudson:
When Paul awakes, he finds his world reduced to a small circle defined by the sweep of a chain tethering him to an eyebolt. Boredom turns to horror when he learns that he will not be alive to celebrate his eleventh birthday party, whether or not the ransom is paid. People who love him are powerless to do anything but meet the kidnapper’s demands. Bill Hamilton and Freddie Herrera are the only ones who can possibly solve the riddle of a shadowy criminal network, rescue Paul and find those responsible.

Out of Balance by Michael Arkin:
Matt Lucas, a lawyer who has devoted his professional life to obtaining justice for women and children in a rural community, is in the process of retiring and relocating to Santa Fe, New Mexico, when he is called upon to assist Linda Lawson, an award-winning San Diego reporter, in a seemingly routine investigation of an incident of domestic violence. Their investigative assignment quickly transforms into a suspenseful mystery that plunges the reader into the worlds of domestic violence, child abuse, corruption, and judicial cover-up. Michael Arkin is a former attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice. He now lives in Corrales, New Mexico.

This program is free and open to the public.

A Science Fiction "Secret"

My sleeves are rolled up and my clothes are getting dusty as I go through our Science Fiction section. I'm looking at all the books that haven't been checked out in ages, and also seeing which SF gems the collection may be lacking. While librarians have very specific criteria about which books to keep or add, sometimes a book or author may try to break the rules and make me check it out so that it appears to have more fans than it does.

One such author is Theodore Sturgeon. His works are strange and weird, even for a genre that thrives on strange and weird. I first came across his work in a collection of short stories, The World Treasury of Science Fiction, which has his brilliant short piece, "The Man Who Lost the Sea". My appreciation for him grew slowly, however. I would occasionally acquire one of his battered paperbacks in a used bookstore, but they would collect dust on my own shelves as I devoured new acquisitions by writers such as Philip K. Dick or Ursula Le Guin.

And then, the "secret" was revealed to me. I was talking about Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. with a friend some years ago. If you've read just a few of Vonnegut's novels, then you're probably well-acquainted with one of his recurring characters, Kilgore Trout. Trout is a beleaguered science fiction writer who lives in abject poverty and can only manage publication in some rather questionable fora. However, in several of Vonnegut's novels, Trout's ideas are either the cause for the end of the world, the salvation of humanity, or both. My friend revealed the open secret that Kilgore Trout was based on Theodore Sturgeon. Trout...Sturgeon, funny that I hadn't connected the two before!

Curiosity compelled me to crack open the dusty paperbacks on my bookshelves, starting with More than Human. Now when I hit a used bookstore I head to the Sturgeons before the PKDs or Le Guins. He is not for every taste, and I can't promise that his books will save humanity. I can promise that if you want to read something unlike anything you've read, Theodore Sturgeon is worth the dust.

Full Circle:

A Pioneer Family Story in New Mexico and the West

Thursday, March 24,
7:00 p.m.
Main Library Community Room

Full Circle continues the story of Thomas Chown’s first novel, Wolves at the Door, a story based on his ancestor’s pioneering across Kansas, New Mexico, and Colorado from 1864 to 1944. The story reflects the fictional Devon family's experiences from the Battle of Westport, Missouri, to their Ft. Scott, Kansas, homestead and the founding of Kiowa, Kansas. Their move west continues to the coal mines of Madrid, New Mexico, and to Walsenburg, Colorado. Their story offers a particular historical perspective of early Santa Fe, Madrid, and Las Vegas, New Mexico, all carefully researched by the author.

For reviews of Mr. Chown’s books, check out his website.

This event is free and open to the public.

The 5 Best Strategies to Improve Your Writing

Monday, March 21
6:30 - 7:00 p.m.
La Farge Library
1730 Llano St.

Using concepts from 300 Days of Better Writing, local author David Bowman will discuss 5 top strategies for writing clearly and professionally in this half-hour workshop for adults.

This event is free and open to the public.

Sponsored by The Friends of the Santa Fe Public Library.

This may come as a shock...

Proper pronunciation can be a tricky thing, especially with different regional or national dialects and accents, and the mere fact that English can be such a hodge-podge of other languages. While you and I can argue about "tomato" until it's chopped for the salad, what about people's names? Surely, individuals should have the last word on how their name is pronounced.

Last year we did some investigative reporting to ascertain how to say "Junot", and we came across some other resources for properly enunciating authors' names. A new page of pronunciation has been making the rounds in Cyberland, and there are some surprises on here. It's been reblogged and retweeted many times, but it originally came from The San Francisco Panorama, a one-shot paper publication of McSweeney's. At a glance, I'm quite happy that my several-decades attempt to turn my tongue from PIN-shuhn to pin-SHAWN was never successful.

Take a peek, grade yourself, and prepare yourself for perfect pronunciation at your next literary party:


Need more? Check out this link for larger type.

Friends Annual Meeting

Sunday, January 30
2:00 pm
Main Library
145 Washington Ave.

The Friends of the Santa Fe Public Library invite you to their annual meeting. The guest speaker will be James McGrath Morris, author of Pulitzer: a life in politics, print, and power, and creator of the Santa Fe Literary News blog. Mr. Morris will present at 2:30 pm.

After the presentation, a brief annual meeting will be held. The winner of the Friends’ Heart of the Library Award will be named. Officers for the new year will be installed at this meeting. Members of the Friends will be able to see a Treasurer's report and budget. Best of all, refreshments will be served!

New Mexico Women Author's Book Festival

The 3rd Annual New Mexico Women Authors’ Book Festival will be held from Wednesday, September 28 to Sunday, October 3, 2010.

This year the program has expanded to include a program with best-selling author Anne Lamott. She will be giving a talk at The Lensic at 7:00 pm on Tuesday, September 28.

The rest of the festival is at the New Mexico History Museum at 113 Lincoln Avenue. There are a variety of workshops and exhibits on October 1-3. Some are free and open to the public, and other events require registration and a fee. Please check the New Mexico Creates website or call 1-877-567-7380 for a full schedule and more information.

Tall Tales from the Mekong Delta

Twentieth Anniversary Reading By Kate Braverman

Thursday, September 16, 2010
7:00 pm
Main Library Community Room
145 Washington Ave.

Published in the 1990 short story collection, Squandering the Blue, Kate Braverman’s “Tall Tales from the Mekong Delta” has appeared in numerous anthologies, including The Best American Short Stories, 1991 and The O. Henry Awards Prize Stories, 1992. To commemorate the twentieth anniversary of its publication, Ms. Braverman will read and discuss her widely-acclaimed story.

Kate Braverman is author of four books of poetry and the novels: Lithium for Medea, Palm Latitudes, Wonders of the West, and The Incantation of Frida K. She was awarded the Graywolf Press Nonfiction Prize for Frantic Transmissions to and from Los Angeles: An Accidental Memoir, published in Feb. 2006.

This event is free and open to the public.

New Meet the Author Series

While it's wonderful to have the quiet, private, dialogue with a writer that takes place when you read a book in a cozy corner, it's even more of a treat when you get to meet the author in person and have an open, many-voiced dialogue with them and other readers. To facilitate this great experience, Garcia Street Books has teamed up with the Inn and Spa at the Loretto for a new Meet the Author Series. The first in the series featured award-winning author and local favorite Luis Alberto Urrea on Sunday, June 27. A library staffer in attendance reports that it was a fantastic event, attended by all ages, and is a harbinger of fantastic programs to follow.

While many of the events are free, some of them, such as the August 5 Luncheon with Bob Shacochis, do have a fee to attend. Other upcoming events include John Hofmeister discussing his book, Why We Hate Oil Companies: Straight Talk From An Insider, on Wednesday, July 14, from 5:00-6:30pm; and artist Judy Chicago presenting Face to Face: Frida Kahlo at a November 14 Luncheon. Be sure to check out all the details for this new series at the Garcia Street Books site and join in the dialogue!