Kalamazoo Public Library champions reading, ignites imagination and ensures access to information and ideas.
Information
- Location:
- Kalamazoo, MI, 49007
- Phone:
- 269-342-9837
- Mon - Thurs:
- 9:00 am - 9:00 pm
- Fri:
- 9:00 am - 6:00 pm
- Sat:
- 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
- Sun:
- 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Links
Events
1 upcoming eventSee All
- Best Books, CDs and DVDs of 2009
Central Library
Thursday, December 3 at 6:30pm
Kalamazoo Public Library What were the best books, movies, and music in 2009? Hear a group of KPL librarians tell you their favorite adult novels and nonfiction, teen and children’s books, DVDs and CDs—and share your favorites, too. A selection of books, DVDs, and CDs will be available to help you shop for the perfect holiday gifts.
Time:6:30PM Thursday, December 3rd
Location:Central Library
Kalamazoo Public Library Hey all you teens out there! Come on down to Central library on Thursday from 6:00 - 8:00 pm to find out some job seeking tips, college application essay ideas, and learn about resumes!
Source: www.kpl.gov
Go beyond burger flipping and lawn mowing! Learn tips and techniques to make your resumes and job applications stand out, brush up your writing skills, and maybe land that dream job. We’ll also help with college applications and essays!
Kalamazoo Public Library Cartoonist/writer Jessica Abel's work includes the graphic novel La Perdida, a tale of finding yourself by getting lost, and Drawing Words & Writing Pictures: Making Comics, a textbook with website, www.dw-wp.com In 1999, she created a 32-page comic for This American Life, a Public Radio Int'l. program, with host Ira Glass. Abel teaches at New York's School of Visual Arts
Kalamazoo Public Library Jennifer and Chad Sweeney read from their new books: HOW TO LIVE ON BREAD AND MUSIC by Jennifer K. Sweeney (winner of the 2009 Perugia Press Prize) and ARRANGING THE BLAZE by Chad Sweeney from Anhinga Press.
poetry reading featuring Jennifer and Chad Sweeney
Time:7:00PM Tuesday, November 10th
Location:Kalamazoo Public Library
Kalamazoo Public Library
Getting high is the only way to go for photographer Marge Beaver who has been taking aerial shots of Michigan, Chicago and other lovely places for some 25 years. Her works have been compiled into the coffee table books ABOVE THE NORTH, ABOVE WEST MICHIGAN, and the forthcoming release ABOVE THE LIGHTHOUSES - LAKE MICHIG...AN.
Meet Marge and hear her stories about what it's like to be an aerial photographer. Presentation followed by a book signing.
Books will be available for purchase at the program. Read More
Meet Marge and hear her stories about what it's like to be an aerial photographer. Presentation followed by a book signing.
Books will be available for purchase at the program. Read More
aerial photographer
Time:7:00PM Wednesday, November 11th
Location:Kalamazoo Public Library
Kalamazoo Public Library Homemade condiments are easy to prepare and store -- even the kids can help make them. Explore chutneys, ketchups, and other tasty accents with Food Dance owner and chef Julie Stanley. Free event.
featuring chef Julie Stanley of Food Dance Cafe
Time:6:30PM Tuesday, November 3rd
Location:Kalamazoo Public Library
Kalamazoo Public Library
FREE CONCERT!
Stacey Earle and Mark Stuart met for the first time 1992 at a songwriters night in Nashville TN. They knew that night it was one of them things that are just meant to be. They were married in 1993 while raising 2 children from Stacey’s first marriage, “When we got married I knew Mark understood he was marr...ing all three of us. and on that day he did.” Stacey waiting tables, Mark playing night after night in and around Nashville from gigs to sessions balancing time to play their own music. Stacey and Mark each had their own solo careers that started to make a move by opening their own Indie record label Gearle Records in 1998 with the release of Stacey’s Simple Gearle CD followed by Mark’s 1999 release Songs From A Corner Stage and continuing on with Stacey’s 2000 Dancing With Them That Brung Me, before Stacey and Mark would announce their husband and wife duo in 2001 with the release of their (Double Live CD) Must Be Live.
“It would be quite a balancing act at that time raising a family and trying to make a living along with all the other stuff that came with getting by, but we managed” Stacey said, she looks back at her first encounter with the world of touring.
Stacey Earle’s first show was on an arena stage in Sydney, playing rhythm guitar in her brother’s band, Steve Earle & the Dukes, on “The Hard Way” tour in 1990. Stacey appeared on Steve Earle and The Dukes recordings, The Hard Way 1990, Shut Up And Die Like An Aviator 1991 Transcendental Blues 2000.
“I would learn a lot from him; first of all I was allowed to grow up understanding what a songwriter was. Then "I got a major crash course in touring as a musician” Playing for Steve as a Duke the first show would be before thousands of fans in a foreign country was not terrifying, she said. “It was magical,” she said. "I knew right there and then I'm supposed to be doing this.”Read More
Stacey Earle and Mark Stuart met for the first time 1992 at a songwriters night in Nashville TN. They knew that night it was one of them things that are just meant to be. They were married in 1993 while raising 2 children from Stacey’s first marriage, “When we got married I knew Mark understood he was marr...ing all three of us. and on that day he did.” Stacey waiting tables, Mark playing night after night in and around Nashville from gigs to sessions balancing time to play their own music. Stacey and Mark each had their own solo careers that started to make a move by opening their own Indie record label Gearle Records in 1998 with the release of Stacey’s Simple Gearle CD followed by Mark’s 1999 release Songs From A Corner Stage and continuing on with Stacey’s 2000 Dancing With Them That Brung Me, before Stacey and Mark would announce their husband and wife duo in 2001 with the release of their (Double Live CD) Must Be Live.
“It would be quite a balancing act at that time raising a family and trying to make a living along with all the other stuff that came with getting by, but we managed” Stacey said, she looks back at her first encounter with the world of touring.
Stacey Earle’s first show was on an arena stage in Sydney, playing rhythm guitar in her brother’s band, Steve Earle & the Dukes, on “The Hard Way” tour in 1990. Stacey appeared on Steve Earle and The Dukes recordings, The Hard Way 1990, Shut Up And Die Like An Aviator 1991 Transcendental Blues 2000.
“I would learn a lot from him; first of all I was allowed to grow up understanding what a songwriter was. Then "I got a major crash course in touring as a musician” Playing for Steve as a Duke the first show would be before thousands of fans in a foreign country was not terrifying, she said. “It was magical,” she said. "I knew right there and then I'm supposed to be doing this.”Read More
Time:2:00PM Sunday, November 1st
Location:Van Deusen Room - Central
Kalamazoo Public Library Follow Central Library remodeling progress at kpl.gov/renovation. First step completed!
Kalamazoo Public Library
Reading Together 2010:
"Snow Falling on Cedars" by David Guterson.
Source: www.kpl.gov
Kalamazoo Public Library
The Los Angeles Times calls Eastern Blok’s music “relentlessly innovative work.”
Downbeat Magazine claims that “the ensemble playing is often breakneck and consistently challenging.”
Acoustic Guitar Magazine raves that Eastern Blok plays with “blazing virtuosity and sheer beauty.”
Eastern Blok’s “extraordinary pan-cultura...l ensemble effortlessly blends classical and jazz music with the rich folkloric traditions of Macedonia, Bulgaria, and Serbia. The resulting music is as alluring as it is complex. Exotic Middle Eastern motifs merge gracefully with the evocative sounds of Eastern European klezmer music. Beautifully conceived folk passages are followed by perfectly executed Mahavishnu-inspired pyrotechnics. The passion and urgency at which this group plays is heard in every note…” (Minor 7th Magazine).
Eastern Blok features classical guitar virtuoso Goran Ivanovic, joined by Doug Rosenberg on woodwinds, Matthew Ulery on upright bass, and Michael Caskey on percussion.
The band was originally dubbed Goran Ivanovic Group by founding members Ivanovic and Rosenberg. They teamed up with Ulery and Caskey in 2004. After successfully packing venues throughout the country and honing their musical direction, the band released their self-titled debut album in 2005. The Goran Ivanovic Group record met with critical acclaim, combining traditional folk music from the Balkans along with Latin, flamenco and klezmer elements, European classical influences and American jazz. The track “Blacksmith’s Dance” was selected out of thousands of submissions as one of three finalists in the 2005 John Lennon Songwriting Competition.
In 2006, the group began performing under the name Eastern Blok. At this point, it had already been invited to present educational concerts and masterclasses at major universities like Princeton, Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, and University of Michigan among others. The group’s sound, its musical influences and the academic training of the band members worked especially well as an educational springboard at music schools across the country.
Year 2007 brought the group further recognition following their performance on Chicago Public Radio’s Chicago Undercover, and their headlining of the World Music Festival in Chicago.
Eastern Blok’s next record, Folk Tales, was recorded that same year and released at their performance in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. Folk Tales features a somber, serious sound with a lively and elusive beat. Having drawn upon highly dynamic classical and jazz aesthetics rather than relying on a recent fad of gypsy-jam-band antics, Eastern Blok maintained a timeless sound and virtuosic approach.
With Folk Tales in hand, the group continues trekking across the country, performing at venues like Blues Alley and Twins Jazz in Washington D.C., The Metro and Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park in Chicago, The Krannert Center in Urbana, Joe’s Pub and Makor in NYC, and Chris Jazz in Philadelphia to name just a few. — www.easternblok.net
Read More
Downbeat Magazine claims that “the ensemble playing is often breakneck and consistently challenging.”
Acoustic Guitar Magazine raves that Eastern Blok plays with “blazing virtuosity and sheer beauty.”
Eastern Blok’s “extraordinary pan-cultura...l ensemble effortlessly blends classical and jazz music with the rich folkloric traditions of Macedonia, Bulgaria, and Serbia. The resulting music is as alluring as it is complex. Exotic Middle Eastern motifs merge gracefully with the evocative sounds of Eastern European klezmer music. Beautifully conceived folk passages are followed by perfectly executed Mahavishnu-inspired pyrotechnics. The passion and urgency at which this group plays is heard in every note…” (Minor 7th Magazine).
Eastern Blok features classical guitar virtuoso Goran Ivanovic, joined by Doug Rosenberg on woodwinds, Matthew Ulery on upright bass, and Michael Caskey on percussion.
The band was originally dubbed Goran Ivanovic Group by founding members Ivanovic and Rosenberg. They teamed up with Ulery and Caskey in 2004. After successfully packing venues throughout the country and honing their musical direction, the band released their self-titled debut album in 2005. The Goran Ivanovic Group record met with critical acclaim, combining traditional folk music from the Balkans along with Latin, flamenco and klezmer elements, European classical influences and American jazz. The track “Blacksmith’s Dance” was selected out of thousands of submissions as one of three finalists in the 2005 John Lennon Songwriting Competition.
In 2006, the group began performing under the name Eastern Blok. At this point, it had already been invited to present educational concerts and masterclasses at major universities like Princeton, Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, and University of Michigan among others. The group’s sound, its musical influences and the academic training of the band members worked especially well as an educational springboard at music schools across the country.
Year 2007 brought the group further recognition following their performance on Chicago Public Radio’s Chicago Undercover, and their headlining of the World Music Festival in Chicago.
Eastern Blok’s next record, Folk Tales, was recorded that same year and released at their performance in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. Folk Tales features a somber, serious sound with a lively and elusive beat. Having drawn upon highly dynamic classical and jazz aesthetics rather than relying on a recent fad of gypsy-jam-band antics, Eastern Blok maintained a timeless sound and virtuosic approach.
With Folk Tales in hand, the group continues trekking across the country, performing at venues like Blues Alley and Twins Jazz in Washington D.C., The Metro and Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park in Chicago, The Krannert Center in Urbana, Joe’s Pub and Makor in NYC, and Chris Jazz in Philadelphia to name just a few. — www.easternblok.net
Read More
“Extraordinary Pan-Cultural Ensemble”
Time:7:00PM Wednesday, September 16th
Location:Kalamazoo Public Library
Kalamazoo Public Library
“Stitches is powerful in its spare, black-and-white approach to a painful past.”
David Small will launch the book tour for his riveting new memoir at Kalamazoo Public Library. Widely acclaimed as an illustrator, Small has won virtually every medal or award that the world of children’s literature has to offer, including ...the Caldecott. Now, he turns for the very first time to an adult audience in his extraordinary and unforgettable graphic novel, Stitches
Stan Lee, co-creator of Spider-Man, heralded "Stitches" as a “groundbreaking work [that] has elevated the art of the graphic novel and brought it to new creative heights.” Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Jules Feiffer said his first reading of "Stitches" left him “speechless, and in awe. David Small presents us with a profound and moving gift of graphic literature that has the look of a movie and reads like a poem.”
In this brilliant, searing work, Small shares the bizarre and deeply disturbing story of his childhood in a family where abuse was both emotional and physical. He survived by withdrawing into himself then fleeing at 16 to finish high school in inner-city Detroit, living alone in a one-bedroom apartment, before going to college, earning an MFA at Yale, teaching art at Kalamazoo College, then, finally, to a rewarding career writing and illustrating more than three dozen picture books, many of them award winners.
http://stitches.davidsmallbooks.com/
Book available for sale and signing.Read More
David Small will launch the book tour for his riveting new memoir at Kalamazoo Public Library. Widely acclaimed as an illustrator, Small has won virtually every medal or award that the world of children’s literature has to offer, including ...the Caldecott. Now, he turns for the very first time to an adult audience in his extraordinary and unforgettable graphic novel, Stitches
Stan Lee, co-creator of Spider-Man, heralded "Stitches" as a “groundbreaking work [that] has elevated the art of the graphic novel and brought it to new creative heights.” Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Jules Feiffer said his first reading of "Stitches" left him “speechless, and in awe. David Small presents us with a profound and moving gift of graphic literature that has the look of a movie and reads like a poem.”
In this brilliant, searing work, Small shares the bizarre and deeply disturbing story of his childhood in a family where abuse was both emotional and physical. He survived by withdrawing into himself then fleeing at 16 to finish high school in inner-city Detroit, living alone in a one-bedroom apartment, before going to college, earning an MFA at Yale, teaching art at Kalamazoo College, then, finally, to a rewarding career writing and illustrating more than three dozen picture books, many of them award winners.
http://stitches.davidsmallbooks.com/
Book available for sale and signing.Read More
World premiere of "Stitches", his moving new graphic novel.
Time:7:00PM Thursday, September 10th
Location:Kalamazoo Public Library - Central
Kalamazoo Public Library Baby Storytime has begun and continues each Wednesday evening through October 7! It’s an evening program for babies from birth to two years old and their caregivers. Expecting parents are also welcome. Like Family Storytime, you don’t have to register. Check out the KPL Kids calendar at http://www.kpl.gov/kids/calendar.aspx
Time:6:30PM Wednesday, September 2nd
Location:Central Branch Library Children's Room
Kalamazoo Public Library Starting a small business is hard work so make the research part a little bit easier by attending a free class that will highlight helpful small business collection resources. Topics include business planning, government resources, marketing tips, database access and much more. Register for this class by calling 269-553-7844 or emailing ryang@kpl.gov
Free Workshop
Time:3:00PM Thursday, September 17th
Location:Oshtemo Branch Library
Kalamazoo Public Library's newsletter printed earlier this week and goes into the mail today. It 's chock full of great stuff! Look for it to arrive in library district mailboxes by the weekend. Can't wait to see it? Visit KPL Channel.
