event

Katie Freygang and Anne Zinsser will lead a discussion of the book Sacred Nature by Karen Armstrong. This book reassembles ecological wisdom from various cultures, religions, and philosophers into a foundational approach for modern times. Attendees are invited to bring their own favorite books dealing with nature or the environment to share during the last ten minutes of the event.

Registration is required.

The Library will screen the film “Persuasion”, filmed in 1995 with Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds. The film is 104 minutes long.  “Persuasion” was Jane Austen’s last completed novel.

Acclaimed poet Phillis Levin will read from An Anthology of Rain (2025), the most recent of her six published collections, at 5pm on Saturday, April 26.  A book signing follows; admission is free, and refreshments with be served.

This advance praise for Phillis Levin’s new book of poems, An Anthology of Rain, the most recent of her six published collections, comes from Pulitzer Prize winning American poet and essayist Vijay Seshadri:

“Phillis Levin’s poetry has been characterized over the past thirty years by an astonishingly consistent excellence. She has written…poems that are precise, feeling-full and piercing, elegant, informed and aware of the world, and rich in the kind of profound play that is a hallmark of real art.”

Perhaps Seshardi was thinking of lines like the following when he wrote that tribute:

There is a needle in the sky
Being threaded now, but the thread is blue:
That is why you cannot see it
Threading its way. When all is said and done
It will keep sewing…

From “A Needle in the Sky” in May Day, by Phillis Levin

Levin’s poems have appeared in many well-known publications such as The Atlantic, Kenyon Review, The New Yorker, Paris Review, Plume, and The Yale Review. Her book Mr. Memory & Other Poems was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and received a coveted starred review from Library Journal, which named it a Top Pick of the Year in Poetry.

A Guggenheim Fellow, Levin’s honors include the Poetry Society of America’s Norma Farber First Book Award, a Fulbright Scholar Award, an Ingram Merrill Grant, the Richard Hugo Prize, and fellowships from the Trust of Amy Lowell and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Born and raised in Paterson, New Jersey, Levin taught creative writing at The University of Maryland, NYU, and the 92nd Street Y. She is now Poet-in-Residence and Professor of English emerita at Hofstra. She lives with her husband in New York City and West Cornwall, Connecticut.

Registration is required.

Please Note: Ms. Levin will also give a poetry workshop at the library on the following day, Sunday, April 27, with limited registration.

In this workshop students will explore the power of direct address in poetry. The act of speaking to (rather than of or about) a person, a thing, a place, or an idea opens us to a real or imagined Other—and to a new engagement with language. Unfamiliar elements within oneself are called forth and previously untapped possibilities of diction, tone, and style emerge in the writing process.

Workshop members will receive a packet of contemporary poems that exemplify ways of deploying direct address. Through in-class exercises, you will experiment with (and experience) the vital charge of this ancient rhetorical strategy. Feel free to bring a poem you have already composed, especially one that’s ready to be transformed.

Poet Phillis Levin is much-acclaimed and honored, and her poems have been published in AGNI, The Atlantic, Best American Poetry, Kenyon Review, The Nation, The New Republic, The New Criterion, The New Yorker, Paris Review, Plume, Poetry, Poetry London, Raritan, The Common, The Yale Review and elsewhere.

Levin previously taught creative writing at The University of Maryland, NYU, and the 92nd Street Y. She is now Poet-in-Residence and Professor of English emerita at Hofstra.

She lives with her husband in New York City and West Cornwall, Connecticut.

Open to all writers and readers; enrollment is limited to 12. There is a fee of $25 for the workshop, scholarships are available.

Registration is required.

Come join us for a week of reading, arts & crafts, and new & exciting enrichment activities.

Open to ages 6-11, camp runs from 9am-5pm daily, $100 per child per session.

Email CornwallLibraryYA@gmail.com with questions!

Camp Guidelines: Campers must be entering 2nd grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade, or 5th grade in the fall school year of 2025. Each week of library camp costs $100. The full cost of $100 must be paid at the time of registration in order to secure your camper’s spot. Scholarships are available. Library camp will be held Monday-Friday. Drop-off is at 9:00am each day and pick-up is at 5:00pm each day. Special arrangements can be made for early drop off or late pickups. We ask that families who register have the intent of their camper attending for the full 5 days of their registered session. Please present a photo ID in order to pick up your camper. Your camper must be reasonably self-sufficient and able to follow directions in order to take part in the program. No meals or snacks will be provided by the library and must be provided by caregivers at morning drop off, each day.

Come join us for a week of reading, arts & crafts, and new & exciting enrichment activities.

Open to ages 6-11, camp runs from 9am-5pm daily, $100 per child per session.

Email CornwallLibraryYA@gmail.com with questions!

Camp Guidelines: Campers must be entering 2nd grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade, or 5th grade in the fall school year of 2025. Each week of library camp costs $100. The full cost of $100 must be paid at the time of registration in order to secure your camper’s spot. Scholarships are available. Library camp will be held Monday-Friday. Drop-off is at 9:00am each day and pick-up is at 5:00pm each day. Special arrangements can be made for early drop off or late pickups. We ask that families who register have the intent of their camper attending for the full 5 days of their registered session. Please present a photo ID in order to pick up your camper. Your camper must be reasonably self-sufficient and able to follow directions in order to take part in the program. No meals or snacks will be provided by the library and must be provided by caregivers at morning drop off, each day.