Friends of the Library Programs

The Friends of the Library plan and sponsor a number of public programs of enrichment each year. These include lectures, author readings, demonstrations, performances, and recitals. All programs are free and open to the public.

In addition, the Friends sponsor several programs each year for children.

Most programs are in the Library’s Community Room. Click here for directions to the Library. If you enter the Library through the main entrance, the Community Room is just inside the main entrance doors to the right. If you enter the Library through the Highland Avenue entrance, the Community Room is on the lower level on the opposite side of the building.

Our program schedule for the 2018-2019 year:

Sunday, October 21, 2018, 2:00 p.m. Will Broussard from the Mt. Washington Observatory in North Conway, NH, tells "Tales from the Home of the World's Worst Weather: A Talk about Mt. Washington."
Sunday, November 18, 2018, 2:00 p.m. Journalist/filmmaker Clennon L. King of Boston discusses the making of his documentary "Fair Game: Surviving a 1960 Georgia Lynching."
Sunday, January 6, 2019, 2:00 p.m. Filmmaker and Needham native Daniel Hedges discusses his documentary, "Hoops Africa: Ubuntu Matters," a collection of stories that celebrates the past, present and future of basketball in Africa.
Sunday, February 10, 2019, 2:00 p.m. Needham native Hannah Orenstein, dating editor for Elite Daily and author of the new novel Playing with Matches, which tells tales of love from the millennial generation.
Sunday, March 31, 2019, 2:00 p.m. Dr. Brian Glyn Williams, a UMass-Dartmouth professor of Islamic history, discusses his new book, The Last Warlord: The Life and Legend of Dostum. The book tells a post-9/11 story of a mysterious Afghan-Mongol warrior who helped the CIA and US Special Forces liberate Afghanistan's holiest shrine from the Taliban. Note: The library will show the film based on Dr. Williams' book, "12 Strong," in the Community Room from 7:00-9:30 on Tuesday, March 26.
Sunday, April 28, 2019, 2:00 p.m. Celebrate Earth Day with the Needham Free Public Library at this lecture about the history of the Charles River by Kathleen Rowe, author of Exploring the Charles River.
Sunday, June 5, 2019, 7:00 p.m. Annual Meeting and Program. What's up with America? Maine journalist/historian Colin Woodard, author of American Nations and American Character, tells how the settlement patterns of early America resulted in disparate regional cultures that continue to shape the nation's culture and politics right through the rancorous present. Woodard's research "explains everything."

Programs in prior years:

Friends of the Needham Public Library