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Toddler Storytime

10:15 AM - 11:00 AM
Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library
Children's Program Room
Join us for stories, songs, fingerplays, and fun with the toddler in your life. Appropriate for children ages 18-36 months. No groups.


Due to popularity, Toddler storytime will allow the first 15 toddlers and their families into storytime.  If you are unable to attend, we will have fun toddler toys and activities available!

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Front Porch Music Series: Sounds of the Season

5:30 PM - 6:30 PM
Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library
Lobby
Overton High School's CAPA Jazz Band will play toe tapping holiday music for your enjoyment. 

Sounds of the Season is brought to you by The Memphis Library Foundation.
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Carnegie Writers Workshop

6:30 PM - 8:00 PM
All Locations
Come join us virtually every fourth Wednesday of the month for the Carnegie Writer's Group, a free workshop for writers! The sessions will be conducted over Microsoft Teams, at least for now. Please see below for details on how to join us.
Would you like to improve your writing skills while working in a collaborative environment with other writers? If so, please join Memphis Public Libraries and the Carnegie Writers' Group for a free online writing workshop series meeting monthly.
This will be a community-based writing group for diverse individuals and genres. All are welcome, whether you're a polished writer looking for a few tips or someone just starting their writing career. The meetings include power writing, writers’ corner, writers’ workshop, guest speaker presentations, and professional reading events.
If you're interested, please follow this link to register. We'll see you on the fourth Wednesday!
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Registration is closed

Lit at the Library: American Gothic

6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library
L-56
American Gothic with Aaron Brame
October 26-December 7
Thursdays 6-8PM

Do you like scary stories? The ones with monsters and haunted castles? What about stories where the weather is always dreadful and mysterious characters wander empty halls at night? 

In this six-week class, we will read a variety of texts covering the American Gothic tradition from its earliest days in Puritan New England, through the rich Southern Gothic style, and into the digital age. We will cover fiction, poetry, and film while engaging in lively discussions and activities. Authors include: Washington Irving, Edgar Allan Poe, Flannery O’Conner, Joyce Carol Oates, Stephen King, and more!

Come be a part of this fun course (about gloomy literature!) and learn in a supportive and welcoming environment.

Registration is required. Please note there will be no class on November 23 (Thanksgiving)

This event is generously funded by the Memphis Library Foundation.
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Registration is open

Searching the Internet with Google Chrome

10:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library
Computer Lab

Searching the Internet with Google Chrome©

Explains how to find information on the World Wide Web using the Google Chrome browser:

  • Typing an Internet address into the Address Bar
  • Clicking on and following links
  • Using the Google search engine for basic searches
  • Understanding the layout of a search engine results page
  • Evaluating information found on the Internet
  • Exploring the Chrome browser settings 

Before participating in this class, trainees should be able to use a mouse.

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Free Saturday Legal Clinic

10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library
Meeting Rooms
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Gadget Lab

10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library
Lobby

Bring your tablet, laptop, or smart device and receive one-on-one technical assistance in accessing the Library’s digital services.  This is not a formal class.

  • Located in the main lobby near the entrance to the Children’s department
  • Ensure device is charged
  • Have you account usernames and passwords with you
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Pre-School Storytime

10:15 AM - 11:00 AM
Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library
Children's Program Room
Enjoy stories, songs, and fun as children ages 3-5 are introduced to the joy-filled world of children’s books. Groups must pre-register.
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Registration is closed

Let's Twist Yoga Series

4:30 PM - 5:30 PM
Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library
Children's Program Room
Come join a certified instructor for a fun yoga class! Participants will receive an introduction to yoga and its benefits, a warm up game, physical warm up, a physical activity, arts and crafts time, and then cool down and relax. Yoga mats will be available for each participant. This program is sponsored by the Memphis Library Foundation. 
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Mobile Vet Center

10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Vet Van
Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library
Library Outside
The VA Mobile Vet Center will be back in the Central Library parking lot to provide Readjustment Counseling Service for all Veterans who served in a combat zone. For more information about services, please visit www.vetcenter.va.gov or call (901) 522-3950.
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Babies & Books

10:15 AM - 11:00 AM
Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library
Children's Program Room
Parents and children ages 6-18 months are invited to join us for stories, songs, rhymes, and early literacy fun. No groups.
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Front Porch Music Series: Sounds of the Season

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library
Lobby
The Overton High School CAPA Choir will bring joy to your day with holiday favorites. 

Sounds of the Season is brought to you by The Memphis Library Foundation.
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A Wider Angle Film Series: THE KING OF LAUGHTER

6:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library
Meeting Room A
Our monthly foreign and independent film series, A Wider Angle, finishes up the year with a biopic from Italy.

For December, we will screen the 2021 film The King of Laughter, directed by veteran Italian director Mario Martone, and starring the great Toni Servillo, who was ranked #7 in 2020 in a New York Times list of the 25 greatest actors of the 21st century (so far).

The film is a biopic about the late 19th/early 20th-century Neapolitan comic actor and playwright Eduardo Scarpetta, a popular parodist of his era. Much of the story focuses on the legal battle between Scarpetta and another Italian author, Gabriele D'Annunzio, who sued Scarpetta in 1904 for plagiarism over his parody of D'Aunnunzio's play The Daughter of Iorio. The courtroom drama forces Scarpetta to muster up one of his last, truly great performances.

In Italian with English subtitles. (Running time 133 minutes)

A Wider Angle film series is made possible through funding provided by the Friends of the Library.
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Long Live the King-Chess Club

6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
Games - Chess board
Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library
Lobby
Free chess tutorials for all ages. Beginners are invited to learn to play, and veterans are welcome to challenge each other to a friendly match of strategy and tactics. For this event we will meet in our main lobby behind the escalators.  Long Live the King! 

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Toddler Storytime

10:15 AM - 11:00 AM
Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library
Children's Program Room
Join us for stories, songs, fingerplays, and fun with the toddler in your life. Appropriate for children ages 18-36 months. No groups.


Due to popularity, Toddler storytime will allow the first 15 toddlers and their families into storytime.  If you are unable to attend, we will have fun toddler toys and activities available!

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Front Porch Music Series - Sounds of the Season

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library
Lobby
The Ridgeway High School Choir will brighten your day with favorite holiday songs! 

Sounds of the Season is brought to you by The Memphis Library Foundation.
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Registration is open

Getting Started with Microsoft Word

10:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library
Computer Lab

This class is designed to introduce the basic functions of  Microsoft Word for Office 365 in order to create professional documents, resumes, and any other text documents.  The following skills will be covered:

§ Learn to navigate using Ribbons, command groups, dialog boxes, and backstage view.

§ Format text

§ Format paragraphs

§ set up pages and margins

§ Insert and format pictures

§ Insert and format tables

§ Save and retrieve documents with OneDrive and your computer

To join the class virtually via Microsoft Teams, click here:

Getting Started with Microsoft Word 365

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Registration is open

Techy Seniors - Phone Basics

10:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library
Computer Lab

Techy Seniors – Phone Basics

Learn the basic functions of smart phones and tablets. Participants will explore settings, and learn the following basic functions:

  • Connect to wi-fi
  • Browse the Internet
  • Add and delete apps
  • Organize the home screen
  • Use the camera

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Front Porch Music Series: Sounds of the Season

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library
Lobby
The Cordova High School Choir will get you in the holiday spirit with a lively performance of holiday favorites! 

Sounds of the Season is brought to you by The Memphis Library Foundation.
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Parachute Playtime

10:30 AM - 11:00 AM
Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library
Children's Program Room
Join us for a special parachute themed play time.  We will sing song and play games, all with a magical parachute!  Adult are encouraged to participate and help the parachute fly!  Ages 1-6.
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Pictures with Santa

11:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library
Lobby Stage
Here comes Santa right down Poplar Avenue!  Join us for holiday crafts, popcorn, hot cocoa and of course SANTA!
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I Read That Movie @ the Library: THE PRINCESS BRIDE (by William Goldman)

2:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library
Meeting Room A
Our popular "page-to-screen" book club, I Read That Movie @ the Library, continues this month with another early meeting due to the holidays

For December, we are reading the 1973 one-of-a-kind novel The Princess Bride by the novelist and screenwriter William Goldman, although it is presented as Goldman's abridged "Good Parts" version of a longer work by the fictitious author S. Morgenstern. The whimsical book combines elements of numerous genres, such as comedy, adventure, fantasy and romance, as it tells the fairy tale-like story of Westley, a poor farm boy, and Buttercup, a young farm maiden, who are determined to make true love prevail over the efforts of the nefarious forces that would seek to thwart it.

Copies of the book will be available at the Humanities Desk on the 2nd Floor of the Central Library, as well as other locations in the MPL system.

Participants are invited to read the book, then come for a screening of the 1987 film adaptation directed by Rob Reiner from a screenplay written by Goldman himself, and featuring memorable performances from a number of great actors, which has become something of a cult classic and was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry. The screening will take place on December 16 at 2:00 p.m. in Meeting Room A, followed by a discussion about the book and the movie.

Even if you don't have the opportunity to read the book, you are welcome to join us to watch the movie and participate in the conversation!
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Pre-School Storytime

10:15 AM - 11:00 AM
Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library
Children's Program Room
Enjoy stories, songs, and fun as children ages 3-5 are introduced to the joy-filled world of children’s books. Groups must pre-register.
View More

Babies & Books

10:15 AM - 11:00 AM
Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library
Children's Program Room
Parents and children ages 6-18 months are invited to join us for stories, songs, rhymes, and early literacy fun. No groups.
View More

Toddler Storytime

10:15 AM - 11:00 AM
Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library
Children's Program Room
Join us for stories, songs, fingerplays, and fun with the toddler in your life. Appropriate for children ages 18-36 months. No groups.


Due to popularity, Toddler storytime will allow the first 15 toddlers and their families into storytime.  If you are unable to attend, we will have fun toddler toys and activities available!

View More