MT. LEBANON
PUBLIC
LIBRARY
REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED FOR MANY OF THESE PROGRAMS. Go to the library’ s events page at mtlebanonlibrary. org to register. Stay up-to-date … Friend the library on Facebook and visit mtlebanonlibrary. org to sign up for e-blasts. Questions? Call 412.531.1912.
16 Castle Shannon Blvd. | Pittsburgh, PA 15228-2252 | Hours: Mon.– Thurs.: 9 a. m.-9 p. m., Fri. & Sat.: 9 a. m.-5 p. m., Sun.: 1-5 p. m.
ANNUAL NOIR-VEMBER FILM FEST! Join us for one, a couple, or all of our film noir screenings this year! All screenings begin at 6:30 p. m.
Monday, Nov. 3 They Live by Night( 1948) – directed by Nicholas Ray in his directorial debut and starring Cathy O’ Donnell and Farley Granger. Based on Edward Anderson’ s novel Thieves Like Us, the film follows a young fugitive who falls in love with a woman and attempts to begin a life with her.
Monday, Nov. 10 Touch of Evil( 1958) – written and directed by, and starring, Orson Wells. The screenplay was loosely based on Whit Masterson’ s novel Badge of Evil from 1956. The cast includes Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, and Marlene Dietrich. Along the U. S./ Mexico border, a bomb placed inside a vehicle explodes, killing two people. Mexican special prosecutor Miguel Vargas, who is honeymooning in town with his new American wife, Susie, takes an interest in the investigation, which is being conducted by veteran police captain Hank Quinlan and his fanatically loyal assistant, Pete Menzies.
Monday, Nov. 17 The Asphalt Jungle( 1950) – directed and cowritten by John Huston and starring Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, and Marilyn Monroe in one of her earliest roles. Based on the 1949 novel by W. R. Burnett, it tells the story of a jewel robbery in a Midwestern city.
Monday, Nov. 24 The Big Sleep( 1946) – directed by Howard Hawks. William Faulkner, Leigh Brackett, and Jules Furtham cowrote the screenplay, which adapts Raymond Chandler’ s 1939 novel of the same name. The film stars Humphrey Bogart as private detective Philip Marlowe and Lauren Bacall as Vivian Rutledge in a story that begins with blackmail and leads to multiple murders.
Author Chat with Andrew Moore, author of Pawpaw: America’ s Forgotten Fruit Thursday, Nov. 13, 7 to 8:30 p. m.
The largest edible fruit native to the United States tastes like a cross between a banana and a mango. It grows wild in 26 states, gracing Eastern forests each fall with sweet-smelling, tropical-flavored abundance. So why have so few people heard of the pawpaw, much less tasted one? Author Andrew Moore will explore the past, present, and future of this remarkable species.
Jolabokaflod Saturday, Nov. 22, 10 a. m. to 3 p. m.
The library’ s annual holiday market and Friends of the Library book sale features many gift-worthy items.
Local artists’ booths outside include jewelry, prints, upcycled art, soap, Wonderfill store, paper art, cards, pottery, candles and more. Inside there will be storytelling for families, children and adults, hands-on craft activities for children and teens, and the Klezmer fusion band Klezlectic( 1 to 2 p. m.). Cookies and hot beverages too!
Bleach and Water: The AIDS Crisis and Preserving Queer History in Pittsburgh Monday, Dec. 1, 7 to 8:30 p. m.
Join poet and historian Silas Maxwell Switzer for a talk and a reading from Nine Parts Water, One Part Bleach, a documentary poetry collection exploring the AIDS crisis in Pittsburgh.
Blending archival research and lyric memory, Switzer traces the stories that survive and the silences that remain. The evening will reflect on how queer histories are remembered— or erased— in Pittsburgh’ s cultural memory.
Silas Maxwell Switzer is a queer scholar and poet. He published Nine Parts Water, One Part Bleach in 2023.
An Evening with the Iliad Tuesday, Dec. 2, 7 to 8:30 p. m.
Join us for an evening with Mt. Lebanon author Josh Cannon, as he discusses his forthcoming book Fatal Second Helen: A Veteran’ s Iliad( 2025, Blue Ear Books). This book uses Emily Wilson’ s recent translation of the Iliad to discuss how the poem continues to resonate with modern warfare.
While our conceptions of warfare have changed in many ways, they have also remained rooted in millenniaold patterns of thinking. Cannon’ s book examines these similarities and differences in light of his own experiences as a Marine Corps sergeant and combat veteran with two deployments to Iraq( 2003, 2004).
Josh Cannon holds a PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Civilization from the University of Chicago. He is currently part-time faculty in the Classics Department at the University of Pittsburgh.
mtlebanonlibrary. org
The Forgotten History of Pittsburgh Jazz Wednesday, Dec. 3, 1 to 2 p. m.
Join world-renowned pianist Tom Roberts as he presents the early jazz musicians of Pittsburgh through recordings, images, and research! Many of the legendary jazz figures of our city are admired the world over, but tend to be less well-known in the Pittsburgh area itself. Come face to face with the legacy of influential giants of jazz through exquisite recordings that capture every breath and nuance of these remarkable artists.
An Evening with Tyler McAndrew Thursday, Dec. 4, 7 to 8:30 p. m.
Join us for an evening with author Tyler McAndrew. McAndrew will read from his new collection, My Prisoner and Other Stories, from The Ohio State University Press. Set largely in the 1990s and early 2000s Rust Belt, My Prisoner and Other Stories gives us protagonists who repeatedly confront helplessness in the face of others’ suffering.
The structural forces that stain life in late-capitalist America— the prison system, economic desperation— lurk throughout these muscular and empathetic tales, but in the face of endemic adversity, shrewd and loving characters strive for and sometimes achieve hope and tenderness. Tyler McAndrew shows us an unadorned America that can still tap its capacity for human kindness.
Huckleberry Finn Beginning Friday, Dec. 5, 10 a. m. to 12 p. m.
You may have read James by Percival Everett, so now might be the time to read or reread Mark Twain’ s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. This important novel, written in 1885, established American literature as representative of our own history, culture, and language.
Join Connie Booth, a retired English teacher who has taught the novel to 100 high school classes, while we study the story of Huck and Jim as they navigate the Mississippi River and pre-Civil War society. We will also consider current and past controversies and the relevance of the novel in today’ s world. Registration encouraged!
Friday, Dec. 5, 10:00-11:30 a. m. – Chapters 1-18 Friday, Dec. 12, 10:00-11:30 a. m. – Chapters 19-30 Friday, Dec. 19, 10:00-11:30 a. m. – Chapter 31 to the last chapter
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