Events
The ABCs of Writing a Great College Application Essay
Written by Erin S on 10/12/2012
Tuesday, February 12 at 7 p.m.
What do colleges want in an application essay? How should students begin the writing process? What's a good topic? A bad topic? How can students make their essays unique and memorable? During this presentation, we'll find out the answers to these questions and more.
Presented by:
Sharon Epstein, an award-winning writer and college consultant. Her background includes 20 years in communications, two Emmy nominations, and a Writers Guild Award.
Matthew Dempsey, Assistant Director of Admission at Fairfield University, will share a first-hand account of the role of the admission counselor, read examples of essays that have and haven't worked, and talk about how essays are viewed in the context of the entire application.
This program is intended for high school students and their families.
Additional parking for evening and weekend Library programs on Thorndal Circle (behing Nielsen's).
Film Screening - "Gun Fight"
Written by Erin S on 10/12/2012
On Sunday, February 3 at 2 p.m., Darien Library, in co-sponsorship with the League of Women Voters, will present the film Gun Fight.
There are an estimated 250 million guns in the United States today. Over the past dozen years, a string of deadly shootings has pockmarked the nation as guns – licensed and unlicensed – have found their way into the wrong hands. Blending archival and original footage, two-time Oscar®-winning filmmaker Barbara Kopple (“Harlan County, U.S.A.,” “American Dream”) investigates the complex issues surrounding guns and the heated debate over how best to reduce gun violence in the U.S., telling stories of citizens and activists on different sides in Gun Fight.
Additional parking for evening and weekend Library programs on Thorndal Circle (behind Nielsen’s).
The Catherine Lindsey Actors/Playwrights Workshop
Written by Erin S on 10/12/2012
Thursday, April 18 at 7 p.m.
You've submitted your play to the Catherine Lindsey Actors/Playwrights Workshop but now what?
The workshops will allow the playwrights to refine their scripts. Playwrights are not required to attend these sessions in order to have their play considered.
Co-founded by the late Catherine Lindsey and her husband Robert, the workshop introduces original plays in progress to be developed in a workshop environment with the goal of the public-staged readings. Catherine Lindsey was a beloved friend of the Library and director of Darien Library Theater for over 25 years. The memorial workshops will offer actors and playwrights the opportunity to work together to create original theatrical works in a supportive and creative environment.
Additional parking for evening and weekend Library programs on Thorndal Circle (behing Nielsen's).
Friday Night Feature - 'Playing for Keeps'
Written by Erin S on 10/11/2012
Friday, April 19 at 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. – Playing for Keeps (2012) Starring Gerard Butler and Jessica Biel; Rated PG-13; 105 minutes; Closed captioned for the hearing impaired.
This romantic comedy follows a charming, down-on-his luck former soccer star who returns home to put his life back together. Looking for a way to rebuild his relationship with his son, he gets roped into coaching the boy’s soccer team. But his attempts to finally become an adult are met with hilarious challenges from the attractive soccer moms who pursue him at every turn.
For more information, please watch the film's trailer. Check out the rest of our Friday Night Features in April.
Additional parking for evening and weekend Library programs available on Thorndal Circle (behind Nielsen's).
Friday Night Feature - "To Rome with Love"
Written by Erin S on 10/11/2012
Friday, January 18 at 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. – To Rome with Love (2012) Starring Woody Allen, Alec Baldwin, Jesse Eisenberg, Roberto Benigni, and Penelope Cruz; Rated R; 112 minutes; Closed captioned for the hearing impaired.
Set in the romantic city of Rome, this movie features intertwining stories. There is the worker who wakes up to find himself a celebrity, an architect who takes a trip back to the street he lived on as a student, a young couple on their honeymoon, and a frustrated opera director who has a talent for discovering talented singers.
"Allen's story moves along quite wonderfully, primarily because of his nuanced casting." --Ricardo Baca, Denver Post
For more information, please watch the film's trailer. Check out the rest of our Friday Night Features in January.
Additional parking for evening and weekend Library programs available on Thorndal Circle (behind Nielsen's).
Video of Richard Ford
On Sunday, February 10, 2013, Richard Ford, author of Canada, was our featured speaker.
For more information, please visit the event's page.
Documentary Film Screening followed by Q&A with the Filmmaker
Written by Erin S on 10/11/2012
Monday, March 18 at 6:30 p.m. - My Perestroika (2010); Documentary Feature; Not Rated; 87 minutes.
When the USSR broke apart in 1991, a generation of young people faced a new realm of possibilities. An intimate epic about the extraordinary lives of this last Soviet generation, Robin Hessman’s feature documentary debut tells the stories of five Moscow schoolmates who were brought up behind the Iron Curtain, witnessed the joy and confusion of glasnost, and reached adulthood right as the world changed around them. Through candid first person testimony, revealing verité footage, and vintage home movies, Hessman, who spent many years living in Moscow, reveals a Russia rarely ever seen on film, where people are frank about their lives and forthcoming about their country.
"...playful, insightful, hypnotic, and, ultimately, superb." -- Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine
The film will be followed by a Q&A with the Director/Producer/Cinematographer Robin Hessman.
This event is co-sponsored by the Brown Club of Fairfield County.
About the Filmmaker
Robin Hessman graduated from Brown University with a dual degree in Russian and Film. She received her graduate degree in film directing from the All-Russian State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) in Moscow (with a “red diploma” of honors). She received an Academy Award® in 1994 – with co-director James Longley – for their student film, Portrait of Boy with Dog. During her eight years living in Russia, Robin worked for the Children’s Television Workshop as the on-site producer of Ulitsa Sezam, the original Russian-language Sesame Street.
Robin is also an Associate of Harvard University’s Davis Center for Russian Studies and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Since 2006, Robin has served as the Director of documentary programming for Amfest, the American Film Festival in Moscow.
Additional parking for evening and weekend Library programs available on Thorndal Circle (behind Nielsen's).
Wednesday Matinee - "The Kid with a Bike"
Written by Erin S on 10/09/2012
Wednesday, March 20 at 1:30 p.m. - The Kid with a Bike (2011); Starring Thomas Doret, Cécile De France, and Jérémie Renier; Rated PG-13; 87 minutes. In French with English subtitles.
Abandoned by his father, a young boy is left in a state-run youth farm. In a random act of kindness, the town hairdresser agrees to foster him on weekends.
“The film should be required viewing for everyone who has lost faith in the power of random acts of kindness.” -- Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune
"There is not a wasted shot in this stripped down, pared back fable. Yet, it accrues a deep and lasting power. You won't see many better this year." -- Tom Charity, CNN.com
For more information, please view the film's trailer.
Spring Cleaning Series: Organizing Others
Written by Erin S on 10/09/2012
Monday, April 22nd at 7:00 p.m.
Even if you’re the most organized person on the planet, that doesn’t necessarily mean this quality will translate to the ones you hold near and dear. Learn handy ways to inspire even the most disorganized around you to adapt their ways.
Presented by Cara Brook of S.O.S. LLC and Jen Burke of JKB Organizing, both members of the organizing group F.O.C.U.S.
Check out our "Get Organized" LibGuide and join us for the rest of our Spring Cleaning Series:
- Shop and Get Organized, Tuesday May 7 at 7 p.m.
Additional parking for evening and weekend Library programs available on Thorndal Circle (behind Nielsen's).
Meet the Author - Richard Ford
Written by Erin S on 10/08/2012![Richard Ford [credit Laura Wilson]](http://www.darienlibrary.org/sites/darienlibrary.org/files/users/user13438/Richard%20Ford%20please%20credit%20Laura%20Wilson%20%282%29.jpg)
Sunday, February 10 at 5 p.m.
Richard Ford, author of Canada, will be our featured speaker.
Canada, the latest novel from Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Ford, is a powerful, suspenseful story of misadventure and malevolence that explores large themes of identity, culpability, and the ineluctable bonds that tie us to the past. Ford’s first book in nearly six years, it is a compulsively-readable, uncompromising tale in which a host of transgressions—including bank robbery, kidnapping, abandonment and murder—shape the life of its protagonist: a fifteen-year-old boy compelled to forge his own way when his insular family implodes. With prose at once spare and luminous, Ford renders the desolate beauty of Montana and Saskatchewan as only a great writer can, providing the perfect backdrop for this spellbinding look at the dark side of the American experience.
Praise for Canada
“Pure vocal grace, quiet humor, precise and calm observation.” — The New Yorker
“Confirms [Ford’s] position as one of the finest stylists and most humane storytellers in America… his most elegiac and profound book…” — Washington Post
About the Author
Richard Ford is the author of the Bascombe novels, which include The Sportswriter and its sequels, Independence Day—the first novel to win the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award—and The Lay of the Land, as well as the short story collections Rock Springs and A Multitude of Sins, which contain many widely anthologized stories. He lives in East Boothbay, Maine, with his wife, Kristina Ford.
Books will be available for purchase at this event. Refreshments will be served.
Richard Ford's appearance is made possible by Barrett Bookstore.
Additional parking for evening and weekend Library programs available on Thorndal Circle (behind Nielsen's).
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