Live! From The Library
About Live! From The Library
Live! From the Library is the Foundation's free speaker series featuring leading local and national personalities from the media and the political, economic, literary and artistic arenas. Live! is held at various locations in Walnut Creek while the new downtown library is under construction and is made possible by donations to the Foundation's Annual Fund.
As the Live! From The Library program grows in stature and distinction, our goal is to continue to offer dynamic programs that engage and inform our community and promote lifelong learning.
Past programs can be seen on Contra Costa Television (CCTV)
2010 Events
"Becoming..."
Second Annual Poetry Contest for all Walnut Creek Students
Deadline March 11, 2010
For our second annual celebration of poety, the Walnut Creek Library Foundation and Lindsay Wildlife Museum are sponsoring a poetry contest for students at Walnut Creek schools. We invite students to reflect on the theme, "Becoming . . ." We and the world around us are always in the process of becoming.
A stone becomes sand
A seed becomes a wildflower
A caterpillar becomes a butterfly
Acquaintance becomes love
A student becomes a teacher
The first eighteen years of our lives are a magical time. Our bodies change and grow, our minds develop; we discover new things every day. Everything in the world around us changes as well. We hope students will use their limitless imaginations to think about the theme and then engage in an act of becoming as their thoughts become words and their words become a poem.
CONTEST DETAILS
The contest is free and all participants will receive a Poetry Contest Certificate and a student pass to the Lindsay Wildlife Museum. Finalists will be judged by students in the St. Mary's College MFA program.
Download the contest entry form
SPECIAL EVENTS
Join us to celebrate poetry and our contest winners. All events are free
Poetry Live! with Cheryl Dumesnil, G.E. Patterson, & Deema Shehabi
THURSDAY, MARCH 25
Lindsay Wildlife Museum
Student winners in each category will have the opportunity to read their poems at our evening event.
Student Poetry Contest Celebration & Award Ceremony
SUNDAY, MARCH 28
Lindsay Wildlife Museum
Prizes will be awarded to the student winners in each category and all students will receive a Poetry Contest Certificate
2009 Live! From the Library Programs
Candor and Pearls: An Evening of Social Satire from the Comics Pages
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Fans of the comics pages were entertained by Stephan Patis, "Pearls Before Swine," and Darrin Bell, "Candorville," two nationally syndicated cartoonists who discussed their work and inspiration with Lisa Wrenn, Features Editor for the Contra Costa Times at the Shadelands Art Center in Walnut Creek.
Watch a video of the event . . .
Student Poetry Celebration
Live! From the Library is presented by the Walnut Creek Library Foundation and the Lindsay Wildlife Museum
The Library Foundation invited Wanut Creek students to submit their poems to our inaugural poetry contest, and they responded! We received 284 poems from students across Walnut Creek. The final judging was done by students in the Master of Fine Arts Creative Writing Program at St. Mary’s College in Moraga.
The contest’s guidelines suggested that the students explore their world – their neighborhoods, watersheds, parks, schoolyards, backyards, and wild places – and put what they saw, thought and imagined into words. They did just that as the poems included here demonstrate so well.
We thank all the students and their teachers for responding so creatively to our call for poetry.
The winning poems are below - enjoy!
Kindergarten – 3rd grade
Hail
Hail.
If you look closely,
And the sun is shining just right,
you can see a rainbow inside each drop.
Hail.
When it falls on a leaf,
The leaf dances like a butterfly’s wings.
Hail.
When it lands in a puddle,
The water springs back up like a flower in bloom.
Hail.
If you listen closely,
It sounds like 500 tap dancers on the roof,
dancing their hearts away!
Hail.
When you catch it in your mouth,
It feels like a hard mint candy that melts away on your tongue.
Tyler Burns
2nd grade, Walnut Heights Elementary
Grades 4-5
The Meadow
The meadow is rolling over the laughing wildflowers
The trees wave in the wind from high in the air
The grass listens to the gossiping sky
The river shows us the quiet pond
The hill tells us of the dreaming cliff
The stars stare as it is all done
Katherine Dundes
Parkmead Elementary, 5th Grade
Grades 6-8
Majestic Mt. Diablo
I write of a small town
Nestled at the base of a grand small mountain
I sing of that mountain’s name
Whispered and knows as old Mt. Diablo
I sing of the hills that roll like seas over the open spaces
Of the brooks that wind around deep at their footsteps,
Whispering good luck through the summers
I write of the Red Tailed Hawks as they soar through the skies
Of the Eastern Kingbirds that hid in the bushes
I sing of the coyotes singing their lone cry
Of their travels from the tip of the mountain to the lowest hill bottom
I sing of many travels around this sparse valley
Of the cheery festivals, of the bright blossoming flowers
I write this poem of the valley of Mt. Diablo
Of its many stories through out the ages
I sing of the times when snow covered the tips
When just dry grass seemed like it was the only life
I sing of the flowers, the animals, and the bugs
A safe journey through the many changing seasons
Through the harsh cold winter, the wet spring showers, and through the hot summer days
I write of the chattering squirrels and the singing swallows
Of this little town on the base of Mt. Diablo.
Megan McWard
Foothill Middle School, 8th grade
1st Place - The Difference
I am you I am adored, My presence is always an announcement What am I? I am time-consuming, |
I am me I am misjudged My presence is never noticed What am I? I am hurt, |
Jen John
Northgate High School, 11th grade
Poetry Live! - The Voice That is Great Within Us
Thursday, April 23, 2009
A panel of renowned poets, including Brenda Hillman, Matthew Zaprulder and Graham Foust, discussed the rich and thriving community of poets in 21st century America at the Lindsay Wildlife Museum in Walnut Creek. The evening also featured the winners of the Foundation’s first student poetry contest, “The Voice That is Great Within Us” who shared their award winning poems with the audience.
Watch a video of the event . . .
Water: The Next Oil?
The Evaporation of an Essential Resource
Tuesday, February 3, 2009.
Sunne McPeak, Mike Taugher and Booker Holton discussed the local and global water crisis at the Lesher Center for the Arts.
Watch a video of the event . . .
Ying Chang Compestine – A Writer in Two Worlds
October 22, 2008
Author Ying Chang Compestine entertained a captive audience at the Lesher Center for the Arts as she discussed how her grief over the loss of her parents led her on a 7 year journey to write her award winning novel Revolution is Not A Dinner Party. During the event she also spoke of her three loves, cooking, traveling and children, and the impact that they have had and continue to have on her life.
Watch a video of the event . . .
An Evening with Robert Hass - A Celebration of National Poetry Month
April 10, 2008
Over 300 community members enjoyed an evening with Pulitzer prize winner Robert Hass at the Lindsay Wildlife Museum in Walnut Creek. Hass read from his latest book of poems, Time and Materials.
Did You Know?
Walnut Creek’s first library was born in 1912 when members of the Women’s Improvement Club of Walnut Creek donated books from private collections to form the town’s first reading room.
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