Events Calendar

Growing Voices Music Class is an interactive class for caregivers and their children, birth-5, to play, learn, and bond with music. In our classes we sing, play instruments, dance, and have fun together!

READ and PLAY together with children ages 5 and under! Engaging with books, songs and playful experiences all help children develop communication skills, patience, empathy, and pre-reading skills. It also helps to build a lifelong love of reading. Library programs are always free. Siblings and childcare groups are welcome.

In partnership with the City of Madison and Madison Public Library, the African Center for Community Development provides in-person assistance* to help offset housing costs by assisting residents with applications for services, jobs, and other financial benefits.

We provide help for people navigating application processes and filling out forms required for housing, immigration, food, health, and other community support services. For questions about the program, please call African Center at (608) 957-5623 or (608) 294-0066.

*Neither The African Center for Community Development nor Madison Public Library can provide legal assistance or advice.  We are not able to fill out applications on your behalf, or assess program eligibility. 

The MadTech Ed Series is an annual offering of 10 technology workshops to build the technology-based skills ad knowledge of nonprofits and small businesses. The workshops are free to the general public and are open to anyone. They are specifically geared to address issues that nonprofits, entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small businesses face using technology in their work.

Learn how to use Metro Transit’s fixed route city bus service. Topics include using Google Maps, Transit, and other digital options; paper schedules and phone service; and discounted fare options. Metro employees will answer your questions about bus travel and provide one-on-one assistance in English and Spanish.

Visit the Dream Bus to browse books and other library materials, place or pick up holds, and sign up for a library card.

Learn more at dreambus.org

The River Food Pantry's Munch Truck will be stopping outside Goodman South on Tuesday in the Fall from 3:10PM - 3:30PM.

About River Food Pantry & Munch Truck

Launched in 2016, Munch is our mobile meals program that delivers free healthy meals to children and adults in over a dozen low-income neighborhoods throughout Madison. Each meal contains a sandwich or main menu item, a fruit or vegetable, a grain, a treat, and a drink. Everyone is welcome to take home a free meal. No registration or ID is required.

Neighborhoods served by Munch have large populations of children eligible for free school lunch. To bridge the gap that exists when school lunch is not available, Munch operates up to 6 days per week, Monday–Saturday, any time school cafeterias are closed (including breaks and periods of remote learning).

For any questions or comments, please contact the Munch staff at munch@riverfoodpantry.org or (608) 661-1223.

Visit the Dream Bus to browse books and other library materials, place or pick up holds, and sign up for a library card.

Learn more at dreambus.org

Drop in to the Quiet/Socializing Room at Meadowridge Library for art, making, tinkering, and fun! This week, local musician, Stephanie, will be leading us in a cardio drumming session!

All ages welcome. Children under 5 will need extra help from a parent or caregiver. No registration required.

Drop-in between 4:30-5:30pm and make a sock monster! Utilize buttons, felt, pom-poms, and more! In addition to needles and thread, we will also have fabric glue.

All materials are provided and take what you make with you when you leave.

No registration required and free of cost.

Youth 8 and under must be accompanied by a parent or caregiver during the program.

Visit the Dream Bus to browse books and other library materials, place or pick up holds, and sign up for a library card.

Learn more at dreambus.org

Join fiber artist and Madison local, Courtney Cosgriff, as she teaches you the ins and outs of learning to weave on a frame loom. We will go over various stitches and materials to complete a fun woven wall hanging to take home! No experience necessary. All materials provided. Courtney has been weaving since 2018. You can follow her weaving journey on Instagram @deerloom. 

Space is limited for this program; registration is required. This program is currently full. To request to be added to the waitlist, please contact Lakeview Library at 608-246-4547 or lakeview@madisonpubliclibrary.org

About the presenter

Courtney has been weaving since 2018 and jokes that fiber arts have taken over her life since then. She has been featured in Madison Magazine and is a frequent participant in Madison holiday markets. When not weaving, Courtney works as a public librarian at the Waunakee Public Library. When not working or weaving, Courtney loves to hang out with new son, Max! 

Held inside community spaces across Madison, fall Parks Alive events are a chance to participate in fun, family-friendly activities, enjoy free food, and get to know your neighbors. Build connections with your community and enjoy changing seasons during this mini-series of fall events.

These fall Parks Alive events will feature seasonal activities curated by Qwantese Dourese Winters-Madison Public Library's Naturalist-in-Residence for 2023.

• Monday, November 6, 4-7pm @ Ho-Chunk Community Center (4724 Tradewinds Pkwy)
• Tuesday, November 7, 6-7:30pm @ Boys & Girls Club (4619 Jenewein Rd)
• Wednesday, November 8, 4-7pm @ Salvation Army (3030 Darbo Dr)

Are you a high school or college student needing help with your chemistry homework? Do you need a little extra help studying for a test? Please sign up for a 30 minute time slot, and our wonderful tutor will be able to help you!

Registration for this program is required. 

Join Ho-Chunk elder and writer, Sherman Funmaker, as he presents his original poetry and stories of a Native life in Wisconsin. Participants are encouraged to ask questions and share their writings.

Part of the Teejop & Beyond: Celebrating Native Nations series in partnership with Ho-Chunk Gaming Madison. Visit madpl.org/teejopandbeyond for more info.

Presented in partnership with Go Big Read. Please note this event will be held at Memorial Union, Shannon Hall.

Bridging emergent research in psychology and neuroscience with conversations among political activists, cult members, and conspiracy theorists, How Minds Change interrogates the mechanisms that determine personal and collective opinion and belief. Crafted by international bestseller and expert in the psychology of reasoning, David McRaney, How Minds Change is both an exploration into the art of persuasion and a practical guide for navigating polarization and enacting social change.

Approachable and empathetic, How Minds Change is a thoughtful and pressing text for the current age. McRaney condenses dense scientific research into useful, ethical techniques for anyone interested in not just how we come to form beliefs, but why we come to identify ourselves with particular schools of thought. How Minds Change suggests that transformation is not just possible, but necessary as we strive towards meaningful connection in divisive times.

Wisconsin People & Ideas, the Wisconsin Academy’s magazine of contemporary Wisconsin thought and culture, presents a Wisconsin Book Festival reading featuring the winners of the statewide 2023 Fiction & Poetry Contests. We will be joined by Nicholas Gulig, the State Poet Laureate of Wisconsin and the first place winner of the 2022 Wisconsin People & Ideas contest in poetry. 

2023 Fiction and Poetry Contest Winners 
 
Fiction: 
1st Place story by Matt Cashion, La Crosse  
“Music Appreciation for the Dead”  
2nd Place story by Susanna Daniel, Madison  
“The Goddess of Illicit Choices” 
3rd Place story by Holly Hilliard, Madison  
“Zugunruhe” 
 
Poetry:
1st Place by Taylor Kirby, Madison 
“if I have an addiction to water, know it’s hereditary” 
2nd Place by K. E. McCoy, Madison 
“Climate Passover” 
3rd Place by Sheryl Slocum, Milwaukee
“My Son Standing Near a Glass of Water”

Honorable Mentions:

POETRY
William Stobb, Onalaska, “Ache Index” (Fall 2023)
Emily Bowles, Appleton, “This is Not a Villanelle” (Winter/Spring 2024)
Adam Fell, Madison, “A Deterioration in Talks” (Winter/Spring 2024)
Steven Espada Dawson, Madison, “Mercury Goes Right Through You” (Winter/Spring 2024)
Marnie Dresser, Spring Green, “I Hate People Who Cut in Line But” (Winter/Spring 2024)
Kelly R. Samuels, La Crosse, “Ambiguous Loss” (Winter/Spring 2024)

FICTION
John Mulvihill, New Glarus, “Not Drowning, But Waving”