Wellness is not just about physical health; it’s also about having a healthy mind and relationships. Madison Public Library can help you stay informed through our free resources and help you reach your wellness goals through our workshops by the community, for the community.
Want to stay in the know about future wellness events at your library? Sign up for the Live Well @ Your Library Insider email newsletter.
Announcing the new LGBTQ+ Wellness Guide
Each year Madison Public Library celebrates Pride month in June with events, books, resources and more. However, we also have LGBTQ+ events happening year-round. This year we're especially excited to debut an ongoing resource, a new 2024 edition of the Madison Public Library LGBTQ+ Wellness Guide!
Madison Public Library welcomes and supports the LGBTQ+ community and understands that the fight for LGBTQ+ equity in America is far from over, especially for transgender people and queer people of color. Included in this guide are mental health providers, transition and sexual health resources, support groups, hotlines, and more. We hope this guide informs and empowers you to find the community and support that you need.
We're in the process of getting the guide printed and out in all of our libraries, as well as clinics around the city. Keep an eye on our website at madpl.org/lgbtqwellness to see the list of clinics the guide will be available at as well as a link to download a digital copy.
Wellness At Home: Make Your Own Gratitude Journal
The practice of daily gratitude is perfect for the cold, winter months. While you're reflecting on the previous year or gearing up for the new one, take a little time out to make your own gratitude journal! Artist Angela Johnson created this helpful kit so that you can design your journal using watercolor techniques and common materials found around the house. Each kit also includes 30 journal prompts to guide your gratitude practice. Download the instructions by clicking the images below and get started today!
This kit is intended for older adults as part of the Live Well @ Your Library Senior Initiative.
KIT Components
Wellness Books
A few highlights of new and newer wellness books available at your library.
Poet and essayist Aimee Nezhukumatathil explores the way food and drink evoke our associations and remembrances--a subtext or layering, a flavor tinged with joy, shame, exuberance, grief, desire, or nostalgia. Nezhukumatathil restores our astonishment and wonder about food through her encounters with a range of foods and food traditions. From shave ice to lumpia, mangoes to pecans, rambutan to vanilla, she investigates how food marks our experiences and identities and explores the boundaries between heritage and memory. Bite by Bite offers a rich and textured kaleidoscope of vignettes and visions into the world of food and nature, drawn together by intimate and humorous personal reflections, with Fumi Nakamura's gorgeous imagery and illustration.
In this collection of essays and interviews curated by the acclaimed author of Farming While Black, the writers address the essential connection between nature and our survival. They explore Black people's spiritual and scientific connection to the land, waters, and climate, and show how runaway consumption and corporate instability are harming the earth and impacting every faces of American society-- including racial violence, food apartheid, and climate injustice.
In this global gardener's guide to creating a resilient, climate-wise garden, learn how to adapt your garden to cope with volatile weather extremes and other effects of a rapidly changing climate. The Climate Change Garden shares which types of gardens are better suited to deal with such extremes and which techniques, practices, and equipment can be put to good use in our gardens to help temper the issues. At the center, it’s about working with the natural world to create a productive, low-maintenance, climate-savvy garden that is capable of standing strong against the effects of a changing climate.
This title is also available as an ebook.
This much-needed cookbook combines tips and techniques with a dash of understanding about food aversion and how to help your kids - and yourself - cook beautiful meals in an empowering way, and is a groundbreaking resource for anyone who has ever been called "picky" or "discerning." Learn how to alter the texture, taste profile, or color palette of a dish. Delicious, nutritious, and easily tailored recipes (including for gluten-free and vegan eaters) include: the perfect smashed cheeseburger, Italian sausage and potato soup, omelet stuffed focaccia, chocolate pinwheels, and dozens more.
Disability Intimacy is a revolutionary collection of first-person writing on the joys and challenges of the modern disability experience, and intimacy in all its myriad forms. This book offers explorations of caregiving, community, access, and friendship, as well as disabled sexual discovery, love stories, and joy. Twenty-five stunning original pieces (plus other modern classics on the subject) include essays, photo essays, poetry, drama, and erotica: a full spectrum of the dreams, fantasies, and deeply personal realities of a wide range of beautiful bodies and minds.
