NCW Libraries Offers Two Virtual Programs For Adults

NCW Libraries is offering two upcoming virtual opportunities for adults.  A Humanities Washington presentation about Mt. St. Helens and a NCW Virtual Reads program featuring popular author Yasmin Ramirez.

In the first program, NCW is partnering with Humanities Washington to offer the live, virtual program After the Blast: Mount St. Helens 40 Years Later.

This program will be at 7 p.m. Jan. 25 and held on the Zoom platform.

Writer and biologist Eric Wagner will take participants on a journey through the Mt. St. Helens blast zone. Explore the surprising ways that plants and animals have survived in the 40-plus years since the May 18, 1980, explosion, and the complex roles that people have played in the recovery. Attendees will have an opportunity to ask questions.

Wagner is a Seattle-based author whose published books include After the Blast: The Ecological Recovery of Mount St. Helens. He holds a PhD in biology from the University of Washington.

Humanities Washington is a nonprofit organization in Washington state that was established by the National Endowment for the Humanities more than 40 years ago. It works with libraries, museums, colleges, historical societies and other nonprofit agencies to bring programs that foster community discussion.

The second program is part of NCW Virtual Reads, in which NCW Libraries hosts author events that spark conversations, curiosity and learning. Mexican American author Yasmin Ramirez will give a live, virtual talk at 7 p.m. on Feb. 9. She will discuss her debut memoir, her writing process, and talk about the playlist she made to accompany the book!

Her memoir, ¡Ándale Prieta!, delicately shares the experience of a young Latina growing up on the U.S-Mexico Border and subsequent years searching for herself and fulfillment after the passing of her grandmother. Ramirez is an Assistant Professor of English, Creative Writing and Chicanx Literature at El Paso Community College. 

All NCW Virtual Reads events are free and open to the public. Events are held through the Zoom digital meeting platform. During each event, attendees will hear from the author and then have an opportunity to submit questions for the author to answer live. To participate, register at http://www.ncwlibraries.org 

You must register to attend. Register for both of these events at http://www.ncwlibraries.org. Click on News & Events and find them on the events calendar. A Zoom link will be sent by email.

Virtual Story Time

NCW Libraries offers a weekly, live virtual story time that connects young children and their caregivers across five counties through reading, song and play. 

The story time airs on the Zoom platform every Thursday at 9:30 a.m., led by Librarians Clare Morrison, Peshastin, and Dawn Woodruff, Twisp.

Upcoming story times include:

Jan. 19: Pajama story time (wearing pajamas encouraged).

Jan. 26: Celebrate Lunar (Chinese) New Year.

At the beginning and end of the story time, the children are given the opportunity to talk with the librarians and each other.

NCW Libraries started virtual story times during the Covid lockdown, when it was the only way to offer reading programs to children and families. The  program continued even after libraries reopened and in-person story times resumed because families still enjoyed the virtual experience that engaged children from across the library district in  the comfort of their own homes. 

“It’s a joy to see the kids participate with us,” Woodruff said. “It’s been a wonderful way to connect kids from our five-county area.”

Morrison added, “The flexibility of the Zoom storytime format is a great complement to our regular in-person storytimes. We’ve had several preschool and elementary school classrooms participate who might not otherwise be able to make it to a library for storytime. We’ve even had kids tune in from the car on family road trips!”

Sign up for virtual story time at http://www.ncwlibraries.org and click on “Events”. Then receive a Link to the Zoom event via email.