March is National Women’s History Month, a time to recognize, celebrate, and honor the important contributions and achievements of women. Throughout the month of March, Greenwich Library will celebrate Women’s History Month with virtual events and programs featuring and honoring noteworthy female creators.
National Women’s History Month traces its origins back to March 8, 1857, when women from New York City factories staged a protest over working conditions. In 1981, the U.S. Congress designated the second week of March as National Women’s History Week, and in 1987 Congress expanded it to a month-long observance.
Women’s History Month helps bring into focus the great legacy of fiction written by women. Greenwich Librarian Stephen Schmidt compiled a list of recommended books available to borrow from the Library that celebrates 11 female novelists who brought their keen observations and unique perspectives to the page. He also created a list of 12 biographies he recommends of women who, through talent and hard work, rose above obstacles to make a difference and have their voices heard. Check out these lists today to find your next read!
Greenwich Library’s special events celebrating Women’s History Month are listed below. Highlights include: A Wickedly Good Evening with Two Actresses from Wicked, the Musical; A Comedy Night Out with Friends featuring local comedic performer Jane Condon; and Date with an Author featuring Lauren Willig, author of Band of Sisters.
Registration for these events and all other March programs is available through the Library’s online calendar. Register in advance to receive a Zoom link prior to the event (unless otherwise noted).
Virtual – A Wickedly Good Evening with Two Actresses from Wicked, the Musical
Thursday, March 4, 7 – 8 p.m.
Join us for this special evening to meet (via Zoom) two actresses who have performed leading roles in the beloved, long-running Broadway musical, Wicked. Jillian Butler, who has performed as Glinda, and Talia Suskauer, as Elphaba, will share backstage stories and insights and their thoughts as to what it’s like to be leading actresses in the theater industry and their experiences performing these iconic, female-leading roles. Bring your own questions for the Q&A session. Each actress will also perform a musical selection from Wicked. Most recently, Butler performed on tour starring as Cosette in Les Misérables and as Glinda and Nessarose in Wicked. She studied Musical Theater at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee where she was a Tap Tutor for three years. Her love of tap and dance is something that has helped her as a professional artist. After making her Broadway debut in Be More Chill, Suskauer joined the National Tour of Wicked as Elphaba, a role she looks forward to resuming soon. A native of South Florida, Talia graduated from Penn State.
VIRTUAL – Healthy Eating for Women
Wednesday, March 10, 11 a.m. – 12 p.m.
March is not only National Women’s Month, but also Nutrition Month. Join Shoprite dietician, Inga Voloshin, as she discusses the role of nutrition in women’s health. You’ll learn about key nutrients essential for women of all ages and even watch Voloshin prepare a delicious recipe!
VIRTUAL – A Comedy Night Out with Friends
Thursday, March 11, 7 – 8 p.m.
Join the Friends of Greenwich Library for a night of laughs and levity with the Ladies of Laughter, generously sponsored by the Friends of Greenwich Library. Greenwich resident and comedic performer Jane Condon will be the master of ceremonies for this virtual stand-up comedy night featuring Condon and three other comedic queens: Kathe Farris, Christine Hurley and Kelly MacFarland. Enjoy this stand-up event from the comfort of your own home—no drink minimum required!
About the Performers
Condon is a Greenwich-based comedic performer who has appeared on ABC-TV’s The View, Lifetime TV’s Girls’ Night Out, FOX-TV’s series finale of 24, Nickelodeon’s Nick Mom Night Out, as well as NBC’s Last Comic Standing and the Today Show. She is the 2019 winner of the She-Devil Comedy Festival, the Pro winner of the nationwide Ladies of Laughter Contest and was voted as an Audience Favorite—New York on NBC’s Last Comic Standing.
Kathe Farris is a Boston-based stay-at-home mom and stand-up comedian. She has been the Comic-in-Residence at The Comedy Studio and a finalist in the Boston Comedy Festival. Kathe’s weekly show, Farris and Friends Comedy Hour, is a “The Boston Globe’s Critics Choice.” She has been on the teaching staff at both ImprovBoston and Laugh University of LaughBoston. For the past four years, she ran one of Boston’s most popular workshops sponsored by Boston Comedy Chicks for comedians of all levels. Christine Hurley loves what she does: making people laugh! Like any great comedian, Christine has an innate ability to see the humor in everyday situations and has quickly become a favorite in the Boston comedy world. She works with and is respected by Boston’s comedic legends.
Kelly MacFarland is an experienced stand-up comedian, who has an extensive and well-rounded resume including comedy clubs, theaters, colleges, festivals, television appearances, and entertaining US troops overseas. MacFarland was the first runner-up in the Boston Comedy Festival and voted Best of the Fest at the Aspen Rooftop Comedy Festival. She has two albums available on iTunes, Amazon, and SiriusXM radio. She has performed at the Oddball Comedy Festival, the Comedy Stage at Boston Calling Music Festival, Lucille Ball Comedy Festival – National Comedy Center, and has been a featured headliner for the Boston Women in Comedy Festival since its inception. MacFarland has appeared on Stand Up in Stilettos on the TV Guide Channel, The Today Show, The View, Comedy Central, NBC’s Last Comic Standing, and AXS Gotham Comedy LIVE.
A Celebration of Women Composers of Classical Music (Cos Cob Library)
Saturday, March 13, 3 – 4 p.m.
Back by popular demand! The Friends and Staff of Cos Cob Library are pleased to welcome back Jeffrey Engel, who will present a lecture titled, “A Celebration of Women Composers of Classical Music.” While there have always been women composers, it was not until the end of the 19th century that significantly more women began to enjoy public performances of classical music and became professional composers. Engel will highlight the lives and the music of several distinguished female composers and concert pianists who attained recognition and success during the nineteenth century. Engel’s lectures are not only informative, but they are also entertaining with his use of amusing anecdotes and musical illustrations. Engel graduated from Ithaca College in New York. He lived in Paris for 14 years where he studied cello, art history (at the Sorbonne) and earned diplomas in French language. As a cellist, he played with numerous orchestras in France, including the Paris Opera, performed in chamber ensembles and taught in municipal conservatories. Engel has taught at Northwestern Connecticut Community College in Winsted since 2004.
VIRTUAL – Date with an Author: Band of Sisters by Lauren Willig
Wednesday, March 17, 7 – 8 p.m.
New York Times bestselling historical novelist Lauren Willig unearths the buried record of the Smith College Relief Unit during WWI with her astonishing novel Band of Sisters, based on the true story of a group of young women who gave up safety and affluence to work as humanitarians in occupied France. A skillful blend of the books Call the Midwife and The Alice Network, Band of Sisters will aptly publish into Women’s History Month and is sure to captivate readers with its timely portrayal of women sacrificing everything to help those in need when they needed it the most. Willig is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Summer Country, the RITA Award-winning Pink Carnation series, and three novels co-written with Beatriz Williams and Karen White. An alumna of Yale University, she has a graduate degree in history from Harvard and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. She lives in New York City with her husband, two young children, and lots and lots of coffee. Willig will be in conversation with Greenwich Performing Arts Librarian Dora Salm. Date with an Author and AuthorsLive are made possible through the support of the Greenwich Library Board of Trustees and contributions by generous donors. Register to receive a link to the pre-recorded interview, which will go live on Wednesday, March 17 at 7:00 p.m. Subscribe to the Library’s YouTube channel to watch at your convenience.
VIRTUAL – Date with an Author: Sadeqa Johnson, Author of Yellow Wife
Wednesday, March 24, 7 – 8 p.m.
AuthorsLive is excited to welcome internationally best-selling author Sadeqa Johnson to discuss her latest novel, Yellow Wife, a Globe and Mail bestseller and one of O Magazine’s “2021 Most Anticipated Historical Fiction Novels.” Called “wholly engrossing” by New York Times bestselling author Kathleen Grissom, this harrowing story follows an enslaved woman forced to barter love and freedom while living in the most infamous slave jail in Virginia. Johnson will discuss her novel with Siobhan Schugmann, a librarian at Greenwich Library. Johnson is the award-winning author of four novels. Her accolades include the National Book Club Award, the Phillis Wheatley Book Award, and the USA Best Book Award for Best Fiction. She is a Kimbilio Fellow, a former board member of the James River Writers, and a Tall Poppy Writer. Originally from Philadelphia, she currently lives near Richmond, Virginia, with her husband and three children. To learn more, visit SadeqaJohnson.net. Register to receive a link to the pre-recorded interview, which will go live on Wednesday, March 24 at 7:00 p.m. We invite you to subscribe to the Library’s YouTube channel to watch at your convenience.
Literary Connections with Mark Schenker: Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
Thursday, March 25, 7 – 8 p.m.
Published in 1925, Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway became a masterpiece of modern fiction and helped to redefine what a novel is. In October 2005, it was included in Time list of “The 100 Best English Language Novels Written Since Time Debuted in 1923.” Mark J. Schenker has been at Yale College since 1990. He is currently a senior associate dean of the College and dean of academic affairs. A former lecturer in the English Department, he received his Ph.D. from Columbia University with a concentration in 19th-century and early 20th-century English literature. Dean Schenker has for over 25 years lectured on literature and film and has led book discussion series in more than 100 venues in Connecticut, including public libraries, museums, and cultural centers. For the past decade, he has given programs on Shakespeare’s plays in conjunction with Shakespeare on the Sound. He also conducts monthly sessions for a number of private reading groups in Connecticut. In 2001, he received the Wilbur Cross Award for Outstanding Humanities Scholar, presented by the Connecticut Humanities Council.
VIRTUAL – Friends Friday Film Reel Talk: Conversation with Filmmaker Elizabeth Rynecki, Director of Chasing Portraits
Friday, March 26, 7 – 8 p.m.
Join us for a conversation with filmmaker Elizabeth Rynecki, the director, producer and writer of the 2018 film, Chasing Portraits. This inspiring film is about one man’s art and one woman’s unexpected path to healing. Follow an American woman’s emotional quest to find the paintings of her Polish-Jewish great-grandfather, lost during World War II. Watch the movie on Kanopy and have an intimate Q&A session with this independent filmmaker and discuss her journey of family and filmmaking. Access to Friends Friday Films virtual streaming is free to patrons with a Greenwich Library card using Kanopy. This series is made possible by contributions from the Friends of Greenwich Library.
About Greenwich Library
The Greenwich Library system consists of the Main Library and its Byram Shubert and Cos Cob branches. The mission of Greenwich Library is to provide exceptional resources, programs and services that promote the joy of lifelong learning and discovery, and to offer a welcoming place for people to gather and share experiences. With over 2,000 programs and events per year, the Library seeks to serve as the cultural and intellectual crossroads of the community. Greenwich Library has a total circulation of about 1.2 million, the highest reported in Connecticut. Greenwich Library was recently named a five-star library by Library Journal for the 11th time. Greenwich Library is located at 101 West Putnam Avenue in Greenwich. Cos Cob Library is located at 5 Sinawoy Road in Cos Cob. Byram Shubert Library is located at 21 Mead Avenue in Greenwich. More information is available online at www.greenwichlibrary.org or by calling 203-622-7900.
