From its founding, the Mercantile Library has served as a cultural center for the city. The first lecture series in the newly opened West was instituted by the members in the 1840s. The first speakers were prominent citizens of the young city and members themselves. As the city and Library prospered, they were able to attract ever more distinguished lecturers, including W. M. Thackeray, Herman Melville, and Harriet Beecher Stowe. That tradition continues with the annual Niehoff Lectures which have brought such distinguished writers and speakers as John Updike, Tom Wolfe, and Jonathan Winters to the Library. There are also courses, small concerts, author readings and book signings, a large number of which are scheduled at noon for the convenience of the many members who work and shop in the city's downtown.
The Mercantile Library is proud to be a partner in CETconnect.org, working with CET, Greater Cincinnati’s public television station, to connect our community to interviews, lectures, activities, special events and other unique presentations and programs. CETconnect.org, the first community public media website, engages, enriches, educates and entertains by bringing on-demand high-quality video and information to Greater Cincinnati—and the world. Experience it yourself at CETconnect.org.
Click here to see a complete list of Mercantile Library videos available on CETconnect.
First Wednesday Book Discussion Group
TBA
Wed, Sep 2nd 2009 | 12:00 PM
12th Floor Lecture Room
No charge for members; $5 for nonmembers. A box lunch is available by advance reservation for $8.
The Modern Novel
CHRIS BOHJALIAN is the critically acclaimed author of eleven novels, including the #1 New York Times bestseller and Oprah’s Book Club selection, Midwives.
Bohjalian won the New England Book Award in 2002, and his novel, The Double Bind, was also a New York Times bestseller. His newest novel, Skeletons at the Feast, is an epic love story based on an authentic WWII diary. His work has been translated into 21 languages and has sold over three million copies.
[His} sense of character and place, his skillful plotting and his clear grasp of this confusing period of history make for a deeply satisfying novel, one that asks readers to consider, and reconsider, how they would rise to the challenge of terrible deprivation and agonizing moral choices.” - Margot Livesey on Skeletons at the Feast
Copies of Mr. Bohjalian's books will be available for purchase and signing courtesy of The Bookshelf.
Thu, Sep 17th 2009 | 7:00 PM
Location to be announced
$15 for members;$20 for nonmembers
First Wednesday Book Discussion Group
TBA
Wed, Oct 7th 2009 | 12:00 PM
12th Floor Lecture Room
No charge for members; $5 for nonmembers. A box lunch is available by advance reservation for $8.
Niehoff Lecture XXII
The Mercantile Libray is pleased to present A.S. Byatt as our 22nd Niehoff Lecturer.
A.S. Byatt weaves her many interests, among them biology, history, and philosophy, into her work. The results are novels with, as she has often stated, "the whole world in them;" books that teem with characters and ideas, books in which reading and writing usually prove a matter of life, death and freedom. Already a formidable literary figure in England, she achieved best-seller status in the U.S. with her Booker Prize-winning novel Possession: A Romance.
The Niehoff Lecture serves as the primary fundraising event for the Mercantile Library. A portion of the ticket price is tax deductible.
SPONSORS: Mr. and Mrs. H.C. Buck Niehoff
Sat, Oct 10th 2009 | 7:00 PM
Regency Ballroom, The Hyatt Regency Cincinnati
$150 members;$175 nonmembers;$2500 First Edition Tables
First Wednesday Book Discussion Group
TBA
Wed, Nov 4th 2009 | 12:00 PM
12th Floor Lecture Room
No charge for members; $5 for nonmembers. A box lunch is available by advance reservation for $8.
First Wednesday Book Discussion Group
TBA
