BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Mercantile Library//Events//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH X-WR-CALNAME:Mercantile Library Events X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/New_York BEGIN:VEVENT UID:event-34@mercantilelibrary.com DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230413T180000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230413T200000 SUMMARY:The 1835 Lecture DESCRIPTION:Cincinnati native and National Book Award Winner Tiya Miles del ivers the 1835 Lecture. LOCATION:414 Walnut St.\, #1100\, Cincinnati\, OH\, 45202 URL:https://www.mercantilelibrary.com/c/2023/04/13/the-1835-lecture END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:event-47@mercantilelibrary.com DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230516T180000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230516T200000 SUMMARY:The Albert Pyle Urban Lecture DESCRIPTION:Journalist Henry Grabar discusses his book Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World as the 2023 Albert Pyle Urban Lecturer. LOCATION:414 Walnut St.\, #1100\, Cincinnati\, OH\, 45202 URL:https://www.mercantilelibrary.com/c/2023/05/16/the-albert-pyle-urban-le cture END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:event-54@mercantilelibrary.com DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230810T180000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230810T200000 SUMMARY:2035: An Evening with Means Cameron DESCRIPTION:This has been rescheduled from the original date of July 27. LOCATION:414 Walnut St.\, Cincinnati\, OH\, 45202 URL:https://www.mercantilelibrary.com/c/2023/08/10/2035-an-evening-with-mea ns-cameron END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:event-74@mercantilelibrary.com DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20230919T180000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20230919T200000 SUMMARY:The Science & Nature Lecture: Angela Saini DESCRIPTION:Award-winning journalist Angela Saini delivers the Science & Na ture Lecture based on her book The Patriarchs: The Origins of Inequality\nA bout the book: The end products of male power are well documented – in th e greater proportion of men in positions of authority\, in the preference f or sons in many parts of the world\, in rates of sexual harassment\, in sta tistic after statistic – but that in itself isn’t an explanation for ho w men came to rule to begin with. How did patriarchy become embedded in soc ieties all over the globe? Journalist and author Angela Saini explores the gradual clamping down of women’s rights and freedoms over thousands of ye ars\, and how developments in science and archaeology can help paint this c omplex history.\n6 pm reception/6:30 pm programFree to Mercantile members/$ 20 nonmembers. Registration required.\n\nCopies of The Patriarchs will be a vailable for sale & signing courtesy of Joseph-Beth Cincinnati.\nAbout Ange la Saini: Angela Saini is an award-winning journalist and author. She has p resented science programmes on BBC radio and television\, and her writing h as appeared in National Geographic\, Wired\, the Lancet and Nature.\nShe is the author of four books\, including Superior: The Return of Race Science\ , which was a finalist for the LA Times Book Prize and Inferior: How Scienc e Got Women Wrong\, which has been translated into fourteen languages. Her latest book\, The Patriarchs\, is a finalist for the Orwell Prize for Polit ical Writing.\nAngela has a Masters in Engineering from the University of O xford and has been a Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology an d the Humboldt Foundation in Berlin. This year she was made an honorary fel low of Keble College\, Oxford. LOCATION:414 Walnut St.\, Cincinnati\, OH\, 45202 URL:https://www.mercantilelibrary.com/c/2023/09/19/the-science-nature-lectu re-angela-saini END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:event-153@mercantilelibrary.com DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240116T160000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240116T180000 SUMMARY:The Annual Meeting DESCRIPTION:The Annual Meeting & Cincinnati History LectureThe Outsider: Th e Life and Work of Lafcadio HearnDelivered by Steve KemmeAGENDA4:00 pm DOOR S4:30 pm BUSINESS MEETING and 2024 SEASON ANNOUNCEMENT4:50 pm CINCINNATI HI STORY LECTUREFree to members. Reservations required.R.S.V.P. by January 15 via ticketing or emailFor more information: 513.621.0717\nJoin us to hear a bout our 2024 Season\, 12th Story Expansion\, ANDCincinnati’s most enigma tic and controversial figure\, Lafcadio Hearn.\nAuthor Steve Kemme will hav e you step into the extraordinary life of the man who made an impact as an observer wherever he lived\, and went on to become the leading western inte rpreter of Japan and Japanese culture--a position he still occupies today.\ nBorn in Greece and abandoned as a child\, Lafcadio Hearn lived the life of an exile. He travelled the world and became a famous writer but always fel t like an outsider--in Dublin\, London\, Cincinnati\, New Orleans\, and Fre nch-speaking Martinique. To him\, none of these places felt like home.\nSte ve Kemme is president of the Lafcadio Hearn Society/USA and a former report er for the Cincinnati Enquirer\, where Hearn formerly worked. He is a membe r of the Japan Research Center of Greater Cincinnati and has spoken at Hear n symposiums worldwide. LOCATION:1301 Western Avenue\, Cincinnati\, OH\, 45203 URL:https://www.mercantilelibrary.com/c/2024/01/16/the-annual-meeting END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:event-76@mercantilelibrary.com DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240201T180000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240201T200000 SUMMARY:The Modern Novel Lecture DESCRIPTION:Pulitzer Prize Winner Andrew Sean Greer delivers the 2023 Moder n Novel Lecture. LOCATION:1301 Western Ave. \, Cincinnati\, OH\, 45203 URL:https://www.mercantilelibrary.com/c/2024/02/01/the-modern-novel-lecture END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:event-166@mercantilelibrary.com DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240711T180000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240711T200000 SUMMARY:The Science & Nature Lecture DESCRIPTION:Music & Memory with Stefan Fiol & Rhonna Shatz\nUniversity of C incinnati Professors Stefan Fiol (CCM) & Rhonna Shatz (College of Medicine) will discuss their groundbreaking collaboration on Dementia and the Arts\, a joint effort between UC’s College of Medicine and the College-Conserva tory of Music (CCM).\nThe program pairs music and medical students with peo ple in the community with cognitive impairment and dementia\, along with th eir care partners to explore the benefits of musical collaboration.\n6 pm r eception/6:30 pm programFree to members/$25 nonmembersRegistration required \nStefan Fiol joined the CCM faculty in 2010 and is Professor of Ethnomusi cology and Affiliated Faculty in Asian Studies. He researches music\, dance \, ritual practice\, media and the histories of commercial and folkloric cu ltural representation the Uttarakhand Himalayas and North India. Professor Fiol’s monograph\, Recasting Folk in the Himalayas: Indian Music\, Media and Social Mobility\, was published by University of Illinois Press in 2017 and received the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies Jim Fisher Bo ok Award (Honorable Mention). His current research explores drumming as a h istoriographic tool in the central Himalayas\, specifically through mapping drumming practice and reading shifts and continuities against insights fro m oral history\, archaeology and sociolinguistics.\n\nRhonna Shatz is the M edical Director of the Memory Disorders Center and the Bob and Sandy Heiman n Chair in Research and Education of Alzheimer’s Disease. She is a UCNS-c ertified (United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties) behavioral neurolog ist who came to Cincinnati after 25 years at Henry Ford Health Systems in D etroit\, where she was the Clayton Alandt Chair of Behavioral Neurology. LOCATION:1301 Western Ave.\, Cincinnati\, OH\, 45203 URL:https://www.mercantilelibrary.com/c/2024/07/11/the-science-nature-lectu re END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:event-167@mercantilelibrary.com DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240715T180000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240715T200000 SUMMARY:Albert Pyle Urban Lecture DESCRIPTION:JOHN JOE SCHLICHTMAN: SHOWROOM CITY\nShowroom City is the nickn ame of High Point\, NC\, which was once the furniture capital of the world. It remains the furniture showroom capital of the world… but in 2011 the city sold ALL of the showroom space to a venture capital company. This is a story of how a city moves on from manufacturing…. And the mistakes to av oid.\n6 pm reception/6:30 pm programFree to members/$25 nonmembersRegistrat ion required\nDr. John Joe Schlichtman is an urban sociologist who is motiv ated by the potential of equitable\, just\, and productive community develo pment. A primary goal in his scholarship is to tether our understanding of seemingly huge processes like globalization and gentrification to the stree t level. His research examines how stakeholders resist or exploit transform ation\, the decisions residents make in navigating it\, its influence on th e urban landscape\, and the various paths leaders chart forward in its mids t. This interplay relates to issues as diverse as community development\, h ousing\, economic change\, public health\, policing practices\, and educati on policy. LOCATION:1301 Western Ave.\, Cincinnati\, OH\, 45203 URL:https://www.mercantilelibrary.com/c/2024/07/15/albert-pyle-urban-lectur e END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:event-169@mercantilelibrary.com DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240807T180000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240807T200000 SUMMARY:The Innovation Lecture: SOLD OUT DESCRIPTION:SOLD OUT: to be placed on the wait list\, please email Amy Hunt er.\nThe Innovation Lecture: (Formerly Known as 2035) featuring Emily Wilso n\nEmily Wilson\, the first woman to translate both The Odyssey and The Ili ad into English joins us to talk about her groundbreaking work bringing Hom er into modernity. Her pioneering and straightforward translations have won critical and popular acclaim.\n\n6 pm reception/6:30 pm programFree to mem bers/$25 nonmembersRegistration required\nEmily Wilson is Professor of Clas sical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania\, holding the College for W omen Class of 1963 Term Professor in the Humanities. Wilson attended Oxford University (Balliol College B.A. in Classics and Corpus Christi College M. Phil. in Renaissance English Literature) and Yale University (Ph.D. in Clas sics and Comparative Literature). She has been named a Fellow of the Americ an Academy in Rome in Renaissance & Early Modern scholarship\, a MacArthur Fellow\, and a Guggenheim Fellow. She lives in Philadelphia with her family and pets. LOCATION:1301 Western Ave.\, Cincinnati\, OH\, 45203 URL:https://www.mercantilelibrary.com/c/2024/08/07/the-innovation-lecture-s old-out END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:event-170@mercantilelibrary.com DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20240912T180000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20240912T200000 SUMMARY:The 1835 Lecture DESCRIPTION:WILLIAM KRISTOL\nPolitical Analyst and Network Television Comme ntator William Kristol joins us to offer his unique perspective on America\ , the Constitution and conservatism.\n6 pm reception/6:30 pm programFree to members/$25 nonmembersRegistration required\nWilliam Kristol is founder of The Weekly Standard\, founder and Director of Defending Democracy Together \, as well as a political analyst for ABC News. He is a regular on ABC's Th is Week and on ABC's special events and election coverage\, and also appear s frequently on other leading political commentary shows including CNN's Cr ossfire\, MSNBC's Morning Joe and FOX's Special Report. Unafraid to critici ze even those on his side of the political fence\, Kristol draws on all asp ects of his background in government and politics to analyze Congress\, the Trump Administration and U.S. foreign policy at home and abroad. He has pl ayed a major role in the debate on American foreign policy since September 11th\, and was the co-author of the New York Times bestseller The War over Iraq. A strategist who thrived at the hub of power before becoming an analy st\, Kristol chaired the Project for the Republican Future where he helped shape the 1994 Republican congressional victory. Prior to that\, he served as chief of staff to Vice President Dan Quayle and Education Secretary Will iam Bennett. He also taught politics at the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Kristol is the recipient of the 2 009 Bradley Prize for his commitment to strengthening American democratic c apitalism and the institutions\, principles and values that sustain and nur ture it. LOCATION:1301 Western Ave.\, Cincinnati\, OH\, 45203 URL:https://www.mercantilelibrary.com/c/2024/09/12/the-1835-lecture END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:event-173@mercantilelibrary.com DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20241008T180000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20241008T200000 SUMMARY:The Memoir Lecture: Christian Cooper DESCRIPTION:Christian Cooper delivers the 2024 Memoir lecture on his book\, Better Living Through Birding: Notes from A Black Man in the Natural World \n6 pm reception/6:30 pm programFree to members/$25 nonmembersRegistration required\n\nChristian Cooper is a science and comics writer and editor and the host and consulting producer of Extraordinary Birder on National Geogra phic. One of Marvel’s first openly gay writers and editors\, Cooper intro duced the first gay male character in Star Trek\, in the Starfleet Academy series\, which was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award. He also introduced th e first openly lesbian character for Marvel and created and authored Queer Nation: The Online Gay Comic. Based in New York City\, he is on the board o f directors for NYC Audubon. LOCATION:1301 Western Ave.\, Cincinnati\, OH\, 45203 URL:https://www.mercantilelibrary.com/c/2024/10/08/the-memoir-lecture-chris tian-cooper END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:event-172@mercantilelibrary.com DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20241016T180000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20241016T200000 SUMMARY:The Modern Novel Lecture: Jesmyn Ward DESCRIPTION:Jesmyn Ward\nTwo-time National Book Award-winner and MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient Jesmyn Ward delivers the 2024 Modern Novel Lec ture. \nWard has been hailed as the standout writer of her generation\, pro ving her “fearless and toughly lyrical” voice in novels\, memoir\, and nonfiction. She is the author of Salvage the Bones\, winner of the 2011 Nat ional Book Award\; Sing\, Unburied\, Sing\, winner of the 2017 National Boo k Award\; the memoir Men We Reaped\; and the novel\, Let Us Descend. \n6 pm reception/6:30 pm programFree to members/$25 nonmembersRegistration requir ed. Please note date change. You do NOT need to register for new date. \nJe smyn Ward is a professor at Tulane University in New Orleans where she teac hes creative writing. In 2016\, she won the Strauss Living award\, given ev ery five years by the American Academy of Arts & Letters for literary excel lence. In 2017\, she was recognized with a MacArthur Foundation Genius Gran t for her work “exploring the enduring bonds of community and familial lo ve among poor African-Americans of the rural South against a landscape of c ircumscribed possibilities and lost potential.” In 2018\, she was recogni zed among Time‘s 100 Most Influential People\, and she is the winner of t he 2022 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction. LOCATION:1301 Western Ave.\, Cincinnati\, OH\, 45203 URL:https://www.mercantilelibrary.com/c/2024/10/16/the-modern-novel-lecture -jesmyn-ward END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:event-174@mercantilelibrary.com DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20241112T180000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20241112T200000 SUMMARY:Words & Music: SOLD OUT DESCRIPTION:OVER the RHINE: Karin Bergquist and Linford Detweiler\nSOLD OUT : the wait list is currently full\nIf you have tickets for this event\, we will send information closer to the date.\nThe Words & Music lecture is bac k with singer-songwriters/multi-instrumentalists Karin Bergquist and Linfor d Detweiler (who've been married for 22 years) have built a vivid\, emotion ally-charged body of work that has won them a deeply devoted following and critical acclaim.\nThey'll be telling the stories behind the songs and play ing the Mercantile's 1937 Steinway.\n6 pm reception/6:30 pm program Free to members/$50 nonmembersRegistration required. Space is limited. LOCATION:414 Walnut St.\, #1100\, Cincinnati\, OH\, 45202 URL:https://www.mercantilelibrary.com/c/2024/11/12/words-music-sold-out END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:event-313@mercantilelibrary.com DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250225T180000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250225T200000 SUMMARY:SOLD OUT - The Memoir Lecture: Michelle Zauner DESCRIPTION:SOLD OUT - Please email michael@mercantilelibrary.com to be add ed to the waitlist.\n#1 New York Times Bestseller Michelle Zauner delivers the 2025 Memoir Lecture.\nFrom the indie rock sensation known as Japanese B reakfast\, an unforgettable memoir about family\, food\, grief\, love\, and growing up Korean American—“in losing her mother and cooking to bring her back to life\, Zauner became herself” (NPR).\nIn this exquisite story of family\, food\, grief\, and endurance\, Michelle Zauner proves herself far more than a dazzling singer\, songwriter\, and guitarist. With humor an d heart\, she tells of growing up one of the few Asian American kids at her school in Eugene\, Oregon\; of struggling with her mother's particular\, h igh expectations of her\; of a painful adolescence\; of treasured months sp ent in her grandmother's tiny apartment in Seoul\, where she and her mother would bond\, late at night\, over heaping plates of food.\nAs she grew up\ , moving to the East Coast for college\, finding work in the restaurant ind ustry\, and performing gigs with her fledgling band--and meeting the man wh o would become her husband--her Koreanness began to feel ever more distant\ , even as she found the life she wanted to live. It was her mother's diagno sis of terminal cancer\, when Michelle was twenty-five\, that forced a reck oning with her identity and brought her to reclaim the gifts of taste\, lan guage\, and history her mother had given her.\nVivacious and plainspoken\, lyrical and honest\, Zauner's voice is as radiantly alive on the page as it is onstage. Rich with intimate anecdotes that will resonate widely\, and c omplete with family photos\, Crying in H Mart is a book to cherish\, share\ , and reread.\n\n6 pm reception/6:30 pm program Free to members/$25 nonmemb ers Registration required.\nCopies of Crying in H Mart will be available fo r sale & signing courtesy of Joseph-Beth Cincinnati.\n\nMICHELLE ZAUNER is best known as a singer and guitarist who creates dreamy\, shoegaze-inspired indie pop under the name Japanese Breakfast. She has won acclaim from majo r music outlets around the world for releases like Psychopomp (2016) and So ft Sounds from Another Planet (2017). LOCATION:414 Walnut Street\, #1100\, Cincinnati\, OH\, 45202 URL:https://www.mercantilelibrary.com/c/2025/02/25/sold-out--the-memoir-lec ture-michelle-zauner END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:event-311@mercantilelibrary.com DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250417T180000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250417T200000 SUMMARY:SOLD OUT - The 1835 Lecture: Timothy Egan DESCRIPTION:SOLD OUT - Please email michael@mercantilelibrary.com to be add ed to the waitlist.\nPulitzer and National Book Award-winner Timothy Egan d elivers the 2025 1835 Lecture.\nA historical thriller by the New York Times bestselling author that tells the riveting story of the Klan's rise to pow er in the 1920s\, the cunning con man who drove that rise\, and the woman w ho stopped them.\nThe Roaring Twenties--the Jazz Age--has been characterize d as a time of Gatsby frivolity. But it was also the height of the uniquely American hate group\, the Ku Klux Klan. Their domain was not the old Confe deracy\, but the Heartland and the West. They hated Blacks\, Jews\, Catholi cs and immigrants in equal measure\, and took radical steps to keep these p eople from the American promise. And the man who set in motion their takeov er of great swaths of America was a charismatic charlatan named D.C. Stephe nson.\nStephenson was a magnetic presence whose life story changed with eve ry telling. Within two years of his arrival in Indiana\, he’d become the Grand Dragon of the state and the architect of the strategy that brought th e group out of the shadows – their message endorsed from the pulpits of l ocal churches\, spread at family picnics and town celebrations. Judges\, pr osecutors\, ministers\, governors and senators across the country all proud ly proclaimed their membership. But at the peak of his influence\, it was a seemingly powerless woman – Madge Oberholtzer – who would reveal his s ecret cruelties\, and whose deathbed testimony finally brought the Klan to their knees.\n\n6 pm reception/6:30 pm program Free to members/$25 nonmembe rs Registration required.\nCopies of A Fever in the Heartland will be avail able for sale & signing courtesy of Joseph-Beth Cincinnati.\nPlease pre-ord er the book here - https://www.josephbeth.com/product/fever-heartland-ku-kl ux-klans-plot-take-over-america-and-woman-who-stopped-them-paperback\n\nTim othy Egan is a Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter and the author of nine oth er books\, most recently the highly acclaimed A Pilgrimage to Eternity and The Immortal Irishman\, a New York Times bestseller. His book on the Dust B owl\, The Worst Hard Time\, won a National Book Award for Excellence in Non fiction. His account of photographer Edward Curtis\, Short Nights of the Sh adow Catcher\, won the Carnegie Medal for nonfiction. LOCATION:414 Walnut Street\, #1100\, Cincinnati\, OH\, 45202 URL:https://www.mercantilelibrary.com/c/2025/04/17/sold-out--the-1835-lectu re-timothy-egan END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:event-333@mercantilelibrary.com DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250501T180000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250501T193000 SUMMARY:Words & Music Lecture: Fred Hersch DESCRIPTION:Jazz could not contain Fred Hersch.\nHersch’s prodigious tale nt as a sideman—a pianist who played with the giants of the twentieth cen tury in the autumn of their careers\, including Art Farmer and Joe Henderso n—blossomed further in the eighties and beyond into a compositional geniu s that defied the boundaries of bop\, sweeping in elements of pop\, classic al\, and folk to create a wholly new music.\nGood Things Happen Slowly is h is memoir. It’s the story of the first openly gay\, HIV-positive jazz pla yer\; a deep look into the cloistered jazz culture that made such a status both transgressive and groundbreaking\; and a profound exploration of how H ersch’s two-month-long coma in 2007 led to his creating some of the fines t\, most direct\, and most emotionally compelling music of his career.\nRem arkable\, and at times lyrical\, Good Things Happen Slowly is an evocation of the twilight of Post-Stonewall New York\, and a powerfully brave narrati ve of illness\, recovery\, music\, creativity\, and the glorious reward of finally becoming oneself.\n6 pm reception/6:30 pm program $25 for Members\, $50 for Non-Members. Registration required.\nCopies of Good Things Happen Slowly will be available for sale.\nAbout Fred Hersch\nJazz pianist\, compo ser\, activist\, and educator Fred Hersch is a ten-time Grammy nominee and the recipient of a 2003 Guggenheim Fellowship in Composition. He was named a 2016 Doris Duke Artist and has twice been awarded Jazz Pianist of the Yea r by the Jazz Journalists Association. He concertizes worldwide as a solo a rtist\, as a collaborator\, and with the Fred Hersch Trio. He was a longtim e member of the Jazz Studies faculty of the New England Conservatory and no w teaches at Rutgers University. He is the subject of the feature documenta ry The Ballad of Fred Hersch. He lives in New York City and Pennsylvania wi th his partner\, Scott Morgan. LOCATION:414 Walnut Street\, #1100\, Cincinnati\, OH\, 45202 URL:https://www.mercantilelibrary.com/c/2025/05/01/words-music-lecture-fred -hersch END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:event-314@mercantilelibrary.com DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250508T180000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250508T200000 SUMMARY:SOLD OUT - The Hearth & Home Lecture: Crystal Wilkinson DESCRIPTION:SOLD OUT - Please email michael@mercantilelibrary.com to be add ed to the waitlist.\nAward Winner and National Bestseller Crystal Wilkinson delivers the 2025 Hearth & Home Lecture.\nPeople are always surprised that Black people reside in the hills of Appalachia. Those not surprised that w e were there\, are surprised that we stayed.\nYears ago\, when O. Henry Pri ze-winning writer Crystal Wilkinson was baking a jam cake\, she felt her la te grandmother’s presence. She soon realized that she was not the only co ok in her kitchen\; there were her ancestors\, too\, stirring\, measuring\, and braising alongside her. These are her kitchen ghosts\, five generation s of Black women who settled in Appalachia and made a life\, a legacy\, and a cuisine.\n\nAn expert cook\, Wilkinson shares nearly forty family recipe s rooted deep in the past\, full of flavor—delicious favorites including Corn Pudding\, Chicken and Dumplings\, Granny Christine’s Jam Cake\, and Praisesong Biscuits\, brought to vivid life through stunning photography. T ogether\, Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts honors the mothers who came bef ore\, the land that provided for generations of her family\, and the untold heritage of Black Appalachia.\nAs the keeper of her family’s stories and treasured dishes\, Wilkinson shares her inheritance in Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts. She found their stories in her apron pockets\, floating ins ide the steam of hot mustard greens and tucked into the sweet scent of clov e and cinnamon in her kitchen. Part memoir\, part cookbook\, Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts weaves those stories together with recipes\, family pho tos\, and a lyrical imagination to present a culinary portrait of a family that has lived and worked the earth of the mountains for over a century.\n\ n6 pm reception/6:30 pm program Free to members/$25 nonmembers Registration required.\nCopies of Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts will be available f or sale & signing courtesy of Joseph-Beth Cincinnati.\nPlease pre-order the book here - https://www.josephbeth.com/event/mercantile-library-event-%E2% 80%93-home-hearth-crystal-wilkinson\n\nCrystal Wilkinson\, Kentucky’s Poe t Laureate from 2021 to 2023\, is the award-winning author of Perfect Black \; The Birds of Opulence\; Water Street\; and Blackberries\, Blackberries. She is the recipient of an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Poetry\, an O. Henry Prize\, a USA Artists Fellowship\, and an Ernest J. Gaines Prize for Literary Excellence. She has received recognition from the Yaddo Foundatio n\, Hedgebrook\, The Hermitage Foundation\, and others. Her short stories\, poems\, and essays have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. She currently teaches at the University of Kentucky in the creative writing MF A program.\n\nAbout America's River Roots\nAmerica’s River Roots Festival is a signature event for America’s 250th celebration\, taking place from October 08-12\, 2025 in Cincy along the banks of the Ohio River. Soak into River Roots Music\, Cuisine and Culture that honor and share our unique Am erican stories and celebrates the distinct contributions and experiences th at make Cincy\, Cincy. The river is singing. Join in. LOCATION:414 Walnut Street\, #1100\, Cincinnati\, OH\, 45202 URL:https://www.mercantilelibrary.com/c/2025/05/08/sold-out--the-hearth-hom e-lecture-crystal-wilkinson END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:event-322@mercantilelibrary.com DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250710T180000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250710T200000 SUMMARY:The Albert Pyle Urban Lecture: Becca Costello & Ella Rowen DESCRIPTION:Backed Up Podcast hosts Becca Costello & Ella Rowen deliver the 2025 Albert Pyle Urban Lecture.\nThere's something wrong with the plumbing in Cincinnati. Sewage is bubbling up in our basements and pouring into our waterways. Climate change is making it worse\, and the powers that be can' t seem to agree on how to fix it.\nBacked Up is a podcast that demystifies one of the most complex systems of public infrastructure — our sewers — and tells the stories of the people suffering under decades of mismanageme nt.\n\n6 pm reception/6:30 pm program\nFree to members/$25 nonmembers\nRegi stration required.\n\nBecca Costello and Ella Rowen are co-hosts of Backed Up. Becca is Cincinnati Public Radio’s Local Government Reporter\; she ha s a Master’s in Journalism from Indiana University and nearly ten years o f public media experience. Ella is CPR’s Podcast Coordinator with a parti cular passion for sound design\; she also produces and engineers CPR’s po dcast Looking Up with Dean Regas. LOCATION:414 Walnut Street\, #1100\, Cincinnati\, OH\, 45202 URL:https://www.mercantilelibrary.com/c/2025/07/10/the-albert-pyle-urban-le cture-becca-costello-ella-rowen END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:event-315@mercantilelibrary.com DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250827T180000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250827T200000 SUMMARY:SOLD OUT - The Science & Nature Lecture: Ada Limón DESCRIPTION:SOLD OUT - Please email michael@mercantilelibrary.com to be add ed to the waitlist.\n24th Poet Laureate of The United States and National B estseller Ada Limón delivers the 2025 Science & Nature Lecture.\nPublished in association with the Library of Congress and edited by the twenty-fourt h Poet Laureate of the United States\, a singular collection of poems refle cting on our relationship to the natural world by fifty of our most celebra ted contemporary writers.\nIn recent years\, our poetic landscape has evolv ed in profound and exciting ways. So has our planet. Edited and introduced by the twenty-fourth Poet Laureate of the United States\, Ada Limón\, this book challenges what we think we know about "nature poetry\," illuminating the myriad ways our landscapes-both literal and literary-are changing.\nYo u Are Here features fifty previously unpublished poems from some of the nat ion's most accomplished poets\, including Joy Harjo\, Diane Seuss\, Rigober to González\, Jericho Brown\, Aimee Nezhukumatathil\, Paul Tran\, and more . Each poem engages with its author's local landscape-be it the breathtakin g variety of flora in a national park\, or a lone tree flowering persistent ly by a bus stop-offering an intimate model of how we relate to the world a round us and a beautifully diverse range of voices from across the United S tates.\nJoyful and provocative\, wondrous and urgent\, this singular collec tion of poems offers a lyrical reimagining of what "nature" and "poetry" ar e today\, inviting readers to experience both anew.\n\n6 pm reception/6:30 pm program Free to members/$25 nonmembers Registration required.\n\nCopies of You Are Here will be available for sale & signing courtesy of Joseph-Bet h Cincinnati.\nPlease pre-order the book here - https://www.josephbeth.com/ event/mercantile-library-event-%E2%80%93-science-nature-ada-limon\n\nAda Li món is the author of six books of poetry\, including The Carrying\, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry. Her most recent book of poetry\, The Hurting Kind\, was shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Priz e. She is the 24th Poet Laureate of The United States\, the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship\, and a TIME magazine woman of the year. As the Poet L aureate\, her signature project is called You Are Here and focuses on how p oetry can help connect us to the natural world. Her first books for childre n include In Praise of Mystery and And\, Too\, The Fox. LOCATION:414 Walnut Street\, #1100\, Cincinnati\, OH\, 45202 URL:https://www.mercantilelibrary.com/c/2025/08/27/sold-out--the-science-na ture-lecture-ada-limn END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:event-319@mercantilelibrary.com DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250909T180000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250909T200000 SUMMARY:SOLD OUT - The Modern Novel Lecture: Kaveh Akbar DESCRIPTION:SOLD OUT - Please email michael@mercantilelibrary.com to be add ed to the waitlist.\nNew York Times Bestseller & National Book Award Finali st Kaveh Akbar delivers the 2025 Modern Novel Lecture.\nA newly sober\, orp haned son of Iranian immigrants\, guided by the voices of artists\, poets\, and kings\, embarks on a remarkable search for a family secret that leads him to a terminally ill painter living out her final days in the Brooklyn M useum. Electrifying\, funny\, and wholly original\, Martyr! heralds the arr ival of an essential new voice in contemporary fiction.\nCyrus Shams is a y oung man grappling with an inheritance of violence and loss: his mother’s plane was shot down over the skies of the Persian Gulf in a senseless acci dent\; and his father’s life in America was circumscribed by his work kil ling chickens at a factory farm in the Midwest. Cyrus is a drunk\, an addic t\, and a poet\, whose obsession with martyrs leads him to examine the myst eries of his past—toward an uncle who rode through Iranian battlefields d ressed as the angel of death to inspire and comfort the dying\, and toward his mother\, through a painting discovered in a Brooklyn art gallery that s uggests she may not have been who or what she seemed.\nKaveh Akbar’s Mart yr! is a paean to how we spend our lives seeking meaning—in faith\, art\, ourselves\, others.\n\n6 pm reception/6:30 pm program Free to members/$25 nonmembers Registration required.\nCopies of Martyr! will be available for sale & signing courtesy of Downbound Books. You can also purchase any of Ka veh's books at downboundbooks.com/kaveh-akbar\n\nKAVEH AKBAR’s poems appe ar in The New Yorker\, The New York Times\, The Paris Review\, The Best Ame rican Poetry\, and elsewhere. He is the author of two poetry collections: P ilgrim Bell and Calling a Wolf a Wolf\, in addition to a chapbook\, Portrai t of the Alcoholic. He is also the editor of The Penguin Book of Spiritual Verse: 110 Poets on the Divine. He lives in Iowa City. LOCATION:414 Walnut Street\, #1100\, Cincinnati\, OH\, 45202 URL:https://www.mercantilelibrary.com/c/2025/09/09/sold-out--the-modern-nov el-lecture-kaveh-akbar END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:event-320@mercantilelibrary.com DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251008T180000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251008T200000 SUMMARY:SOLD OUT - The Innovation Lecture: Lauren Groff DESCRIPTION:SOLD OUT - Please email michael@mercantilelibrary.com to be add ed to the waitlist.\nNew York Times Bestselling Novelist & Lynx Bookstore O wner Lauren Groff delivers the 2025 Innovation Lecture.\nLauren Groff is a three-time National Book Award finalist and The New York Times–bestsellin g author of the novels The Monsters of Templeton\, Arcadia\, Fates and Furi es\, Matrix\, and The Vaster Wilds\, and the celebrated short story collect ions Delicate Edible Birds and Florida. She has won The Story Prize\, the A BA Indies’ Choice Award\, France’s Grand Prix de l’Héroïne\, and th e Joyce Carol Oates Prize\, and has been a finalist for the National Book C ritics Circle Award. Her work regularly appears in The New Yorker\, The Atl antic\, and elsewhere. Her work has been translated into thirty-six languag es. She lives in Gainesville\, Florida.\nIn 2024\, Lauren Groff She was nam ed one of the 100 most influential people by TIME and opened a bookstore\, The Lynx\, in Gainesville\, Florida.\n\n6 pm reception/6:30 pm program Free to members/$25 nonmembers Registration required.\nCopies of Lauren’s boo ks will be available for sale & signing courtesy of Joseph-Beth Cincinnati. \nPlease pre-order the book here - https://www.josephbeth.com/event/mercant ile-library-event-%E2%80%93-innovation-lauren-groff LOCATION:414 Walnut Street\, #1100\, Cincinnati\, OH\, 45202 URL:https://www.mercantilelibrary.com/c/2025/10/08/sold-out--the-innovation -lecture-lauren-groff END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:event-518@mercantilelibrary.com DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260120T160000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260120T180000 SUMMARY:The Annual Meeting DESCRIPTION:The Annual Meeting & Cincinnati History Lecture\nAGENDA4:00 pm RECEPTION4:30 pm BUSINESS MEETING & 2026 SEASON ANNOUNCEMENT4:50 pm CINCINN ATI HISTORY LECTUREAmerica's First Black Socialist: The Radical Life of Pet er H. ClarkDelivered by Dr. Nikki M. Taylor\nFree to members. Reservations required.R.S.V.P. by January 15.For more information: 513.621.0717\nJoin us for the announcement of our 2026 Season and the Cincinnati History Lecture \,delivered by Dr. Nikki M. Taylor.\nPolitician\, intellectual\, educator\, activist\, and The Mercantile Library’s first African-American member\, Peter Humphries Clark (1829–1925) defied easy classification.\nComplex an d enigmatic\, Clark influenced a generation of abolitionists and civil righ tsactivists. In pursuit of his foremost goal\, full and equal citizenship f or African Americans.A pioneer educational activist\, Clark led the fight f or African Americans' access to Ohio'spublic schools and became the first B lack principal in the state\, and Cincinnati PublicSchools’ first Black e mployee.\nDr. Nikki M. Taylor is a Professor of U.S. History. Born and rais ed in Toledo\, Ohio\, sheattended the University of Pennsylvania where she developed an interest in History andan academic career. She earned her PhD in U.S. History (and a certificate in Women’sStudies) from Duke Universit y. Dr. Taylor has had a long academic career that hasspanned two decades\, including a decade at the University of Cincinnati. She was therecipient of several prestigious fellowships and grants\, including a Fulbright (Ghana) \,Woodrow Wilson\, Mellon Mays (institutional grant)\, and a $5 million Mel lon Just FuturesGrant. She authored 4 monographs including her most recent\ , Brooding Over BloodyRevenge: Enslaved Women and Lethal Resistance (2023) –which won the SlaveryArchive Prize\, the Letitia Woods Brown Prize\, and was a finalist for the L.A. Times bookaward.\nHer three other books all fo cus on Cincinnati. They are: Driven Toward Madness: TheFugitive Slave Marga ret Garner and Tragedy on the Ohio (2016)\, America’s First BlackSocialis t (2013) and Frontiers of Freedom: Cincinnati’s Black Community\, 1802-18 68(2005)\, which is being honored with the best prize of all---the book is being made into adocumentary about this community. LOCATION:414 Walnut Street\, #1100\, Cincinnati\, OH\, 45202 URL:https://www.mercantilelibrary.com/c/2026/01/20/the-annual-meeting END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:event-436@mercantilelibrary.com DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260129T180000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260129T193000 SUMMARY:SOLD OUT - The Modern Novel Lecture: Ocean Vuong in conversation wi th John Brooks DESCRIPTION:SOLD OUT - Please email michael@mercantilelibrary.com to be add ed to the waitlist.\nThe Modern Novel Lecture with Ocean Vuong in conversat ion with John Brooks\nIn partnership with The Weston Art Gallery\n The inst ant New York Times bestseller • Oprah’s Book Club Pick • Ocean Vuong returns with a bighearted novel about chosen family\, unexpected friendship \, and the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive“Stunning . . . A heartfelt and powerful examination of those living on the fringes of socie ty\, and the unique challenges they face to survive and thrive.” —Oprah Winfrey“Magnificent . . . In writing this book\, Vuong may have joined t he ranks of an elite few great novelists.” —Leigh Haber\, Los Angeles T imesThe hardest thing in the world is to live only once…One late summer e vening in the post-industrial town of East Gladness\, Connecticut\, ninetee n-year-old Hai stands on the edge of a bridge in pelting rain\, ready to ju mp\, when he hears someone shout across the river. The voice belongs to Gra zina\, an elderly widow succumbing to dementia\, who convinces him to take another path. Bereft and out of options\, he quickly becomes her caretaker. Over the course of the year\, the unlikely pair develops a life-altering b ond\, one built on empathy\, spiritual reckoning\, and heartbreak\, with th e power to transform Hai’s relationship to himself\, his family\, and a c ommunity on the brink.Following the cycles of history\, memory\, and time\, The Emperor of Gladness shows the profound ways in which love\, labor\, an d loneliness form the bedrock of American life. At its heart is a brave epi c about what it means to exist on the fringes of society and to reckon with the wounds that haunt our collective soul. Hallmarks of Ocean Vuong’s wr iting—formal innovation\, syntactic dexterity\, and the ability to twin g rit with grace through tenderness—are on full display in this story of lo ss\, hope\, and how far we would go to possess one of life’s most fleetin g mercies: a second chance.\nOcean Vuong is the author of the critically ac claimed poetry collections Night Sky with Exit Wounds and Time Is a Mother\ , as well as the New York Times bestselling novel On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous. A recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship and the American Book Awa rd\, he was born in Saigon\, Vietnam\, and currently splits his time betwee n western Massachusetts and New York City. The Emperor of Gladness is his l atest novel. LOCATION:414 Walnut Street\, #1100\, Cincinnati\, OH\, 45202 URL:https://www.mercantilelibrary.com/c/2026/01/29/sold-out--the-modern-nov el-lecture-ocean-vuong-in-conversation-with-john-brooks END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:event-534@mercantilelibrary.com DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260415T180000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260415T193000 SUMMARY:The 1835 Lecture: Alexis Coe DESCRIPTION:THIS LECTURE IS SOLD OUT - Please email michael@mercantilelibra ry.com to be added to the waitlist.\nAlexis Coe delivers the 2026 1835 Lect ure.\nAN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AN NPR CONCIERGE BEST BOOK OF TH E YEAR “In her form-shattering and myth-crushing book….Coe examines my ths with mirth\, and writes history with humor… [You Never Forget Your Fi rst] is an accessible look at a president who always finishes in the first ranks of our leaders.” —Boston Globe Alexis Coe takes a closer look at our first--and finds he is not quite the man we remember Young George Was hington was raised by a struggling single mother\, demanded military promot ions\, caused an international incident\, and never backed down--even when his dysentery got so bad he had to ride with a cushion on his saddle. But a fter he married Martha\, everything changed. Washington became the kind of man who named his dog Sweetlips and hated to leave home. He took up arms ag ainst the British only when there was no other way\, though he lost more ba ttles than he won. After an unlikely victory in the Revolutionary War cast him as the nation's hero\, he was desperate to retire\, but the founders p ressured him into the presidency--twice. When he retired years later\, no o ne talked him out of it. He left the highest office heartbroken over the pa rtisan nightmare his backstabbing cabinet had created. Back on his plantat ion\, the man who fought for liberty must confront his greatest hypocrisy-- what to do with the men\, women\, and children he owns--before he succumbs to death. With irresistible style and warm humor\, You Never Forget Your F irst combines rigorous research and lively storytelling that will have read ers--including those who thought presidential biographies were just for dad s--inhaling every page.\n6 pm reception/6:30 pm program Free for Members\, $25 for Non-Members. Registration required.\nCopies of You Never Forget You r First will be available for sale & signing courtesy of Joseph-Beth Cincin nati.\n\nAlexis Coe is a presidential historian\, an award-winning\, New Yo rk Times bestselling presidential historian\, and a senior fellow at New Am erica\, a bi-partisan think tank. In July 2025\, Coe became the American Hi story Columnist at the New York Times. LOCATION:414 Walnut Street\, #1100\, Cincinnati\, OH\, 45202 URL:https://www.mercantilelibrary.com/c/2026/04/15/the-1835-lecture-alexis- coe END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:event-536@mercantilelibrary.com DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260428T180000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260428T193000 SUMMARY:The Albert Pyle Urban Lecture: Michael Murphy DESCRIPTION:THIS LECTURE IS SOLD OUT - Please email michael@mercantilelibra ry.com to be added to the waitlist.\nMichael Murphy delivers the 2026 Alber t Pyle Urban Lecture.\nFrom “tomorrow’s greatest designer” (The Atlan tic)\, a personal and deeply researched look at how the choices we build in to our environment reflect and determine the way we think\, connect\, and l ive. We've been led to believe that purposefully designed spaces are somet hing reserved only for those that can afford them. But in reality\, all the spaces we inhabit—to work\, to learn\, to heal\, and to live—have been planned and built to influence our lives. They sway our emotions\, nudge o ur behaviors\, protect us from disease\, and do more\, or less\, to support shared prosperity and our sense of the common good. Our World in Ten Buil dings unpacks this hidden but ever more important element of our lived expe rience. As author and architectural designer Michael Murphy takes us throug h ten milestone projects in his career he lays bare the physical\, politica l\, and intellectual labor at work shaping the world we live in. With rare insight\, access\, and passion\, Murphy braids the history of architecture with his own iconic projects to show the power of urban design and how it revolutionizes our homes\, minds\, workplaces\, safety\, and health care. P rofound\, and accessible\, Our World in Ten Buildings will change the way y ou look at and think about your surroundings.\n\n6 pm reception/6:30 pm pro gram Free for Members\, $25 for Non-Members. Registration required.\nCopies of Our World in Ten Buildings will be available for sale & signing courtes y of Joseph-Beth Cincinnati.\nPRE-ORDER YOUR COPY FOR PICK-UP AT THE EVENT HERE!\n\nMichael P. Murphy is an architect\, educator\, and writer\, and is the founder and president of AMMA\, a design and development collaborative focused on the ways in which space shapes our minds\, bodies\, and communi ties. In 2007\, he founded the architectural non-profit firm\, MASS Design Group\, and was CEO until 2022\, leading the design of their projects inclu ding the Butaro Hospital and The National Memorial for Peace and Justice to name a few. He is currently the Thomas Ventulett Chair of Architecture at The Georgia Institute of Technology. Originally from Poughkeepsie\, New Yor k\, he lives in Los Angeles with his wife and children. LOCATION:414 Walnut Street\, #1100\, Cincinnati\, OH\, 45202 URL:https://www.mercantilelibrary.com/c/2026/04/28/the-albert-pyle-urban-le cture-michael-murphy END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:event-524@mercantilelibrary.com DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260512T180000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260512T193000 SUMMARY:The Hearth & Home Lecture: Priya Krishna DESCRIPTION:THIS LECTURE IS SOLD OUT - Please email michael@mercantilelibra ry.com to be added to the waitlist.\nNational Bestseller Priya Krishna deli vers the 2026 Hearth & Home Lecture.\nA witty and irresistible celebration of one very cool and boundary-breaking mom’s “Indian-ish” cooking—w ith accessible and innovative Indian-American recipes Indian food is every day food! This colorful\, lively book is food writer Priya Krishna’s lovi ng tribute to her mom’s “Indian-ish” cooking—a trove of one-of-a-ki nd Indian-American hybrids that are easy to make\, clever\, practical\, and packed with flavor. Think Roti Pizza\, Tomato Rice with Crispy Cheddar\, W hole Roasted Cauliflower with Green Pea Chutney\, and Malaysian Ramen. Pri ya’s mom\, Ritu\, taught herself to cook after moving to the U.S. while a lso working as a software programmer—her unique creations merging the Ind ian flavors of her childhood with her global travels and inspiration from c ooking shows as well as her kids’ requests for American favorites like sp aghetti and PB&Js. The results are approachable and unfailingly delightful\ , like spiced\, yogurt-filled sandwiches crusted with curry leaves\, or “ Indian Gatorade” (a thirst-quenching salty-sweet limeade)—including ple nty of simple dinners you can whip up in minutes at the end of a long work day. Throughout\, Priya’s funny and relatable stories—punctuated with candid portraits and original illustrations by acclaimed Desi pop artist Ma ria Qamar (also known as Hatecopy)—will bring you up close and personal w ith the Krishna family and its many quirks.\n\n6 pm reception/6:30 pm progr am Free to members/$25 nonmembers Registration required.\nCopies of Indian- Ish will be available for sale & signing courtesy of Joseph-Beth Cincinnati .\n\nPriya Krishna is a food reporter and video host for the New York Times and the bestselling author of multiple cookbooks including Indian-ish and Cooking at Home. Her stories have been included in the 2019 and 2021 editio ns of The Best American Food Writing and in 2021\, she was named to Forbes 30 Under 30 list. She is originally from Dallas\, Texas\, which happens to be one of the busiest travel hubs in the world. LOCATION:414 Walnut Street\, #1100\, Cincinnati\, OH\, 45202 URL:https://www.mercantilelibrary.com/c/2026/05/12/the-hearth-home-lecture- priya-krishna END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:event-541@mercantilelibrary.com DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260716T180000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260716T193000 SUMMARY:The Innovation Lecture: Mac Barnett DESCRIPTION:SOLD OUT - Please email michael@mercantilelibrary.com to be add ed to the waitlist.\nNew York Times Bestseller Mac Barnett delivers the 202 6 Innovation Lecture.\nA book for adults about books for children\, a rally ing cry for art and imagination\, and a celebration of the power of storyte lling in all our lives. Make Believe is bestselling children’s author M ac Barnett’s incisive\, intimate\, and timely invitation to approach chil dren’s literature not only as an art form worthy of deep study and critic ism\, but as a portal into the lives of the children. And at a time when we are faced with a national literacy crisis\, he champions the profound joys of literature and the importance of reading for pleasure. What if childre n are a great audience for art? What if they are in fact better equipped to engage deeply with stories than adults? What if humans’ ability to appre ciate art is\, if not innate\, awakened early in childhood? Well\, then we ’d better do our best to make some good kids’ books. Written with humo r and academic rigor\, Make Believe reads like a letter from your smartest and funniest friend.\n6 pm reception/6:30 pm program Free for Members\, $25 for Non-Members. Registration required.\nCopies of Mac’s books will be a vailable for sale & signing.\n\nMac Barnett is the ninth U.S. National Amba ssador for Young People’s Literature\, appointed by the Library of Congre ss and Every Child a Reader. He’s a New York Times-bestselling author of stories for children and the writer\, with Jon Klassen\, of Looking at Pict ure Books\, a newsletter for adults about how picture books work. Barnett s work has been translated into more than 30 languages and sold more than 5 million copies worldwide. His books have won many prizes\, including two Caldecott Honors\, three New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illust rated Awards\, three E.B. White Read Aloud Awards\, the Boston Globe-Horn B ook Award\, Germany’s Jugendliteraturpreis\, China’s Chen Bochui Intern ational Children’s Literature Award\, The Netherlands’ Silver Griffel\, and Italy’s Premio Orbil. He lives in Oakland\, California. LOCATION:414 Walnut Street\, #1100\, Cincinnati\, OH\, 45202 URL:https://www.mercantilelibrary.com/c/2026/07/16/the-innovation-lecture-m ac-barnett END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:event-540@mercantilelibrary.com DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260917T180000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260917T073000 SUMMARY:The Memoir Lecture - Roxane Gay DESCRIPTION:TICKETS GO ON SALE 8/6/26\nNew York Times Bestseller Roxane Gay delivers the 2026 Memoir Lecture.\nRoxane Gay’s writing appears in Best American Mystery Stories 2014\, Best American Short Stories 2012\, Best Sex Writing 2012\, A Public Space\, McSweeney’s\, Tin House\, Oxford America n\, American Short Fiction\, Virginia Quarterly Review\, and many others. S he is a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times. She is the auth or of the books Ayiti\, An Untamed State\, The New York Times-bestselling B ad Feminist\, the nationally bestselling Difficult Women and The New York T imes-bestselling Hunger. She is also the author of World of Wakanda for Mar vel. She has several books forthcoming and is also at work on television an d film projects. She also has a newsletter\, The Audacity\, and once had a podcast\, The Roxane Gay Agenda.\n\n6 pm reception/6:30 pm program Free for Members\, $25 for Non-Members. Registration required.\nCopies of Roxane’ s books will be available for sale & signing courtesy of Joseph-Beth Cincin nati. LOCATION:414 Walnut Street\, #1100\, Cincinnati\, OH\, 45202 URL:https://www.mercantilelibrary.com/c/2026/09/17/the-memoir-lecture--roxa ne-gay END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:event-532@mercantilelibrary.com DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261007T180000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261007T193000 SUMMARY:The Words & Music Lecture: Carrie Brownstein DESCRIPTION:THIS LECTURE IS SOLD OUT - Please email michael@mercantilelibra ry.com to be added to the waitlist.\nCarrie Brownstein delivers the 2026 Wo rds & Music Lecture.\nFrom the guitarist of the pioneering band Sleater-Kin ney\, the book Kim Gordon says "everyone has been waiting for" and a New Yo rk Times Notable Book -- a candid\, funny\, and deeply personal look at mak ing a life--and finding yourself--in music. Before Carrie Brownstein becam e a music icon\, she was a young girl growing up in the Pacific Northwest j ust as it was becoming the setting for one the most important movements in rock history. Seeking a sense of home and identity\, she would discover bot h while moving from spectator to creator in experiencing the power and myst ery of a live performance. With Sleater-Kinney\, Brownstein and her bandmat es rose to prominence in the burgeoning underground feminist punk-rock move ment that would define music and pop culture in the 1990s. They would be ci ted as “America’s best rock band” by legendary music critic Greil Mar cus for their defiant\, exuberant brand of punk that resisted labels and li mitations\, and redefined notions of gender in rock. Hunger Makes Me A Mod ern Girl is an intimate and revealing narrative of her escape from a turbul ent family life into a world where music was the means toward self-inventio n\, community\, and rescue. Along the way\, Brownstein chronicles the excit ement and contradictions within the era’s flourishing and fiercely indepe ndent music subculture\, including experiences that sowed the seeds for the observational satire of the popular television series Portlandia years lat er. With deft\, lucid prose Brownstein proves herself as formidable on the page as on the stage. Accessibly raw\, honest and heartfelt\, this book ca ptures the experience of being a young woman\, a born performer and an outs ider\, and ultimately finding one’s true calling through hard work\, cour age and the intoxicating power of rock and roll.\n\n6 pm reception/6:30 pm program $25 for Members\, $50 for Non-Members. Registration required.\nCopi es of Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl will be available for sale & signing co urtesy of Joseph-Beth Cincinnati.\n\nCarrie Brownstein is a musician\, writ er and actor who first became widely known as the guitarist and vocalist of the band Sleater-Kinney and later as a creator\, writer and co-star of the Emmy-nominated\, Peabody Award winning television show Portlandia. Brownst ein's writing has appeared in The New York Times\, The Believer\, Slate\, a nd numerous anthologies on music and culture. She lives in Portland\, Orego n and Los Angeles. LOCATION:414 Walnut Street\, #1100\, Cincinnati\, OH\, 45202 URL:https://www.mercantilelibrary.com/c/2026/10/07/the-words-music-lecture- carrie-brownstein END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:event-526@mercantilelibrary.com DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261015T180000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261015T193000 SUMMARY:The Science & Nature Lecture: Zoë Schlanger DESCRIPTION:TICKETS GO ON SALE 9/3/26\nNew York Times Bestseller Zoë Schla nger delivers the 2026 Science & Nature Lecture.\nThe New Yorker’s Best B ooks of 2024 • TIME’s 10 Best Nonfiction Books of 2024 • New York Mag azine’s 10 Best Books of the Year • Washington Post’s 50 Notable Work s of Nonfiction of 2024 • Smithsonian’s 10 Best Science Books of the Ye ar • A Best Book of the Year: Boston Globe\, Scientific American\, New Yo rk Public Library\, Christian Science Monitor\, Library Journal\, and Publi shers Weekly • An Amazon Best Nonfiction Book of the Year\nLonglisted for the National Book Critics Circle Nonfiction Prize • Finalist for the Cha utauqua Prize • Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize • Winner of the National Outdoor Book Award for Natural History\n“A masterpiece of science writing.” –Robin Wall Kimmerer\, author of Braiding Sweetgrass \n“Mesmerizing\, world-expanding\, and achingly beautiful.” –Ed Yong\ , author of An Immense World\n“Rich\, vital\, and full of surprises. Read it!” –Elizabeth Kolbert\, author of Under a White Sky and The Sixth Ex tinction \nAward-winning Atlantic staff writer Zoë Schlanger delivers a gr oundbreaking work of popular science that probes the hidden world of the pl ant kingdom\, “destabilizing not just how we see the green things of the world but also our place in the hierarchy of beings\, and maybe the notion of that hierarchy itself.” (The New Yorker)\n\nIt takes tremendous biolog ical creativity to be a plant. To survive and thrive while rooted in a sing le spot\, plants have adapted ingenious methods of survival. In recent year s\, scientists have learned about their ability to communicate\, recognize their kin and behave socially\, hear sounds\, morph their bodies to blend i nto their surroundings\, store useful memories that inform their life cycle \, and trick animals into behaving to their benefit\, to name just a few re markable talents.\nThe Light Eaters is a deep immersion into the drama of g reen life and the complexity of this wild and awe-inspiring world that chal lenges our very understanding of agency\, consciousness\, and intelligence. In looking closely\, we see that plants\, rather than imitate human intell igence\, have perhaps formed a parallel system. What is intelligent life if not a vine that grows leaves to blend into the shrub on which it climbs\, a flower that shapes its bloom to fit exactly the beak of its pollinator\, a pea seedling that can hear water flowing and make its way toward it? Zoë Schlanger takes us across the globe\, digging into her own memories and in to the soil with the scientists who have spent their waking days studying t hese amazing entities up close.\nWhat can we learn about life on Earth from the living things that thrive\, adapt\, consume\, and accommodate simultan eously? More important\, what do we owe these life forms once we come to un derstand their rich and varied abilities? Examining the latest epiphanies i n botanical research\, Schlanger spotlights the intellectual struggles amon g the researchers conceiving a wholly new view of their subject\, offering a glimpse of a field in turmoil as plant scientists debate the tenets of on going discoveries and how they influence our understanding of what a plant is.\nWe need plants to survive. But what do they need us for—if at all? A n eye-opening and informative look at the ecosystem we live in\, this book challenges us to rethink the role of plants—and our own place—in the na tural world.\n\n6 pm reception/6:30 pm program Free to members/$25 nonmembe rs Registration required.\nCopies of The Light Eaters will be available for sale & signing courtesy of Joseph-Beth Cincinnati.\n\nZoë Schlanger is a staff writer at the Atlantic\, where she covers climate change. She previou sly covered the environment at Quartz and Newsweek. Her work has appeared i n The New York Times\, the New York Review of Books\, Time\, NPR\, and else where. Schlanger was the recipient of a 2017 National Association of Scienc e Writers reporting award. She lives in Brooklyn\, NY. LOCATION:414 Walnut Street\, #1100\, Cincinnati\, OH\, 45202 URL:https://www.mercantilelibrary.com/c/2026/10/15/the-science-nature-lectu re-zo-schlanger END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR