Mystic Paper Beasts Theater Company Performance
Mar
14
2:00 PM14:00

Mystic Paper Beasts Theater Company Performance

A folktale performance for children featuring masks and puppets, a constellation of Native American tales from seven different Native nations – tales of the sky gathered like stars from a variety of traditional narratives, magically revealing, and transformative. 

Mystic Paper Beasts is a masked theatre company, performing myths, original and traditional,  in a lively, witty manner,

Free and no registration required.

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A Tildé Café Lecture | Molecules of the Mind
Mar
14
4:00 PM16:00

A Tildé Café Lecture | Molecules of the Mind

Tildé Café

A café with an accent on science & the world

Molecules of the Mind: Designing Psychedelic-Inspired Medicines

on a Computer

Asher Brandt, Ph.D. 

Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry 

University of Saint Joseph

Saturday, March 14, 4 pm

Visit the Tildé Café here for details.

Professor Brandt will join us to speak about his fascinating work designing safe drugs to treat depression and other mental health-related issues. He has shared an abstract of his talk below.

Abstract: Psychedelics like psilocybin and MDMA are showing promise for treating depression and PTSD, but they also raise big questions about safety, access, and how they work in the brain. In this talk, I’ll share how we use 3D models of brain receptors and computer simulations to design new molecules inspired by psychedelics, with the goal of keeping their therapeutic benefits while reducing some of their risks. I’ll walk through one project from my lab, from modeling a receptor structure to screening millions of virtual compounds and narrowing them down to a few promising candidates that chemists can actually make. Along the way, I’ll talk about what these tools can and can’t do—and how they might change the future of mental health treatment.

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WILLOUGHBY BOOK + MOVIE CLUB | Small Things Like These
Mar
27
5:30 PM17:30

WILLOUGHBY BOOK + MOVIE CLUB | Small Things Like These

WILLOUGHBY BOOK + FILM CLUB

Small Things Like These

by Claire Keegan

FRIDAY | 27 MARCH

Movie Screening: 5.30 pm

Book & Film Talk: 7 pm

Read the book, watch the movie. Let’s Talk.

Call to register: 203-488-8702

Pick up a copy of the book at the library.

Also available on Hoopla & Libby with your library membership.

For home viewing, the movie is also streaming on several channels including Apple TV, Amazon Prime, YouTube.

HOW IT WORKS

  • Read the book.

  • Watch the film at home at your leisure or come to the screening at the library.

  • Screening time is 5.30. If you’ve already watched film, come at 7 for the discussion.

    Tea & cookies will be served. Maybe popcorn!

What this is

  • You may have read the book or watched the movie or done both.

  • Was the movie as good as the book?

  • Better than the book?

  • Ruin the book?

  • Or makeyou go back to re-read the book?

  • Or, maybe, you didn't even know there was a movie -- or a book!

We meet every alternate month for a fun, serious, engaging discussion about all of it, and more. Over tea & cookies. (Maybe, popcorn!)

Open to all. No fixed membership.

Call to register ahead of the event date.

How it works:

  • You read the book. You watch the movie. You come to the library on the appointed date ready to share or to listen.

  • Copies of the book will be available at the library.

  • The movie will be screened on the day, just before our book-to-movie talk for those who have not watched it online. (Streaming on several channels.)

  • Come for the movie, stay for the conversation.

Have a wonderful evening.

THE BOOK

Claire Keegan’s multi-award-winning, bestselling novel Small Things Like These.

The Irish Times #1 Best Book of the 21st Century

Shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize

One of the New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century

It is 1985, in an Irish town. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal and timber merchant, faces into his busiest season. As he does the rounds, he feels the past rising up to meet him — and encounters the complicit silences of a people controlled by the Church.

“This exquisite miniature of a novel somehow defies the gravitational pull of its grim subject to hover in a quotidian, luminous present. Details materialize with preternatural clarity. The milky light of a winter afternoon, mist on a river, a woman opening an oven door, a child taking her father’s hand: We see these things and feel their lingering presence as we are drawn into the life of an unassuming man in an unremarkable place.”—Wall Street Journal

“I haven’t stopped thinking about [this] book, both because of Keegan’s luminous prose and because of the crisis of conscience that unspools within its pages.”—The New Yorker, “The Year in Reading” Selection.

THE AUTHOR

Claire Keegan’s works of fiction are internationally acclaimed and have been translated into thirty languages. Antarctica won the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature. Walk the Blue Fields won the Edge Hill Prize for the finest collection of stories published in the British Isles. Foster won the Davy Byrnes Award—then the world’s richest prize for a short story. Small Things Like These, a New York Times Best Book of the 21st Century, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Rathbones Folio Prize and won the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction and The Kerry Prize for Irish Novel of the Year. So Late in the Day was longlisted for the Story Prize. She was awarded Woman of the Year for Literature in Ireland (2022), Author of the Year (2023), the Seamus Heaney Award for Arts and Letters, and the Siegfried Lenz Award (2024).

THE FILM

The film adaptation of the book directed by Tim Meilants, starring Cillian Murphy, Emily Watson, Michelle Fairley.

2024 Nominee Golden Berlin Bear Best Film, Berlin International Film Festival

2025 Best Lead Actor, Cillian Murphy, Irish Film and Television Awards.

2025 Best Film, Irish Film and Television Awards.

“Small Things Like These casts a powerful spell.

Fresh from his best actor Oscar win for Oppenheimer, Cillian Murphy produces and stars as melancholic Bill Furlong, who can’t seem to look anyone in the eye. Bill was born out of wedlock, born into shame, but now has a home and a family and a job hauling truckloads of coal around town. His life is fine, or at least an improvement on what went before. Then one winter morning he discovers a young woman in the shed outside the local Magdalene laundry. The past is not dead; it is still whispering in his ear.” — The Guardian

“…a marvel of a performance, extremely expressive and yet deeply inward-looking…”

“…haunting, meditative, and quietly devastating…”

“…I was so rapt, so caught up in this film, that I wasn’t aware that it was going to be the ending until the screen faded to black…”

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THE US CONSTITUTION TODAY | CONVERSATIONS ONLINE
Apr
9
7:00 PM19:00

THE US CONSTITUTION TODAY | CONVERSATIONS ONLINE

THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION TODAY

Why Did the U.S. Constitution Break So Easily? And Can it be Reassembled?

AN ONLINE CONVERSATION WITH MICHAEL C. DORF

the Robert S. Stevens Professor of Law at Cornell Law School

Thursday, April 9, 7 pm

via ZOOM

Call to register | 203.488.8702

Join Professor Michael C. Dorf of Cornell Law School for a timely online conversation about how the current era has tested America’s constitutional system. From executive power to the role of the Supreme Court and the resilience of democratic norms, this discussion will examine what has changed, what has endured, and what the moment reveals about the Constitution’s capacity to withstand political strain.

About the Topic

What happens when long-standing constitutional norms confront intense political polarization and expansive claims of executive power? In this online program, Professor Michael C. Dorf of Cornell Law School examines the impact of the current era on the U.S. Constitution.

The discussion will explore the scope of presidential authority, the separation of powers, the role of the Supreme Court, and the durability of democratic guardrails. Beyond specific controversies, the program asks deeper questions: Has this period revealed structural weaknesses in the constitutional design? Or has it demonstrated the system’s capacity for resilience under stress? Also, how are recent constitutional developments situated in a broader historical context? Professor Dorf’s talk on these issues should provide us with a sharper understanding of how constitutional democracy functions in moments of strain—and what lessons the present moment may hold for the future of American self-government.

About the Speaker

Michael C. Dorf is the Robert S. Stevens Professor of Law at Cornell Law School, where he teaches constitutional law, federal courts, and related subjects. A nationally recognized constitutional scholar, he writes and lectures widely on presidential power, the Supreme Court, and the structure of American government. He is the author of numerous books and scholarly articles and is a frequent commentator on constitutional issues in major media outlets. He earned his A.B. from Harvard University and his J.D. from Harvard Law School, and previously served as a law clerk to Justice Anthony M. Kennedy of the U.S. Supreme Court. Before joining the Cornell faculty in 2008, Professor Dorf taught at Rutgers-Camden Law School for three years and at Columbia Law School for thirteen years.

Professor Dorf has authored or co-authored well over one hundred scholarly articles and essays for law reviews, books, and peer-reviewed science and social science journals. He is the co-author (with Laurence H. Tribe) of On Reading the Constitution (Harvard University Press, 1991), the co-author (with Trevor Morrison) of The Oxford Introductions to U.S. Law: Constitutional Law (Oxford University Press, 2010), the editor of Constitutional Law Stories (Foundation Press 2004, second edition 2009), the author of No Litmus Test: Law Versus Politics in the 21st Century (Rowman & Littlefield, 2006), the co-author (with Sherry F. Colb) of Beating Hearts: Abortion and Animal Rights (Columbia University Press, 2016), and a co-editor of the 12th, 13th, and 14th editions of the Choper et al Constitutional Law casebook (West, 2015, 2019, 2023), the annual Supplement thereto, and the annual compact version of the casebook, Leading Cases.

Professor Dorf writes a bi-weekly column for Justia's web magazine Verdict and posts several times per week on his own blog, Dorf on Law.

He maintains an active pro bono practice that chiefly consists of writing amicus briefs in Supreme Court cases. He teaches constitutional law, federal courts, and various seminars, and is a recipient of the 2026 Provost Award for Teaching Excellence in Graduate and Professional Degree Programs.

Source

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SELF-DEFENSE CLASS with Frank Shekosky
Mar
7
2:00 PM14:00

SELF-DEFENSE CLASS with Frank Shekosky

TAKE A SELF-DEFENSE CLASS

WITH MARTIAL ARTS INSTRUCTOR

SENSEI FRANK SHEKOSKY

SATURDAY | MARCH 7 | 2 PM

Call to register | Spaces limited

203-488-8702

SENSEI FRANK SHEKOSKY has owned and operated Cromwell Martial Arts since 1993 and is a 9th degree black belt in karate. He has been inducted into the Middletown, CT Sports Hall of Fame and into the USA Martial Arts Hall of Fame.

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STONY CREEK IN SONG | A village gathering to make music...
Feb
28
6:30 PM18:30

STONY CREEK IN SONG | A village gathering to make music...

Got the winter blues…?

STONY CREEK IN SONG

Featuring the musicians of Stony Creek

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 6.30

KEYES GALLERY @ THE LIBRARY

Call to register: 203-488-8702

Refreshments will be served.

WISHES FOR PEACE & LIGHT to you and yours and the world. Here in the hamlet of Stony Creek, in the midst of snow and fog and wintry weather, thoughts turn to gathering together to make some music, sing a little, laugh a little, rock a little, in gratitude and hope. An evening of music that brings the community together to the sound of guitars, cellos, banjos, and voices raised in song.

A stellar line-up of local musicians, including:

  • Chris Woerner

  • John Beimler

  • Hope Salas

  • Cyd Slotoroff

  • Andy Bromage

  • Nelson Bogart

  • Tim Barry

  • Michael Infantino

  • Doug Logan

  • Mark Graham

  • Melissa Logan

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Willoughby Book Talk | When The Cranes Fly South: A Novel by Lisa Ridzén
Feb
26
7:00 PM19:00

Willoughby Book Talk | When The Cranes Fly South: A Novel by Lisa Ridzén

WILLOUGHBY BOOK TALK

When The Cranes Fly South: A Novel

by Lisa Ridzén

Translated from the Swedish by Alice Menzies

Penguin Random House, 2025

“A powerful, sneakily emotional meditation on life and death, and the foundational relationships in our lives. This is a book that will echo in your soul.” —Garth Stein, New York Times bestselling author of The Art of Racing in the Rain.

THU | FEB 26 | 7 PM

IN THE KEYES GALLERY AT THE LIBRARY

About the book

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • WINNER OF THE SWEDISH BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD • A profoundly moving debut novel that follows an elderly man’s attempts to mend his relationship with his son before it’s too late: an emotional story of love, friendship, fatherhood, dogs, and atonement that is already an international sensation.

“One of those ‘you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll want to buy twenty copies and give them to everyone you love’ books.” —Fredrik Backman, bestselling author of A Man Called Ove, in The New Yorker

“A powerful, sneakily emotional meditation on life and death, and the foundational relationships in our lives. This is a book that will echo in your soul.” —Garth Stein, New York Times bestselling author of The Art of Racing in the Rain

Bo is running out of time. Yet time is one of the few things he’s got left. These days, his quiet existence is broken up only by daily visits from his home care team. Fortunately, he still has his beloved elkhound Sixten to keep him company … though now his son, with whom Bo has had a rocky relationship, insists upon taking the dog away, claiming that Bo has grown too old to properly care for him. The threat of losing Sixten stirs up a whirlwind of emotion, leading Bo to take stock of his life, his relationships, and the imperfect way he’s expressed his love over the years.

Source: Penguin Random House

About the Author

Lisa Ridzén (b.1988) is a doctoral student in sociology, researching masculinity norms in the rural communities of the Swedish far north, where she herself was raised and now lives in a small village outside of Östersund. The idea for her heartrending debut When the Cranes Fly South came from the discovery of notes her Grandfather’s care team had left the family as he neared the end of his life. She began penning the novel whilst attending Långholmen Writer’s Academy.

Awards

The Zetterström Commemorative Medal Sweden – Tranorna flyger söderut When the Cranes Fly South2025Shortlisted for Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize UK – Tranorna flyger söderut When the Cranes Fly South2025Norrland Culture Prize Sweden – Tranorna flyger söderut When the Cranes Fly South2025Swedish Booksellers' Award (Book of the Year) Sweden – Tranorna flyger söderut When the Cranes Fly South2025Shortlisted for Norrland's Literature Prize Sweden – Tranorna flyger söderut When the Cranes Fly South2025The Adlibris Award (Best Fiction) Sweden – Tranorna flyger söderut When the Cranes Fly South2024The Adlibris Award (Best debut) Sweden – Tranorna flyger söderut When the Cranes Fly South2024Book of the Year Award Sweden – Tranorna flyger söderut When the Cranes Fly South2024

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WILLOUGHBY WRITERS GROUP
Feb
19
5:00 PM17:00

WILLOUGHBY WRITERS GROUP

WILLOUGHBY WRITERS GROUP

If you’re working on a novel, novella, or short stories, and are interested in joining a writers group, give us a call.

A gathering of local writers working in fiction and nonfiction.

First and third Thursdays of the month.

Membership is limited. Please call for details.

CONTACT: Rabia.

rali@wwml.org / 203.488.8702

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All Ages Comic Club
Feb
12
4:30 PM16:30

All Ages Comic Club

Comic club is an art club for everybody! All ages and skill levels are welcome! We aim to create a safe space for artists and crafts people. We do make comics together, but we welcome all arts and crafts. Basically it’s free studio time!

No registration required—come to all, or when you can!

Hosted by Bella. For more information, call the library 203-488-8702 or email bbartner@wwml.org.

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Take Your Child to the Library Day
Feb
7
10:00 AM10:00

Take Your Child to the Library Day

Due to the weather, the Mystic Paper Beasts Theater performance is rescheduled. We will announce a new date shortly. The all day drop-in crafts are still a go! Hope to see you.

Celebrate Take Your Child to the Library Day with all day drop-in crafts and a special performance by Mystic Paper Beasts Theater at 2pm. All welcome, and no registration required.

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WILLOUGHBY WRITERS GROUP
Feb
5
5:00 PM17:00

WILLOUGHBY WRITERS GROUP

WILLOUGHBY WRITERS GROUP

If you’re working on a novel, novella, or short stories, and are interested in joining a writers group, give us a call.

A gathering of local writers working in fiction and nonfiction.

First and third Thursdays of the month.

Membership is limited. Please call for details.

CONTACT: Rabia.

rali@wwml.org / 203.488.8702

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Library Closed 12:30 to 4 pm
Feb
2
12:30 PM12:30

Library Closed 12:30 to 4 pm

Change to Library Hours for Monday, February 2, 2026

10 am to 12:30 pm: OPEN

12:30 pm to 4 pm: CLOSED FOR STAFF TRAINING

4 pm to 8 pm: OPEN

Please be advised of our upcoming schedule change. We thank you in advance for your patience and understanding. Storytime at 10:30 am will still be held.

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New Date! Lava Lamp Making Workshop
Feb
1
2:00 PM14:00

New Date! Lava Lamp Making Workshop

RESCHEDULED FROM SUNDAY, JANUARY 26.

We are sorry, but this program is full. Please call the library to be placed on a wait list. Thank you!

Back for a second workshop, STEAM Dreamers LLC will lead a lava lamp making workshop for children. Learn about the science of solubility and density and take home a colorful creation.

Sunday, January 25th, 2:00-3:30PM

Free and open to all, but registration is required.

Call to register: 203-488-8702

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A YEAR OF READING: BOOK TALK WITH BARBARA PEARCE
Jan
29
7:00 PM19:00

A YEAR OF READING: BOOK TALK WITH BARBARA PEARCE

NEW YORK TIMES 100 NOTABLE BOOKS 2025…

NEW YORK TIMES 10 BEST BOOKS 2025…

Nobel, Booker, Pulitzer, Pen/Faulkner, National Book Award…

A BOOK TALK ABOUT READING BOOKS

WITH BARBARA PEARCE

WHO’S READ THEM ALL (OR ALMOST ALL)

THU | JAN 29 | 7 PM

IN THE KEYES GALLERY @ THE LIBRARY

CALL TO REGISTER : 203-488-8702

BARBARA PEARCE is a graduate of Harvard College, Harvard Law School, and Harvard Business School. She is the CEO of Pearce Real Estate. She practiced law at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLC, before returning to New Haven to work in the business her father started.

Barbara spent an extended sabbatical as the interim CEO of The Connecticut Hospice in Branford, which was founded as the country’s first hospice, at a critical point in its existence.

She has been extremely involved as a community leader in the State. She has chaired many boards, including The Community Foundation of Greater New Haven, Long Wharf Theatre, the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, the United Way of Greater New Haven, and the Hospital of Saint Raphael. She founded Women Organizing Women Political Action Committee (WOWPAC). She has served on the Connecticut Real Estate Commission, the Committee to Visit Harvard College, and as Campaign Chair of both the Greater New Haven United Way and the Greater New Haven National Arts Stabilization project.

Barbara holds honorary degrees from Albertus Magnus College and the University of New Haven, and has been honored by Glamour Magazine, the Connecticut Council on Philanthropy, and the Arts Council of Greater New Haven, as well as numerous other organizations.

Barbara is also a runner who has logged over 100,000 miles since she started keeping track.

A serious runner. A serious reader!

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All Ages Comic Club
Jan
29
4:30 PM16:30

All Ages Comic Club

Comic club is an art club for everybody! All ages and skill levels are welcome! We aim to create a safe space for artists and crafts people. We do make comics together, but we welcome all arts and crafts. Basically it’s free studio time!

No registration required—come to all, or when you can!

Hosted by Bella. For more information, call the library 203-488-8702 or email bbartner@wwml.org.

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RESCHEDULED DUE TO WEATHER: Lava Lamp Making Workshop
Jan
25
2:00 PM14:00

RESCHEDULED DUE TO WEATHER: Lava Lamp Making Workshop

We are sorry, but this program is full. Please call the library to be placed on a wait list. Thank you!

Back for a second workshop, STEAM Dreamers LLC will lead a lava lamp making workshop for children. Learn about the science of solubility and density and take home a colorful creation.

Sunday, January 25th, 2:00-3:30PM

Free and open to all, but registration is required.

Call to register: 203-488-8702

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All Ages Comic Club
Jan
22
4:30 PM16:30

All Ages Comic Club

Comic club is an art club for everybody! All ages and skill levels are welcome! We aim to create a safe space for artists and crafts people. We do make comics together, but we welcome all arts and crafts. Basically it’s free studio time!

No registration required—come to all, or when you can!

Hosted by Bella. For more information, call the library 203-488-8702 or email bbartner@wwml.org.

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CANCELLED! Sunday Afternoon Concert: Still Rivers
Jan
18
2:00 PM14:00

CANCELLED! Sunday Afternoon Concert: Still Rivers

Cancelled due to weather! We will reschedule and alert all to the new date. Thank you.

Still Rivers makes music that sounds and feels like a cozy and loving home. Their music explores everyday life and the joys and griefs that come along with it, delving into the human condition, family values, and hopefulness. With Mike’s unique rhythmic guitar style and Chandra’s warm harmonies, they present a familiar yet original bent on the singer songwriter, Americana genre. Still Rivers is Mike and Chandra Rivers. Their new record “Our Little Life” honors family, love, loss, life, and community.

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Friday Night "Oldie" Film: The Apartment
Jan
16
7:00 PM19:00

Friday Night "Oldie" Film: The Apartment

FRIDAY NIGHT ‘OLDIE’ FILM

THE APARTMENT

NOT RATED

FRIDAY, JANUARY 16, 7 PM


2 hr 5 min | Not Rated | Comedy, Romance | 1960

A Manhattan insurance clerk tries to rise in his company by letting its executives use his apartment for trysts, but office politics and his own romantic hopes complicate matters. (IMDB)

All welcome—doors open at 6:50 pm. Light refreshments provided by the Friends of WWML.

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WILLOUGHBY WRITERS GROUP
Jan
15
5:00 PM17:00

WILLOUGHBY WRITERS GROUP

WILLOUGHBY WRITERS GROUP

If you’re working on a novel, novella, or short stories, and are interested in joining a writers group, give us a call.

A gathering of local writers working in fiction and nonfiction.

First and third Thursdays of the month.

Membership is limited. Please call for details.

CONTACT: Rabia.

rali@wwml.org / 203.488.8702

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YOUR HEART & YOU: Gender-specific symptoms of heart attacks
Jan
14
4:00 PM16:00

YOUR HEART & YOU: Gender-specific symptoms of heart attacks

YOUR HEART & YOU

Understanding Gender-Specific Symptoms of Heart Attacks

A presentation by James Murray, Jr.

Wednesday, January 14, 2026, 4 pm

CALL TO REGISTER | 203-488-8702

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both women and men. But women are more likely to die from a heart attack. Studies show that recognizing the symptoms are critical for survival, which can be very different based on gender.

Join us for a presentation on this critically important topic by James Murray, Jr., Nationally Registered Paramedic [NRP] and Emergency Medicine Services Instuctor [EMS-I]

For more information or to register, call 203.488.8702

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