For more information on any of the following programs or other activities at the library, visit hopkintonlibrary.org. Visit the library’s website calendar for event registration information. The library also can be found on Facebook, @hopkintonlibrary.

SCHEDULE UPDATE

The Hopkinton Public Library will be closed from Oct. 11-13 in observance of Indigenous People’s Day/Columbus Day.

ADULT PROGRAMS

Failed Attempts to Make English Eezier to Spell
Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2-3 p.m.
In this virtual program, author Gabe Henry will lead a journey through the history of the English language while he discusses troublemakers like Mark Twain, who broke all the rules. Henry is the author of three books, including the poetry anthology “Eating Salad Drunk,” a humor collaboration with Jerry Seinfeld, Bob Odenkirk, Mike Birbiglia, Margaret Cho and other titans of comedy. He has spent more than a decade exploring the strange and forgotten history of simplified spelling, which, by his own admission, has only made him a worse speller.

Author Talk: Mike Leary
Thursday, Sept. 18, 6:30-7:30 p.m.
Local author Mike Leary, a fiction writer whose work blends grit, nostalgia and dry humor,  will read from his newly released novella, “Smoking Cigarettes.” After an unexpected inheritance from an estranged uncle, the narrator retreats to a remote cabin in the woods of Enfield, New Hampshire. Seeking solitude and clarity, he instead finds unease — encountering wary locals, a disembodied voice on a long-dead phone line, and a decades-old carton of Kent Light 100s that stares back like a ghost of memory.  Blurring the lines between fiction and memoir, this haunting, intimate novella explores the weight of trauma, the elusive nature of creativity, and the quiet ways we make sense of ourselves and the world around us.

Adventures Through the Heart and Soul of New England
Tuesday, Sept. 30, 6-7 p.m.
Longtime journalist and author Ted Reinstein has reported all around New England for 25 years, telling the colorful stories of this historic yet ever-changing corner of America. Now he condenses his countless travels into a single, unique labor of love: a journey through the heart and soul of New England, meeting the most memorable people and their unlikely stories all along the way — people whose struggles, toughness, triumphs and humor not only define the very essence of New England but represent the timeless best of America as well.