SFL@21MainStreet

SFL Author Talk: June Vail, Folly Cove Sketches: Remembering Virginia Lee

~ Sawyer Free Library

This Thursday, July 27 from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. the Sawyer Free Library will be presenting an author-talk with June Vail, Professor Emerita in the Department of Theater and Dance at Bowdoin College, about her book Folly Cove Sketches: Remembering Virginia Lee Burton.

Vail’s new memoir paints a warm, honest portrait of her great-aunt, Virginia Lee Burton, Author and illustrator of beloved mid-century children’s books. Burton’s beloved books, including Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel and Caldecott-winner The Little House, continue to delight generations of parents, children, and librarians. Offering intimate glimpses into Burton’s wide-ranging artistic projects and everyday life, Vail vividly recounts how living with her great-aunt Jinnee in the Folly Cove, Massachusetts, community broadened her teenage perspectives and inspired some unexpected life choices.

An open Q and A will follow Vail’s informal, illustrated talk. Books will be available for sale and signing following the presentation.  The event will take place at the Sawyer Free Library’s downtown location at 21 Main Street in Gloucester.

For more details or questions visit SawyerFreeLibrary.org or 978-325-5525.

Be sure to Save the Date for these upcoming Author Events at SFL at 21 Main Street:

Thursday, August 3, 5:30 to 6:30 pm, Dan Fuller, Gloucester Gale: The True Story of the Swordfishing Schooner Dorcas

Thursday, August 24, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., Ellen Levy: The Saturday Evening Girls in Gloucester

Sawyer Free Library to Host Author Talk with William Schulz on Thursday, July 20

~ Sawyer Free Library

SAWYER FREE LIBRARY will welcome WILLIAM SCHULZ – international human rights leader and local author – for a discussion of his latest book, REVERSING THE RIVERS: A MEMOIR OF HISTORY, HOPE, AND HUMAN RIGHTS on Thursday, July 20 at 6:30 p.m. The free event will be at the Sawyer Free Library at 21 Main Street in downtown Gloucester. Register HERE.

From 1994 to 2006, William F. Schulz headed Amnesty International USA, during which he and the organization confronted some of the greatest challenges to human rights. Dr. Schulz led missions to Liberia, Tunisia, Northern Ireland, and Sudan. He also traveled tens of thousands of miles in the United States promoting human rights causes and was frequently quoted in the media. 

His latest book,Reversing the Rivers: A Memoir of History, Hope and Human Rights, from Penn Press, recounts his years as head of Amnesty International through poignant stories combined with amusing anecdotes and philosophical reflection. His memoir is an engaging account of how one human rights activist faced the day-to-day realities of struggling with human rights crises while answering, “How do you retain any hope at all in humanity?”

Currently, Dr. Schulz is a Senior Fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He is the author of three other books on human rights, In Our Own Best Interest: How Defending Human Rights Benefits Us All (2001, Beacon Press); Tainted Legacy: 9/11 and the Ruin of Human Rights (2003, Nation Books); and The Coming Good Society: Why New Realities Demand New Rights (2021, Harvard University Press), co-authored with Sushma Raman. He is also the contributing editor of The Phenomenon of Torture: Readings and Commentary (2007, University of Pennsylvania Press) and The Future of Human Rights: US Policy for a New Era (2008, University of Pennsylvania Press). And in 2002, The New York Review of Books shared, “William Schulz…has done more than anyone in the American human rights movement to make human rights issues known in the United States.”

From 2006-2010 Dr. Schulz was a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, specializing in human rights, and served as a consultant to various foundations, including the MacArthur Foundation, UN Foundation, Humanity United, and the Kellogg Foundation. He was appointed Adjunct Professor of Public Administration at New York University’s Wagner School of Public Policy in 2008, where he taught for eight years, and in 2013 served as Pozen Visiting Professor of Human Rights at the University of Chicago. From 2010-20 Dr. Schulz served as an Affiliated Preaching and Public Ethics Professor at Meadville Lombard Theological School. He is President Emeritus of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, which he led from 2010-16. 

An ordained Unitarian Universalist minister, Dr. Schulz was President of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations from 1985-93. He has served on the boards of People for the American Way, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, The Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award Selection Committee, the Wellesley (College) Centers for Women, and many other organizations and currently sits on the board of the Center for Justice & Accountability.

Dr. Schulz is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Oberlin College, holds a master’s degree in philosophy from the University of Chicago and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Meadville/Lombard Theological School (then at the University of Chicago) as well as eight honorary degrees. He lives with his wife, the Rev. Beth Graham, also a Unitarian Universalist minister, in Gloucester, MA.

Click HERE to register for this special evening with William Schulz on July 20 at 6:30 p.m. or go to the calendar page of sawyerfreelibrary.org or call 978-325-5500. Space is limited. The Sawyer Free Library is located at 21 Main Street in downtown Gloucester. 

“I know no better book on human rights than REVERSING THE RIVERS. Schulz conducts a master class in both brilliant writing and being human.” – Sebastian Junger, author of Freedom and The Perfect Storm 

Sawyer Free Folk Showcase: PETE LINDBERG on Thursday, July 13 at 6pm

~ Sawyer Free Library

The Sawyer Free Folk Showcase continues on Thursday, July 13 at 6:00 p.m. with PETER LINDBERG.

Having just returned from Nashville after ten years, Cape Ann-based critically acclaimed folk artist and storyteller songwriter Peter Lindberg will share his lyrical prowess and unique alt-country songwriting with us at the SFL at 21 Main Street!

The Library’s summer musical series spotlights local singer-songwriters. Performances are 6:00 to 7:00 pm on select Thursdays through September at the Library’s 21 Main Street location in downtown Gloucester. Each evening the featured artist performs a 45-minute set followed by a brief discussion about their musical career and approach to songwriting. The performances are free and open to all to enjoy.   For more information about the musicians, visit sawyerfreelibrary.org. 

You can hear more from Peter HERE.

Be sure to add to your calendar the following upcoming musical appearances by local singer songwriters at the Sawyer Free this summer:

Thursday, August 10: GEORGE CLEMENTS

Thursday, September 7: LIAM ANASTASIA-MURPHY

Rainforest Reptiles: Conservation with Education

~ Sawyer Free Library

Summer is here! Join the Sawyer Free Library on Friday, July 7 from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. as we kick off summer reading with an educational and exciting show – – Rainforest Reptiles: Conservation through Education!  The Library is excited for everyone to come and enjoy this fun and informative presentation by a herpetologist and visit with bugs, frogs, snakes, lizards, a tortoise, and the American alligator.

Please note, this event will be held at Captain Lester S. Wass American Legion Post 3 located at 8 Washington Street in Gloucester.

The event is free and open to all! No registration necessary. For more information visit: SawyerFreeLibrary.org or call 978-325-5500.

Sea Shanty Sing Along at the Sawyer Free Library on Thursday evening, July 6

~ Sawyer Free Library

On Thursday, July 6 from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. join OLIVIA GALE for a Sea Shanty Sing Along at the Sawyer Free Library located at 21 Main Street.

The Gloucester native, musician, and teacher will entertain us with an engaging performance of sea shanties, nautical ballads, and other folk music written about the sea. Olivia welcomes audience participation as a part of her show too! So come one, come all! It will be great fun!

For more information visit, SawyerFreeLibrary.org or 978-325-5500.

SFL & Backyard Growers “Story Hour in the Garden” Kicks Off this Thursday morning

~ Sawyer Free Library

Throughout the summer, everyone can get their hands dirty on Thursday mornings while sharing stories, gardening and more in the Sawyer Free Library’s raised gardens with Backyard Growers. 

Everyone is invited to join in on the fun on Thursday’s from 10-11am at the Sawyer Free Library’s garden, located alongside Middle Street, for story hour followed by time planting, watering, maintaining and harvesting and more in the garden! Open to all ages, recommended for ages 2-8. No pre-registration required.

To learn more about this fun program and to discover all that is happening at the Sawyer Free Library this summer, visit www.sawyerfreelibrary.org, call 978-325-5500, or the Library 21 Main Street in downtown Gloucester.

Hayley Reardon kicks off Sawyer Free Folk Showcase on Thursday, June 1!

~ Sawyer Free Library

Critically acclaimed local singer songwriter Hayley Reardon to perform at SFL @ 21 Main Street on Thursday evening!

Sawyer Free Library is excited to announce its Sawyer Free Folk Showcase this summer, a series spotlighting local singer-songwriters. The showcase will be held on the first Thursday of the summer months at its 21 Main Street location in downtown Gloucester. The first one is this upcoming Thursday, June 1, with Gloucester-based singer-songwriter Hayley Reardon from 6:00 to 7:00 pm.

Hayley will perform a 45-minute set of her music followed by a brief discussion about her approach to songwriting and lyrical composition. The evening is free and open to all to come and enjoy.  No registration is required.

Hayley Reardon is a critically acclaimed folk-pop artist and a storyteller in the truest sense of the word. Her songs are postcards from an artist brave enough to take the road less traveled. Raised in Massachusetts, Reardon dove headfirst into music at 15 and honed her craft for over a decade, sharing the stage with acts like Lori McKenna, Rodney Crowell, and Anaïs Mitchell, among others. Her raw artistry boasts a lyrical and melodic weight far beyond her years. Her music has been described as “brilliantly moving folk/pop with a lyrical depth and soul” (Performer Magazine) and “a melancholy little masterpiece” (American Songwriter Magazine). She recently made a splash with her single, “Losing From Within,” grabbing the attention of Spotify Editorial Playlists like Fresh Folk, Folk Pop, Morning Coffee, and Today’s Singer/Songwriters. Her latest EP, In The Good Light, was recorded in Barcelona with Catalan collaborator Pau Figueres (one of Spain’s finest guitarists). Having recently made her home here in Gloucester, Hayley wowed audiences at the 2023 Singer/Songwriter Challenge at Machaca, winning first prize and making a memorable impression on the Cape Ann music scene.

The Sawyer Free Library is honored to have her perform for its first Sawyer Free Folk Showcase series. 

For more information, visit the calendar at sawyerfreelibrary.org or 978-325-5571. 

Memoir Talk: Author Talk with Virginia McKinnon on Thursday evening, May 18

~ Sawyer Free Library

As a part of May’s Local Memoir Series, the Sawyer Free Library is pleased to present Virginia McKinnon as she reads from her newly released memoir, A Fisherman’s Daughter: Growing Up Sicilian-American in the Oldest Fishing Port in America. All are invited to this special evening on Thursday, May 18, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at 21 Main Street in downtown Gloucester.

At age 93, this first-time author shares short stories of her heritage growing up in Gloucester, spanning her lifetime, including her late husband’s WWII experiences in the Asiatic Pacific. Drawing on her vivid memories from throughout her life as a child when she could hop fishing boat to fishing boat during St. Peter’s Fiesta in Gloucester Harbor to the joyful celebrations of marriage and family life, to her community and public life work as a social worker, eucharistic minister, lector, and writer, Virginia’s book documents a cultural history of a way of life in Gloucester and America.

The event is free and open to the public at Sawyer Free Library at 21 Main Street, Gloucester. For more information and to register, visit, sawyerfreelibrary.org.

Young Gloucester Scientist Club: Vernal Pond Field Trip – Friday, May 19

~ Sawyer Free Library

For May’s Young Gloucester Scientists Club field trip, they have teamed up with Rick Roth and the Cape Ann Vernal Pond Team to learn about the link woodland creatures, such as salamanders and frogs, have to ponds in Gloucester.  Suitable for 4th-8th graders.

Join in on the fun on Friday afternoon, May 19 from 3:30 – 4:30 p.m. `Location details will be sent after registering.

The event is free but you need to register at SawyerFreeLibrary.org.

Learn Baby Sign Language at Sawyer Free Library on May 15

~ Sawyer Free Library

Sawyer Free Library is pleased to offer Baby Sign Language with Baby Keands on Monday, May 15 from 10:20 – 12 noon at 21 Main Street in downtown Gloucester.

Learn about the benefits of signing with babies from Sheryl White of Baby Kneads. During this free class, caregivers will learn how to teach American Sign Language to their little ones, practice several signs and more.

This event will be held at Sawyer Free Library at 21 Main Street. Register at sawyerfreelibrary.org. Questions? Contact: jvitale@sawyerfreelibrary.org.