October 11 – Oliver de la Paz and Jonathan Aibel – in person

Oliver de la Paz is the author and editor of seven books. His newest work, The Diaspora Sonnets, published by Liveright Press in 2023, was long listed for the National Book Award and is the winner of the 2023 New England Book Award. A recipient of grants and awards from the NEA, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Artist Trust, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council, his work has appeared in journals like Virginia Quarterly Review, North American Review, Tin House, Poetry, and in anthologies and periodicals such as Asian American Poetry:  The Next Generation and in the New York Times. In 2023 he was appointed as the Poet Laureate of Worcester, MA. He is a founding member of Kundiman and he teaches at the College of the Holy Cross and in the Low-Residency MFA Program at Pacific Lutheran University.

Canon R6

Jonathan B. Aibel is a poet and recovering software engineer. He was raised in Westport, Connecticut (Paugussett), but he lives in Concord, MA, lands where traditionally the Nipmuc, Pawtucket, Agawam and Massachusett people met. His works are published in many journals, including JAMA, Barrellhouse, Chautauqua, Lily Poetry Review, The Inflectionist, and Pangyrus, and have been anthologized by Massachusetts Bards, Gnashing Teeth Press and Local Gems Press. He has read for the Chapter and Verse series and the Brookline Poetry Series. His poems have been featured on the West Concord Poetry phone. His chapbook Echoes of Uruk was a semi-finalist for the Tupelo Press Snowbound Prize (2024). The Porcelain World is his first full-length collection.

September 20 – Robin Becker and Lloyd Schwartz – in person

Robin Becker is the author of eight previous books of poetry, including The Black Bear Inside Me and the Lambda Award winner All-American Girl, both published in the Pitt Poetry Series. A liberal arts research professor emerita in English and women’s studies at the Pennsylvania State University, she lives in central Pennsylvania and southwestern New Hampshire.

Lloyd Schwartz is the poet laureate of Somerville, MA. His two new books are He Tells His Mother What He’s Working On, a chapbook published by the Grolier Poetry Press, and “Artur Schnabel and Joseph Szigeti Play Mozart at the Frick Collection (April 4, 1948)” and Other Poems, published by Arrowsmith. He’s an admired expert on Elizabeth Bishop, a Pulitzer Prize-winning critic, and a recipient of the David Ferry-Ellen LA Forge Annual Poetry Award and the New England Poetry Club’s Sam Cornish Prize.

Representing Unity: Vinfen’s Gateway Arts

Gateway Arts supports nearly 100 artists with intellectual and developmental disabilities, mental health diagnoses, brain injuries, and other neurodiverse conditions. Our artists come from diverse backgrounds, each bringing with them an interest in creating art and a distinct perspective to share with the world. The Brookline community is invited to experience and engage with the wide range of work and perspectives coming out of our studios in this exhibit.

The Payphone

An Interactive Art Installation by Jon Zoll

Pick up the receiver and step into a choose-your-own-adventure about book banning.

About the Installation

The Payphone transforms a familiar object into an interactive storytelling experience. Through audio prompts and user choices, participants explore how censorship shapes access to ideas, stories, and voices.

About the Artist

Jon Zoll is a mechanical engineer and artist whose work blends technical innovation with storytelling. Using custom hardware and software (Python), he reimagines a payphone as a platform for public engagement.

Join us for the Minuteman Library Crawl!

Calling all adventurers! You have 6 days to explore participating Minuteman libraries during Library Crawl Week, August 3-8, 2026. Each library has a unique clue to find and a stamp to collect! The Minuteman Library Crawl is self-guided, and all ages are welcome – kids, families, adults, everyone! How many libraries can you explore?

How It Works:

  • Pick up your passport at a participating library (or print out a copy here.)
  • Visit participating libraries during their Featured Crawl Days.
  • Find the scavenger hunt clue and take a photo.
  • Show the photo to library staff and receive a stamp in your passport!
  • Collect every stamp to qualify for the Grand Prize Drawing!

Please note that stamps and prizes are only available during a library’s assigned Featured Crawl Day(s). Our Featured Crawl Days in Brookline are:

  • Friday, August 7th: 10am-5pm
  • Saturday, August 8th: 10am-5pm

You need only collect a stamp from one Brookline library location (Brookline Village, Coolidge Corner, or Putterham) for credit towards the Grand Prize Drawing.

We encourage you to visit other libraries on their featured days during the rest of the week. Check out this Strategic Guide, which lists the featured libraries by day, and this interactive map of all participating libraries, to help you plan your Library Crawl week.

You can get a Library Crawl passport at any participating library, and you can read a text-only version of the passport information here.

An Update on our E-Resource Offerings

The Public Library of Brookline regularly assesses our e-resource collection to determine the best way to meet the needs of our community. We aim to align our offerings with the changing habits and interests of our patrons in order to ensure access to valuable, effective digital resources and learning tools. With this in mind, we decided to discontinue access to LinkedIn Learning.

Why did we make this change?

We made this change for the following reasons: 

  • High Cost and Low Usage: LinkedIn Learning had few active users and a high annual cost, leading to a high relative cost per patron. 
  • Limited Audience: Much of the content provided by LinkedIn Learning was narrowly focused on professional development for mid-career professionals, providing limited opportunities for patrons to develop other skill-sets such as life skills and tech literacy.


We plan to use the saved costs to invest in learning tools that will reach a wider audience with more diverse education topics.

Where to go instead

Contact our Reference Department at the Brookline Village Library. We’re happy to suggest alternate resources, whether you are doing research, job hunting, looking to update your tech skills, or discovering new hobbies. Call 617-730-2369, email BRKREF@minlib.net, or ask a question via our online form.

 

Art from Inside is a curated selection of works that PBP’s readers and book requestors have sent to us over the course of many decades, often as a token of gratitude for a shipment of books. Many pieces are explicitly book-themed, depicting reading as a temporary escape from the confines of prison or as a vehicle for growth, learning and rehabilitation. Books are liberating for our readers in both senses. Without access to the internet, books often take on a significance to incarcerated people that folks on the outside struggle to understand. The pieces in this exhibit also showcase the detailed techniques that can be achieved with the simplest tools, most commonly ball point pen and pencil. Art from Inside shows how much talent, creativity and human potential resides behind bars.

Artwork

I am a Japanese artist based in Brookline, Massachusetts, working across watercolor, oil, acrylic, colored pencil, and sculpture. For me, art is more than creating images—it is a way of communicating with the world and expressing ideas, emotions, and experiences that are often difficult to put into words.

My work is inspired by nature, architecture, and everyday moments. I am drawn to places and scenes that invite quiet observation: sunlight filtering through trees, reflections on water, changing seasons, and the relationship between people and their surroundings. Through careful attention to color, texture, and atmosphere, I aim to capture not only how a place looks, but also how it feels to be present within it.

Working across different mediums allows me to explore different ways of telling stories and sharing perspectives. Whether creating detailed landscapes or more reflective pieces, I hope my work encourages viewers to pause, connect with their surroundings, and discover moments of calm, curiosity, and meaning.

Pride 2026 – QRG Recommendations

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Here is a list of recommendations shared during the Queer Reading Group’s meeting on June 11, 2026.  Please enjoy this collaborative list!

Click and drag the covers above to scroll through these recommendations. Each cover image links to the item’s catalog page.


Percival
Night at the Vampire Castle by Hari Conner
The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson

Eliana
The Guy She Was Interested In Wasn’t A Guy At All Vol. 1 by Sumiko Arai
Bloom into You Vol. 1 by Nakatani Nio

Carrie
A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall
The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow

Erika
Bound by The Wachowskis (movie)
Gunnerkrigg Court Vol. 1 by Thomas Siddell

Jacob
Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

Cori
The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez (audiobook)
Are You Listening? by Tillie Walden

Harry
Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency by Chen Chen – recommendation: School of Eternities
Night Sky with Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong – recommendation: Thanksgiving 2006

Summer Artwork

Kitt Bjorbaek (19 years) will be a sophomore at Westfield State University this fall. She has a double major in finance and economics with a minor in studio art. In her free time, Kitt can be found sailing in the Boston Harbor.

Mia Bjorbaek (16 years) is a sophomore at Brookline High School. She is also a member of the Brookline High School tennis team.

Her other hobbies include sailing and racing in the Boston Harbor at Courageous Sailing Center and playing with our cocker spaniel, Daisy.

Christine Mahoney is Kitt & Mia’s mom. She has a BA in journalism with a minor in Studio Art from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She also loves to sail in the Boston Harbor.

We hope you enjoy!