Maplewood Library Announces 2020 Ideas Festival Lineup

The Maplewood Library’s Ideas Festival, celebrating the talent and creativity of our community, is now in its 7th year. Here's this year's exciting lineup! All events are free and open to the public.

An Evening with Barry Sonnenfeld
March 11, 8 pm at Main Library
Barry Sonnenfeld is an award-winning producer, director and actor, and author of Barry Sonnenfeld, Call Your Mother. He was the cinematographer for the Coen Brothers' first three films and director of photography on Throw Mamma from the Train, Big, When Harry Met Sally, and Misery. He directed the Addams Family movies, Get Shorty, and the first three Men in Black films. His television credits include Pushing Daisies, for which he won an Emmy, and most recently Netflix's A Series of Unfortunate Events. He’ll be in conversation documentary filmmaker Matthew Galkin. Words Bookstore will be at the event to sell copies of the book.

New Jersey Makers Day
March 21, 10 am-1 pm at Hilton Branch
Makers Day is an annual statewide celebration of making and maker culture. This year’s theme is: A Day of Vocational Ed for kids, teens and adults. Activities will include: soldering; stencil duplicator machine art; felt emoji key chains; building with Maplewoodshop; soup mix in a jar; and air-powered rockets. The Columbia High School Robotics Team will present a robot demonstration.

Art & Music Reception
Saturday March 21, 3-4 pm at Main Library
The Ideas Festival art exhibit features the work of Congolese artist Muyambo Marcel Chishimba. His bold, dynamic strokes and his unique combination of earthy tones and richly hued colors are inspired by the culture and people of his African homeland.
Live music with VMusic. Artist’s talk at 3:20.

Andrea Bernstein
Monday, March 23, 7 pm at Main Library
Andrea Bernstein is the Peabody Award–winning cohost of the acclaimed WNYC/ProPublica podcast Trump, Inc., In addition to broadcast appearances on outlets including PBS NewsHour, CNN, and Fresh Air, her work has appeared in The New Yorker, the New York Times, the Washington Post, New York, and on NPR. She is the author of American Oligarchs: The Kushners, the Trumps, and the Marriage of Money and Power. She’ll be in conversation with Nancy Solomon, the managing editor of New Jersey Public Radio
Words Bookstore will be at the event to sell copies of the book.

Mary Barr Mann and Carolyn Parisi
Wednesday, March 25, 7 pm at Main Library
Mary Mann and Carolyn Parisi are the co-founders of the local news site VillageGreenNJ.com and the statewide calendar site NJNext. The title of their talk is It Takes a Village (Green): Local News in the Age of the Internet. They will be receiving the Carol Buchanan Award for Outstanding Contributions to Civic and Intellectual Life. They will be in conversation with Nancy Solomon.

Marta Tellado
Thursday, March 26, 7 pm at Main Library
Marta Tellado is the President and CEO of Consumer Reports and a graduate of Columbia High School. She is known as a transformational leader with a talent for innovation, a passion for public service, and a distinguished portfolio of accomplishments in mission-driven organizations. She’ll be in conversation with David Brancaccio, Host and Senior Editor of public radio’s Marketplace Morning Report.

Ibi Zoboi
Saturday, March 28, 2 pm at Main Library
Ibi Zoboi is the New York Times bestselling author of My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich, her middle grade debut, and the Young Adult novels Pride and American Street. She is also the editor of Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America.
Words Bookstore will be at the event to sell copies of the books.

Jenifer Hixson
Monday, March 30, 7 pm at Main Library
Jenifer Hixson is a Senior Director and one of the hosts of The Moth Radio Hour. Each year she asks hundreds of people to identify significant turning points in their lives—fumbles and triumphs, leaps of faith, darkest hours—and then helps them shape those experiences into story form for the stage.

Jill Carr
Wednesday, April 1, 7 pm at Main Library
Jill Carr is the wife of the late David Carr and editor of his book Final Draft, a career-spanning selection of the legendary reporter’s writing for The New York Times, Washington City Paper, New York Magazine, The Atlantic, and more. She’ll be in conversation with John Schwartz, reporter at The New York Times, where he is part of the paper’s climate change team.
Words Bookstore will be at the event to sell copies of the book.

Juda Bennett, Winnifred Brown-Glaude’, Cassandra Jackson, Piper Kendrix Williams
Thursday, April 2, 7 pm at Main Library
In their group memoir, The Toni Morrison Book Club, these four authors use Toni Morrison’s novels as a springboard for intimate and revealing conversations about the problems of everyday racism. They discuss what it means to read challenging literature collaboratively and to learn in public as an act of individual reckoning and social resistance. Words Bookstore will be at the event to sell copies of the book.

Writing a New Story Campaign Launch
Saturday, April 4, 1 pm at Main Library
A community reception hosted by the Maplewood Library Foundation, kicking off their fundraising campaign for the new Maplewood Library building.

Abby Sher, Receiving the 2020 Maplewood Literary Award
Saturday, April 4, 2 pm at Main Library
Abby Sher is an award-winning writer and performer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Self, Jane, Elle, and more. She is the author of Miss You Love You Hate You Bye, All the Ways the World Can End, Breaking Free: True Stories of Girls Who Escaped Modern Slavery, Amen, Amen, Amen: Memoir of a Girl Who Couldn't Stop Praying, and Kissing Snowflakes. One of her essays was optioned by Amazon for the "Modern Love" television series. Abby has written and performed for The Second City, Upright Citizen's Brigade, HBO and NPR. She is currently a co-producer of the Chucklepatch Comedy Show.
Words Bookstore will be at the event to sell copies of the books.