Due to the anticipated snow storm on March 23rd, the Seed Exchange will be rescheduled to Saturday, April 13TH from 10AM-12PM.

Whether you have seeds to share (saved from your garden or extra leftover from seed company packets) or are just looking to grab some from the libraries collection, we’re inviting all gardening enthusiasts into the library on April 13th for a community seed swap and giveaway! Exchange seeds and find resources to support you on your gardening journey this year. We’ll be welcoming UVM Extension Master Gardener (EMG) Volunteers, Nora Woolf and Courtney Vengrin, into the library to help answer all your gardening and soil questions! Registration Encouraged but not required.

If you plan on attending and bringing seeds, please bring them in separate envelopes, jars, or other containers, marked with the following information:

Plant Name (ex: Chard)
Variety (ex: Rainbow Chard)
Year Grown (ex: 2023)
Origin/Seed Company’s Name (ex: High Mowing)
GMO/Non-GMO
Organically Grown
Hybrid or Open Pollinated

We will provide small envelopes for taking home traded and gifted seeds.

Special Thanks to UVM Extension Master Gardener Program, Red Wagon Plants and Vermont Garden Network for their wealth of knowledge and generous seed donations.

Join the Library on Saturday, April 6th to pick up free solar eclipse glasses and enjoy some solar eclipse activities before the event!

We'll be distributing glasses on a first come, first serve basis, one per person or three per family. Plus, we'll have a special Eclipse display to teach community members all about this once-in-a-lifetime event and a family-friendly activity upstairs.

For folks who registered, please pick up your glasses on Monday, April 8th on your way to viewing festivities. Pick up will be from 10am-1pm. Thanks and happy viewing!

Join the Library and facilitator, Caitlin Cusack of Vermont Land Trust for a book discussion on Leila Philip's critically acclaimed 2022 book, Beaver Land, and explore how we can learn from beavers to restore the land we care about.

Copies of the book are available to check out from the library. Registration is not required but encouraged.

About the author: Leila Philip
”…For me, writing is always a journey with a wonderfully uncertain end; I write to discover what I don’t know yet. I strive to find the story, then shape that story with words and share. We live in a time of ongoing environmental crisis and fear is an appropriate response once we acknowledge the extent to which we have altered every aspect of life on earth. But so is hope. In writing Beaverland I discovered the natural wonder of beavers and the powerful ways they restore damaged environments. Beavers demonstrate the incredible powers of resilience and healing available to us as concrete solutions to help us meet the urgent challenges of climate change. Beavers can teach us. We can learn.” Visit Leila’s website for more info

About the Facilitator: Caitlin Cusack
Caitlin is a forester at the Vermont Land Trust and lives in Bristol, VT with her daughter and husband. She is co-owner of the sugaring business, Little Hogback Farm. In her spare time she enjoys hiking, skiing, running, and dancing.

April 18th | 7:00 pm at Shelburne Town Hall

Did you love the Book Chat at LML?! Then join Flying Pig Bookshop in welcoming author Leila Philip to Shelburne Town Hall for a conversation and lecture. For more information about this event CLICK HERE

Food Insecurity - What Is It? What Are the Causes and Effects? and What Are We Doing about it in Bristol and Addison County? We will address those questions and engage in a discussion about how we can work together to create a culture locally where no one goes hungry and where people feel safe, welcome, and unashamed seeking food assistance.

Join Mercedes de Guardiola via zoom as she discusses her book on Eugenics in Vermont.

In “Vermont for the Vermonters”: A History of Eugenics in the Green Mountain State, Mercedes de Guardiola examines how the state’s eugenics movement emerged out of the public policies of the nineteenth century and led to state-sanctioned programs of institutionalization, sterilization, family separation, and education aimed at the most vulnerable Vermonters. Exploring the social and political legacy of the movement, de Guardiola brings new scholarship and context to one of Vermont’s darkest chapters.

We’re kicking the five town library concert series off with DaddyLongLegs at Bristol’s Lawrence Memorial Library! Join us at the library at 7:30pm on January 18th for a foot tapping night filled with music!

All are welcome. Concerts are free and open to the public with donations optional.

Upcoming Concerts and Locations:

This talk will explore the history of medical racism and slavery in Early American colleges. Using extensive financial and administrative records from multiple institutions it will detail the experiences of Black men and women whose life was shaped by harrowing experiences with the American academy.

Why are Black Americans and other people of color disproportionately victims of overly aggressive police enforcement and brutality while walking, running, riding bicycles, taking public transit, or while driving? This virtual presentation and discussion explores the ways in which people of color have had their mobility arrested.

Hosted by Charles T. Brown, the founder and CEO of Equitable Cities LLC—an urban planning, policy, and research firm working at the intersection of transportation, health, and equity. In each place, he’ll ask: What can we do to change the outcomes when people of color step out their door to exist in the world?

Click here to learn more about Arrested Mobility

Combining archival footage with testimony from activists and scholars, director Ava DuVernay's examination of the U.S. prison system looks at how the country's history of racial inequality drives the high rate of incarceration in America.

Coco has done so much for our library and community – let’s celebrate her!

Join us at the library for light refreshments and to send her off on her next big adventure!

No registration required - we hope to see you there!

In her memoir Whispers from the Valley of the Yak, Jackie Tuxill takes us along on her profound midlife search for meaning and authenticity. This intergenerational story - about the power of forgiveness and being true to oneself - takes us from China, where she was born to medical missionaries, to Alaska, Vermont, and the eastern rim of the Tibetan Plateau. No registration required.

Bristol native and timber framer Will Gusakov spent the first six months of 2023 in France, working to rebuild the Notre Dame de Paris cathedral. He was part of a team of traditional carpenters working in Normandy to re-create the medieval timber roof frame of the cathedral's nave and choir, using Gothic tools and techniques.
Join us at the library where he'll share an informal presentation about the experience and about the medieval timber frame project.

No registration required.

104,000 Vermont adults have a mental health condition. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for Vermonters ages 15 to 34. Mental health is at the forefront of the conversation and the subject of numerous legislative bills, nationwide and here in Vermont. We've come a long way in reducing the stigma around mental illness, but there is still work to do. Join Margie Lemay, Office Manager at the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Vermont, for a presentation and open discussion about mental illness, resources available in Vermont, NAMI Vermont's free support and education programs, and ways that you can get involved and advocate for mental health systems change.

NAMI Vermont is the independent state chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the nation's largest grassroots mental health organization. NAMI Vermont supports, educates, and advocates so that all communities, families, and individuals affected by mental health challenges can build better lives.

Vermont is facing a serious housing crisis. This isn’t a new crisis, but it is certainly one that has been exasperated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Nationally, housing stock has fallen to one third of what it was in the 1980s. Addison County is not immune to this downward trend. Record numbers of Addison County individuals and families are experiencing homelessness or are at risk of losing their homes.

Charter House Coalition (CHC) and John Graham Housing & Services (JGHS) provide emergency shelter for individuals and families experiencing homelessness in Addison County. The Charter House shelter serves adult individuals at its 28-bed facility in Middlebury and the John Graham Shelter serves individuals and families with children in its 36-bed facility in Vergennes. Charter House and JGHS work collaboratively with each other to make sure unhoused adults and families with children throughout Addison County have access to shelter and services. Services provided include assessment, housing navigation, housing retention, and referral to community supports.

For more info on the Bristol Social Justice Discussion Group, to make discussion topic suggestions, and to see past discussion topics, check out the Bristol Social Justice page.

Join Jim Stapleton and Diana Bigelow for a night dedicated to Franz Kafka. With readings and commentary, followed by a Q & A session - this is a night you won’t want to miss! Please consider a voluntary donation to the Library for admission. No Registration required.

Mayer’s new poetry collection, Entanglements: Physics, Love, and Wilderness Dreams, is inspired by relationships and how quantum physics illuminates our connections. Every sub-atomic particle exists only in relationship to another. It seems that everything in the cosmos is dependent on interconnection.

A pediatrician reflects on the mysteries of our entanglements from the macroscopic experience of his practice in rural Vermont to the inconceivably old, small, and far away of quantum cosmology. These poems have marinated in wilderness hiking where they are composed and infused with the singular mindfulness of a hushed forest. There are no equations. You need not understand quantum theory to appreciate the mysteries explored, and the connections affirmed.

About the Author:

Jack Mayer, from Middlebury, is the author of Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project (Long Trail Press, 2011) non-fiction about a forgotten Holocaust hero, Irena Sendler, who rescued 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw ghetto and the historical fiction, Before the Court of Heaven (Long Trail Press, 2015) about the rise of the Third Reich. His first poetry collection, Poems From the Wilderness (Proverse, 2019) is a collection of poems composed while solo hiking Vermont’s Long Trail—poems inspired by wilderness immersion.

To learn more about Jack Mayer and his writing please visit his website.

Coming Home is a documentary film focused on five people returning back to their Vermont communities from prison. The film focuses on the innovative COSA program (Circle of Support and Accountability) that helps reintegrate folks back into their daily lives.

The COSA program is run through Vermont’s Community Justice Centers and is part of the restorative justice model. COSA’s are made up of community volunteers who meet once a week with offenders returning back to their towns and cities. The idea of the COSA model is to "walk with a core member as he or she transitions from prison to community." Folks coming out of prison meet once a week for a year with their volunteer group enabling them to create strong bonds of support, friendship, and accountability as they work to become healthy members of society. Prisoners who are often placed in COSA's include sex offenders, drug related criminals, and felons. The rate of recidivism drops when folks are involved with a COSA team.

Coming Home is a film that takes an intimate and powerful look at this COSA process, the struggles and challenges of folks coming out of prison and the successes of the restorative justice model.

Linda Andrews, a Bristol resident,  is premiering her new memoir, Building a Better World Together: A Career in Women’s Health at the Lawrence Memorial Library, Sunday, April 23 from 2 to 4 p.m. at 40 North Street in Bristol. 

A retired nurse practitioner in women’s health, Linda lived and traveled throughout Africa and Asia for nearly 30 years. In her memoir, she revisits her life as an expatriate working in international health, working closely with governments and their partners to help create and expand health programs. Linda will introduce attendees to the important and inspiring work she brought to each country, discuss lessons learned, and answer questions about the daily life of an American living abroad. Books will be for sale and all proceeds will be donated to the Jean Andrews Nursing Scholarship Fund, named after her mother which was started in 1970 by Porter Hospital Auxiliary and continues today. Funds are administered by VSAC.

No Registration required.

People with disabilities make up around 25% of the US population, but are cast in less than 2% of the roles we see in films. Not only are people with disabilities underrepresented, they are often portrayed in ways that contribute to harmful stereotypes.

Join us as disabled and non-disabled advocates from Lincoln-based Zeno Mountain Farm describe Zeno's year round programing and unique, empowering model of community and lifelong friendship as a model to counteract harmful stereotypes and isolation. We’ll watch Bigger Than Us, a short documentary film about Zeno's inclusive filmmaking, and learn about Zeno's feature film Best Summer Ever, filmed in Bristol and Lincoln, with a cast and crew of over 50% disabled talent.  This film is a first of its kind, and was sold to Hulu in 2021.

Discrimination on the basis of old age affects us all: in the workplace, the doctor’s office, our relationships, and our sense of self. We suffer mentally, physically and financially when we take seriously the stereotypes of growing older. By recognizing ageism at work, however, we can change the narratives for ourselves and others about aging, and make the most of this truly amazing stage of life.

Kristin Bolton, Assistant Director of Elderly Services in Middlebury, will facilitate this conversation. Please bring your thoughts and experiences about yourself as you age, and questions about how we can promote age-friendly interactions and environments. Registration required.

According to the Anti-Defamation League, 2021 was the highest year on record for documented reports of harassment, vandalism and violence directed against Jews. Hostility to or prejudice against Jewish people is defined as “Antisemitism” and has been on the rise here in Vermont as elsewhere in the country.

Join us for a discussion of how to recognize antisemitism in our community, and how to take steps to dismantle this damaging rhetoric. Rabbi David Edelson will be presenting and leading the discussion. Please register below.

There are approximately 1,500 migrant workers that sustain Vermont’s iconic working landscape and turn profits for our many famous Vermont brands. Workers often work 60-80 hours per week and experience isolation, often without a clear sense of where they are. Further, migrant workers are generally excluded from many worker and housing right protections. Join us this November for a viewing and discussion series to learn more about migrant justice and immigration in Vermont, and to talk about ways we can take steps to be better neighbors to those who are so critical to Vermont’s farm culture.

Join us for an in person film screening at the library featuring three short films:

Estrelitta
Silenced Voices
Under the Cloak of Darkness

Join us this Giving Season to support migrant farm workers and their families in Vermont.

Vermonters and the nation have been taught for generations that the state was the first to abolish slavery. In fact, Vermont was the first state to constitutionally permit slavery in any form. For the past 245 years Vermont has permitted the enslavement of people who 1) are under age 21, or 2) agree to be enslaved, or 3) owe money. Finally it is time to adjust our constitution to reflect what we all know is right: Slavery in any form is wrong and cannot be allowed – no exceptions. Proposal 2 is a Vermont constitutional amendment to prohibit slavery and indentured servitude in all forms. It has passed the legislature twice and has been proclaimed by the Governor in order to be on the ballot November 8. Be sure to vote YES on Proposition 2 (and tell your friends, in case they’re voting early).

Join us October 27 to learn more about the constitutional amendment to abolish slavery and how Vermont culture has been shaped by this misconception that we “never had slavery here…”

What is your image of an athlete? How does that image impact your involvement in sports or outdoor recreation? How does that image effect the way you think about or interact with others? 

 Mirna Valerio is a former educator and cross-country coach, ultramarathoner, cyclist and newish skier, DEI practitioner, and author of the memoir, A Beautiful Work in Progress. While training for her first marathon, Mirna created the blog Fatgirlrunning to describe her experiences as a larger woman in a world of thinner endurance athletes. Join us in September to hear Mirna’s story and to explore questions about who is an athlete, how we are impacted by stereotypes and media depictions of athletes, and steps we can each take to make recreation in Bristol safer and more positive for ourselves and others.

This is a FREE EVENT - please register below.

Mirna Valerio has been featured in the WSJ, Runner’s World, on NBC Nightly News, CNN, and in the viral REI-produced documentary short, The Mirnavator. Her writing has been featured in Women’s Running Magazine, Self Magazine Online, Outside Online, and Runner's World Magazine. In 2018 she was chosen as a National Geographic Adventurer of the Year, and in early 2020 appeared on the Kelly Clarkson Show and Access Daily, and most recently was featured on the Today Show. Her partners include LLBean, Lululemon, and InsideTracker. A native of Brooklyn, NY, Mirna currently lives and trains in Vermont and is wholeheartedly enamored and obsessed with downhill skiing.

To learn more about Mirna, visit her website HERE

In collaboration with & special thanks to: BFit & The Bristol Recreation Club, Inc.

“Every living thing is co-author of the story of this home called earth.”
— Ruth Farmer, from poem Scribe

Join us for an afternoon poetry reading and discover Ruth’s “stirring new collection of poems that celebrates and grieves the gusty cycles of the Vermont year.” (John Elder, author of Imagining the Earth: Poetry and the Vision of Nature)

Ruth Farmer is a poet and essayist from Bristol. Her prose and poetry have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. She is a regular contributor to "Ways of Seeing" in the Addison Independent. To learn more about Ruth and her poetry, please visit her website.

Purchase Snapshots of the Wind HERE.

No registration required.

—REGISTRATION CLOSED—

Whether you’re a novice or a more experienced writer wanting to express yourself in poetry this class will lead you through the process from start to finish; from how to enter the process of writing a poem, to revision, to a final draft. Time will be set aside to write, revise, and share (if you want,) during class. 10 spots available. Registration required. 

Karla Van Vliet is the author of five books, her newest ones being, She Speaks in Tongues (Anhinga Press,) a collection of poems and asemic writings, and Fluency: A Collection of Asemic Writings (Shanti Arts.) She is a Forward Prize, a three-time Pushcart Prize, and Best of the Net, nominee. Van Vliet is a co-founder and editor of deLuge Journal. She is an Integrative Dreamwork analyst, and administrator of the New England Young Writers' Conference at Bread Loaf, Middlebury College.

To learn more about Karla Van Vliet and her writing please visit her website.

This event is generously sponsored by 5-Town Friends of the Arts in collaboration with Lawrence Memorial Library.

While it can feel awkward to talk about, examining the science behind human sexuality can help us understand each other better so that we can be kind and supportive. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people aged 10 to 24 — and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide than their peers. To keep our children safe, let’s have this conversation. This workshop, led by WomenSafe, will define terms and identify ways we can be more supportive friends, family members, and neighbors.

Join us via Zoom to firm up your knowledge on the intersections of gender, sexuality, and social justice.

Friday, June 24th | 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm

Join Kingdom County Productions, Writers for Recovery and Lawrence Memorial Library for an evening of readings from the WFR class and a sneak preview of the upcoming WFR anthology.

All are welcome. Come support the Writers for Recovery program and our participants. No registration required. Light refreshments served.