Events

In A Room of One’s Own Woolf writes, ‘and then on the terrace ......came a bent figure, formidable yet humble, with her great forehead and her shabby dress – could it be the famous scholar, could it be J----H----- herself?’ In this Round Table we will dive into the Jane Harrison archives to learn about the relationship between Harrison and Woolf. Participants will have the opportunity to search for and read diary entries by Virginia Woolf, essays by both Woolf and Harrison, including, ‘On Not Knowing Greek’, and writings about the Harrison – Woolf relationship. We will come back together as a group, share our discoveries and in celebration of Virginia Woolf’s birthday, we will read diary entries for January 25th across the years.

Please RSVP to JoAnn Borri at joannborri@gmail.com. Limit 8

Etel Adnan was a significant Arab and Arab-American poet and painter who wrote in both French and English. Adnan published an enormous range of works: from the internationally recognized novel about the Lebanese Civil War (Sitt Marie Rose) to volumes of poetry (The Indian Never Had a Horse and Other Poems) to essays (Paris, When It's Naked) to a collection of letters (Of Cities and Women). Barbara Lesch McCaffry will lead us in a tour of the Sitting Room’s collection of Adnan’s books and art followed by a discussion of a selection of her work whose subjects range from the political to the poetic to the philosophic to the artistic. Participants will have time to read passages from any one of several books or the Etel Adnan archives. We will come back together as a group and share our discoveries.

Please RSVP to JoAnn Borri at joannborri@gmail.com. Limit 10

Sitt Marie Rose is the internationally recognized novel about the Lebanese Civil War by Etel Adnan. Barbara Lesch McCaffry will lead a discussion and participants will read and share passages from the novel. We encourage those who are interested to read the novel in advance. It is a slender novel and several copies are available for participants at the Sitting Room. It is also available on Kindle.

Please RSVP to JoAnn Borri at joannborri@gmail.com. Limit 10.

These Round Tables are a new way of getting small groups in conversation using the rich resources of the Sitting Room Library. Here is how we are imagining them: no cost, no advance preparation needed. And only one meeting planned. Browse the library, select a book. Each person speaks and also listens and thus we have what we all say we are wanting: conversation. Bring your curiosity!