Adult Events February, March 2026
-
Sun, Feb. 1 - Sat, Feb. 28
-
Sun, Feb. 1 - Sat, Feb. 28
-
Wed, Feb. 4 - Fri, Mar. 13
-
Library
Physical Address
100 Garfield Street
Newington, CT 06111
Phone: 860-665-8700
Virtual Events & Programs will be held via our Zoom platform.
Information on how to join a program can be found by clicking here. You may register online by clicking here or by calling the library at 860-665-8700. Program information as well as the Zoom link to access the program will be emailed prior to the event.
Other programs that are recorded and do not require registration are on our YouTube Channel
Virtual Author Talks
Enjoy a range of live talks from best-selling, award winning authors with this exciting virtual event series! Brought to you in partnership with the Library Speakers Consortium. This free, virtual series will take place two to three times per month and includes the opportunity to ask questions of the author! Can’t attend a talk? Recordings of past programs will be available on the library’s website.
Register here or call the Information Desk @ 860-665-8700.
Tech 4U and Book a Librarian
Tech Help @ Lucy
Make a 45-minute one-on-one tech appointment with a librarian! Services include using your phone, tablet, laptop, etc. Please bring necessary passwords & chargers. Call to request an appointment.
Upcoming Programs
Art Exhibit for February
Newington High School – Mixed Media
Culinary Delights
Chef Rob Scott will share a video and recipe each month. The recipe, ingredients list, and video link will be on the library website.
February - Blueberry Cobbler Bread
View the video.
View the recipe.
Adult Winter Reading: Yeti…Set…READ!
Wednesday, February 4 – Friday, March 13
The Adult Winter Reading Program kicks off on Wednesday, February 4. Register at the library, online, or call us and we will do it for you. Read and submit your tickets for the weekly drawings. All tickets collected during the 5-week program will be entered into the finale drawing that will be held on Friday, March 13 at noon.
Sponsored by the Friends of the Library.
Fun Social!
Tuesday, Feb 17, 10:15 - Noon
Join library staff for coloring, jigsaw puzzles, meeting new friends, and practice speaking English. Registration required.
Sponsored by the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving's Newington Greater Together Fund.
Book Bedazzling - For Adults
New date due to the winter storm:
Wednesday, February 18 from 3:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Sponsored by the Friends of the Library.
Brown Bag It with a Book Discussion @ the Library
Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate
Thursday, February 19, Noon
Join us for this lively discussion while enjoying your bagged lunch brought from home. Registration required.
Sponsored by the Friends of the Library.
Coffee-Making Social
Saturday, February 21, 10:00 a.m. – Noon
Tired of your everyday coffee? Try something new – join Columbian baristas for this multi-cultural event. We will talk about (and drink!) delicious coffee. You can also meet new friends and practice speaking English. Registration required.
Sponsored by the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving's Newington Greater Together Grant.
Grab & Go Puzzle Packets
Tuesday, February 24
We put together packets of fun just for you. Each packet will include puzzles, word games, and more! Stop by to pick up your packets on after the date listed above.
Virtual Author Talks
Smithson’s Gamble: The Incredible History Behind the World’s Largest Museum with Smithsonian Curator Emeritus Tom Crouch
A Library Speakers Consortium and Smithsonian Institution Collaboration
Tuesday, February 24, 2:00 p.m.
Tom D. Crouch, a Smithsonian veteran of almost 45 years, paints a robust picture of a unique American establishment and its lasting legacies in his book Smithson’s Gamble. Follow the fascinating growth and development of the world's largest museum and research complex during its first 60 years.
DMV Community Outreach Event
Thursday, February 26, 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
The outreach team from the Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicles (CT DMV) will be onsite at the Lucy Robbins Welles Library to perform limited paid services on a walk-in basis. Services include License renewal, Non-driver IDs, accessibility permits and more. Registration required.
Services provided will include:
REAL ID Upgrades
Driver’s License: Renewals & Duplicates
Non-Driver IDs: New/Renewals/ Duplicates
Accessibility Parking Permits
Vehicle Registration: Renewals only
Fines, Tickets & Suspensions: Resolution & Payments only
Learner’s permit: Duplicates only
Driver history reports
AArt Exhibit for March
Candace Nystrom – Mixed Media
Culinary Delights
Chef Rob Scott will share a video and recipe each month. The recipe, ingredients list, and video link will be on the library website.
March - Chocolate Chip Scones
View the video.
View the recipe.
Fun Social!
Tuesday, March 3, 10:15 -Noon
Join library staff for some coloring, jigsaw puzzles, meet new friends and practice speaking English. Registration required.
Sponsored by the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving's Newington Greater Together Fund.
90s Style Keychains - Calling all Millennials!
Tuesday, March 3, 6:00 p.m.
We're going back to the 90s! Join us for retro vibes and good times. Create a 90s-style inspired keychain and add some bling to your essentials. Registration required.
Sponsored by the Friends of the Library.
Humor, Heart, and Reflective Rural Stories with Michael Perry
New York Times Bestselling Author of Population: 485 and The Jesus Cow
Wednesday, March 4, 2:00 p.m.
See More and Register
Join us in conversation with bestselling author and humorist Michael Perry, whose collection of genre-spanning works encapsulates the experiences–and the magic–of rural town communities and the everyday people who reside in them.
In Michael Perry’s memoir, Population: 485, the local vigilante is a farmer's wife armed with a pistol and a Bible, the most senior member of the volunteer fire department is a cross-eyed butcher with one kidney and two ex-wives, and the back roads are haunted by the ghosts of children and farmers. Against a backdrop of fires and tangled wrecks, bar fights and smelt feeds, Perry tells a frequently comic tale leavened with moments of heartbreaking delicacy and searing tragedy.
Jesus Cow, Perry’s fiction debut, is a hilarious yet sincere exploration of faith and the foibles of modern life. Low-key Harley Jackson finds himself entangled in drama from all corners: A woman in a big red pickup has stolen his bachelor’s heart, a Hummer-driving predatory developer is threatening to pave the last vestiges of his family farm, and inside his barn is a calf bearing the image of Jesus Christ–a secret he wants to keep quiet, until the truth slips right through the barn door.
About the Author: Michael Perry is a New York Times bestselling author, humorist, corporate speaker, volunteer firefighter/first responder, and amateur snowplow driver. A lifelong resident of the rural Midwest, his “reflective roughneck” takes on life in Middle America have left hundreds of thousands of readers and live audiences laughing, nodding, and sometimes misty.
Perry, a registered nurse who put himself through college working as a Wyoming cowboy and a roller-skating Snoopy, produces the popular audio newsletter “Michael Perry’s Voice Mail,” performs widely as a humorist and speaker, tours with his band The Long Beds, works as a script writer, voiceover artist and audiobook narrator, and still makes an occasional call with the local volunteer fire and rescue service.
Page Turners Book Discussions
Thursday, March 5, 6:30 p.m.
To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
Join us for lively book discussions facilitated by Karen and Jennifer. Registration required.
Grab & Go Puzzle Packets
Tuesday, March 10
We put together packets of fun just for you. Each packet will include puzzles, word games, and more! Stop by to pick up your packets on or after the date listed above.
Brown Bag It with a Book Discussion @ the Library
Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
Thursday, March 12, Noon
Join us for this lively discussion while enjoying your bagged lunch brought from home. Registration required.
Sponsored by the Friends of the Library.
Book Portals and Journeys of Literary Magic with Kate Quinn
New York Times Bestselling Author of The Alice Network and The Rose Code
Thursday, March 12, 7:00 p.m.
See More and Register
You’re invited to join us for a virtual conversation with acclaimed author Kate Quinn about her latest fantastical work, The Astral Library, which poses the question: Have you ever wished you could live inside a book? Welcome to the Astral Library, where books are not just objects, but doors to new worlds, new lives, and new futures.
Alexandria “Alix” Watson has learned one lesson from her barren childhood in the foster-care system: unlike people, books will never let you down. Working three dead-end jobs to make ends meet and knowing college is a pipe dream, Alix takes nightly refuge in the high-vaulted reading room at the Boston Public Library, escaping into her favorite fantasy novels and dreaming of far-off lands. Until the day she stumbles through a hidden door and meets the Librarian: the ageless, acerbic guardian of a hidden library where the desperate and the lost escape to new lives...inside their favorite books.
The Librarian takes a dazzled Alix under her wing, but before she can escape into the pages of her new life, a shadowy enemy emerges to threaten everyone the Astral Library has ever helped protect. Aided by a dashing costume-shop owner, Alix and the Librarian flee through the Regency drawing rooms of Jane Austen to the back alleys of Sherlock Holmes and the champagne-soaked parties of The Great Gatsby as danger draws inexorably closer. But who does their enemy really wish to destroy—Alix, the Librarian, or the Library itself?
About the Author: Kate Quinn is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of historical fiction. A native of Southern California, she attended Boston University, where she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in classical voice. A lifelong history buff, she has written four novels in the Empress of Rome Saga and two books set in the Italian Renaissance before turning to the 20th century with The Alice Network, The Huntress, The Rose Code, The Diamond Eye, and The Briar Club. The Astral Library is her first foray into magic realism. She and her husband now live in Maryland with their rescue dogs.
Oscars Prediction Party
Thursday, March 12, 6:00 p.m.
Join us for Lucy's celebration of the Oscars. Enjoy hors d'oeuvres and light refreshments as we watch the trailers for films that have been nominated for major awards and discuss their chances of winning. Ballots will be distributed and whoever has the most correct predictions will receive a prize the following week. Registration required.
Sponsored by the Friends of the Library.
End of Adult Winter Reading – “Yeti…Set …READ!”
Friday, March 13
All tickets collected for the program’s weekly drawings will be entered into the grand prize drawing to be held at noon. Winners will be notified.
Sponsored by the Friends of the Library
Fun Social!
Tuesday, March 17, 10:15 -Noon
Join library staff for coloring, jigsaw puzzles, meeting new friends, and practicing speaking English. Registration required.
Sponsored by the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving's Newington Greater Together Fund.
The National Parks: America’s Best Idea?
Thursday, March 19, 6:30 p.m.
Richard Benfield will give an illuminating lecture on the history of the National Park Service over the past 100-plus years. From parks having to be guarded by the army, to the extirpation of apex predators like wolves and cougars, to roads cutting through miles of pristine wilderness. Today, the 420 parks are loved by 292 million visitors -- some would say loved to death -- and face a crowded and uncertain future. Registration required.
The Anita Wilson Memorial Family Concert Series Presents:
BenAnna Band Concert
Friday, March 20, 6:30 p.m.
Go bananas for this high-energy musical duo, the BenAnna Band! This family-friendly concert will have kids and adults singing and dancing along! Bring your dancing feet along as this musical performance will be one to remember. The BenAnna Band focuses on inclusion and music for kids of all abilities and identities. Doors will open at 6:15 p.m. Registration will begin Friday, March 6.
Sponsored by The Anita Wilson Memorial Family Concert Series.
Card Making Social
Saturday, March 21, 10:00 a.m. - Noon
Join Candace Nystrom for this all-ages card making event. We will make cards and eat snacks! Meet new friends and enhance your English. Registration required.
Sponsored by the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving's Newington Greater Together Fund.
Grab & Go Puzzle Packets
Tuesday, March 24
We put together packets of fun just for you. Each packet will include puzzles, word games, and more! Stop by to pick up your packets on after the date listed above.
America’s Failed Response to the Opioid Crisis with Author Shoshana Walter
With Special Guest Host Barbara Kingsolver
Tuesday, March 24, 2:00 p.m.
See More and Register
Join us for a special conversation between award-winning journalist Shoshana Walter and bestselling and award-winning author Barbara Kingsolver as they chat about Walter’s book Rehab: An American Scandal. In this work, Walter, a Pulitzer finalist, exposes the country’s failed response to the opioid crisis, and the malfeasance, corruption, and snake oil which blight the drug rehabilitation industry.
Today, more people have access to treatment than ever before. So why isn’t it working? The answer is that in America—where anyone can get addicted—only certain people get a real chance to recover. Despite record numbers of overdose deaths, our default response is still to punish, while rehabs across the United States fail to incorporate scientifically proven strategies and exploit patients.
In this book, you’ll find the stories of four people who represent the failures of the rehab-industrial complex, and the ways our treatment system often prevents recovery. April is a black mom in Philadelphia, who witnessed firsthand how the government’s punitive response to the crack epidemic impeded her mother’s recovery—and then her own. Chris, a young middle-class white man from Louisiana, received more opportunities in his addiction than April, including the chance to go to treatment instead of prison. Yet the only program the judge permitted was one that forced him to perform unpaid back-breaking labor at for-profit companies. Wendy is a mother from a wealthy suburb of Los Angeles, whose son died in a sober living home. She began investigating for-profit treatment programs—yet law enforcement and regulators routinely ignored her warnings, allowing rehab patients to die, again and again. Larry is a surgeon who himself struggled with addiction, and would eventually become one of the first Suboxone prescribers in the nation, drawing the scrutiny of the Drug Enforcement Administration.
About the Author:
Shoshana Walter is a reporter for the Marshall Project covering the criminal justice system. Her reporting has been honored as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and Selden Ring, and she has won the Knight Award for Public Service, the Edward R. Murrow Award, and the Livingston Award for Young Journalists. She started her work on the treatment system at The Center for Investigative Reporting, where her work appeared in The New York Times Magazine, in newspapers, and on NPR stations across the country. She is based in Oakland, California.
Back to the 90s Trivia Night - Virtual
Friday, March 27, 7:00 p.m.
Calling all millennials! Let’s throw it back to the 90s for a night of nostalgia-packed trivia fun. All ages are welcome and small treats will be awarded. Registration required.
Sponsored by the Friends of the Library.
Candle Making with Lola Sophia
Saturday, March 28, 10:00 a.m.- Noon
Come join in the fun and learn the art of candle making. Meet new friends and enhance your English. Registration required.
Sponsored by the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving's Newington Greater Together Grant.