As the leaves are turning colors and the temperatures cool, Rock Island Public Library is going to be falling over itself to make autumn a fun season for area families! The library has a full slate of events upcoming. Here’s the lowdown: Back to School! August – December 2019 Events Adults, General Audiences New: Bangtan Book Club. Monthly on Thursdays at 5:30 pm, see date for location. Do you know BTS, the Korean-pop band? Then you know their music is filled with literary influences! Join us monthly as we meet to discuss the books that have inspired certain BTS albums. Starting... Read More

When books or other materials are censored from the shelves of public libraries, we’re all in the dark. Banned Books Week, September 22-28, 2019, recognizes the right to access books without external censorship, and keep the light of intellectual freedom on. In celebration of freedom of expression and ideas, the Rock Island Public Library and the Midwest Writing Center will host their 6th Annual Banned Books “Read-In” on Tuesday, September 24, at the Rock Island Downtown Library, 401 19th Street. The event starts at 5:30 pm with refreshments, and continues with live public readings from... Read More

As the leaves are turning colors and the temperatures cool, Rock Island Public Library is going to be falling over itself to make autumn a fun season for area families! The library has a full slate of events upcoming. Here’s the lowdown: Back to School! August – December 2019 Events Adults, General Audiences New: Bangtan Book Club. Monthly on Thursdays at 5:30 pm, see date for location. Do you know BTS, the Korean-pop band? Then you know their music is filled with literary influences! Join us monthly as we meet to discuss the books that have inspired certain BTS albums. Starting... Read More

Parents and caregivers can create some memories while they build a reader at Hug-A-Book: Create, a free event for two-to-five-year-olds and their families on Tuesday, August 27 at the Rock Island Public Library. The event is part of the library’s ongoing Hug-A-Book early learning programming. Families may drop in to try a variety of creatively messy art projects from 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm on August 27 at the Downtown Library, 401 19th Street. Each child receives a Hug-A-Book art apron and a free book to take home. There is no charge to attend and no registration is required. Future events... Read More

As the leaves are turning colors and the temperatures cool, Rock Island Public Library is going to be falling over itself to make autumn a fun season for area families! The library has a full slate of events upcoming. Here’s the lowdown: Back to School! August – December 2019 Events Adults, General Audiences New: Bangtan Book Club. Monthly on Thursdays at 5:30 pm, see date for location. Do you know BTS, the Korean-pop band? Then you know their music is filled with literary influences! Join us monthly as we meet to discuss the books that have inspired certain BTS albums. Starting... Read More

The Young Emerging Writers (YEW) Summer Internship Program will host a two-part launch party for the latest issue of the Program’s literary magazine THE ATLAS on Thursday, August 15th in downtown Rock Island. The event will start at 5:00 p.m. with a Family and Friends Reception at the Rock Island Public Library Community Room. The interns will give a brief reading of their work, and the Tim Curry Outstanding Intern award will be presented to one of the interns. Then, at 8:00 p.m. the party will move down the street to Rozz-Tox, where the interns will read different selections from the magazine,... Read More

The Young Emerging Writers (YEW) Summer Internship Program will host a two-part launch party for the latest issue of the Program’s literary magazine THE ATLAS on Thursday, August 15th in downtown Rock Island. The event will start at 5:00 p.m. with a Family and Friends Reception at the Rock Island Public Library Community Room. The interns will give a brief reading of their work, and the Tim Curry Outstanding Intern award will be presented to one of the interns. Then, at 8:00 p.m. the party will move down the street to Rozz-Tox, where the interns will read different selections from the magazine,... Read More

Max Collins has killed hundreds of people over the past four decades.   And, not only has he not been sent to prison, but they’ve given him awards, fame and fortune for it. The Muscatine author, who saw his novel “Road To Perdition” turned into an Oscar-nominated film and who was given the 2017 Grand Master Award for lifetime achievement as a fictional murderer, a maestro of mystery novels, is continuing to charm readers with his bloody fun exploits. MWA’s Grand Master Award represented the pinnacle of achievement in mystery writing and was established to acknowledge... Read More

Change. We undergo transformations every day of our lives, in ways small and significant, in ways good and bad. Sean Leary’s “Does The Shed Skin Know It Was Once A Snake?” offers 11 award-winning short stories dealing with the life changes many of us face, and the positive ways in which our lives can transform, even in difficult times. “Shed Skin” is available in bookstores and webstores worldwide  as a print book and eBook for every eReader format. It is also available direct from the author at seanleary@seanleary.com. Leary will be signing copies of the book at several... Read More