Walking Rhode Island

The Cranston Public Library is excited to welcome John Kostrzewa to the Central Library on Tuesday, Aug. 3, at 6:30 p.m. to present “Walking Rhode Island: A Guide to Hiking in the Ocean State.”

Exploring Rhode Island through easy and moderately difficult walks is a great way to exercise, get some fresh air, observe wildlife, learn some history, and discover places that you may have never known about.

Kostrzewa has been hiking for decades across the state and will share how and why he started, where he has hiked, and what he has learned on the trail. He’ll also offer recommendations about where to go this summer and fall and point out what you need to bring with you.

Along the way, he’ll explain what makes Rhode Island’s trails unique and outline some of the challenges that Rhode Islanders face with regard to maintaining the state’s public places.

The program is free and open to the public. To register, visit cranstonlibrary.org. For assistance, call (401) 943-9080, ext. 3 or email zach@cranstonlibrary.org.

Kostrzewa worked for 45 years in the newspaper industry, including the last 29 at The Providence Journal as a business reporter, columnist, business editor and assistant managing editor. He retired from the Journal in 2017 and spent the next three years as an adjunct professor at Bryant University, where he taught a Writing Workshop course to first-year students.

In 2020, Kostrzewa began writing freelance stories for the Journal about business and economics during the pandemic. In January, he launched “Walking Rhode Island,” a weekly column online and in the Sunday newspaper about hiking in the state.

A College of the Holy Cross graduate, Kostrzewa also worked at the Worcester (Mass.) Post, Lawrence (Mass.) Eagle-Tribune and Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal. He and his wife, Carol, live in Cranston.

Gardens by Design

Do you want to design a garden, or rework an older one? Cranston Public Library invites you to join us for “Gardens by Design” on Tuesday, Aug. 10, at 6:30 p.m. at the Central branch.

Presenter Oliver Chamberlain will discuss the design ideas of Harold Caparn (1864-1945), president and fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects. Caparn taught a course on landscape architecture at Columbia University and designed many of the gardens in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in Brooklyn, New York.

Chamberlain’s recently published book “A Clear Vision to Future Delight” is the basis for the discussion. Copies of the book will be for sale after the event.

The event is free and open to the public. To register, visit cranstonlibrary.org. For assistance, call (401) 943-9080, ext. 3, or email zach@cranstonlibrary.org.

Chamberlain was on the faculty of Bowling Green State University, Ohio, for 18 years, and spent the next decade as executive director of an arts center at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. He learned early about horticulture and garden design from his grandfather, a nurseryman, and his father, a horticulturist, who was a superintendent of the estate of the Chairman of Sears Roebuck.

Chamberlain was given Caparn’s archive in 2005, and following extensive research, published a comprehensive view of his work in 2013 and articles on him for the Cultural Landscape Foundation, in “Shaping the American Landscape” and in his book on Caparn’s works and writings. For more information, visit www.haroldcaparn.com.

A Physics Love Story

The Cranston Public Library presents “Lise Meitner: A Physics Love Story” on Saturday, Aug. 21 at 3 p.m.

In this virtual program, Edward Sierra will offer an engaging and informative presentation about the life and science of Lise Meitner. Meitner, born into a Jewish family, was an Austrian and later Swedish physicist who worked on radioactivity and nuclear physics. She was one of the great experimentalists of her day. Einstein dubbed her “Our German Madame Curie” during their Berlin heyday in the roaring 1920s.

Meitner is the unsung hero of nuclear fission, having played an essential role in its 1938 discovery. That year, when Hitler’s rise to power put all Jewish scientists at risk, Meitner made a daring escape out of Germany. She faced both gender and racial discrimination yet never ceased to pursue her work – the science that was the passion of her life.

This program is free and open to the public. To register, visit www.cranstonlibrary.org. For assistance, call (401) 943-9080, ext. 3, or email zach@cranstonlibrary.org. The Zoom link will be emailed shortly before the event.

Sierra began his career in the United States Navy. Upon completion of a two-year training program, Edward reported to the Electrical Division onboard the U.S.S. Billfish SSN-676, which was a nuclear-powered fast attack submarine. He went on to work as a field operator at the Hope Creek Nuclear Power Station in New Jersey, and then as a nuclear reactor operator at Brookhaven National Laboratory. He is the president-elect of the Long Island Chapter of the American Nuclear Society. He has earned graduate degrees from New York Institute of Technology, Dowling College and Marist College.

Outdoor Storytime at Hall

The Cranston Hall library is looking for children up to age 5 and their caregivers to attend an outdoor Storytime. If you can join in Monday mornings at 10:30 at the William Hall Library, register through the events calendar on the library’s website, www.cranstonlibrary.org.

The program is designed so participants can practice social distancing, and masks are encouraged. Participants are encouraged to bring blankets or chairs and use umbrellas or sunscreen for sun protection.

Wonderful Weekend kits

The Cranston Public Library will be offering teens in grades six through 12 the chance to sign up for Wonderful Weekend kits. New kits will be announced every other Monday. To register, visit www.ow.ly/8Pfg50EgBG0.

Adult Summer Reading Program

The Cranston Public Library will be hosting an Adult Summer Reading Program, “The Art & Science of Reading.”

Read books, attend events, pick up a take-and-make kit, share your reading with the community, and earn raffle tickets for the end-of-summer prize drawing.

For more details, visit www.cranstonlibrary.org/summer-reading-2021.