Welcome to 2023! What will this year bring you?
After the difficulties of the past few years, one thing we can all work on is finding ways to bring more joy into our lives. The Aurora Public Library District (APLD) hopes to help with that! Kick off your new year with a virtual conversation on joy with best-selling essayist and award-winning poet Ross Gay at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 11 on Zoom.
Ross Gay is the author of four books of poetry and the winner of the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award and 2016 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. His first collection of poetic essays, The Book of Delights, was released in 2019 and was on The New York Times bestseller list. During the January 11 program, Gay will be discussing his newest collection of essays entitled, Inciting Joy. For this book, Gay began studying joy to better understand how it affects our lives. This curiosity and research led him to the impactful conclusion that we feel the most joy when we connect with others over the things we love.
In today’s divisive world, Gay challenges the reader to explore an alternative. If we switch the focus to what brings us together rather than what separates us, what may be possible? The timely pieces in this collection give examples of how to recognize our connections with others and expand upon them to bring joy. The Library’s joyful events coordinator, Ali Lanthrum, hopes this conversation will kick-start the new year for community members. “The start of a new year,” she said, “brings new opportunities! Together, we’ll explore one of our most powerful emotions, joy. Participants can look forward to lively, meaningful, conversation on what brings people together and the joy that can result from increasing our focus on what we love.”
Joining the virtual conversation is Dan “Sully” Sullivan. Sully is a three-time Chicago Poetry Slam Champion and the author of The Blue Line Home. With nearly 20 years of creative writing and teaching experience, Sully has dedicated his career to empowering students through creative thinking, technical writing skills, public speaking, and the language arts (dansully.com). Sully has performed on NPR, WGN, and HBO and traveled all over Europe as invited guest poet to performances, readings, workshops, and festivals.
The Aurora Public Library District is honored to bring such monumental talents of the creative writing field to our customers. If you think poetry would bring you joy and want to learn more about it, the West Branch is host to the virtual meeting of the A-Town Poetics group every fourth Tuesday of the month. A-Town Poetics is a group that supports one another artistically and strives to provide a positive, encouraging environment for local Aurora writers of all ages.
To register for Inciting Joy: A Conversation with Ross Gay or the A-Town Poetics meeting, please visit our events page www.aurorapubliclibrary.org/events or contact the Library at 630-264-4117.If you are unable to attend the live program on January 11, all registrants will receive an Email following the event including the link to view the recording. This event is made possible by Illinois Libraries Present, a statewide collaboration among public libraries offering premiere events. Here’s to a joyful 2023!
Andrea Tiberi is the communications coordinator for the Aurora Public Library District.