Guided Search: Arts and Culture

Join staff from Blackwell Regional Library for a one-hour discussion of My Broken Language, by Quiara Alegría Hudes, at Malcolm X Park. Bring your own blanket or chair to the park, and come ready to join a conversation about this year’s One Book, One Philadelphia selection.

Join the Education, Philosophy and Religion Department for an online, interactive discussion inspired by My Broken Language, the One Book, One Philadelphia 2022 selection. In her memoir about growing up in 1980s and 90s Philadelphia, Quiara Alegría Hudes traces her own introduction to the Yoruba community, the Orishas, and the sacred altars in her mother's house.

Inspired by musical heritages shown in the One Book, One Philadelphia 2022 selection, Quiara Alegria Hudes’ memoir, My Broken Language, join Los Bomberos De La Calle for an interactive movement workshop sharing traditional Bomba y Plena music from Puerto Rico. This one-hour session will explore the history of the music as well as share some basic dance steps as participants are invited to get moving and participate in call and response songs.

Inspired by the One Book, One Philadelphia 2022 selection, My Broken Language,Christine Salley, Einsteins’s F.U.N. (Families Understanding Nutrition), will be making a rice and beans recipe. She will talk about the nutritional benefits of beans. All participants will be receiving all the ingredients to make the recipe at home. This event will also be held May 17th at 3 PM at the West Oak Lane Library.

In the One Book, One Philadelphia 2022 selection, My Broken Language, Quiara Alegría Hudes shares intimate stories of her family and community in 1980s and 1990s Philly.

Join the Nicetown Library for an interactive discussion of the One Book, One Philadelphia 2022 YA selection, Never Look Back, a modern retelling of an ancient story of love and loss, by Lilliam Rivera. The discussion will invite participants to share their own experiences, and reading the book beforehand is not necessary to participate.

As shown in Quiara Alegria Hudes’ memoir, My Broken Language–the 2022 One Book, One Philadelphia selection–our languages serve as a bridge between us and the rest of the world. This act of bridging grows even more relevant for multilingual speakers and those with experiences of being ni de aquí, ni de allá--neither from here, nor there. In this online, 90-minute monologue-writing workshop, we’ll tell our stories in ways that validate our use of hybrid language as a form of self-expression.

Our neighborhoods hold the personalities, histories, and stories of the people who live in them. In these visual art and storytelling workshops, children of all ages and caregivers will be invited to explore and celebrate what makes our Philadelphia communities unique and strong!

Children and their caregivers are invite to join Haddington Library for a read-aloud of the One Book, One Philadelphia 2022 children’s selection, Alma and How She Got Her Name by Juana Martinez-Neal. The storytime will take place on the steps outside of Haddington Library, and a limited supply of free copies of the book will be available for participants to take home.

What is something you want to protect? What makes you feel protected? Cultures around the world use wrapping and binding techniques with thread to create symbols of protection. In this workshop for children and their caregivers, we will read the One Book, One Philadelphia children’s selection, Alma and How She Got Her Name, and create our own personal protective amulets inspired by the book.