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The Fairfield Civic Center Library's Afternoon Book Club meets from 2:00-3:00 p.m. on the 2nd Tuesday of each month, unless otherwise noted, in the Becker-Balmer Meeting Room. Come join us for a friendly and stimulating discussion. Books may be reserved from the online catalog at solanolibrary.com December ... (more)8 Reader's Choice

Write Your Story: The Splendid Gift of Not Knowing, Writer Workshop with Denise Michelle Harris Adults Tuesday, December 8th @ 6:00 - 7:30 p.m. (Main) Denise Michelle Harris, author of the bestselling novel Sweet Bye-Bye, continues her free writer’s workshop series. One of the most common fears expressed ... (more)by writers is, “I don’t have any good ideas.” A difficult lesson a writer must learn is that uncertainty is an integral part of the writing process. Denise will lead workshop participants in exercises from The Making of a Story: A Norton Guide to Creative Writing by Alice LaPlante, aimed at helping you to harness the inevitable doubt and uncertainty of the creative process in order to begin discovering your own voice and material. This workshop will be based on Chapter 2: The Splendid Gift of Not Knowing. Workshop participants can complete the exercises before class, and, time permitting, will have the opportunity to share excerpts from their writing with other workshop participants. Bring your questions and get your creative juices going. Advance registration required - call 510-881-7980 to sign up. For more information, or to obtain the writing exercises, contact Sally.Thomas@hayward-ca.gov, 510-881-7700.

Join Kathryn Ma for a talk on her debut short story collection, “All That Work and Still No Boys.” Through mainly Chinese American characters, Ma illuminates the immigrant experience and explores duty, transformation, and loss. In the title story, a mother refuses to let her son save her life, insisting ... (more)instead on a sacrifice by her daughter. As the winner of the 2009 distinguished Iowa Short Fiction Award, Ma is the first Asian American to receive this prize in its forty year history. She lives in San Francisco with her family and is a first generation American whose parents are from Wuxi and Mengzi, China.

Please join us on Wednesday mornings at 10:30am for Once Upon a Time. Children ages 0-6 years old and their caregivers are welcome to come and share toy time, Storytime with songs and finger plays, and older children can participate in an activity or craft. This program is sponsored by The Rio Vista ... (more)Friends of the Library.

Please join us on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of each month from 2:30 to 3:30 for Teen Café. All Teens ages 12-18 are welcome to come and enjoy video games, crafts, board games and other activities with friends. Please contact the library for more details. This program is sponsored by The Rio Vista Friends ... (more)of the Library.

The Fairfield Civic Center Library's friendly and thought-provoking Evening Book Club meets the second Monday of each month from 7:00-8:00 p.m. Books are available to reserve from the online catalog at solanolibrary.com December 14 Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber [historical fiction]

Teen Reads Book Club: Jellicoe Road Tuesday, December 15th @ 4:00PM, Hayward Public Library-Weekes Branch, 27300 Patrick Ave. (near the E. Tennyson Rd./Hwy. 880 interchange), Hayward, CA 94544 Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta -- Abandoned by her drug-addicted mother at the age of eleven, high school ... (more)student Taylor Mark-ham struggles with her identity and family history at a boarding school in Australia. Read the book and talk about it with other teens. Open to ages 12-18. Copies of the book are available from the Weekes Branch Library. Contact 510-293-5366 for info.

Please join us on Wednesday mornings at 10:30am for Once Upon a Time. Children ages 0-6 years old and their caregivers are welcome to come and share toy time, Storytime with songs and finger plays, and older children can participate in an activity or craft. This program is sponsored by The Rio Vista ... (more)Friends of the Library.

Please join us on the 3rd Wednesday of each month from 2:30 to 3:30pm for Kids Café. All kids ages 7 – 11 are welcome to come and enjoy video games, crafts, board games and other activities with friends. Please contact the library for more details. This program is sponsored by The Rio Vista Friends ... (more)of the Library.

Autobiography Book Discussion Group: “Look Me In The Eye” Wednesday, December 16th @6:30 p.m., Hayward Main Library, 835 C St. at Mission Blvd., Hayward, CA. 94541 (2 Blocks from Hayward BART) This month we will discuss Look Me In The Eye by John Elder Robison. Ever since he was young, John Robison ... (more)longed to connect with other people, but by the time he was a teenager, his odd habits - an inclination to blurt out non sequiturs, avoid eye contact, dismantle radios, and dig five-foot holes- had earned him the label “social deviant.” It was not until he was forty that he was diagnosed with a form of autism called Asperger’s syndrome. That understanding transformed the way he saw himself and the world. A born storyteller, Robison has written a moving, darkly funny memoir about a life that has taken him from developing exploding guitars for KISS to building a family of his own. Contact 510-881-7980 for information.

Please join the Rio Vista Book Club in discussing a Christmas themed book of your choice. Bring your own coffee cup and enjoy coffee and treats with us while discussing books. All Book Club meetings are held in the June Rowan Room.

Please join the Rio Vista Book Club in discussing short stories of your choice. Bring your own coffee cup and enjoy coffee and treats with us while discussing books. All Book Club meetings are held in the June Rowan Room.

Please join the Rio Vista Book Club in discussing "Chick Lit" or romance of your choice. Bring your own coffee cup and enjoy coffee and treats with us while discussing books. All Book Club meetings are held in the June Rowan Room.

Please join the Rio Vista Book Club in discussing Alice in Wonderland or another book by Lewis Carroll of your choice. Bring your own coffee cup and enjoy coffee and treats with us while discussing books. All Book Club meetings are held in the June Rowan Room.

Please join the Rio Vista Book Club in discussing an Auto-Biography or Biography of your choice. Bring your own coffee cup and enjoy coffee and treats with us while discussing books. All Book Club meetings are held in the June Rowan Room.

Please join the Rio Vista Book Club in discussing a book by a woman author of your choice. Bring your own coffee cup and enjoy coffee and treats with us while discussing books. All Book Club meetings are held in the June Rowan Room.

Please join the Rio Vista Book Club in discussing a book that was a 2009-2010 Best Seller of your choice. Bring your own coffee cup and enjoy coffee and treats with us while discussing books. All Book Club meetings are held in the June Rowan Room.