Kids
Traveling StoryWalk — Saturday, October 1 through Monday, October 31 / All locations, rotating each week. Read each page of Aaron Reynolds’ Creepy Carrots, just in time for Halloween season. Read each page while you walk by the library. All ages. Find its current location on social media: follow us on Facebook (smpublib), Instagram and Twitter (@SantaMonicaLibr) or visit smpl.org.
Hispanic Heritage Month — Take & Make Kit: Hispanic Heritage Month Folk Art. Available beginning Monday, October 3. This kit includes supplies for a craft in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month. Pick up at the Main Library Youth Services desk, Pico Branch, or Montana Avenue Branch. Available while supplies last. For ages 4 & up.
Tuesday Tales — Tuesday, October 11 / 10:30 to 11 a.m. / Pico Branch Library, The Annex. An engaging and fun storytime with stories, songs, and rhymes. For ages 2-5. The storytime series travels to a different library every month.
Annual Fall Festival at Virginia Avenue Park — Saturday, October 15 / 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. / Virginia Avenue Park. Celebrate the season with traditional games, an autumnal photo-op, and some awesome Library treats. For families.
Storytime at the Museum — Thursday, October 27 / 10:30 to 11 a.m. / Cayton Children’s Museum, Santa Monica Place. Enjoy storytime and free entrance to Cayton Museum afterward. For ages 2-5.
Trick-or-Treat @ Main Library — Monday, October 31 / 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. / Main Library, Youth Services Desk. Arrive in your Halloween costume at the library for something fun and frightening! For kids and teens ages 0-17.
Teens
Hispanic Heritage Month — Teen Book Discussion: Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas. Thursday, October 13 / 4 to 5 p.m. / Main Library, Central Courtyard. Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, LGBTQIA+ History Month and the spooky season with Mexican pastries and a discussion of Cemetery Boys, a supernatural, coming-of-age novel about a transgender, teenage brujx. A limited number of free copies of the book are available for pickup at the Main Library and Pico Branch, beginning Monday, 9/12. For teens ages 13-18 only.
Adults
League of Women Voters of Santa Monica — Saturday, October 1, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. / Pico Branch Library. Wednesday, October 12, 3 to 4 p.m. / Main Library. The League of Women Voters is at two library locations for voter registration and to answer your November 8 election-related questions.
Hispanic Heritage Month — Ocean Park Book Group Discussion: Violeta by Isabel Allende. Saturday, October 1 / 11 a.m. to noon / Zoom. A 100-year-old South American woman tells her life story in a long letter to her grandson, capturing the personal impact of many of the 20th century’s major events. To register, email library@santamonica.gov
Hispanic Heritage Month — Concert with the Orchestra Santa Monica Wind Quintet. Saturday, October 1 / 2 to 3 p.m. / Virginia Avenue Park, Thelma Terry Room. Join the professional flute, oboe, clarinet, French horn, and bassoon soloists of Orchestra Santa Monica for a set of music by Latinx composers or based on Latinx musical styles.
Walk-in Tutoring — Thursdays, October 6, 13, 20 & 27 / 1 to 3 p.m. / Main Library, Tutoring Center. Volunteer tutors provide help with basic reading and writing skills, using the Internet, filling out online forms, using email, resume writing, and job searches.
LGBTQIA+ History Month Film Screening: L.A.: A Queer History (2022) — Thursday, October 6 / 4:30 to 7 p.m. / Main Library Multipurpose Room L.A.: A Queer History is a feature-length documentary exploring how Los Angeles came to the forefront of the LGBTQIA+ civil rights movement, featuring one-on-one interviews and rare archival footage from artists who helped shape early Hollywood-to-Civil Rights Era gay and lesbian activists. A Q&A with filmmaker Gregorio Davila follows the screening. Film runtime: 112 minutes.
LGBTQ+ Santa Monica: Going Forward Together — Wednesday, October 12 / 6 to 6:50 p.m. / Main Library Multipurpose Room. Hear from local LGBTQIA+ voices on the upcoming year’s goals and challenges. Mixed media presentation and discussion.
Notable Fiction Book Group Discussion: So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell — Saturday, October 15 / 11 a.m. to noon / Zoom
A short and powerful reflection on memory, violence and loss in which the narrator revisits a murder from his small-town youth and its impact on the families of the victim and the killer. To register, email library@santamonica.gov
Main Library Book Group Discussion — Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire by Judith Herrin. Monday, October 17 / 7 to 8 p.m. / Zoom
A captivating new look at the thousand-year rise and fall of the Byzantine empire, its complex culture, and its role in European history. To register, email library@santamonica.gov.
Hispanic Heritage & LGBTQIA+ History Month — Mystery Book Group Discussion. Coffee, Shopping, Murder, Love by Carlos Allende
Tuesday, October 18 / 7 to 8 p.m. / Zoom. Author Carlos Allende discusses his hilarious new dark comedy about two gay men trying to get away with a crime. Winner of the 2019 Quill Prose Award from Red Hen Press. A book discussion follows the author talk. To register, email library@santamonica.gov
‘Appy Hour’ Device Workshop — Thursday, October 20 / 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. / Main Library, Tutoring Center. Bring in your smartphone, laptop or tablet for help using your device.
How to Thrive on a Plant-Based Diet — Thursday, October 20 / 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. / Main Library, Multipurpose Room. Emma Veilleux, Registered Dietician with Providence Saint John’s Health Center, teaches you how to implement a vegan or vegetarian diet and discusses benefits associated with plant-based dietary changes.
Montana Avenue Branch Book Group Discussion — A Hero of Our Own: The Story of Varian Fry by Sheila Isenberg. Thursday, October 20 / 6 to 7 p.m. / Montana Branch, Patio. A biography on war hero and Holocaust rescuer Varian Fry that reveals his secret mission to Marseille to save Jewish refugees and others who had fled Nazi Germany, only to become trapped in southern France.
Ongoing Classes — These classes are taught by Adult Education Center instructors. Students must be 18 years or older to attend. Community and SMMUSD parents have priority enrollment. Enrollment is through the SMMUSD Adult Education Center, located at 2510 Lincoln Blvd., Room 203, Santa Monica, 90405. Contact Olga Saucedo at (310) 664-6222, ext. 76203 or osaucedo@smmusd.org to enroll.
All library locations are closed on Monday, October 17. Look for new hours beginning Tuesday, November 1. The Fairview Branch opens via self-service on Tuesday, November 1. Pre-authorization required; sign up at smpl.org/SelfServiceHours.
Library programs are generously supported by The Friends of Santa Monica Public Library. All programs are subject to change.
Have questions or need help? Library staff are available 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday, and 12 p.m. – 7 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday. Contact us at (310) 458-8600 or library@santamonica.gov.
Submitted by the SMPL