Previous Special Events

U.S. News & World Report editor Brian Kelly discusses how traditional media is adapting to the challenges presented by new media in a talk titled Re-inventing the Weekly Newsmagazine for the Digital Age on Wednesday, May 13, at 6:30 p.m. at the Central Library, 14 W. 10th St. 

The Kansas City Public Library hosts A Conversation with Tobias Wolff, author of the Kansas City Big Read selection Old School, on Tuesday, May 12, at 6:30 p.m. in the Truman Forum at the Plaza Branch, 4801 Main St.

A woodwind trio from the Kansas City Symphony provides a free lunchtime concert on Tuesday, May 12, at noon at the Plaza Branch, 4801 Main St.

The performance will include a Divertimento by Mozart as well as works by French composer Henri Tomasi and American composer John Heins. The program also features a clarinet/bassoon duet entitled Confections. Audience members may enter a drawing for one pair of complimentary tickets to a Kansas City Symphony performance.

On Monday, May 11, at 6:30 p.m. at the Plaza Branch, 4801 Main St., bestselling author Nathaniel Fick presents The Afghanistan Inheritance.

The Kansas City Public Library welcomes Leonard Mlodinow for a presentation based on his book The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives on Thursday, May 7, at 6:30 p.m. at the Central Library, 14 W. 10th St.

The Kansas City Public Library welcomes film critic Scott Tobias for a presentation called The New Cult Canon on Wednesday, May 6, at 6:30 p.m. at the Central Library, 14 W. 10th St.

Matthew Algeo discusses his new book Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure: The True Story of a Great American Road Trip on Wednesday, May 6, at 6:30 p.m. in the Truman Forum at the Plaza Branch, 4801 Main St.

Production for the Meet the Past television series continues in May with two programs filmed before a live audience at the Central Library, 14 W. 10th St. Additional episodes will be filmed in June and July. The series will air during prime-time on KCPT (channel 19) in fall 2009.

The Kansas City Public Library offers a musical retrospective of the works of celebrated Czech composer Rudolf Friml during a program led by music historian William Everett on Monday, May 4, at 6:30 p.m. at the Central Library, 14 W. 10th St.

In the third season of the Script-in-Hand series of stage performances, the Kansas City Public Library and Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre present the John Kander and Fred Ebb classic, Chicago.

The fourth play in the Law & Literature series is scheduled for Sunday, May 3, at 2 p.m. in the Truman Forum at the Plaza Branch, 4801 Main St.