| KIT WIENERT Tuesday, March 15, 7:00 pm Kit Wienert will read from his new book, Analogs of Eden, a collection of seven poetry chapbooks, most of which were separately published. Kit Wienert is the founding editor and publisher of White Dot Press, which has produced a series of limited editions of his and other poets' writing since 1976. His writing has appeared in the journals The Lampeter Muse, Credences, Tellus, The Pearl, Exquisite Corpse, and Oyster Boy Review, as well as the anthologies Sparks of Fire: William Blake in a New Age and Gathering Voices. ROY BLOUNT JR.: BEER, PIE AND LAUGHS Thursday, March 17, 7:00 pm
With wit and charm, Roy Blount Jr., a lifelong eater and author of the new book, Save Room for Pie, tackles a topic rich and fundamental: food. In poems and songs, limericks and fake (or sometimes true) news stories, Blount talks about food in surprising and innovative ways, with all the wit and verve that prompted Garrison Keillor, in The Paris Review, to say: "Blount is the best. He can be literate, uncouth and soulful all in one sentence."
Roy Blount Jr. is the author of Alphabet Juice and books covering subjects from the Pittsburgh Steelers to Robert E. Lee to what dogs are thinking. He is a regular panelist on NPR's Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me! and is a member of the American Heritage Dictionary Usage Panel. Born in Indianapolis and raised in Decatur, Georgia, Blount lives in western Massachusetts with his wife, the painter Joan Griswold.
SATURDAY STORYTIME with COURTNEY SAFFIE Saturday, March 19, 2016, 10:30 am Courtney Saffie is a former preschool teacher and current dance educator in the Triangle. She is looking forward to sharing all of her favorite children's books with your children, ages 3 to 8. Courtney holds her cozy, inspired story-times every other Saturday morning at 10:30.
HENRY PETROSKI Wednesday, March 23, 7:00 PM In The Road Taken: The History and Future of America's Infrastructure, acclaimed engineer and historian Henry Petroski explores  our core infrastructure from historical and contemporary perspectives and explains how essential their maintenance is to America's economic health. Recounting the long history behind America's highway system, Petroski reveals the genesis of our interstate numbering system (even roads go east-west, odd go north-south), the inspiration behind the center line that has divided roads for decades, and the creation of such taken-for-granted objects as guardrails, stop signs, and traffic lights--all crucial parts of our national and local infrastructure.
A compelling work of history, The Road Taken is also an urgent clarion call aimed at American citizens, politicians, and anyone with a vested interest in our economic well-being. The road we take in the next decade toward rebuilding our aging infrastructure will in large part determine our future national prosperity.
Henry Petroski is the Aleksandar S. Vesic Professor of Civil Engineering and Professor of History at Duke University, where he also chairs of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Petroski has written on many aspects of engineering for professional engineers and laypersons alike, including: To Engineer Is Human, which was adapted for a BBC-television documentary; The Pencil; The Evolution of Useful Things; Design Paradigms; Engineers of Dreams; Invention by Design; Remaking the World; and The Book on the Bookshelf.
LAURENT DUBOIS: BEER, BANJO, AND BOOKS
Thursday, March 24, 7:00 pm Attuned to a rich heritage spanning continents and cultures, Laurent Dubois's new book, The Banjo: America's African Instrument, traces  the banjo from humble origins, revealing how it became one of the great stars of American musical life. From the earliest days of American history, the banjo's sound has allowed folk musicians to create community and joy even while protesting oppression and injustice. In the seventeenth century, enslaved people in the Caribbean and North America drew on their memories of varied African musical traditions to construct instruments from carved-out gourds covered with animal skin. Providing a much-needed sense of rootedness, solidarity, and consolation, banjo picking became an essential part of black plantation life. White musicians took up the banjo in the nineteenth century, when it became the foundation of the minstrel show and began to be produced industrially on a large scale. Even as this instrument found its way into rural white communities, however, the banjo remained central to African American musical performance. The accomplished banjo player Jeremy Marotte will join Dubois, and The Regulator will provide refreshments. Join us for "Beer, Banjo, and Books" in celebration of The Banjo's launch. Laurent Dubois is Marcello Lotti Professor of Romance Studies and History at Duke University.
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Day (yes, we will have some good beer on hand!) and the release of his new book, 
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