Lecture series sponsored by North Central Regional Library

MOSES LAKE — The North Central Regional Library will sponsor a series of lectures, on subjects from poetry to sports to food, around the region during the fall, including libraries in Grant County. The lectures are part of a series of cultural events sponsored by the library.

Musician Sean Gaskell will discuss, demonstrate and perform on the traditional west African instrument, the kora, in Quincy, Moses Lake and Ephrata the week of Oct. 29. Gaskell will perform at the Quincy Public Library at 6 p.m. Oct. 29, at the Moses Lake Public Library at 3:30 p.m. Oct. 31, and at the Ephrata Public Library at 1 p.m. Nov. 2.

The kora is a 21-stringed instrument traditionally played by historians and musicians in Gambia.

The art of conversation, and the art of listening, will be the subject of a lecture at the Moses Lake library Nov. 7. Tony Osborne will talk about “The High Road: Fighting Selfishness through Dialogue,” highlighting bad conversational choices – not interrupting or not listening – and how to overcome them. Osborn is a professor of communication studies at Gonzaga University.

Writer and performer Judith Adams will demonstrate “the music, power, humor and strength” of poetry in a lecture at the Quincy library. “A Fierce Language: Falling in Love with Poetry” is scheduled for Nov. 17. Adams said people like poetry as children, but as they grow up, “many come to believe that poetry is inaccessible and too much like hard work.” Adams, herself a poet, said that’s not true.

The benefits of children’s books to all ages of readers will be discussed during a lecture Dec. 4 in Quincy and Dec. 5 in Moses Lake. Anu Taranath, a lecturer at the University of Washington, will talk about children’s books from around the world. The lecture is called “Not Just for Kids: How Children’s Literature Inspires Bold Conversations.”

A discussion of legendary Washington author Betty McDonald is scheduled Dec. 17 at the Quincy library. “The Truth and I: Reading Betty McDonald in the Age of Memoir” tells the story of the author’s famous book “The Egg and I.” The lecturer is biographer and journalist Paula Becker.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.