Repair Café, Qi-Gong, an author talk and a writing workshop at the Lopez Library

Submitted by the Lopez Island Library

The Lopez Library has a number of dynamic and participatory programs happening this week. On Wednesday, Sept. 18 from 4–7 p.m., the Repair Café crew of volunteer fixers from the Lopez Solid Waste Disposal District will be back to help folks repair broken household items, for free! Bring in items that need simple repairs in four main categories: appliances, furniture, jewelry, and textiles/clothes. This event is to help get all those old, beloved items out of the corners of your houses and closets and back into use! If your item needs a replacement part, please get that part and bring it with you. The Repair Café model is a valuable way to conserve resources, teach and share skills, and reduce landfill and recycle streams by keeping items in use.

Also on Wednesday, Sept. 18 at 5 p.m. and Thursday, Sept. 19 at 9 a.m., local QiGong instructor Claudia Elwell will be leading an introductory Qigong class at the Library. If the weather is pleasant, the classes will be held outside, behind the Library building. If the weather is inclement, Wednesday’s class will take place by the library fireside, and Thursday’s will be in the community meeting room at 9 a.m.

Seattle-based author Betsy Hanson will be reading from her recently published novel, “Always Gardenia,” which was featured on the “Book Lust” webcast of library world rock-star Nancy Pearl at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 20. Always Gardenia tells the story of Gardenia Pitkin who is adjusting to life as a 56-year-old widow. She’s lonely and struggling financially, but she counts her blessings: her friends and family, and a new job as an administrative assistant in the English department of the University of the Northwest in Seattle. With a wry comedic sensibility and a respect for the role of trivialities in human life, “Always Gardenia” combines laugh-out-loud moments with wise reflections on friendships, families, and loss, as well as the complex relationship between mothers and their grown sons. Hanson is an author and is co-translator and editor of “This Kind of Woman “(Stanford University Press), the first English translation of fiction by twentieth-century Japanese women writers. She wrote book reviews for The New York Times Book Review for ten years and has created a dozen short plays. She has received awards from The Elizabeth George Foundation, grants from the Seattle Arts Commission, and third prize for a young readers’ novel in a contest sponsored by the Pacific Northwest Writers Association. In addition to reading from her novel, Hanson will be facilitating a manuscript editing and revising workshop at the Library on Saturday, Sept. 21 from 10:30 a.m.–2:30 p.m., which is still open to registrants. For more information about any of these public programs, visit www.lopezlibrary.org, or please contact Malia Sanford, Library Programs and Art Coordinator at malia@lopezlibrary.org.