Programs
On-Demand Classes available this summer! 
This summer, Gunn Library has partnered with Tri Gable Lea Farm in Colchester, CT to bring you two on-demand classes teaching you how to make fermented foods and drinks right in your kitchen!
Mark Gostkiewicz from Tri Gable Lea Farm combines his passion for sustainable farming and homesteading with his background as an educator to bring you these on-demand classes. Click the link below if you are interested in one or both of these classes, fill out the form to sign up and you will have access to the class materials through August.
Keep track of your progress and you’ll have a chance to ask Mark questions about the process in a live virtual Q&A on August 15.
Click here to register for: Sour and Savory: Mastering the art of fermented foods
Click here to register for: Raise a Glass to Fermentation: Homemade kombucha and more
Community Block Party
Friday, June 2 from 5:30-8:30 pm
Come visit us at the Community Block Party- we will have games, crafts and more!
Don’t miss the first Movie @ the Park of the season
Friday, June 2 @ 8:30 pm
Judy Black Memorial Park & Garden will be showing the 1978 American musical romantic comedy film, “Grease,” sponsored by National Iron Bank.
In this film, experience the friendships, romances and adventures of a group of high school kids in the 1950s. Welcome to the singing and dancing world of “Grease,” the most successful movie musical of all time. A wholesome exchange student, Sandy (Olivia Newton-John,) and a leather-clad greaser, Danny (John Travolta), have a summer romance, but will it cross clique lines?
All events are free and open to the public. BYO blankets, chairs, food and beverages. Movies roll at dusk. Leashed pets only.
GML & The Hickory Stick Bookshop Present: 
Author Talk with Seh-lynn Chai
Saturday, June 3 @ 3 pm at Judy Black Memorial Park & Garden
In-person event.
The Gunn Memorial Library is pleased to collaborate with the Hickory Stick Bookshop to host an author talk at Judy Black Memorial Park and Garden with Seh-lynn Chai, co-author of The Hard Road Out: One Woman’s Escape from North Korea.
The Hard Road Out details the survival story of Jihyun Park, who by the age of 29 had witnessed more unspeakable horrors than anyone should. Family members had died of starvation; her brother was beaten nearly to death by soldiers. Even smiling and laughing was discouraged. The first time she ran, she was forced to abandon her father on his deathbed – crossing the border under a hail of bullets. In China she was sold to a farmer, with whom she had a son, before being denounced and forcibly returned to North Korea.
Thirty-five years of Japanese colonization (1910 – 1945) and subsequent 70 years of division post Korean war (1950-1953) shaped a divided Korea and created a culture of distrust and hatred. Yet Chai’s 2014 encounter with Park challenged those notions and opened many windows of Chai’s life that had remained closed for too long.
Clear-eyed and resolute, Jihyun’s extraordinary story reveals a Korea far removed from the talk of nuclear weapons and economic sanctions. She remains sanguine despite the hardship. Recalling life’s tiny pleasures even at her darkest moments, she manages to instill her tale with incredible grace and humanity.
Seh-lynn Chai is sharing her story of meeting Park and the process of writing this book to give us an opportunity to reflect on the place of the past in the present and to ask ourselves what can bring people together.
Book Club- One Italian Summer
Thursday, June 22 at 5:30 pm in the Wykeham Room
In person program
Gunn Library’s monthly book club will read One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle this month.
When Katy’s mother dies, she is left reeling. Carol wasn’t just Katy’s mom, but her best friend and first phone call. She had all the answers and now, when Katy needs her the most, she is gone. To make matters worse, their planned mother-daughter trip of a lifetime looms: to Positano, the magical town where Carol spent the summer right before she met Katy’s father. Katy has been waiting years for Carol to take her, and now she is faced with embarking on the adventure alone.
But as soon as she steps foot on the Amalfi Coast, Katy begins to feel her mother’s spirit. Buoyed by the stunning waters, beautiful cliffsides, delightful residents, and, of course, delectable food, Katy feels herself coming back to life.
And then Carol appears—in the flesh, healthy, sun-tanned, and thirty years old. Katy doesn’t understand what is happening, or how—all she can focus on is that she has somehow, impossibly, gotten her mother back. Over the course of one Italian summer, Katy gets to know Carol, not as her mother, but as the young woman before her. She is not exactly who Katy imagined she might be, however, and soon Katy must reconcile the mother who knew everything with the young woman who does not yet have a clue.
Author Talk with Dahlia Adler 
Tuesday, June 27 @ 1:30 pm at the First Congregational Church
In-person program
In celebration of Pride Month, Gunn Memorial Library and the First Congregational Church in Washington, CT are pleased to welcome author Dahlia Adler for a virtual author talk on her latest book Going Bicoastal. This program will be held at the First Congregational Church with the author making a virtual appearance.
“This is what it looks like when a brilliant high concept is executed to perfection. It’s got all the Dahlia Adler trademarks―romance, wry humor, specificity, and genuine emotional depth.” – Becky Albertalli, New York Times bestselling author of Kate in Waiting and Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda.
In addition to discussing her work as an author, Adler will also talk about her work on lgbtqreads.com, a website dedicated to aggregating and highlighting queer-focused stories for all ages and in all formats.
Light refreshments will be served at this event.
Dahlia Adler (she/her) is an editor by day, a freelance writer by night, and an author and anthologist at every spare moment in between. She is the founder of LGBTQReads.com; the editor of several anthologies, including His Hideous Heart; and the author of many novels, including Cool for the Summer and Home Field Advantage. She lives in New York with her family and an obscene number of books.
Johnathan Trumbull and the American Revolution: A virtual presentation with CT Historian Morgan O’Brien
Thursday, June 29 at 6:30 pm via Zoom 
Online program
Gunn Library and Museum welcome Connecticut Historian Morgan O’Brien for a virtual presentation on John Trumbull, the painter of the American Revolution and son of the first non-royal Governor of Connecticut. This presentation will take place via Zoom.
Through twists and turns, O’Brien takes viewers through Trumbull’s life and explains the possibility of him being one of Benjamin Franklin’s spies. During the Revolutionary War, John Trumbull served as an aide-de-camp to General George Washington. After a few years in that position, a dispute with Congress over his position led to Trumbull resigning in protest, after which, he traveled to London to study under a renowned painter named Benjamin West.
This presentation will take viewers through the life and times of John Trumbull and walk everyone through the story behind his time in London. By the end of the presentation, you will have a clear picture of John Trumbull, Benjamin Franklin’s spy.
Morgan O’Brien is a Connecticut Historian with a Masters degree in American History from American Public University. She has interned for CT Congressman Jim Himes, worked as an Architectural Historian at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, and is now a freelance researcher, writer, and educator teaching the public about American history. Learn more about her work at searchinghistory.com
