Name: Celebrate Diwali
Start: 2026-11-09T18:30:00-05:00
Location: Manchester Public Library, 1041 Main St, Manchester, CT, 06040

Manchester Public Library, 1041 Main St, Manchester, CT, 06040

Celebrate Diwali, the Festival of Lights, with several themed crafts, festive music, and snacks in this free program for adults. Registration is required and starts 11/2/2026 by either registering through our program calendar on our website (<a href="https://manchesterpubliclibraryct.events.mylibrary.digital/event?id=435625&amp;fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAcGRvZgFicmlkETFNVkxLSGl5SERLV2s4MHkyc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHnTxuhwEXwRpmPF3PJZ1jykbRLDlbQiRjGo2bI3-08elapuPntAu_-oxZoQt_aem_jJwhsXQYqnMkkvARD4cWCQ" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">https://manchesterpubliclibraryct.events.mylibrary.digita...</a>) or by calling our Reference Desk at: 860-647-4614. Space is limited to 16 adults.

Local Event: Celebrate Diwali

Hartford County

Chris Dehnel

Hartford Metropolitan Area

Manchester

Connecticut

Celebrate Diwali

Celebrate Diwali, the Festival of Lights, with several themed crafts, festive music, and snacks in this free program for...

Join us for a soothing and relaxing evening for adults to sit and color. Decompress, listen to light music, and enjoy the company of others. No registration required for this free program for adults.

Local Event: Adult Coloring Night

Adult Coloring Night

Join us for a soothing and relaxing evening for adults to sit and color. Decompress, listen to light music, and enjoy the...

Unitarian Universalist Society East

The Free At Last Players will present a special adaptation of "Annie" on Tuesday, Oct. 27, at 7 PM in the sanctuary at Unitarian Universalist Society East, 153 Vernon St. West, Manchester CT. A free will offering will be taken. The Free at Last Players use performance art to combat the stigma of mental illness. Acting in the belief that everyone has something to contribute to society, they seek to mend the fences that separate the diagnosed from the larger world. For details, call 860-646-5151 or visit <a href="https://uuse.org/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">uuse.org</a> or freeatlastplayers.com

Local Event: Free at Last Players present "Annie"

Free at Last Players present "Annie"

The Free At Last Players will present a special adaptation of "Annie" on Tuesday, Oct. 27, at 7 PM in the sanctuary at...

Connecticut Science Center

Experience our ofrenda installation, a vibrant and meaningful tribute inspired by the traditions of Día de los Muertos. This community altar brings together art, science, and culture in a celebration of life and memory. Visitors are invited to reflect on the loved ones who have passed and learn about the customs that connect generations through color, symbolism, and storytelling.
On view during regular business hours.
Notes: We welcome contributions to the ofrenda as part of this shared celebration of remembrance. Items placed on the altar will remain with the display and cannot be returned. For safety and preservation reasons, please do not bring or leave food or real candles.<a href="https://eventvesta.com/events/166061/t/tickets" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">View Tickets</a> &amp; More info

Local Event: Ofrenda Installation

Ofrenda Installation

Experience our ofrenda installation, a vibrant and meaningful tribute inspired by the traditions of Día de los Muertos. This...

Manchester Public Library

Join us at the library for Pumpkin Night, where we're ditching traditional carving tools and picking up vibrant markers to decorate your pumpkins. All pumpkins, markers, and supplies will be provided. Just bring your creativity! Spaces are limited to 15. Please call the Teen Desk to register at 860-647-4600.

Local Event: Teen Pumpkin Night: Marker Masterpieces

Teen Pumpkin Night: Marker Masterpieces

Join us at the library for Pumpkin Night, where we're ditching traditional carving tools and picking up vibrant markers to...

Our October selection is "The Reformatory," by Tananarive Due. Copies of the book are available at both library buildings for check out. For more information, call the Reference Desk. About the book, from <a href="https://www.goodreads.com:" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">goodreads.com:</a> Set in Jim Crow Florida, follows Robert Stephens Jr. as he’s sent to a segregated reform school that is a chamber of terrors where he sees the horrors of racism and injustice, for the living, and the dead. Gracetown, Florida June 1950 Twelve-year-old Robbie Stephens, Jr., is sentenced to six months at the Gracetown School for Boys, a reformatory, for kicking the son of the largest landowner in town in defense of his older sister, Gloria. So begins Robbie’s journey further into the terrors of the Jim Crow South and the very real horror of the school they call The Reformatory. Robbie has a talent for seeing ghosts, or haints. But what was once a comfort to him after the loss of his mother has become a window to the truth of what happens at the reformatory. Boys forced to work to remediate their so-called crimes have gone missing, but the haints Robbie sees hint at worse things. Through his friends Redbone and Blue, Robbie is learning not just the rules but how to survive. Meanwhile, Gloria is rallying every family member and connection in Florida to find a way to get Robbie out before it’s too late. The Reformatory is a haunting work of historical fiction written as only American Book Award–winning author Tananarive Due could, by piecing together the life of the relative her family never spoke of and bringing his tragedy and those of so many others at the infamous Dozier School for Boys to the light in this riveting novel.

Local Event: Take a Walk Together Book Club

Take a Walk Together Book Club

Our October selection is "The Reformatory," by Tananarive Due. Copies of the book are available at both library buildings for...

WORK_SPACE

OPENING&nbsp;RECEPTION: Thursday, October 29th 5:30-7pmA photograph captures a moment; a poem captures mood and meaning. Together, these two creative practices can build inspiring, dynamic conversations between artists and viewers. Picture This is a collaborative exhibit that brings photographers and poets together to do just that. We invite photographers to submit original images featuring people, places, things—or anything in between. &nbsp;After photographs are selected, they will be shared with poets, who will create original poems inspired by the images. From portraits and landscapes to architecture, nature, street photography, still life, and everyday moments, we welcome photographs that spark curiosity, emotion, memory, or imagination. Whether it’s a bird in flight, a sleeping dog, a bustling city street, a weathered building, or a quiet moment that caught your attention, every image has a story to tell. The exhibit will pair photographs with original ekphrastic poetry—poems written in response to visual art—creating a dialogue between image and word, artist and writer, observation and interpretation.

Local Event: Picture This: A Poetry & Photography Exhibit

Picture This: A Poetry & Photography Exhibit

OPENING RECEPTION: Thursday, October 29th 5:30-7pmA photograph captures a moment; a poem captures mood and meaning. Together,...

Manchester Public Library, 1041 Main St, Meeting Room #1, 1st Floor
Manchester Public Library presents
<h3>Not So “YA” Book Club – Five Survive by Holly Black</h3>
This group is aimed at (but not limited to) adults who are between the ages 18 -35 who love young adult literature. We read across many genres including historical fiction, fantasy, dystopian, paranormal, horror and realistic fiction.
Eight hours. 
Six friends. 
One sniper . . . 
 
Eighteen-year-old Red and her friends are on a road trip in an RV, heading to the beach for Spring Break. It’s a long drive but spirits are high. Until the RV breaks down in the middle of nowhere. There’s no mobile phone reception and nobody around to help. And as the wheels are shot out, one by one, the friends realize that this is no accident. There’s a sniper out there in the dark watching them and he knows exactly who they are. One of the groups has a secret that the sniper is willing to kill for. 
 
A game of cat-and-mouse plays out as the group desperately tries to get help and to work out which member of the group is the target. Buried secrets are forced to light in the cramped, claustrophobic setting of the RV, and tensions within the group will reach deadly levels. Not everyone will survive the night. Copies of the book are available at both library buildings. No Registration Required.

Local Event: Not So “YA” Book Club – Five Survive by Holly Black

Not So “YA” Book Club – Five Survive by Holly...

Manchester Public Library, 1041 Main St, Meeting Room #1, 1st Floor
Manchester Public Library presents
Not So “YA” Book Club –...

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Celebrate Diwali

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