Signature Event Archive

Search the Signature Event Archive to discover past Library events. Watch videos, hear speaker interviews, and listen to audio recordings of previous presentations. Search by keyword (event title, subject, or presenter name), location or by date range.

Video

Audio

Dissident: Songs for Anna Akhmatova

Musical Performance

Poets and writers are often the most dangerous of resistors. In the 1930s, Joseph Stalin put Ukrainian-born poet Anna Akhmatova on his watch list for writing what he deemed to be subversive poetry that worked to undermine his regime. Without access to printing presses, and because publication was dangerous, Akhmatova disseminated her poetry by word of mouth.

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Sunday, May 15, 2022 - 2:00pm

Central Library

The Lords of Easy Money: How the Federal Reserve Broke the American Economy

Christopher Leonard

Kansas City-area journalist Christopher Leonard returns to the Library to discuss his new book The Lords of Easy Money with Kansas City Star journalist David Hudnall. The book examines a process called “quantitative easing,” which Leonard says has distorted the domestic financial markets, widened disparities between rich and poor, and spurred riskier loan activity at banks.

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Tuesday, May 10, 2022 - 6:00pm

Reception:

5:30 pm

Plaza Branch

Hollywood vs. History: Kingdom of Heaven

John D. Hosler

Director Ridley Scott takes a sweeping look back to the Crusades and the brutal fighting between Christians and Muslims over the First Kingdom of Jerusalem in his epic 2005 film Kingdom of Heaven. How much did he get right?

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Monday, May 9, 2022 - 6:00pm

Plaza Branch

Voices of the Big Read: Open-Mic Poetry

Glenn North

The Big Read

Participants from Glenn North’s May 1 poetry workshop take the stage to share their work. The readings draw heavily from U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo’s themes of memory, homeland, tribal history, and Native rights in her book An American Sunrise, the centerpiece of the Library’s two-month Big Read 2022.

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Thursday, May 5, 2022 - 6:00pm

Plaza Branch

Molière’s Continuing Inspiration

Virginie Roche-Tiengo

Maybe you know Molière. If not … well, Kansas City’s French roots lend a connection to the great French playwright, who may rank second only to Shakespeare in the theatrical universe. So profound was his influence that the French language is often referred to as “the language of Molière.”

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Tuesday, May 3, 2022 - 6:00pm

Reception:

5:30 pm

Plaza Branch

Engineered Irony: Octave Chanute’s Kansas City Bridge

David W. Jackson

Missouri Valley Sundays

There was no greater boon to Kansas City’s early development than the opening of the Hannibal Bridge in 1869. Designed by civil engineer Octave Chanute, it was the first railway to span the Missouri River and transformed a Western frontier town into a commercial hub. Most notably, it gave rise to the West Bottoms’ stockyards industry.

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Sunday, May 1, 2022 - 2:00pm

Central Library

Expression in Verse: A Poetry Workshop

Glenn North

The Big Read

Amid the Library’s Big Read 2022, a two-month celebration of reading and poetry, Kansas City poet Glenn North conducts a multi-generational workshop for those wanting to try their hand at verse and those looking to hone their poetry-writing skills. The session draws heavily from U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo’s themes of memory, homeland, tribal history, and Native rights in her book An American Sunrise.

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Sunday, May 1, 2022 - 1:00pm

Southeast Branch

Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World

The Big Read

Through a Native Lens: Films From and About Indigenous Communities

Efforts to marginalize Native Americans and their culture could not diminish their transformational impact on popular music, from the Delta blues and jazz to hip-hop.

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Saturday, April 30, 2022 - 1:30pm

Plaza Branch

Get Buggy!

Friday Night Family Fun

Drop by the Plaza Branch’s Kid Corner anytime during this two-hour creative session, part of an April series of Friday Night Family Fun events that are all about spring and celebrating warmer weather. Of course, that warmth brings out the creepy crawlies. Get acquainted with the little critters through colorful activities.

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Friday, April 29, 2022 - 5:30pm

Plaza Branch

Indigenous Cinema Now: Native American and First Nations Filmmaking in the 21st Century

Joanna Hearne

The Big Read

Using clips of movies from 1998’s seminal Smoke Signals to present-day releases, film and media history scholar Joanna Hearne examines the significance and impact of some of the more recent Indigenous filmmakers and their work. Her presentation is part of Big Read 2022, revolving around U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo and her acclaimed book An American Sunrise.

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