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The Writer’s Circle is free and open to the public and offers drop-in generative sessions with timed writing, speed writing, prompts and feedback.

Bring your current projects or start some new stories.

Register for the ZOOM link at reference@dobbsferrylibrary.org or with Sara Bramble at sbramble@dobbsferrylibrary.org.

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This month we’re reading In My Time of Dying by Sebastian Junger. Get the book at the Library!

Register with sbramble@dobbsferrylibrary.org to get the Zoom link — please indicate the title and date of the program you are registering for.

For years as an award-winning war reporter, Sebastian Junger traveled to many front lines and frequently put his life at risk. And yet the closest he ever came to death was the summer of 2020 while spending a quiet afternoon at the New England home he shared with his wife and two young children. Crippled by abdominal pain, Junger was rushed to the hospital by ambulance. Once there, he began slipping away. As blackness encroached, he was visited by his dead father, inviting Junger to join him. “It’s okay,” his father said. “There’s nothing to be scared of. I’ll take care of you.” That was the last thing Junger remembered until he came to the next day when he was told he had suffered a ruptured aneurysm that he should not have survived.

This experience spurred Junger—a confirmed atheist raised by his physicist father to respect the empirical—to undertake a scientific, philosophical, and deeply personal examination of mortality and what happens after we die. How do we begin to process the brutal fact that any of us might perish unexpectedly on what begins as an ordinary day? How do we grapple with phenomena that science may be unable to explain? And what happens to a person, emotionally and spiritually, when forced to reckon with such existential questions?

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The Library Board of Trustees meets on the third Wednesday of every month.

The beginning of each meeting is open to public comments.

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Waterfront Park

This month we’re reading My Friends by Fredrik Backman. Get the book at the Library!

Register with reference@dobbsferrylibrary.org — please indicate the title and date of the program you are registering for!

Most people don’t even notice them—three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. Most people think it’s just a depiction of the sea. But Louisa, an aspiring artist herself, knows otherwise, and she is determined to find out the story of these three enigmatic figures.

Twenty-five years earlier, in a distant seaside town, a group of teenagers find refuge from their bruising home lives by spending long summer days on an abandoned pier, telling silly jokes, sharing secrets, and committing small acts of rebellion. These lost souls find in each other a reason to get up each morning, a reason to dream, a reason to love.

Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, a painting that will unexpectedly be placed into eighteen-year-old Louisa’s care. She embarks on a surprise-filled cross-country journey to learn how the painting came to be and to decide what to do with it. The closer she gets to the painting’s birthplace, the more nervous she becomes about what she’ll find. Louisa is proof that happy endings don’t always take the form we expect in this stunning testament to the transformative, timeless power of friendship and art.

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Join us for our 25th FREE Stand Up Comedy Showcase (intended for 21+) on Saturday, June 20th, 2026 at 7:30pm in Dobbs Ferry Public Library’s Community Room, featuring HEADLINER: LINETTE PALLADINO, HOST: DAVID BECKLES JR., MICHELE DURANTE, ANDREW B. STEINER, MIKE NOBLE, FRANCESCA MAGLIONE, TIM DEERY, and MURF, MUSICAL GUEST: POLISH JOHN, and special for this “Silver Jubilee” 25th Showcase, complimentary brew (for 21+) courtesy of our friends at CAPTAIN LAWRENCE BREWING!  Our comedy showcases always make for a great Saturday night, whether it be solo, a date night, or as a group, where you can enjoy dinner & drinks in our beautiful downtown before the show and delight in a late-night stroll after. As always, all are welcome!

• EMAIL Reference@DobbsFerryLibrary.org FOR TIX (room seats 75) • doors open 7:00 pm

BIO’S
HEADLINER: LINETTE PALLADINO
Linette has performed at clubs and festivals all over the U.S. and internationally. From Iceland to Hong Kong and for the troops in Iraq, Linette has seen it all. She has opened for some of America’s best comics including Dave Attell and Carole Montgomery and was one of five nationwide finalists in the HBO Latino Stand-up Competition. In 2022, Linette won Jersey’s Funniest Female at The Eagle Theatre. Offstage, she is a mom, wife, and currently serves as a Major in the US Army.

HOST: DAVID BECKLES JR.
David was born in Brooklyn, New York and raised in Barbados. When he returned to the US, he pursued Media & Communication Arts at the City College of New York.  Growing up a joke teller. his love for stand up comedy and acting led him to perform in several Shakespeare productions, most notably Othello. These days, David can be found honing his love of stand up and sketch comedy all around the tri-state.

MICHELE DURANTE
Michele has been making audiences laugh ever since she retired from the NYPD. She’s performed at the Women In Comedy Festival in Manchester, England; The Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland and all over the US. She performs regularly in NYC and Long Island, NY.

ANDREW B. STEINER
Andrew has been doing comedy for 13 years, is starting to apply deodorant to some of his jokes, and has a critically acclaimed special, Toast for Dinner. He’s headlined clubs around the world like Carlito’s Comedy Club, The Comedy Museum, and Cristy B’s Comedy Club, as well as shows at the Glasgow International Comedy Festival, and appeared in the 2026 feature film Mamochka.

MIKE NOBLE
Mike is a New York–based editor, producer, and writer with nearly two decades of high end post-production experience. A former Supervising Editor at Discovery Communications, his credits include feature length documentaries such as the Emmy-winning Korean War Stories with Walter Cronkite, Fruitcake Fraud, and Murder at Carter County Mines. He also performs stand-up in the New York area, mostly in front of other comics who judge him harshly.

FRANCESCA MAGLIONE
Francesca is a queer stand-up comedian by night, including being the Co-Producer of The Comedy Ward, a monthly comedy showcase at 18th Ward Brewing in New Rochelle, and an Oncology Registered Dietitian by day, providing a fun and supportive setting for people of all walks of life to learn evidence-based ways to fuel their bodies and eat joyfully. She loves to use humor and storytelling to connect with diverse audiences all around the world and you can always count on her to deliver a healthy amount of whimsy and debauchery!

TIM DEERY
Tim has run Comedy on the Hudson since 2018 and Cult Classic Movie Night since 2016.  His latest on-screen work includes supporting roles in Todd Rawiszer’s upcoming short New Tattoo, Jeff Frumess’ upcoming feature My Shadow, Jack Wheeler’s 2025 short I Love Summer, and the starring role in Wolf Face’s Owen Is A Dracula.

MURF
James Murphy, or “Murf” to his adoring fans, began doing comedy at The Improv and Gotham City in 2002 and was a founding member of the troupe Crux.  He appeared in pilots Skels and Among the Joneses and began focusing on standup in 2012 at theaters, comedy clubs, restaurants and coffee shops all over the tri-state.

MUSICAL GUEST:

4 chords and a few SAT words, who you may recognize as your favorite Host of Climbing Wolf’s Most Useless Trivia

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DONATION$
While the event is FREE, we are grateful for any ca$h donations for the performers on behalf of the Friends of the Dobbs Ferry Public Library.

transportation
our address: 55 Main Street Dobbs Ferry, NY 10522
• for any driving in, there are Village Lots and street parking (pay via the Park Mobile App if and when applicable)
• for any arriving by rail, the library is located right up the hill from the Dobbs Ferry Metro North Hudson Line train stop

food + drink
You are more than welcome to bring in outdoor food and/or drinks, as long as you do so responsibly and clean up after yourself.
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*This event may be filmed.  Being as such, there is a chance that you could wind up in the recording at any given point.  If this is an issue, we recommend that you not attend, as we will not be able edit around individual preferences.

These showcases are part of our Comedy on the Hudson programming.

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