Some in-branch programs require registration with your library card. Please log in with your library account or follow this link to apply for a card online. You can also apply for a card in person at any of our 33 locations.
Tuesday May 28, 2024 at 6:30pm
minutes
Learn all about Indian cuisine and culture with Chef Joe Thottungal. In this online event presented by Ottawa Public Library, Joe will explore Indian recipes, spices, and other ingredients through a cooking demo in his very own restaurant, Coconut Lagoon. Please register to receive a list of ingredients prior to the event so you can cook along with Chef Joe.
To explore Joe’s cookbooks from OPL’s catalogue, follow this link
Tuesday Jun 11, 2024 at 7:00pm
minutes
In partnership with the National Arts Centre (NAC), the Ottawa Public Library (OPL) is hosting an Indigenous Book Club for National Indigenous History Month featuring book of essays Making Love with the Land. On June 11 at 7pm, join us for this conversation with author Joshua Whitehead (Oji-Cree - Peguis First Nation) to discuss the book and connect directly with the author and other readers.
Borrow a copy today: Making Love With the Land | Ottawa Public Library | BiblioCommons
About the Book
Making Love with the Land is a startling, challenging, uncompromising look at what it means to live as an Indigenous person “in the rupture” between identities. In these ten unique, heart-piercing non-fiction pieces, award-winning writer Joshua Whitehead illuminates the complex moment we’re living through now, in which Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples are navigating new and old ideas about “the land.” He asks: What is our relationship and responsibility towards it? And how has the land shaped ideas, histories, words, our very bodies?
About the Author
Joshua Whitehead (he/him) is a Two-Spirit, Oji-nêhiyaw member of Peguis First Nation (Treaty 1). He is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Calgary where he is housed in the departments of English and International Indigenous Studies (Treaty 7).
He is the author of full-metal indigiqueer (Talonbooks 2017) which was shortlisted for the inaugural Indigenous Voices Award and the Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry. He is also the author of Jonny Appleseed (Arsenal Pulp Press 2018) which was long listed for the Giller Prize, shortlisted for the Indigenous Voices Award, the Governor General's Literary Award, the Amazon Canada First Novel Award, the Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award, and won the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction, the Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction and Canada Reads 2021. Whitehead is the editor of Love after the End: An Anthology of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction, which won the Lambda Award in 2021.
This is a hybrid event: the program is in-person, but will be streamed live: https://nac-cna.ca/en/event/36739. A recording of the event will be provided on the OPL YouTube page afterwards.
Registration is for the in-person portion of the event- Registration required. This event is free but seating is limited.
Monday May 27, 2024 at 7:00pm
minutes
Kim Thúy a quitté le Vietnam avec les boat people à l’âge de dix ans et s’est installée avec sa famille au Québec. Diplômée en traduction et en droit, l’écrivaine a travaillé comme couturière, interprète, avocate et propriétaire de restaurant. Ses livres sont traduits en 31 langues dans 43 pays et territoires. À l’occasion du Mois du patrimoine asiatique, BPO vous invite à venir à la rencontre de l’écrivaine, dont l'histoire a été traduite au grand écran en novembre 2023 avec le film RU, à travers un échange avec la journaliste et animatrice Evelyne Charuest.
Thursday Jun 06, 2024 at 2:00pm
minutes
A powwow is a gathering to celebrate First Nations culture through dance, songs, food and crafts, and is open to all.
This workout will incorporate powwow dance steps from different styles of powwow dance and the sounds of contemporary and traditional powwow music into a simple, follow-along workout.
Amanda Fox is Ojibwe from Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory on Manitoulin Island, and is based in Ottawa, Ontario. Amanda is a jingle dress dancer, singer, beadwork artist, sewing artist, powwow workout instructor, and workshop facilitator. She started dancing as soon as she could walk and has a profound knowledge in powwow dance and protocols.
Thursday Jun 20, 2024 at 2:00pm
minutes
A powwow is a gathering to celebrate First Nations culture through dance, songs, food and crafts, and is open to all.
This workout will incorporate powwow dance steps from different styles of powwow dance and the sounds of contemporary and traditional powwow music into a simple, follow-along workout.
Amanda Fox is Ojibwe from Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory on Manitoulin Island, and is based in Ottawa, Ontario. Amanda is a jingle dress dancer, singer, beadwork artist, sewing artist, powwow workout instructor, and workshop facilitator. She started dancing as soon as she could walk and has a profound knowledge in powwow dance and protocols.
Thursday Jun 27, 2024 at 7:00pm
minutes
Drawing from over 15 years of queer and trans advocacy, as well as over a decade in practice as a wellness professional, trauma recovery expert, and conflict transformation facilitator, award-winning author and spiritual teacher Kai Cheng Thom offers a revitalizing perspective on the meaning of love in a time of intense social strife and political polarization : How do we understand love not as a fuzzy feeling, not as an intellectual concept, but as a discipline and set of practices that we can apply to strengthen our resilience and deepen relationships for the purpose of pursuing justice? Love as our greatest power in the struggle for social change? This highly engaged, practically focused presentation will leave you with: 1) A simple but powerful psychological framework for understanding love and resilience as a practice, 2) 3 simple tools that you can use to resolve conflict and engage in meaningful conversations with people who may hold bigoted or prejudiced beliefs, 3) A visualization practice for self-care and personal development.
There will be a Q&A and book signing with the author to follow the event.
This is a hybrid event: the program is in-person, but we will also stream live on OPL's YouTube page.
Registration is for the in-person portion of the event.
In-person attendees will get the chance to win a copy of Falling Back in Love with Being Human.
This event is made possible thanks to the generosity of the Friends of the Ottawa Public Library Association.
About Kai Cheng Thom:
Kai Cheng Thom, Master of Social Work, MSc Couple & Family Therapy, is a Certified Somatic Sex Educator, Qualified Mediator, Clinical Hypnotherapist and Certified Professional Life Coach based in tkaronto/Toronto. She is the author of six award-winning books in various genres, including the Publishing Triangle Award-winning essay collection on Transformative Justice, I HOPE WE CHOOSE LOVE, the New York Times-featured picture book From the Stars In the Sky to the Fish in the Sea, and the recent Canadian bestseller Falling Back In Love With Being Human.
Kai Cheng's work as a noted practitioner and teacher of Somatic Sex Education, Sexological Bodywork, and Somatic Coaching focuses on the intersection of social justice, pleasure activism, and transformative approaches to healing conflict and harm. She maintains a private practice as a hands-on sex and intimacy coach with individuals, couples, and polycules, as well as a consultancy as a master facilitator and leadership coach with organizations across North America. She also teaches as Adjunct Faculty at the Institute for the Study of Somatic Sex Education and Faculty at The Embody Lab, having trained hundreds of practitioners in body-based, trauma-informed, and anti-oppressive approaches to individual and social change.