**CANCELED/POSTPONED. We will alert you of a possible make up date for this event. Stay safe.**

Please join us as we seek to build community with our sister city of Nichinan, Japan all year long. There will be ways for everyone, non-poets and poets of all levels and ages, to be involved in this project. Many Seacoast organizations will be joining us in learning about and celebrating Japan. The PPLP will offer three Come Create! workshops at the Portsmouth Public Library where several instructors will guide us in experimenting with several traditional Japanese poetry forms and one visual art form. Attend one or all.

At the end of the year we will celebrate with a broadside contest and art show /reception. The broadsides will reflect Japanese influence in some way and the contest will be open to all. A guest poet will be brought to town to judge the contest and give a reading. Winning broadsides will be sent to Nichinan. Poets from both communities will be able to submit related work for possible inclusion in an anthology to be published in 2021.

Save these dates and check in with us regularly for updates.

May 3, 2020 - Children’s Day at GWilliker’s! Toy Shop 12-4 PM

June 20, 2020 - 2^ndCome Create Workshop PPL 2-4 PM

Sept. 19, 2020 - 3^rdCome Create Workshop PPL 2-4 PM

Nov. 2020 - broadside contest submissions due

Dec. 5, 2020 - Grand Finale:Broadside Art Show with  awards/reading in evening.

Thank you,

Tammi Truax, Portsmouth Poet Laureate

www.pplp.org

**CANCELED/POSTPONED. We will alert you of a possible make up date for this event. Stay safe.**

 
Genealogy workshop with Portsmouth Public Library in the Research Library.

**CANCELED/POSTPONED. We will alert you of a possible make up date for this event. Stay safe.**

Gary Sparks and Paula Fortner will present a joint lecture, “The Presidential Election Of1852: New Hampshire’s Franklin Pierce and ‘Old Fuss And Feathers’.” Pierce’s political and military experience, his moral compass, his oratorical skills,his party allegiance, his adherence to the Constitution and his commitment top reserve the Union at all costs were just what the Democrats needed to defeat General Winfield Scott. Pierce’s meteoric rise to the presidency will be discussed within the framework of antebellum politics.

 Gary and Paula are the Franklin Pierce Society's president and vice-president, respectively.  The Society manages the Pierce Homestead in Hillsborough, Pierce's home for the first 30 years of his life. Since 2004,when she began giving tours at the Pierce Homestead, Paula has been researching and analyzing how Pierce’s words and actions relate to his times. Currently,she serves as vice president of the Hillsborough Historical Society; works at the N.H. Historical Society; conducts tours at the N.H. State House; and is aboard member and tour guide at the Pierce Manse in Concord. Gary Sparks has conducted tours at the Pierce Homestead and the Pierce Manse over the past 20+ years. He is currently an active member of the Pierce Brigade in Concord and is president pro-tem of the Hillsborough Historical Society.

Attendance is free for Athenaeum Proprietors, Subscribers and Friends. Guests and members of the public are welcome to attend the entire series by becoming a Friend of the Athenaeum (see link below) for as little as $25 per year, payable at the door. Admission to an individual program is $10.

Space is limited and reservations are required. Please call (603) 431-2538 to reserve your spot(s) today. If unable to keep a reservation, please call again to release the seat for someone else. Reserved seats are honored until five minutes before a program begins.

Click to learn more about the Portsmouth Athenaeum Program Series 2020:“Elections with a New Hampshire Twist.”

**CANCELED/POSTPONED. We will alert you of a possible make up date for this event. Stay safe.**

A memorial concert honoring Proprietors who have passed in 2019 will be held at North Church at 3 p.m.  The concert features Peter Sykes on harpsichord.