Category Archives: Library

Pic Of The Day #3182

Posted on January 4, 2026 | 1 comment

Sculpture near Westport Library, in fog (Photo/Nancy Breakstone)

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Roundup: Sandy Suarez, Mid-Term Exams, Lesley Vincent …

Posted on January 4, 2026 | Leave a comment

A popular local server needs help.

A GoFundMe page has been set up for Sandy Suarez. She’s worked at Gruel Britannia since it opened; before that she was at The Porch @ Christie’s, and spent many years as a nanny.

Sandy recently received a stage 2 cancer diagnosis. Surgery was largely successful, but she must undergo 28 rounds of chemo. The first is tomorrow.

Treatment presents a significant financial challenge.

“Sandy has served our community for years,” the GoFundMe page says. “Now it’s our turn to help her.” Click here to donate. (Hat tip: Katie Phillis)

Sandy Suarez

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The Westport Public Schools’ Christmas vacation is almost over.

At Staples High, that means mid-term exams loom.

As always, the Westport Library offers a warm welcome to stressed-out students.

Today and next Sunday (January 4 and 11), the library will open early, at 9:30 a.m. However, parents, teachers and adult tutors will not be allowed in until 1 p.m.

From January 5 to 15 (except January 8), from 5 p.m. on, the Komansky Room (behind the Trefz Forum stage) is available for quiet study.

The Higgins Room will be open for study breaks — including board games, and a therapy dog. Check the website for exact dates and details.

The Patron Services desk is the place to go for highlighters, index cards, other supplies — and those all-important chargers.

Staples students don’t love mid-terms. But they love that the Library is there for them, every semester.

Students flock to the Westport Library at exam time. (Photo/Patricia McMahon)

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Photos of New England are on display all month at the Westport Book Shop.

The work of guest exhibitor Lesley Vincent, the images include Westport, Southport, Black Rock, Provincetown and Martha’s Vineyard. All works are available for purchase.

A reception is set for January 16 (6 p.m.).

Lesley Vincent, and his photos.

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In a rare nighttime “Westport … Naturally” image, Kona wanders outside under a full moon.

(Photo/Carl McNair)

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And finally … today is Tom Thumb Day. It honors the birthday of Bridgeport native Charles Sherwood Stratton. Born in 1838 with what is now called pituitary dwarfism, he was discovered and promoted around the world by showman (and Bridgeport mayor) PT Barnum.

Under Barnum’s management, Tom Thumb became a wealthy man. He owned a house in a fashionable part of New York, a steam yacht, and a specially adapted home in the Thimble Islands.

He died at 45, of a stroke.

He was 45 years old. Over 20,000 people attended the funeral. Barnum bought a life-sized statue of Tom Thumb for his gravestone at Mountain Grove Cemetery in Bridgeport.

(Tomorrow, we start the first full week of a new year. Today, you can start “06880” off right by clicking here, to make a tax-deductible contribution. Happy new year — and thank you!)

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Roundup: Democratic Caucus, Venezuela, U Thant …

Posted on January 3, 2026 | 6 comments

The first step toward becoming a Democratic candidate — or helping to influence the party locally — begins January 13 (7:30 p.m., Town Hall).

That’s the biennial Democratic Town Committee Caucus — an election to the DTC. They’re the group that endorses candidates for local elections, and helps select statewide nominees.

All registered Democrats are eligible. Any voter who has changed registration from another party must have done so at least 90 days prior to January 13. Click here for the Westport Democratic Town Committee bylaws.

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Speaking of politics (sort of): The capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has had a collateral effect on Westporters vacationing in the Caribean.

The closure of air space in the region caused airlines to cancel hundreds of flights.

One local family was scheduled to leave today from Trinidad & Tobago — 7 miles off the Venezuelan coast, but 350 miles from Caracas.

Another is in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands — hundreds of miles from Venezuela.

Airlines are swamped with calls from stranded travelers. They’re responding with variations of “We have no idea…”

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Verso Studios — the media arm of the Westport Library — has hosted headliners like Patti Smith and the Wallflowers. They’ve produced a vinyl album — the first ever by any library, anywhere.

What haven’t they done? A Battle of the Bands.

Until now.

Next Saturday (January 10, 7 p.m.), 4 high-energy local bands take the Trefz Forum stage. The crowd will decide the winner. Prizes are $500 for first place, $250 for second.

The college and teen groups are the Breakers, Clockwork, Caravan and MOSS.

Tickets are $10 for students, $20 general admission. Click here to purchase, and for more information. 

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Many Westporters know and love Abby LaBanca, longtime Spotted Horse bartender.

They may not know that her father Jim is terminally ill with cancer. A strong and selfless man, he continues to give back — including as chair of the Sunshine Kids Cancer Foundation, dedicating time and energy to helping children and families facing the same battle he now wages.

Along with the emotional weight of their impending loss, Jim’s family faces unexpected financial hardship.

A GoFundMe page has been organized to help the LaBancas focus on spending their final days together, without added stress. Click here to donate, and for more information. (Hat tip: Andrew Colabella)

Jim LaBanca

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Thant Myint-U grew up in Riverdale, New York — when his grandfather, U Thant, was the third secretary-general of the United Nations — and then in Bangkok, when his father was with the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.

But his mother Aye-Aye Thant — U Thant’s daughter — was a longtime Westporter.

Her son has just published a book about his grandfather.

According to PassBlue — an independent, women-led nonprofit news company that covers the US-UN relationship, women’s issues, human rights, peacekeeping and other global matters — “Peacemaker: U Thant and the Forgotten Quest for a Just World” “reveals rich layers of history during the 1960s, taking readers back to key moments in his maternal grandfather’s role in world history, from the Congo crisis to the Cuban missile crisis, from Vietnam to the Six-Day War in the Mideast.

“The author, who worked for a while in the UN and has produced several history books, has now written a book drawing on his family’s legacy. He says it was an accident that he stumbled upon archival material about his grandfather and the UN, which led him to work on this biography.”

Aye Aye and her husband lived in Westport from 2000 to 2022 (except for 2011 through 2014, when they renovated her former home in Yongon, Myanmar, as the U Thant House Museum. It is still in operation; her son is the chairman.

Aye Aye moved from Westport to Boston in 2022, to be closer to her daugthers.

Click here to read more, including a Q-and-A with Aye Aye Thant’s son. (NOTE: “06880” rules limit comments to the relevant topic at hand.  All comments on this item should pertain to the Thant family. General posts about the UN today will be deleted.)

U Thant

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Dana Kuyper snapped a nice “Westport … Naturally” image of the view from Longshore, across Gray’s Creek to Owenoke.

Well, it was a nice view — except for the large trash bin that someone dumped sometime, somewhere, and which managed to get stuck in the winter mud.

(Photo/Dana Kuyper)

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And finally … in honor of the Gray’s Creek photo above, lets hear from this musician:

(Where else but “06880” will you find U Thant and Muddy Waters together? That’s the way we roll. If you appreciate this blog — where Westport meets the world — please click here to support us. Thanks!)

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“06880” Podcast: Robin Moyer Chung

Posted on December 30, 2025 | Leave a comment

This is Robin Moyer Chung’s second time on our “06880” podcast.

I interviewed her a couple of years ago, as editor of Westport Lifestyle magazine.

Now she’s back — as “06880”‘s culture correspondent.

The other day, we chatted on the Westport Library stage about all things cultural. The Westport Country Playhouse, Mo\CA, Staples Players — you name it, Robin knows it.

We talked too about our reputation as an “arts town.” Is it still true? Where do all the new arrivals fit in? What’s ahead?

Click here or below, for our very cultured conversation.

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Here’s A Poem For ’25: Hey, We Made It Out Alive!

Posted on December 29, 2025 | 19 comments

With 2025 now almost finished
365 days diminished
Some goals achieved; some (sadly) dashed
Some bills came due; some checks were cashed
We’re older now by near a year
And closer to our end, I fear
Our thoughts turn this morning to “auld lang syne”
A phrase I’m sure that once was fine
Though what it means I have no clue
So let’s move on, and give our due
To folks in town who merit praise
(And probably too, a nice fat raise).

We say congrats to our selectmen
Led most ably by Christie (Kevin)
With help from Wistreich and O’Day
All chosen the electoral way
“Selectmen,” though, sounds anachronistic
It doesn’t take a seer or mystic
To divine that all of them ain’t male
But let’s not gnash our teeth, or wail
We only need to change one word
And presto: Hail, our new Select Board!

Sure, the year brings challenges new
Along with the ones old, tried and true
Like what to do with the bridge Cribari
A span that has been used to carry
Cars and light trucks — no eighteen-wheelers
Though now state pooh-bahs put out feelers
To build a replacement — wider, higher
An idea some locals fear is dire
The process may drag on for years
Cue agita, angst, frustration, fears.

And though the Hamlet plan is dead
Another may rise there soon, instead
Affordable housing? An 8-30g?
More retail? More restaurants? We wait to see
What some developer has up his sleeve
With a vision, a dream, in which to believe
For a sliver, a slice of old Saugatuck
Let’s hope we don’t say, “What the f—?”

To all board chairs: Goldstein and Dobin,
Lebowitz, Ezzes et al, we’re hopin’
That instead of blather, bitching, moaning
And meetings filled with speakers droning
That we all act like family: sisters and brothers
(And adults like adults: fathers and mothers)
Show civil discourse, speak with respect
Despite ideas we must reject
Let’s not be filled with bombast and bile
Come on, you guys! At least, try to smile!

To schools superintendent Tom Scarice
We wish you a year filled with peace
May classes proceed without buzzing phones
And hordes of kids busting teaches’ stones
With their pleas, “pretty please, are Air Pods fine?
I’ll be quiet, I promise. I won’t ever whine.”

Let’s shout to the rafters our thanks for the wonders
Of all our spectacular, great first responders
Police, EMS, and (for sure) firefighters
Whatever the need, they pull all-nighters
We hope too that Christmas was merry
For new parks director, Eric Barbieri
He’s taken over with insight and smarts
Its programs, its staff – all its many parts
He’s learned about every Rec cranny and nook
And – hosannas will ring! – he will give Hook’d the hook.

We cannot forget all our organizations
And volunteers who, with hard work and patience
Keep us warm and inspired, healthy and fed
Offering food pantries, hot meals, a bed
At the top of the list is the great Homes with Hope
But so many others groups help us to cope
Like VFW Post 3-Nine-Nine
Where everyone’s welcome to drink and to dine
And American Legion – that’s Post 63
Plus of course their great female auxiliary.

ABC gives young scholars A (Much) Better Chance
The Woman’s Club offers plenty of grants
Westport Pride (for the LGBTQ-plus crowd)
Westport10, for Black men, active and proud
Start-up Westport, our entrepreneurs’ hub
And for disabled adults, there’s the 203 Club
Town Farm, Farmers’ Market and (forget not) Earthplace
Fill the very important green-eco- town space
Along with Sustainable Westport, we add
If we’ve forgotten some others – well sorry, our bad.

The Playhouse has been here for (it’s true!) 90 years
Its shows and productions still draw (mostly) cheers
Huzzahs too to the Levitt, our favorite pavilion
For all those free evenings – Bravo! Thanks a million
A few yards away, ‘cross a shared parking lot
Stands a building that helps make Westport so hot
Our library is books, sure, but also much more
It’s concerts, it’s artwork, it’s programs galore
You can meet there and make things, and even record
Your own podcast or music – you’ll never be bored.

Let’s raise now our glasses, and toast all our teachers
Rabbis and imams, pastors and preachers
Custodians, paras, bus drivers and cooks
Tutors and tweeters (but not DC crooks)
Mommies and daddies and day care magicians
Dentists and vets and our favorite physicians
The heroes who gave us our “great generation”
And today’s servicemembers: our grand veneration
Young  people and teens: the hope for tomorrow
Though today we pass on a world brimming with sorrow.

We’re nearing the end of this holiday poem
Hailing the wonders that make our town “home”
So let’s cram in as many more as we can
Of all of these others, we are a huge fan:
Downtown merchants, like Savvy + Grace
Old Mill Grocery & Deli – we must save that place!
All of our realtors (like KMS Team)
The YMCA – livin’ the dream
Restaurants galore, like Pook’s Jeera Thai
The great Dylan Curran – we all love that guy.
And hey – thanks a lot to Westport’s other news source
The Journal (we check it daily, of course).

Now finally, a hat tip to all of our readers
Some just moved here; some are town leaders
Some comment often; most, never at all
Some email us daily; some text or call
Some suggest stories; some like to complain
Some think our town’s sunny; some just see the rain
But all are important; you’re the reason we post
Without you, this blog would soon be just toast
So to all of you out in the “06880” sphere
Here’s wishing you all a spectacular year
May two-thousand-and-two-six be a small bit of heaven
And let’s pray we all make it to year ‘27.

 

 

 

 

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Posted in Arts, Downtown, Entertainment, Environment, Library, Local business, Local politics, Westport Country Playhouse

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Roundup: Big Beautiful Bill, Transfer Station …

Posted on December 27, 2025 | 9 comments

The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” was touted as a way to relieve taxes.

However, according to DataHaven — a non-profit that collects data on “well-being, equity and quality of life” in Connecticut — it will have “unequal effects on American families, and will contribute to income and wealth inequality.”

They cite the Congressional Budget Office, which says the bill will increase after-tax earnings for households at the top of the income distribution, while negatively impacting households in the bottom fifth.

Weighing the positive effects of reduced taxes against the costs of reductions in Medicaid and SNAP, DataHaven says that statewide, “much of the tax relief from (the bill) will go to high-income households in southwest Connecticut.”

Taken as a whole, Westporters will reap $121 million in benefits from the bill, according to DataHaven.

The top 25% of households (based on income) will receive $73.5 million in benefits. The middle 50% will get $46.7 million, while the bottom 25% will see $789,000.

Meanwhile, just 2 towns over, Bridgeport — with a population 6 times ours — will see a total benefit of $60.3 million. Of that, $60.7 million will accrue to the top 25%, and $13.7 million to the middle 50%.

The bottom quarter of Bridgeport’s households, however, will lose $14.1 million, DataHaven says.

Click here for the full report. (Hat tip: Sal Liccione)

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The transfer station on Sherwood Island Connector, and the yard waste facility on Bayberry Lane, are both closed today because of the snowstorm.

They’ll reopen on Monday.

The Westport Library will open, but late: 1 p.m.

Stay warm and dry, and drive safe!

Before the storm.

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Berthold Nebel was one of Westport’s earliest artists.

Born in Switzerland in 1889, he came to the US with his parents when he was 1.

He was hired as noted sculptor James Earle Fraser’s studio assistant in Gramercy Park. Nebel moved to Westport in 1930, on the advice of Fraser, and bought a 9-acre piece of land on Roseville Road, with a farmhouse on it.

Nebel soon built an artist studio much like Fraser’s. He lived and worked there with his family, until his death in 1964.

Here, he worked on commissions that included 2 sets of bronze doors for the Museum of the American Indian, and the Museum of the National Geographic Society.

Among Nebel’s other works: a statue of Confederate General Joseph Wheeler for the rotunda of the US Capitol, and another of General John Sedgwick for the state Capitol in Hartford.

Now — as his family prepares to put the studio on the market — his granddaughter Maria Nebel White Keogh writes that the family has finally found a home for “Wrestlers,” Nebel’s Rodin-inspired sculpture created during World War I as his thesis at the Academy in Rome.

It’s being donated to the Lyme Academy of Fine Arts in Old Lyme. Other important figurative works are displayed there too.

While the work is a donation, transporting and installing the work will cost up to $25,000.

Lyme Academy is soliciting donations, for that project and the sculpture’s care and maintenance. Click here for details. 

Berthold Nebel, with “Wrestlers.”

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Today’s “Westport … Naturally” photo was taken on Christmas Day, at Deadman Brook.

The scene — and the rest of town — look a bit different today.

(Photo/Tomoko Meth)

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And finally … on this date in 1831, Charles Darwin began his journey on HMS Beagle. Along the way, he formulated his theory of evolution.

(Since 2009, “06880” has evolved. But we haven’t changed our mission: serving the community 24/7/365. And as always, we rely on readers’ support. Please click here to help. Thank you!)

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Roundup: Revaluation Appeals, Photos Of The Year, Stop The Bleed …

Posted on December 24, 2025 | 8 comments

The deadline to schedule an appointment to review new property assessments has been extended to Friday (December 26). The previous deadline was today.

Actual appeal applications to the Board of Assessment Appeals will be available after the Grand List is signed. They must be filed by February 20.

For more information about the revaluation, click here.  To speak with a member of the Assessor’s Office, call 203-341-1070.

Revaluation assessment reviews for Westport properties can be made today or Friday.

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Two Staples High School graduates — both Pulitzer Prize winners — have 4 photos, in the New York Times‘ annual “Year in Photos” section.

Tyler Hicks (SHS ’88) contributed 3 images, all from Ukraine (February 9, May 18, October 8).

He describes this one (below): “A volunteer with the Platsdarm group collecting the remains of soldiers and civilians killed in the Ukraine war. The recovery of the dead was not always possible as fighting raged along the front, sometimes for weeks or months.”

(Photo/Tyler Hicks for the New York Times)

Lynsey Addario (SHS ’91) took this haunting image in Syria (February 15):

(Photo/Lynsey Addario for the New York Times)

It shows a mother tending to her 15-year-old son, who had stepped on a landmine while herding sheep. 

Lynsey says: “Many people think of war as the dangers during active combat, but there are so many casualties after a war finishes. These are the quiet stories that speak volumes about how war has tentacles everywhere.”

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Many — okay, most — Westporters were surprised to learn there was a school snow day yesterday.

Students were thrilled. Parents — probably less so.

The best reaction came from alert “06880” reader Michael Stefanski.

He sends this photo …

(Photo/Michael Stefanski)

… and adds, “The blizzard that shut down schools on December 23. We will prevail!”

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The #1 cause of a preventable death after an injury is … bleeding.

A free Westport Volunteer Emergency Medical Service “Stop the Bleed” class can help save lives.

It’s January 22 (7 to 8:45 p.m., EMS headquarters, 50 Jesup Road). Click here for more information, and to register.

And while you’re at it, consider a donation to WVEMS. Many residents don’t realize they pay for everything — from ambulances to Band-Aids — themselves.

There are many worthy causes and organizations in Westport. Few are as life-changing — and life-saving — as this.

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“Building Bridges Through Storytelling” — a quilting exhibition — is on display in 3 Westport Library galleries, through March 17.

Like a patchwork quilt itself, the show weaves together 3 distinct yet interconnected exhibits. Each explores how art, memory and narrative bind communities across generations and geographies.

Receptions and talks are set for January 15 (6 p.m.) and January 31 (1 p.m.).


“Covid Quilt” by Maybeth Wirz (left); “Green and Orange” by the Southern Connecticut Modern Quilt Guild.

For more information, including details on each exhibition, click here and here.

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Jolantha — Weston’s favorite pig — gets decked out for every holiday.

But Christmas is special. As you can see below, she goes — well, whole hog.

(Photo/Hans Wilhelm)

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Westport Police made 1 custodial arrest between December 17 and 22.

A 34-year-old Stamford man was charged with larceny, payment card theft, 6 counts of stolen card theft, 12 counts of identity theft, and criminal impersonation, following investigation into a July 2923 report that credit cards and identity documents had been stolen from a wallet in an unlocked vehicle at Birchwood Country Club. He was unable to post $10,000 bond.

Police also issued these citations:

  • Traveling unreasonably fast: 3 citations
  • Operating a motor vehicle under suspension: 3
  • Failure to renew registration: 2
  • Texting while driving: 1
  • Operating an unregistered motor vehicle: 1
  • Falsification of markers: 1
  • Failure to insure a motor vehicle: 1
  • Operating a motor vehicle without minimum insurance: 1
  • Illegal display of a handicap plate: 1
  • Failure to comply with handicap parking regulations: 1
  • Tinted glass infraction: 1
  • Following too closely: 1
  • Failure to comply with state traffic commission regulations: 1

Using a handicap plate illegally is very uncool.

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We get tons of sunset photos — often at Compo Beach — for our “Westport … Naturally” feature.

The ones we publish must be extra-special. A dog always makes us sit up and take notice.

(Photo/Richard Abramowitz)

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And finally … Jerry Kasenetz, a record producer who was one of the kings of bubblegum music,  died this month in Florida, from complications of a fall. He was 82. Click here for a full obituary.

Among the hits he created, for better or worse:

(If 10 people click here and donate to “06880,” I promise to never include the 1910 Fruitgum Company here again. Thank you!)

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Posted in Arts, Library, Media, Police, Politics, Real estate, Weather

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Superstar Wyclef Jean Headlines ’26 VersoFest

Posted on December 18, 2025 | 10 comments

VersoFest’s 5th year will be bigger than ever.

That’s not hyperbole.

It’s Wyclef Jean performing.

The Grammy Award-winning artist/producer/composer/Fugees co-founder has just been booked as the headliner for the March 27 concert.

He’ll be there with his full band. Tickets are $125, and available now at VersoFest.org.

If that’s not enough: Jean’s show will support Music Will — the largest nonprofit music education program for schools in the United States.

Wyclef Jean

VersoFest is the Westport Library’s annual music and media conference — a forum for media creators, artists, and fans to converge.

Wyclef Jean is the second act announced for this year’s festival. The rising rock band The Thing takes the Trefz Forum stage for a kickoff concert on Friday, February 27. Click here for tickets and more information.

The music that Jean has written, performed and produced — both as a solo superstar, and as founder and guiding member of the Fugees — has been a powerful pop cultural force for more than 2 decades.

Hits include the Fugees’ reinvention of Roberta Flack’s 1973 ballad “Killing Me Softly”; “Hips Don’t Lie” with Shakira, which he co-wrote, produced, and is featured on; his own “Gone Till November”; “Ghetto Superstar”; Carlos Santana’s Numeber 1 single “Maria, Maria” (featuring Jean); and Whitney Houston’s “My Love is Your Love.”

Jean has earned 3 Grammy Awards; Golden Globe and Emmy nominations, and the cover of Rolling Stone’s “Top 50 Hip Hop Players.” He’s made music with Michael Jackson, Queen, Mick Jagger, Paul Simon, Earth Wind & Fire, Kenny Rogers, and Tom Jones.

As a solo artist, Jean’s 6 albums have sold nearly 9 million copies worldwide.

Now he’ll be in Westport — performing for just 700 people, in the cutting-edge, intimate Library space.

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Jelani Cobb Headlines Westport’s MLK Day Celebration

Posted on December 16, 2025 | Leave a comment

With speakers like Ibram X. Kendi, Dr. Clarence B. Jones and Shonda Rhimes, Westport’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day has become one of the most inspiring and thought-provoking events of the year.

Next month’s will be another don’t-miss afternoon.

Jelani Cobb — renowned journalist, scholar, and dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism — is the guest of honor at the 20th annual celebration.

It’s set for the Westport Library on Saturday, January 17, 2026 (1 p.m.). Cobb will be in conversation with novelist, playwright, filmmaker — and Westport resident — Trey Ellis.

Jelani Cobb

Cobb is a Peabody Award winner, Pulitzer Prize finalist, MSNow political analyst, and New Yorker staff writer. He has written books on Barack Obama and the hip hop aesthetic, in addition to editing other volumes and producing numerous documentaries.

He was elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 2023, and is a recipient of fellowships from the Ford Foundation, Fulbright Foundation, and the Shorenstein Center at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

The annual MLK celebration is a partnership between the Library, TEAM Westport, Westport Country Playhouse, Westport Museum for History & Culture, and the Westport/Weston Clergy Association.

“Dr. King reminded us that ‘the day we see truth and cease to speak is the day we begin to die,’ says Harold Bailey, TEAM Westport chair.

“At a moment when the very idea of truth is under unprecedented pressure, there could be no more fitting focus than journalism. And there is no more powerful champion of its purpose and integrity than Jelani Cobb. We are truly fortunate to welcome him as we mark the 20th anniversary of the MLK celebration in Westport.”

“We are thrilled to honor and welcome both Dr. Cobb and Trey Ellis at the Library for this 20th anniversary celebration,” adds Library executive director Bill Harmer.

“Dr. Cobb is a groundbreaking figure in his field. Westport is incredibly fortunate to have him here to help us celebrate the life and memory of Dr. King.”

Click here for more information, and to reserve free tickets.

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WestportREADS About Floods To Come

Posted on December 12, 2025 | Leave a comment

For a quarter century, Westport has READ.

We’ve read for far longer, of course. The Bankside Farmers probably gathered around the hearth with a good book — or at least, the Good Book — back in the 1600s.

But WestportREADS — the month-long community project in which the entire town is invited to read the same work, and the Westport Library offers a variety of programs tied to it — has been around since “only” 2002.

It’s a fun, thought-provoking and wide-ranging event. Yet coming right after the holidays, it probably does not get the attention it deserves.

Hopefully, this year it will.

The very timely 2026 WestportREADS selection is “All the Water in the World,” by Eiren Caffall.

The novel follows the journey of Nonie, a girl with an intuitive connection to water, in a flooded future New York. A small group of families build a makeshift settlement atop the Museum of Natural History. As they try to safeguard the remnants of humanity’s stories and knowledge, a catastrophic storm forces them north up the Hudson River. They seek safety, community, and the possibility of a life rebuilt.

Drawing parallels to real-life stories of curators in Iraq and Leningrad who protected their cultural collections during war, the author asks readers to consider how we endure, what we value, and how we care for one another in uncertain times.

“Caffall created a fully imaginable world within a horrific new future that wasn’t all doom and gloom within a flooded city,” says Jennifer Keller, a member of the WestportREADS selection committee. “‘All the Water in the World’ explores family and climate change in a rich coming-of-age story that we can all relate to in some way.”

From January through March there will be discussion groups (including a lively Book Pub at Walrus Alley); screenings of thematically resonant films; an environmental talk connecting the novel to Westporters’ own lives, and other community gatherings. Click here, then scroll down for the full WestportREADS schedule.

This was 2021. What does the future hold? (Photo/Maria Fusco)

A complementary film series offers cinematic interpretations exploring stories of climate, family, and adaptation. Screenings include “The Day After Tomorrow,” “2040,” “Waterworld” and “Night at the Museum.”

Caffall herself comes to town February 19, for a keynote conversation on her novel. She’ll chat with Catherine Shen, host of CT Public’s “Where We Live.”

Eiren Cafall

Prefacing Caffall’s keynote conversation is a talk on February 12 with executive director of the Connecticut Institute for Resilience and Climate Adaptation James O’Donnell. He brings local context to the global themes woven throughout the novel.

O’Donnell will discuss the real impact of rising sea levels, and offer practical advice to offset the effects of climate change on Connecticut’s shoreline and the Long Island Sound.

Copies of “All the Water in the World” are available for borrowing now, in print, e-book and audiobook formats.

For more information, including outdoor survival techniques, other climate fiction, past WestportREADS selections, etc., click on the WestportREADS home page.

(Westporters read novels — and “06880.” Library programs are free. But because our hyper-local blog lacks its resources, we rely on reader support. Please click here to help us deliver what you read!)

 

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