On Tuesday, April 21, The Westport Library welcomes NYU researcher Dr. Matthias Becker to reveal how hate, bias, and hidden messaging spreads across social media — often in ways you don't recognize.
Presented by the Library's Common Ground Initiative, this informative seminar invites participants of all ages to Decode Hate by providing the tools they need to identify harmful discourse and recognize how it shapes our worldview online and offline.
A consistent link between Dr. Becker's research activities is the question of how implicit hate speech is constructed and what conditions its production is subject to. He recently shared some insight with us that gives important context to his work.
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Common Ground Q&A
Westport Library: What is the work you are currently doing?
Matthias Becker: Think about the last time you scrolled through your feed and something made you uneasy — a comment that seemed off, a meme that landed wrong, a phrase you couldn't quite place but felt was doing something. Maybe it was about the war in Iran. Maybe it was about an election. You probably kept scrolling. That moment — that flicker of recognition before you moved on — is exactly where my research begins.
I lead a research project called Decoding Hate at New York University's Center for the Study of Antisemitism, where I study how hate speech, conspiracy narratives, and mis- and disinformation spread on social media — and how we can detect and counter them. We use a combination of linguistic analysis and AI-supported tools to examine hundreds of thousands of online comments, looking at not just what people say, but how they say it: the coded language, the irony, the strategic ambiguity that allows hateful ideas to circulate without ever sounding overtly extreme. Together with AddressHate, we're building detection systems that don't just flag risky content but identify what kind of harm is present and why — in language that's legible to educators, policymakers, and courts.
Westport Library: Why is it such important work?
Matthias Becker: Because hate doesn't announce itself — and neither does the AI that's spreading it.
Most of what circulates online doesn't look like the crude hatred of decades past. It looks like irony, insinuation, strategic ambiguity — ideas traveling in plain sight, just below the threshold of what most people would call extreme. The distinction between free speech and hate speech matters enormously here — and it's precisely this coded, ambiguous nature of modern hate that makes drawing that line so difficult, and so consequential. That also makes these expressions extraordinarily hard to detect, for humans and AI systems alike.
My research addresses three interconnected drivers of this problem. First, coordinated bad actors who deliberately exploit divisive issues and manufacture disinformation at scale. Second, platform algorithms that reward outrage and amplify the most emotionally charged content, regardless of whether it's true or harmful. Third, the conditions of online communication itself — anonymity, mutual reinforcement, constant exposure to extremity — which turn ordinary users into unwitting amplifiers of hate. If we don't understand these mechanics, we can't build tools that actually work — and communities, educators, and platforms remain one step behind.
And here's the deeper problem: most public debate about AI and hate focuses on what AI produces — offensive outputs, extremist content. That's real. But it's downstream of a harder issue: what AI absorbs. Every major model shows consistent bias toward hateful associations — not because engineers are hateful, but because models were trained on centuries of human text in which those associations are already embedded. You can add guardrails. The underlying associations remain.
Westport Library: How does this work affect those who come to the talk?
Matthias Becker: Everyone in that room uses social media — or lives with someone who does. The talk is designed to give people practical insight into what's actually happening in the digital spaces they inhabit every day: why certain content keeps showing up in their feeds, how ordinary-seeming posts can normalize extreme ideas over time, and what they can do about it.
But it goes further than awareness. We'll look closely at how irony, coded language, and strategic ambiguity allow hate speech, conspiracy narratives, and disinformation to spread while evading both human recognition and automated detection — and how algorithms and coordinated actors actively accelerate that process. You'll leave with a sharper eye for what you're seeing online, a clearer understanding of the structural forces shaping it, and concrete tools to act — because recognizing how manipulation works is the first step toward refusing it.
The talk is designed for a general adult audience, but the core questions — why do people share harmful content, how do algorithms shape what we see, what does coded language actually do — translate directly into a school-facing format as well. I'd be delighted to work with the library on a version tailored for students, whether as a classroom visit, a youth program, or a separate evening event. Digital literacy around hate, disinformation, and algorithmic influence is arguably most urgent for the generation that has grown up entirely inside these systems — and there is no more important investment we can make than equipping young people to see clearly, think critically, and push back.
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Tuesday, April 21, 6 pm
Decode Hate Video Challenge for Teens
Calling all teens — Make the internet a better place, one video at a time! Join us in Brooks Place before Dr. Becker's seminar to find out how you can win up to $1000 by creating a compelling video that challenges hate and bias on social media.
Tuesday, April 21, 7 pm
Decode Hate on Social Media with Matthias J. Becker
As social media transcends the boundaries of the digital world, how do we differentiate between free speech and hate speech online — and how do we combat its harmful effects? Dr. Becker will deliver an informative seminar for an intergenerational audience that emphasizes practical, research-informed insight into understanding and navigating contemporary online discourse and its real-world consequences.
Thursday, May 28, 6 pm
Teens' Decode Hate Video Challenge Awards Ceremony & Follow-Up Discussion
Join the top five finalists of our Decode Hate Video Challenge for a LIVE judging panel and awards ceremony to celebrate the winners with cash prizes! Dr. Matthias Becker will be attendance as one of the judges and will hold a public Q&A forum for participants who would like to debrief regarding his April 21st event.
If you weren’t at The Westport Library last week, you missed out on something truly special.
Co-presented with the Y’s Men of Westport/Weston and moderated by former First Selectman Jim Marpe, the Library served as the community centerpiece for an evening with Westport’s own Craig Melvin, who delivered no shortage of humor and honesty to a sold-out room of 400 community members — and neighbors to the congenial Today Show host.
Marpe set the tone as they took the stage, joking about interviewing someone who interviews others for a living. Melvin picked it up and ran with it.
“I feel like I’ve been set up,” he said, observing the packed room. “I was told this was going to be small.”
In that moment, he instantly captured them — not as an audience, but as friends.
Melvin was sharp, funny, and completely at ease on the stage of the Trefz Forum. He opened with stories about being “strong-armed” into coming, drawing laughter from the crowd as he called out colleagues for keeping a running archive of his on-air moments.
What made the evening special was not just Melvin’s trademark humor — it was how personal it felt. He spoke from the heart; not as a broadcast journalist, but as a father, friend, and fellow Westport resident.
He told his story of landing in Westport almost by accident, getting off exit 17 without much of a plan. Before he knew it, he and his wife, sports broadcaster Lindsay Czarniak, were building a life here, raising kids, and coaching rec basketball.
“I take it way more seriously than they do,” he said in a candid moment that resonated with fellow parents in the audience.
He spoke about how quickly a place can become home. “You think you’re just passing through, and then it becomes your life.”
The tone of the evening shifted into something real — a profound truth in a life of storytelling. Melvin shared his journey from South Carolina to national television, the pressure of live broadcasting, and his responsibility to tell stories without becoming the story himself.
“This is not the life I imagined,” he said, “but it’s a life I’m grateful for.”
Upfront, honest, and heartfelt — just what you’d expect from someone who prides himself on community and family life just as much as his accomplished career.
The conversation naturally circled back to more laughter and deeper connection, an easygoing back-and-forth that livened up the night and lit up the room with smiles.
More than just a talk, it was a shared experience: authentic, unscripted, and synergetic. A celebration of someone who calls this place home, a celebration of the community itself, and a reflection of the very heart of The Westport Library.
The Westport Library announces another first for VersoFest, its annual festival celebrating music, media, and creativity.
In a unique combination of technology and human creativity, Verso Studios, the Library's media hub, has created an introductory VersoFest jingle with four different versions emulating the styles of several major artists on the VersoFest 2026 lineup. One is inspired by Wyclef Jean with an R&B flavor, while The Thing's version takes on the style of garage rock; Susanna Hoffs' produces a melodic pop rock sound, and Ani DiFranco’s has a folksy vibe. Each jingle shares the same lyrics.
The lyrics and music were created in Verso Studios by Travis Bell, the studio’s in-house producer, in collaboration with Verso Advisory Board member Les Dinkin, Principal of DinkinEsh Presents, who conceptualized the creative project.
Bell and Dinkin leveraged the studio’s AI-based software tools to draft and refine an appropriate set of lyrics for the festival, followed by music generated through iterative prompts. The two deliberated over many preliminary versions before landing on the right fit for each artist's sound.
The jingles are available for listening on the Library’s SoundCloud. All jingles were created solely from prompts through AI tools. The artist’s recordings or inputs from their recordings were not utilized in any way.
"We believe this may be the first time that AI music tools have been used to create artist-specific jingles by any performance venue, let alone a public community library — another milestone for the Westport Library and Verso Studios," said Bell.
This new venture joins an accomplished list of groundbreaking firsts for the Library. In 2022, the Library produced and issued a vinyl album, Verso Records: Volume One, the first vinyl record ever recorded, produced, and released by a public library. At VersoFest 2025, the Library also set the new world record for loudest library in history.
This is the fifth year for VersoFest, the Library’s annual music and media conference and festival where knowledge is shared and inspiration is discovered — a forum for media creators, artists, and fans to converge. VersoFest includes concert performances; conversations with leading lights in music and media; workshops that provide creators with the opportunity to deconstruct, improve, and hone their craft; knowledge opportunities; art installations; and much, much more.
Past VersoFest guests include hip hop legend Chuck D; established hit-makers the Wallflowers, Spin Doctors, and the Smithereens; up-and-coming bands Sunflower Bean and the Lemon Twigs; the Roots lead emcee Black Thought; hardcore punk pioneer Henry Rollins; rockers Lez Zeppelin; famed producers Steve Lillywhite (U2, Dave Matthews Band) and Tony Visconti (David Bowie, T. Rex); Psychedelic Furs frontman Richard Butler; the Doors drummer John Densmore; Cramps drummer Miriam Linna; Alice Cooper Group bassist Dennis Dunaway; hip-hop originators Tony Crush and Grand Wizzard Theodore; David Letterman music director Paul Shaffer; SNL Beehive Queen Christine Ohlman; and a wide array of authors, photographers, artists, and thought leaders.
Click here to learn more and view the full lineup for VersoFest 2026.
Reading happens across mediums, in many different forms, and it brings us together at The Westport Library. That’s why we’re excited to present We Read, a new initiative that integrates all of the Library’s diverse literary offerings into one accessible space — making it easier than ever to connect with each other through the magic of reading.
Together, we build community one book at a time.
Books are the heartbeat of the Library, standing at the very core of who we are and what we do — and they’re more than just physical objects. They have the power to transport, to inform, and to connect a community through the shared power of a story.
On January 17, 2026, Jelani Cobb — renowned journalist, scholar, and dean of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism — spoke at The Westport Library for Westport’s 20th Annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration.
380 community members braved the snow to gather in honor and reflection of the life and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., resonating with the speakers’ insights on history’s present relevance, truth as key to the survival of democracy, and what is asked of us as a community as we engage with these vital ideas.
Click here to read the full interactive story, featuring photos and videos from the event.
This winter, The Westport Library is featuring Building Bridges Through Storytelling, a multi-gallery quilting exhibition currently spanning the Library’s Sheffer, South, and Jesup Galleries now through March 17, 2026. Like a patchwork quilt itself, the show weaves together three distinct yet interconnected exhibits — each exploring how art, memory, and narrative bind communities across generations and geographies.
In the Sheffer Gallery, the Southern Connecticut Modern Quilt Guild (SCTMQG) presents original quilts inspired by the exhibition’s theme. Building Bridges Through Storytelling highlights quilting as both a creative practice and a powerful storytelling medium. These works reflect shared experiences with a modern sensibility, from the pandemic to everyday acts of resilience.
A reception and artist talk for the exhibit will be held Thursday, January 15, from 6 to 8 pm. The reception kicks off at 6 pm, followed by an artist talk at 7 pm with Westport artist Miggs Burroughs and a panel of quilters featured in the exhibit.
Founded more than a decade ago, SCTMQG is dedicated to advancing modern quilting through art, education, and community engagement. The Guild also supports regional nonprofits, creating and donating quilts and pillowcases to organizations including Homes with Hope, Susie’s House, Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, and others.
The Guild’s first connection with author, educator, and quilting expert Tangular Irby laid the foundation for the interwoven saga of this three-part exhibition. At a SCTMQG meeting in 2023, Irby shared her family’s quilting traditions rooted in Gee’s Bend, Alabama, which migrated north as members of the Gee’s Bend community settled in Bridgeport, carrying their craft with them.
“While our footprints may fade, our stories can live on,” Irby said of her work in sharing and celebrating her quilting heritage.
This exchange between Irby and SCTMQG sparked a beautiful collaboration honoring the enduring journey of Gee’s Bend quilting across generations and geography. The resulting exhibit, A Traveling Legacy: From Gee’s Bend to the Nutmeg State, is now on display in the South Gallery. It showcases quilts crafted by Gee’s Bend descendants now residing in Connecticut.
This textile anthology traces the enduring legacy of Dinah Miller, one of the first documented Gee’s Bend quilters who was captured and brought to America from Benin, Africa. Her lasting impact lives in the patterned similarities these quilts share with traditional Benin weaving, preserving a storied history branching from Africa to Alabama to Bridgeport.
A reception and community talk with Irby and her fellow Gee’s Bend descendants, Eula Pettway and Sandra Juliet Pettway, will take place on Saturday, January 31, from 1 to 3 pm. A quilt sale will also take place from 12 to 5 pm that same day, offering a chance for Westport’s vibrant art community to participate in the interconnected narrative.
Described by the New York Times as “some of the most miraculous works of modern art America has produced,” Gee’s Bend quilts are celebrated worldwide and held in major museum collections. Known for their bold, abstract designs and vivid cultural expression, these quilts tell stories of faith, strength, and creativity that span generations. Their patterns and piecing styles have been enduringly passed down, surviving slavery and Jim Crow. They are a testament to the power of storytelling, expanding the realm of Black visual culture and opening doors to new understandings of American art and history.
While the respective work of SCTMQG and the Gee’s Bend quilters is showcased individually in the other galleries, their artistry comes together in the final piece in this exhibition. Uniting both exhibits is the Jesup Gallery’s centerpiece quilt, Building Bridges, collaboratively created by members of SCTMQG, the Bridgeport Gee’s Bend community, and quilters from Gee’s Bend, Alabama. Each community offers their own stories stitched into every seam.
Excitingly, the collaborative quilt will enter a new chapter when it finds a home in The Westport Library’s permanent art collection. This honored exchange will take place before the Building Bridges artist talk at 7 pm on Thursday, January 15.
Through striking designs and thoughtfully layered textiles, Building Bridges Through Storytelling invites viewers to reflect on how art preserves heritage and creates new narratives. Woven throughout this exhibition are stories of life, love, resilience, and community — a powerful reminder that storytelling, like quilting itself, continues to build bridges of understanding across generations.
For more information about the exhibition and related programs, visit the Art at the Library page.
As winter settles in, The Westport Library is once again turning the colder months into a season of connection, imagination, and discovery with its Children’s Winter Reading Program and Adult Winter Reading Challenge. These engaging initiatives are designed to spice up your winter and remind the community that reading doesn’t just enrich lives — it creates joy!
Running December 19, 2025, through February 23, 2026, the Children’s Winter Reading Program invites readers and non-readers alike to warm up with a good book. Open to all children and families, this program celebrates reading in every form: reading independently, being read to, or even deciphering the cereal box at breakfast. No matter how kids choose to participate, time spent reading is never wasted.
Because reading is tracked by minutes, every moment counts. Children can log time spent reading novels, picture books, graphic novels, comics, newspapers, magazines, and more. They can also log time spent listening to stories read aloud by caregivers, librarians, or teachers as well. Get creative with your reading material!
After signing up online, participants can visit the Library to receive an activity sheet and nine color-coded stickers. Completing 10 activities earns a book from the Library’s prize cart, while every additional 50 minutes of reading unlocks more stickers that will contribute to a collaborative community artwork on display at the Library. Children who are up to the challenge of reading 500 minutes will get to take home another book of their choice, giving them the chance to start building their own personal collection.
Interactive reading programs like this transform reading from an assignment into an experience. They help children maintain and strengthen literacy skills during school breaks, keep young minds curious and engaged, and create meaningful moments for families to read together. Most importantly, they help children associate reading with enjoyment, curiosity, and personal discovery — a connection that research shows is key to developing lifelong readers.
“This program offers a chance for families to build shared reading habits,” said the Library’s director of youth services, Mary Parmelee. “Parents who read inspire kids to read, and best of all, they get to share the joy of reading together.”
Luckily, there’s plenty of joy to go around with the return of the Library’s Adult Winter Reading Challenge, running December 22, 2025, through February 2, 2026. All kinds of readers are invited to rise to the challenge this season, from bookworms who can knock back a stack, to those embarking on a new journey to discover stories that speak to them.
After a highly successful inaugural 2024-25 campaign, the Library’s reference team has once again put together 10 thoughtfully curated categories designed to spark curiosity, encourage exploration across genres, and make reading feel playful rather than prescriptive. These top-secret categories will be revealed on December 22, when the challenge goes live.
Participants may complete as many categories as they wish, as long as they follow two simple rules: each category can only be used once, and each book counts toward a single category. Readers can log their completed books online and track their progress on the challenge leaderboard, sharing their momentum with other readers throughout the season.
Last winter’s challenge brought 44 readers who collectively read 272 books, with nearly one-third of participants completing all 10 challenges — a testament to the power of community motivation.
That sense of community extends beyond the page through the Westport Reading Challenge Facebook Group, where readers swap recommendations, celebrate milestones, participate in weekly giveaways, and cheer one another on.
Past participants rave about their delightful experiences with the Library’s adult reading challenges (there is also a longstanding Summer Reading Challenge), reveling in the chance to check books off their to-read lists and explore new kinds of stories they might not otherwise have considered before.
“I am always amazed by everything I read and the discovery of new genres,” said Norma H.
“I'm looking forward to reading these books cuddled up on the sofa in a warm blanket and a hot tea by my side,” said past Summer Reading Challenge frontrunner Amy S. in response to the teaser announcement for this winter’s challenge. In 2024, she held the top spot on the summer leaderboard among the Library’s most voracious readers, including head of adult reference services and collection curation Melanie Kelly.
Kelly offered her own insight into the fun of reading and engaging with other readers. “Whether you read for entertainment or self-care, or you’re motivated by friendly competition, or you enjoy sharing your love of books with your community, this challenge has something for everyone,” she said.
The 2025-26 Adult Winter Reading Challenge also connects with WestportREADS 2026, the Library’s annual community-wide reading initiative featuring immersive programming running January through March. Coinciding with the Adult Winter Reading Challenge, both opportunities reinforce the idea that reading is both a personal pleasure and a joyful shared experience. Excitingly, the Library’s reference team is also offering a hint that WestportREADS may play a part in one of the challenge’s categories…but you’ll have to stay tuned for the reveal on December 22!
From quiet moments of escape to lively online conversations, from picture books to page-turners, The Westport Library’s winter reading challenges invite readers of all ages to reignite their love of reading. Take part in one of life’s simplest and greatest pleasures by cozying up with a book this winter season!
Grammy Award-winning artist, producer, composer and Fugees co-founder Wyclef Jean will be this year’s headline performer for the VersoFest 2026 Friday night concert event.
Wyclef will be performing with his full band. The March 27 concert will start at 8 pm in the Library’s Trefz Forum; doors open at 7 pm. Tickets are $125 and available now at VersoFest.org.
Wyclef's performance will support Music Will, the largest nonprofit music education program for schools in the United States.
VersoFest is The Westport Library’s annual music and media conference and festival where knowledge is shared and inspiration is discovered — a forum for media creators, artists, and fans to converge.
This is the fifth year for VersoFest, which takes place at Verso Studios at The Westport Library, a media resource and production hub that serves as an empowered cultural and learning center. A library branch of the 21st century, Verso Studios provides programming and commercial services as well as educational and content creation opportunities.
Wyclef is the second act announced for this year’s festival. Formed in Connecticut and now playing out of New York, the rising rock band The Thing will perform the VersoFest kickoff concert on Friday, February 27. Click here for tickets and more information.
The music that Wyclef has written, performed, and produced — both as a solo superstar and as founder and guiding member of the Fugees — has been a consistently powerful, pop cultural force for more than two decades.
Hits include the Fugees’ indelible reinvention of Roberta Flack’s 1973 ballad “Killing Me Softly”; the chart-topping “Hips Don’t Lie” with Shakira, which he co-wrote, produced, and is featured on; Wyclef’s own “Gone Till November”; “Ghetto Superstar” (Pras feat. Wyclef); Carlos Santana’s No. 1 single “Maria, Maria” (featuring Jean); and the late Whitney Houston’s “My Love is Your Love.”
Wyclef has been rewarded for his creativity and adventurousness with three Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe nomination and an Emmy nomination, a spot on the cover of Rolling Stone’s “Top 50 Hip Hop Players,” and the opportunity to make music with such legends as Michael Jackson; Queen; Mick Jagger; Paul Simon; Earth, Wind & Fire; Kenny Rogers; and Tom Jones.
As a solo artist, Wyclef has released six albums that have sold nearly nine million copies worldwide, including his 1997 debut The Carnival, 2000’s aptly titled The Ecleftic: 2 Sides II a Book, and his 2017 album, The Carnival III: Fall and Rise of a Refugee.
And this is an opportunity to see him perform in an intimate venue, as one of just 700 concertgoers congregating in the Library’s unique Trefz Forum space.
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This is the fifth year for VersoFest, the Library’s annual music and media conference and festival where knowledge is shared and inspiration is discovered — a forum for media creators, artists, and fans to converge. VersoFest includes concert performances; conversations with leading lights in music and media; workshops that provide creators the opportunity to deconstruct, improve, and hone their craft; knowledge opportunities; art installations; and much, much more.
Past VersoFest guests include hip hop legend Chuck D; established hit-makers the Wallflowers, Spin Doctors, and the Smithereens; up-and-coming bands Sunflower Bean and the Lemon Twigs; the Roots lead emcee Black Thought; hardcore punk pioneer Henry Rollins; rockers Lez Zeppelin; famed producers Steve Lillywhite (U2, Dave Matthews Band) and Tony Visconti (David Bowie, T. Rex); Psychedelic Furs frontman Richard Butler; the Doors drummer John Densmore; Cramps drummer Miriam Linna; Alice Cooper Group bassist Dennis Dunaway; hip-hop originators Tony Crush and Grand Wizzard Theodore; David Letterman music director Paul Shaffer; SNL Beehive Queen Christine Ohlman; and a wide array of authors, photographers, artists, and thought leaders.
Jelani Cobb, the renowned journalist, scholar, and current dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, will be the guest of honor at Westport’s 20th annual Martin Luther King Jr. celebration.
The event will be held in The Westport Library’s Trefz Forum on Saturday, January 17, 2026, at 1 pm. Cobb will be in conversation with acclaimed novelist, playwright, and filmmaker Trey Ellis. Click here for more information.
The annual Martin Luther King Jr. celebration is a partnership between the Library, TEAM Westport, the Westport Country Playhouse, Westport Museum for History and Culture, and the Westport/Weston Clergy Association.
“We are thrilled to honor and welcome both Dr. Cobb and Trey Ellis at the Library for this 20th anniversary celebration,” said Bill Harmer, executive director of The Westport Library. “Dr. Cobb is a groundbreaking figure in his field as well as a decorated journalist and renowned scholar. Westport is incredibly fortunate to have him here to help us celebrate the life and memory of Dr. King.”
“Dr. King reminded us that ‘the day we see truth and cease to speak is the day we begin to die,’ said Harold Bailey, chair of TEAM Westport. “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 here in Westport.”
Cobb is a Peabody Award winner, Pulitzer Prize finalist, MS Now political analyst, and The New Yorker staff writer who has written books on Barack Obama and the hip hop aesthetic, in addition to editing several 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, the Fulbright Foundation, and the Shorenstein Center at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.
Past Martin Luther King Jr. celebration keynote speakers include National Book Award winner and MacArthur Fellow Ibram X. Kendi; Pulitzer Prize winner James Forman Jr.; New York Times best-selling authors Heather McGhee and Layla Saad; Guggenheim Scholar Carol Anderson; American Book Award winner Tricia Rose; Quinnipiac Law School founder Marilyn Ford; author/artist/ filmmaker/multi-dimensional performance artist Junauda Petrus, former King speechwriter and advisor Dr. Clarence B. Jones; and last year’s guest, award-winning writer, producer, and Shondaland visionary Shonda Rhimes.
Once again, WestportREADS returns to unite Westport’s community through the impact of a great book that sparks imagination, invites conversation, and resonates long after the last page is turned. As the 2026 WestportREADS selection, All the Water in the World by Whiting Award-winning author Eiren Caffall does all of this and more.
The Westport Library is thrilled to announce an exciting lineup of thematic programming that promises to enhance readers’ immersion — culminating on Thursday, February 19, in the Library’s Trefz Forum as Caffall joins the community for a keynote conversation on her debut novel with moderator Catherine Shen, host of CT Public’s Where We Live.
The full collection of copies of All the Water in the World will be available for borrowing Wednesday, December 10 (including as an e-book and an audiobook).
Launched in 2002, WestportREADS remains one of the Library’s most cherished annual traditions: a chance for neighbors to meet over a shared reading experience, for new and old friends to delight in discussion, and for the entire community to reflect together on literature that challenges, inspires, and stays with us.
From January through March, there will be discussion groups, including a lively Book Pub at Walrus Alley; screenings of thematically resonant films; an expert environmental talk that will connect the novel to our own lives; and even more communal happenings in the WestportREADS 2026 run of events.
In true community spirit, more than 550 attended the 2025 WestportREADS keynote address with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Hernan Diaz, and in 2024 Michael Finkel drew almost 400 for his keynote conversation about The Art Thief.
Selected for its masterful storytelling that speaks to the enduring human condition in the face of disaster, All the Water in the World follows the journey of Nonie, a girl with an intuitive connection to water, in a flooded future New York where a small group of families have built a makeshift settlement atop the American Museum of Natural History. As the group works to safeguard the remnants of humanity’s stories and knowledge, a catastrophic storm forces them north up the Hudson River in search of safety, community, and the possibility of a life rebuilt.
“Eiren Caffall created a fully imaginable world within a horrific new future that wasn’t all doom and gloom within a flooded city," said Jennifer Keller, one of the members of the WestportREADS 2026 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.”
Released in January 2025, this captivating literary thriller blends climate fiction, adventure, and family drama with stunning prose poignant as it is hopeful. By drawing parallels to real-life stories of curators in Iraq and Leningrad who protected their cultural collections during times of war, Caffall asks the reader to consider how we endure, what we value, and how we care for one another in uncertain times.
Best-selling author Rene Denfield praised the novel, urging, “Each sentence is a treasure. Read this and be changed.”
From a PageTurners discussion group to weekly Tell a Yarn… read-aloud crafting circle sessions to a conversation at the Westport Center for Senior Activities, WestportREADers will have several opportunities to read and discuss the book with others at the Library and around town.
A complementary film series offers a cinematic interpretation of the novel’s shared themes, exploring stories of climate, family, and adaptation with screenings of The Day After Tomorrow (2004), 2040 (2019), Waterworld (1995), and Night at the Museum (2006).
Prefacing Caffall’s keynote conversation is a special talk on Thursday, February 12 with executive director of CIRCA (the Connecticut Institute for Resilience and Climate Adaptation) James O’Donnell, who will bring local context to the global themes woven throughout the novel. Using calculated projections, O’Donnell will share the real impact of rising sea levels and offer practical changes we can make to offset the effects of climate change on Connecticut’s shoreline and the Long Island Sound — areas that Caffall herself has a long history with, outlined in her award-winning 2024 memoir The Mourner's Bestiary.
All the Water in the World promises to take the reader on a journey that offers hope in the survival of what matters most — love, community, and knowledge. These themes speak to the true mission behind WestportREADS: to share a love of reading and connect with your fellow readers.
Cozy up with your community and enjoy a good book with us this winter!
Past WestportREADS selections include Diaz’s In the Distance, Finkel’s The Art Thief, Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab, Towards a More Perfect Union: Confronting Racism by Layla Saad, and Exit West by Moshin Hamid, among others.
For more past WestportREADS selections, and to learn more about the annual event, visit the WestportREADS homepage on The Westport Library website.
WestportREADS is supported through a generous bequest by the estate of Jerry A. Tishman.
Those who approached the microphone were thoughtful, compassionate, and at times emotional, a wide cross-section of the Westport community gathered together to discuss one of the pressing issues of our time: antisemitism.
In all, nearly 400 people packed The Westport Library’s Trefz Forum on Thursday, November 13, for a special Westport Library Common Ground Initiative event focused on understanding Jewish identity, antisemitism, and allyship.
“The program was an important first step to opening up the conversation about antisemitism,” said Rabbi Jeremy Wiederhorn, the spiritual leader of The Community Synagogue (TCS) in Westport. “While many of us may not have agreed on every aspect of the approach, that's the beauty of Common Ground — a multiplicity of viewpoints listening and learning from each other.”
That community conversation was at the very heart of the evening — a one-hour presentation and 30-minute Q&A hosted by Eli Cohn-Postell and Kara Wilson of Project Shema, a training and support organization focused on addressing contemporary antisemitism.
“No doubt this is a complicated topic that triggers emotion and does not have a single point of view,” said event attendee Mark Altschuler. “But I thought the people from Project Shema were talented, committed, and prepared with slides that made a point and were supported by thoughtful comments. I especially liked the historical slides and education, and they managed the questions with sensitivity and respect. It was evident to me that they put a lot of time and thinking into the work.”
The focus for the evening: Creating a space for open conversation and respectful dialogue on issues of importance to the community. In that regard, the event was a resounding success.
“We live in a culture where people avoid hard conversations,” Westport Library Executive Director Bill Harmer said during the evening’s opening remarks. “That avoidance makes it harder to talk honestly, harder to recognize it when it appears, and harder to respond with clarity when it matters most.
“The challenge is fear, uncertainty, and a lack of shared language. When people do not feel confident or informed, they step back. And when we step back, misunderstanding grows in the space we leave behind. The purpose [of the antisemitism forum] is to help close that gap ... to move our community from hesitation to understanding, from intention to action, and from the comfort of silence to the courage of real dialogue.”
The presentation by Project Shema was far-reaching, centering on Jewish identity as cultural, national, and religious, as well as elucidating the historical context behind antisemitism and how it continues to plague our society, and discussing allyship and recognizing — and combatting, as a community — anti-Jewish harm.
At times in very personal ways, the conversation struck a chord with the audience — who represented the breadth of Westport, both Jewish community members and friends and allies — who stayed engaged throughout.
“Project Shema — inviting us to truly hear one another — provided me another building block for the Common Ground Initiative and its purpose: creating space for honest, respectful dialogue on difficult issues,” said Dennis Wong, chair of the Westport Sunrise Rotary Peace Committee and Rotary Peacebuilder Club. “By better understanding the slippery slope from dehumanization to violence, I am more committed than ever to being a Rotarian Peacebuilder — working to ensure that every person, every community, and every nation can live in safety, dignity, and well-being.”
Empathy and understanding were key topics of the evening — and also of the four-hour workshop the Library hosted earlier in the day, attended by town officials, civic leaders, business leaders, Library staff, and members of the Library’s board of trustees and Common Ground Initiative committee.
In both settings, Cohn-Postell and Wilson encouraged participants to move past binary thinking to transition from debate to dialogue: “How do you have a conversation not to agree,” said Wilson, “but to understand.”
“The workshop was a model of what The Westport Library’s Common Ground Initiative is designed to achieve: It encouraged attendees to engage in constructive, respectful conversation about a sensitive topic,” said Westport Library trustee Bruce Gaylord, who attended both sessions. “Getting people with potentially different perspectives together to talk about a difficult or sensitive issue is always helpful. Attendees get to hear thoughts from others that may challenge their own ideas, or they may learn things they had never thought of.”
The event was sponsored by Jon and Bobbi Roth and presented by the Library’s Common Ground Initiative, the Library’s forum for public dialogue on topical issues of importance to the community.
The Common Ground Initiative endeavors to host positive, productive conversations on how we work together to move forward as a civil society; encourage respectful, constructive dialogue; and tackle challenging and controversial issues.
“The Common Ground Initiative has been working toward the evolution of a framework by which Westporters and others with different perspectives on issues with significant nuance and complexity can discuss them in such a way that they reach common understandingof those different perspectives with civility and respect — even if they do not reach common agreement,” said Harold Bailey, chair of TEAM Westport and a Common Ground Initiative committee member. “Such understandingis critical to any progress toward fostering an engaged community and any ultimate resolution.”
Past Common Ground events have focused on bridging divides, social change, civil discourse, communicating to open minds, and global trade policy, and have included such guests as former Missouri Senator Roy Blunt, Pfizer Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Sally Susman, conflict resolution expert Ken Feinberg, author and CEO Fred Hochberg, and Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Tony La Russa.
To learn more about the Library’s Common Ground Initiative, including resources, news, and recordings of past events, please visit westportlibrary.org/about/common-ground-initiative.
And click here to learn more about Project Shema.
The Westport Library is getting an early jump on next year’s VersoFest, our annual festival celebrating music, media, and creativity.
The Thing, the rising rock band out of New York City with roots in Connecticut, will be performing the VersoFest Kickoff Concert on Friday, February 27, 2026, at 8 pm.
Presales for the concert begin on Tuesday, November 4, with the general on-sale on Friday, November 7. Tickets are $35. Click here for more information.
The full schedule for VersoFest’26 will be unveiled soon, with the four main days of the festival scheduled to run from Thursday, March 26, to Sunday, March 29, 2026.
This is the fifth year for VersoFest, the Library’s annual music and media conference and festival where knowledge is shared and inspiration is discovered — a forum for media creators, artists, and fans to converge. VersoFest includes concert performances; conversations with leading lights in music and media; workshops that provide creators the opportunity to deconstruct, improve, and hone their craft; knowledge opportunities; art installations; and much, much more.
Past VersoFest guests include hip hop legend Chuck D; established hit-makers the Wallflowers, Spin Doctors, and the Smithereens; up-and-coming bands Sunflower Bean and the Lemon Twigs; the Roots lead emcee Black Thought; hardcore punk pioneer Henry Rollins; rockers Lez Zeppelin; famed producers Steve Lillywhite (U2, Dave Matthews Band) and Tony Visconti (David Bowie, T. Rex); Psychedelic Furs frontman Richard Butler; the Doors drummer John Densmore; Cramps drummer Miriam Linna; Alice Cooper Group bassist Dennis Dunaway; hip-hop originators Tony Crush and Grand Wizzard Theodore; David Letterman music director Paul Shaffer; SNL Beehive Queen Christine Ohlman; and a wide array of authors, photographers, artists, and thought leaders.
The Thing’s sound is a throwback to rock and roll’s roots, with a traditional lineup of guitar, bass, and drums, with songs that nod to the Kinks and the White Stripes, among many others.
“We've kind of adapted the ethos of: with restriction comes creativity, old becomes new,” said guitarist/vocalist Jack Bradley. “And throughout every part of the process that remains true.”
The four members of The Thing come from intersecting backgrounds, lending to their rock-and-roll-as-melting-pot vibe. Bassist/vocalist Zane Acord grew up with a drummer dad who hipped him to bands like Led Zeppelin and Grand Funk Railroad; he met guitarist/vocals Michael Carter, an avid Beatles fan, in middle school. While in high school, the duo connected with Bradley, an aspiring producer with a studio in his basement and a yen for psych rock. Jazz drummer Lucas Ebeling linked up with the band when everyone found their way to New York in 2022.
Since that time, they’ve played more than 300 shows across the world, including a wide-ranging late 2025 European tour that will take them to Amsterdam, Berlin, Dublin, London, Paris, and Stockholm, to name just a few.
The group has put out three LPs in total: their 2023 debut Here’s the Thing, the 2024 follow-up The Thing Is, their self-titled third album, which came out in August 2025.
“It showcases all of us, all of our different personalities,” Acord said of the new album. “In The Thing, we’re a collective band. We hang our hats on being a true band — where we all have the spotlight. I think that gives us a different edge.”
Added Bradley: “We threw all of our different various influences throughout — all the decades of rock and roll and adjacent genres — and ended up with something of our own. Our contribution to the genre. Our style. Our… thing.”
