Hawaiʻi State
Public Library System

• January 13, 2026 @ 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
• Categories: Books, Branch book clubs, Community, Entertainment, Learning
• Contact: 808-889-6655

Join the discussion of Ducks by Kate Beaton.

Excerpt from Goodreads.com:”Before there was Kate Beaton, New York Times bestselling cartoonist of Hark A Vagrant fame, there was Katie Beaton of the Cape Breton Beatons, specifically Mabou, a tight-knit seaside community where the lobster is as abundant as beaches, fiddles, and Gaelic folk songs. After university, Beaton heads out west to take advantage of Alberta’s oil rush, part of the long tradition of East Coasters who seek gainful employment elsewhere when they can’t find it in the homeland they love so much. With the singular goal of paying off her student loans, what the journey will actually cost Beaton will be far more than she anticipates.
Arriving in Fort McMurray, Beaton finds work in the lucrative camps owned and operated by the world’s largest oil companies. Being one of the few women among thousands of men, the culture shock is palpable. It does not hit home until she moves to a spartan, isolated worksite for higher pay. She encounters the harsh reality of life in the oil sands where trauma is an everyday occurrence yet never discussed. Her wounds may never heal.
Beaton’s natural cartooning prowess is on full display as she draws colossal machinery and mammoth vehicles set against a sublime Albertan backdrop of wildlife, Northern Lights, and Rocky Mountains. Her first full-length graphic narrative, Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands is an untold story of Canada: a country that prides itself on its egalitarian ethos and natural beauty while simultaneously exploiting both the riches of its land and the humanity of its people.”

Anyone who requires an auxiliary aid or service for effective communication or a modification of policies or procedures to participate in a program, service, or activity should contact library staff as soon as possible. Advance requests 48 hours or more before the event are encouraged, but not required. All programs are subject to change.

• January 13, 2026 @ 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
• Categories: Community, Culture, Entertainment, Learning
• Contact: 808-889-6655

Join local author Virginia Fortner for a workshop on writing. For those who want to become, and those who are, writers! Participants choose, sample, and practice aspects of good writing
This session’s topic: “Character Development”
Submit topics for further sessions.

Interact with those who have never written, published authors, and folks who haven’t yet told their stories.

Anyone who requires an auxiliary aid or service for effective communication or a modification of policies or procedures to participate in a program, service, or activity should contact library staff as soon as possible. Advance requests 48 hours or more before the event are encouraged, but not required. All programs are subject to change.

• January 14, 2026 @ 10:00 am - 10:45 am
• Categories: Books, Community, Entertainment, Learning, Music, Storytime (for kids)
• Contact: 808-889-6655

Join us every Wednesday at 10:00am for a fun-filled storytime! We’ll sing songs, read a few simple stories, then make a craft or do an activity. Great fun for 2 – 5 year-olds and their parents or caregivers. 

Anyone who requires an auxiliary aid or service for effective communication or a modification of policies or procedures to participate in a program, service, or activity should contact library staff as soon as possible. Advance requests 48 hours or more before the event are encouraged, but not required. All programs are subject to change.

• January 14, 2026 @ 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
• Categories: Arts & Crafts, Entertainment, Games, Learning
• Contact: 808-889-6655

• January 14, 2026 @ 2:00 pm - 3:45 pm
• Categories: Arts & Crafts, Entertainment, Games, Learning
• Contact: 808-889-6655

• January 21, 2026 @ 10:00 am - 10:45 am
• Categories: Books, Community, Entertainment, Learning, Music, Storytime (for kids)
• Contact: 808-889-6655

Join us every Wednesday at 10:00am for a fun-filled storytime! We’ll sing songs, read a few simple stories, then make a craft or do an activity. Great fun for 2 – 5 year-olds and their parents or caregivers. 

Anyone who requires an auxiliary aid or service for effective communication or a modification of policies or procedures to participate in a program, service, or activity should contact library staff as soon as possible. Advance requests 48 hours or more before the event are encouraged, but not required. All programs are subject to change.

• January 21, 2026 @ 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
• Categories: Arts & Crafts, Entertainment, Games, Learning
• Contact: 808-889-6655

• January 26, 2026 @ 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm
• Categories: Community, Culture, Entertainment, Learning
• Contact: 808-889-6655

Join local author Jeff Coakley for a reading of his new book, Outhouse Mentality, and get to meet with and talk to him after the reading!

“Outhouse Mentality is a collection of short, character-driven stories rooted in Hawai‘i’s sugar plantation era. Told with humor, insight, and deep cultural understanding, these stories reveal the everyday wisdom, pride, and quiet resistance of people who lived with little—but meant much. Each tale shines a light on individuals often dismissed as uneducated or backward, simply because they held on to tradition—like using an outhouse instead of modern plumbing. Yet beneath those humble ways was a grit and intelligence shaped by hardship, community, and survival. These are the voices of a fading time, shared with heart, suspense, and deep respect.“

Anyone who requires an auxiliary aid or service for effective communication or a modification of policies or procedures to participate in a program, service, or activity should contact library staff as soon as possible. Advance requests 48 hours or more before the event are encouraged, but not required. All programs are subject to change.

• January 28, 2026 @ 10:00 am - 10:45 am
• Categories: Books, Community, Entertainment, Learning, Music, Storytime (for kids)
• Contact: 808-889-6655

Join us every Wednesday at 10:00am for a fun-filled storytime! We’ll sing songs, read a few simple stories, then make a craft or do an activity. Great fun for 2 – 5 year-olds and their parents or caregivers. 

Anyone who requires an auxiliary aid or service for effective communication or a modification of policies or procedures to participate in a program, service, or activity should contact library staff as soon as possible. Advance requests 48 hours or more before the event are encouraged, but not required. All programs are subject to change.

• January 28, 2026 @ 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
• Categories: Arts & Crafts, Entertainment, Games, Learning
• Contact: 808-889-6655