Hutchinson Public Library

For the Record - Books + Music Club
2025-12-09 18:00 - 19:00, 2026-01-13 18:00 - 19:00, 2026-02-10 18:00 - 19:00, 2026-03-10 18:00 - 19:00, 2026-04-14 18:00 - 19:00, 2026-05-12 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Chicago)
For the Record is a place for music lovers to gather and share their love of both reading about and listening to music. Join us for a monthly meetup on the second Tuesday of the month at 6:00PM. We dive into the stories behind iconic musicians and albums, while sharing our favorite tracks and newest record finds. We read the 33 1/3 series. These are short books, each about a different musician and album. We explore a new one each month with a discussion about the book, album and the music that moves us. Whether you are a vinyl enthusiast or just passionate about discovering new sounds, For the Record offers a fun and welcoming space to connect.

We meet every month except for September.
Visit our Adults page to see what we are reading this month. Books are available for check out at the Public Service desk.

Salt City Readers
2025-12-17 18:00 - 19:00, 2026-01-21 18:00 - 19:00, 2026-03-18 18:00 - 19:00, 2026-04-15 18:00 - 19:00, 2026-05-20 18:00 - 19:00 UTC | Hutchinson Public Library, 901 N Main St, Hutchinson, KS, 67501, United States
Let’s talk about books! We explore a variety of fiction genres each month!
Salt City Readers meets every third Wednesday each month.
Check out the books at the Public Service Desk or on Cloud Library!

Is the Book Always Better? Book + Movie Discussion
2026-01-12 18:00 - 19:00, 2026-05-11 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Chicago)
Whether you love or hate film adaptations of your favorite stories, this book club is the place to have an exciting conversation about books, casting choices, plot changes, cinematography, and more! We meet every other month with a new title each time. Joining is easy! Check out the book for the “Is the Book Always Better?” book club at the public service desk.

Author Talk with David Brooks - Virtual
2026-01-13 13:00 - 14:00 (America/Chicago) | Hutchinson Public Library- Virtual
Register and submit questions here: https://libraryc.org/hutchpl/109227
Join us for a discussion with prominent cultural writer and bestselling author David Brooks on his book, How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply, in which he helps us pose essential questions: If you want to know a person, what kind of attention should you cast on them? What kind of conversations should you have? What parts of a person’s story should you pay attention to?
Driven by his trademark sense of curiosity and determination to grow as a person, Brooks draws from the fields of psychology and neuroscience and the worlds of theater, philosophy, history, and education to present a welcoming, hopeful, integrated approach to human connection. How to Know a Person helps readers become more understanding and considerate toward others, and to find the joy that comes from being seen. Along the way it offers a possible remedy for a society that is riven by fragmentation, hostility, and misperception.
The act of seeing another person, Brooks argues, is profoundly creative: How can we look somebody in the eye and see something large in them and, in turn, see something larger in ourselves? How to Know a Person is for anyone searching for connection, and yearning to be understood.
Register now to take part in a riveting and timeless conversation on how to connect with people from all walks of life, and why doing so is paramount to our individual and communal growth.
About the Author: David Brooks is one of the nation’s leading writers and commentators. He is an op-ed columnist for The New York Times, a writer for The Atlantic, and appears regularly on PBS Newshour. He is the bestselling author of The Second Mountain, The Road to Character, The Social Animal, Bobos in Paradise, and On Paradise Drive.

Author Talk with Julia Hotz - Virtual
2026-01-20 13:00 - 14:00 (America/Chicago) | Hutchinson Public Library- Virtual
Nature, Art, and Service as Medicine with Journalist Julia Hotz, Journalist and Award-Winning Author of The Connection Cure, Tuesday, January 20th at 1 PM CT
Register and submit Questions here: https://libraryc.org/hutchpl/109228
Be sure to jump start your new year with us as we chat with journalist and author Julia Hotz about her book The Connection Cure: The Prescriptive Power of Movement, Nature, Art, Service, and Belonging.

The Connection Cure combines diligent science reporting, moving patient success stories, and surprising self-discovery to help us discover the lasting and life-changing power of social prescribing. Traditionally, when we get sick, health care professionals ask, “What’s the matter with you?” But around the world, teams of doctors, nurses, therapists, and social workers have started to flip the script, asking “What matters to you?”

Science shows that social prescribing is effective for treating symptoms of the modern world’s most common ailments—depression, ADHD, addiction, trauma, anxiety, chronic pain, dementia, diabetes, and loneliness. By integrating age-old medicines like art, nature, movement, and volunteer service into patient’s daily lives, social prescriptions are radically changing health and healthcare in more than thirty countries. Julia Hotz travels around the world to survey them —sea-swimming lessons for depression, “culture vitamins” for anxiety, a fishing club for ADHD, a farm-based day-care for dementia, a phone-buddy program for social isolation, and many more.

As the first book on social prescribing, The Connection Cure empowers you to find, experience, and implement this revolutionary medicine in your own community. The success stories Julia finds bring a long-known theory to life: if we can change our environment, we can change our health. By reconnecting to what matters to us, we can all start to feel better.

Register today to find out how you can use the wisdom of social prescribing to live your best life!
About the Author: Julia Hotz is a solutions focused journalist based in New York. Her stories have appeared in The New York Times, WIRED, Scientific American, The Boston Globe, Time, and more. She helps other journalists report on the big new ideas changing the world at the Solutions Journalism Network. The Connection Cure is her first book.

Mystery Mavens
2026-01-27 18:00 - 19:00, 2026-02-24 18:00 - 19:00, 2026-04-28 18:00 - 19:00 UTC | Hutchinson Public Library, 901 N Main St, Hutchinson, KS, 67501, United States
6:00 pm
Sun Room
Mystery Mavens meet on the fourth Tuesday of every month. If you are interested in obtaining a copy of this month’s book and participating in a discussion, please contact adult.program.coordinator@hutchpl.org or call 620-663-5441 ext. 123

Author Talk with Liz Moore - Virtual
2026-01-28 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Chicago) | Hutchinson Public Library- Virtual
Register and submit questions here: https://libraryc.org/hutchpl/109229
Secrets and Second Chances with Liz Moore, New York Times Bestselling and Award-Winning Author of The God of the Woods and Long Bright River, Wednesday, January 28th, at 6 PM CT
Early morning, August 1975: a camp counselor discovers an empty bunk. Its occupant, Barbara Van Laar, has gone missing. Barbara isn’t just any thirteen-year-old: she’s the daughter of the family that owns the summer camp and employs most of the region’s residents. And this isn’t the first time a Van Laar child has disappeared. Barbara’s older brother similarly vanished fourteen years ago, never to be found.
As a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds. Chasing down the layered secrets of the Van Laar family and the blue-collar community working in its shadow, Moore’s multi-threaded story invites readers into a rich and gripping dynasty of secrets and second chances. It is Liz Moore’s most ambitious and wide-reaching novel yet.
Join us in conversation with Liz as we embark on a tale of thrilling twists and disturbing disappearances. Register today to “enter the woods,” if you dare!
About the Author: Liz Moore is the author of five novels: The Words of Every Song, Heft, The Unseen World, the New York Times bestselling Long Bright River, and The God of the Woods. A winner of the 2014 Rome Prize in Literature, she lives in Philadelphia and teaches in the MFA program in Creative Writing at Temple University.

Kansas Authors at the Library - Meet Laurie L. Dove
2026-01-29 10:30 - 12:00 (America/Chicago)
“Dove, a reporter and creative writing professor in Kansas, sensitively tackles the systemic crisis that has ripped apart so many Native American communities.”
—The New York Times

Laurie L. Dove’s debut novel Mask of the Deer woman is a vivid and captivating thriller that has kept readers on the edge of their seats. The novel quickly climbed to the USA Today bestseller list shortly after its release in 2025. You can meet Dove in person at the library on January, 29 at 10:30am to hear more about her writing journey and the whirlwind success of her debut novel.

Mask of the Deer Woman
To find a missing young woman, the new tribal marshal must also find herself.
At rock bottom following her daughter’s death, ex–Chicago detective Carrie Starr has nowhere to go but back to her roots. Starr’s father never talked much about the reservation where he was raised, but the tribe needs a new marshal as much as Starr needs a place to call home.
In the past decade, too many young women have disappeared from the rez. Some have ended up dead, others just…gone. Now local college student Chenoa Cloud is missing, and Starr falls into an investigation that leaves her drowning in memories of her daughter—the girl she failed to save.
Starr feels lost in this place she thought would welcome her. And when she catches a glimpse of a figure from her father’s stories, with the body of a woman and the antlers of a deer, Starr can’t shake the feeling that the fearsome spirit is watching her, following her.
What she doesn’t know is whether Deer Woman is here to guide her or to seek vengeance for the lost daughters that Starr can never bring home.
About the Author
Laurie L. Dove is a reporter and editor whose work has appeared in numerous publications and garnered several honors for outstanding journalism. She graduated with a master’s degree in Creative Writing and Literature from Harvard University. She is an adjunct professor who currently lives and writes in Kansas. Find her at lauriedove.com.

We will meet in the sun room on the second floor of the library. Space is limited. Please RSVP to let us know you are attending.

Kansas Authors at the Library - Meet Myron Marcotte
2026-01-29 13:00 - 14:30 (America/Chicago)
Myron Marcotte was a mine specialist with Strataca the Underground Salt Museum, for many many years. His extensive knowledge of mining in Hutchinson and the history behind it was an integral part of making Strataca what it is today. He even appeared on Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe in the earlier years of the museum.

Marcotte is one of of two authors who put this incredible story into words. Lynn Ledeboaer and Myron Marcotte worked together spending hours diving into extensive research to put together the story of Emerson Carey and the history of his empire in the early history of our community.
You can meet Marcotte in person at the library on January, 29th as we celebrate Kansas history and Kansas authors.
Kansas Tycoon Emerson Carey: Building an Empire from Coal, Ice, and Salt by Lynn Ledeboer and Myron Marcotte
“I’ve seen a fly make a bull switch his tail” is a homespun quip attributed to Emerson Carey, the powerful salt magnate of Hutchinson, Kansas. True or not, the quote epitomizes the fearless and tenacious character of the legend who became Reno County’s benefactor. Young, awestruck Carey arrived in boomtown 1880s Hutchinson and went on to create an immense empire. Coal, ice, salt, strawboard, egg cases, bags, soda ash and streetcars–he presided over it all. From Carey’s sleeping in a coal yard with a quarter in his pocket to the founding of the exclusive Willowbrook community and attaining a net worth of more than $15 million, authors Lynn Ledeboer and Myron Marcotte relate the epic story.

How Long 'Til Black Future Month? By N.K. Jemisin Book Discussion
2026-02-26 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Chicago) | Sandhills Brewing, 111 West 2nd Ave., Hutchinson, KS, 67501, United States
Join us at Sandhills Brewing to talk about this imaginative collection of short stories with themes of destruction, rebirth, and redemption that sharply examine modern life through the lens of science fiction.
Spirits haunt the flooded streets of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In a parallel universe, a utopian society watches our world, trying to learn from our mistakes. A black mother in the Jim Crow South must save her daughter from a fey offering impossible promises. And in the Hugo award-nominated short story “The City Born Great,” a young street kid fights to give birth to an old metropolis’s soul.
N. K. Jemisin’s short stories will get you thinking about different perspectives and what-ifs. This is sure to be a lively discussion!

Is the Book Always Better? Book + Movie Discussion
2026-03-09 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Chicago)
Whether you love or hate film adaptations of your favorite stories, this book club is the place to have an exciting conversation about books, casting choices, plot changes, cinematography, and more! We meet every other month with a new title each time. Joining is easy! Check out the book for the “Is the Book Always Better?” book club at the public service desk.
Where the Crawdads Sing
“Painfully beautiful.”—The New York Times Book Review
For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life—until the unthinkable happens.
Where the Crawdads Sing is at once an exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising tale of possible murder. Owens reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were, and that we are all subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.

March 9th we’ll meet to talk about our experience reading the novel and watching the 2022 film adaptation. Join us at 6:00 PM in the library sun room whether you’ve read the book, watched the movie or both!

The Astral Library with Kate Quinn - Virtual Author Talk
2026-03-12 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Chicago) | Hutchinson Public Library- Virtual
Register and Ask Questions of the Author
You’re invited to join us for a virtual conversation with acclaimed author Kate Quinn about her latest fantastical work, The Astral Library, which poses the question: Have you ever wished you could live inside a book? Welcome to the Astral Library, where books are not just objects, but doors to new worlds, new lives, and new futures.
Alexandria “Alix” Watson has learned one lesson from her barren childhood in the foster-care system: unlike people, books will never let you down. Working three dead-end jobs to make ends meet and knowing college is a pipe dream, Alix takes nightly refuge in the high-vaulted reading room at the Boston Public Library, escaping into her favorite fantasy novels and dreaming of far-off lands. Until the day she stumbles through a hidden door and meets the Librarian: the ageless, acerbic guardian of a hidden library where the desperate and the lost escape to new lives…inside their favorite books.
The Librarian takes a dazzled Alix under her wing, but before she can escape into the pages of her new life, a shadowy enemy emerges to threaten everyone the Astral Library has ever helped protect. Aided by a dashing costume-shop owner, Alix and the Librarian flee through the Regency drawing rooms of Jane Austen to the back alleys of Sherlock Holmes and the champagne-soaked parties of The Great Gatsby as danger draws inexorably closer. But who does their enemy really wish to destroy—Alix, the Librarian, or the Library itself?
Register now to hear more about The Astral Library, crafted for all bookworms and lovers of literature.
About the Author: Kate Quinn is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of historical fiction. A native of Southern California, she attended Boston University, where she earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in classical voice. A lifelong history buff, she has written four novels in the Empress of Rome Saga and two books set in the Italian Renaissance before turning to the 20th century with The Alice Network, The Huntress, The Rose Code, The Diamond Eye, and The Briar Club. The Astral Library is her first foray into magic realism. She and her husband now live in Maryland with their rescue dogs.

Stories from the Phog with Chelan David
2026-03-13 15:00 - 16:00 (America/Chicago) | Hutchinson Public Library, 901 N Main St, Hutchinson, KS, 67501, United States
Get ready for March Madness and get hyped about KU basketball on Friday, March 13 with Stories from the Phog.
Author Chelan David will be at our library to share 40 years of KU Basketball with us, just ahead of the NCAA and NJCAA tournaments.
In Stories from the Phog, lifelong KU hoops fan and Lawrence native Chelan David invites readers on a journey through forty years of Kansas basketball. It begins with a trip to an arcade with David Magley, Indiana’s Mr. Basketball in 1978, includes the 2022 National Championship game, and culminates with the changing landscape of college basketball that we are witness to today. In between are encounters with Larry Brown, Danny Manning, Roy Williams, Bill Self, Gradey Dick, and other legends of the Kansas program, and memories from KU fans. Also included are anecdotes from descendants of James Naismith and Phog Allen.

Virtual Author Talk with Brad Taylor
2026-04-14 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Chicago) | Hutchinson Public Library- Virtual
Register and ask questions here.
Join us in conversation with acclaimed author Brad Taylor on his latest work, Shadow Strike, book 20 (yes, you read that right!) of the bestselling Pike Logan series.
After its proxies are devastated and its offensive capability pummeled in the latest war in the middle east, a rogue group of Iranian regime officials create a brazen plot to strike back at their hated enemies once and for all. They envision a series of operational dominos culminating in a devastating attack, and the first step is the assassination of the Israeli prime minister. And there’s only one assassin with the skills to pull it off: Abdul Rahman, known in the shadows as the Ghost.
When a routine prison transfer is ambushed, the Ghost escapes and is given the assignment. The only Operator who can hunt him down is the man who stopped him before: Pike Logan.
Pike and his team soon learn that the mission involves something bigger than just the escape of his old enemy. Working with Mossad agents, the pursuit leads the Taskforce to Argentina. They work to unravel the scope of the attack, and the chase leads them through the tempestuous waterfalls of Iguazu and the Triple Frontier, to the vibrant streets of Buenos Aires, and the tiny village of Ushuaia at the “End of the World”.
As the team races against the clock, Pike learns the stakes are much greater than a single life – the consequences extend into the heartland of America itself. The Ghost may hold the key to an escalation that will upend the worldwide balance of power, and if Pike fails, the fallout won’t just be personal – it’ll be global.
Register today to learn why the Pike Logan series has everyone buzzing!
About the Author: Brad Taylor is the author of the New York Times bestselling Pike Logan series. He served for more than twenty years in the U.S. Army, including eight years in 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, commonly known as Delta Force. He retired as a Special Forces lieutenant colonel and now lives in Charleston, South Carolina.

Virtual Author Talk with Miranda Cowley Heller
2026-04-22 13:00 - 14:00 (America/Chicago) | Hutchinson Public Library- Virtual
Register and ask questions here.
Award-winning and bestselling author Miranda Cowley Heller takes us on an intimate journey through the life stages of a woman in her new poetry collection, What the Deep Water Knows. Delicate, yet exceedingly raw, these poems will transport you as vividly as any work of fiction.

If I could fly backward, I would.
To the safety of branches, to the time
when my heart still raced for you,
twelve hundred beats a minute.

In poetry that is at once bold and lyrical, affecting and devastatingly frank, Miranda Cowley Heller takes us through childhood, marriage, motherhood, and beyond. Suffused with the natural world and the landscape of Cape Cod, where many of the poems are set, What the Deep Water Knows contemplates love in all the seasons.
Register now to celebrate National Poetry Month with this graceful new poetry collection.
About the Author: Miranda Cowley Heller was raised in New York City and Cape Cod. Her debut novel The Paper Palace was a number one New York Times bestseller in the US, a Sunday Times bestseller in the UK, and was longlisted for the Women’s Prize. She has worked as a senior vice president and head of drama series at HBO, developing and overseeing such shows as The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, The Wire, Deadwood, and Big Love, among others. This is her first poetry collection.

Strange New Words Science Fiction Book Club
2026-04-23 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Chicago) | Sandhills Brewing, 111 West 2nd Ave., Hutchinson, KS, 67501, United States
Strange New Words will take you on a literary journey through time and space with friends! This book club meets at the library every other month on the fourth Thursday at 6:00PM. Together, we’ll explore new and thought-provoking realms that shed light on the complexities of the human experience—often through unexpected perspectives. Whether you’re a seasoned sci-fi enthusiast or just beginning to explore the genre, Strange New Words offers a welcoming space for rich discussion, discovery, and connection. Join us as we navigate the unknown and unravel stories that challenge, entertain, and inspire.

Virtual Author Talk with Jason Reynolds
2026-04-30 18:00 - 19:00 (America/Chicago)
On Writing Beloved Characters and Powerful Portrayals of Resilience in Virtual Conversation with Jason Reynolds
Award-Winning and New York Times Bestselling Author
Thursday, April 30th 2026 at 6:00 PM

Register and Ask Questions Here

Join us in an online conversation with bestselling author Jason Reynolds as we discuss his latest work, Coach, the fifth–and last–entry in the highly popular Track series. Following the immersive stories of Ghost, Lu, Patina, and Sunny, it’s finally time for Coach to shine in his own book as we discover: Who was Coach before he became an inspiring leader?
Before Coach was the man who gave caring yet firm-handed guidance to Ghost, Lu, Patina, and Sunny on the Defenders track team, he was little Otie Brody, who was obsessed with Mr. 9.99 (a.k.a. Carl Lewis) and Marty McFly from Back to the Future. Like Mr. 9.99—and his own dad—Otie is a sprinter. Sprint free or die is practically his motto.
Then his dad, who is always away on business trips, comes home with a pair of Jordans. JORDANS. Fine as fine can be. Otie puts them on and feels like he can leap to the moon…maybe even leap like Mr. 9.99 when he won the Olympic gold medal in the long jump. But one morning he wakes up to find his brand-new secret weapon kicks are missing—right off his feet! And Otie just might have a fuzzy memory of his dad easing them off as Otie was sleeping, but that can’t be right, can it?
Unless all the reasons for his dad’s “gone’s” are very different from what he’s been told… Because now, not only are the Jordans missing, but so is his father.
Register now to join in on the online conversation about the final installment to Jason Reynold’s Track series!
About the Author: Jason Reynolds is an award-winning and #1 New York Times bestselling author. Jason’s many books include Miles Morales: Spider Man, the Track series (Ghost, Patina, Sunny, and Lu), Long Way Down, which received a Newbery Honor, a Printz Honor, and a Correta Scott King Honor, and Look Both Ways, which was a National Book Award Finalist. Recently named the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, Jason has appeared on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Late Night with Seth Meyers, and CBS This Morning. He is on faculty at Lesley University, for the Writing for Young People MFA Program and lives in Washington, DC. You can find his ramblings at JasonWritesBooks.com.

Crafternoon: Upcycled Herb Planters
2026-05-15 14:30 - 16:30 (America/Chicago)
Register Here

Join us for Crafternoon this month and customize an herb planter!
We’re making a starter herb garden with recycled glass and ceramic candle jars and glassware. You can customize it with decoupage or draw a design yourself, depending on the surface. After you’ve made your custom planter, you’ll pick out your herb and plant it!
When you’re finished, you’ll have a perfect starter plant for your kitchen herb garden. You’ll also receive instructions to keep your herbs healthy and gardening tips to help you build your indoor herb garden.
Space and materials are limited, registration is required.
