Pratt Free Library

More than 100 people -- many of them African-Americans or Orthodox Jews -- turned out last night at the Reisterstown Road branch library in Northwest Baltimore to tell library officials that the branches are essential and should remain open. It was the third of four public meetings the Enoch Pratt Free Library is holding to get input from the communities on the closing of branches. The last public library forum will be at 6 tonight at Patterson Park, 158 N. Linwood Ave.

Concert Folk music at the Pratt Today from noon to 1 p.m., hear a "Folk Impressions" concert by two librarians. Andrea Snyder, a librarian in the Pratt's social sci ence and history department, will play violin with Erin Kelly, a librarian in the Pratt's informa tion services department, who will play guitar and concertina. The free concert takes place at Enoch Pratt Free Library, cen tral library, Main Hall, 400 Ca thedral St. For information, call 410-396-5430.

A plaque honoring Charles Village neighborhood activist Grace Darin will be unveiled at 4 p.m. tomorrow at the Village Learning Place, the former Enoch Pratt Free Library branch at 2521 St. Paul St. Darin, a former copy editor for The Evening Sun who died in 2002, coined the name Charles Village for the neighborhood near the Johns Hopkins University's Homewood campus and promoted its identity through The Charles Villager, a mimeographed community newsletter...

A daylong book festival is scheduled for Saturday at the Waverly branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library, 400 E. 33rd St. The event, sponsored by Friends of the Waverly Branch, will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. A variety of activities are planned, including stories, crafts and face painting for children from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., a writing workshop for teens from noon to 2 p.m., a presentation of telling stories through poetry from Maryland poet laureate Michael...

The opening ceremony for a new exhibit on Abraham Lincoln is set for 6 p.m. today at the Enoch Pratt Free Library. The national traveling exhibition, Forever Free: Abraham Lincoln's Journey to Emancipation, looks at Lincoln's views on slavery and how they changed during the Civil War. The central library, at 400 Cathedral St., also plans a series of other free programs in connection with the six-week exhibit, including a living history presentation on...

BALTIMORE -- Three noted children's book artists and illustrators will discuss images of African-American children at a pair of free events sponsored by the Enoch Pratt Free Library on Friday and Saturday. The artists -- Jan Spivey Gilchrest, James Ransome and Chris Sontpiet -- will appear from 10 a.m. to noon Friday at the Pratt Central Library Wheeler Auditorium, 400 Cathedral St., (410-396- 5356); and at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Northwood Branch, 4420 Loch Raven Blvd., (410-396-6076).

NOW OR NEVER Frederick artist Stephen Blickenstaff -- known for, among other things, drawing the cover for the Cramps' 1983 album Bad Music for Bad People -- is the subject of a one-night-only art show tomorrow night at Atomic Books. The show features a new series of paintings by the artist, who also designed album covers and T-shirts for such bands as They Might Be Giants, Thin White Rope and Love Tractor. The show kicks off at 7 p.m. tomorrow at Atomic Books, 1100 W. 36th St. Call the store at 410-662-4444 for more information.

Drawing on a background in theater and stand-up comedy, storyteller Bobby Norfolk has spent 18 years developing an animated style he calls "story theater." It uses lots of movement, sound effects and facial expressions to convey both drama and comedy. Today and tomorrow, Norfolk will be sharing folk tales from around the world at several Enoch Pratt Free Library branches. These are the first Baltimore appearances for Norfolk. He previously starred in the Emmy award-winning television show Gator Tales and has made several storytelling tapes.

Acclaimed author Edward P. Jones will appear in Baltimore on Saturday, April 17, to headline the first-ever CityLit Festival. Jones' novel The Known World was just awarded the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. (It was also a finalist for the National Book Award and winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award.) The festival will feature free workshops, exhibits and appearances by local authors and poets, including Tonya Matthews, Reggie Harris Sun reporter M. Dion Thompson and his former colleague Laura Lippman.

"In Three Dimensions," a two-venue group sculpture exhibition in Fells Point, presents the work of 16 artists ranging from installations to busts, from large abstractions to small narrative works, and including some interactive pieces. Co-sponsored by Sculptors Inc. and the Fells Point Creative Alliance, the show is on view at Halcyon Gallery and the Fells Point branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library, and includes works by David Yocum, Emilia Lievano, Daithi O'Glaisian, Marge Feldman, Jeff Colburn, Jo Israelson, David Page, Jim McFarland and Drake Cunningham, among others.