For a number of years, the Friends and the library have been bringing a literary festival to Maynard on the first weekend in April. And we're doing that again this year! But before the festival began in 2012, we presented a few Maynard Reads events--community reading programs where we focus on a book and schedule events related to the theme of that book.

This year, we decided to return to that format. We chose the book One Goal: A Coach, a Team, and the Game That Brought a Divided Town Together by Amy Bass. It's about the town of Lewiston Maine, the Somali refugees who settled there and how chasing a state soccer championship brought the town together.

We've scheduled some films (here and at the Council on Aging), a cookbook club meal, a Brazilian band, an art exhibit and a dive into Maynard's immigrant history. For kids, we have two special festival storytimes and a program featuring West African drumming. On Festival Day, there will be two great programs--a panel discussion with three professionals who work with refugees and immigrants, and a presentation with Amy Bass, the author of One Goal. Reading the book is absolutely not required to enjoy the events, but we'll have copies of One Goal available to borrow through the library or to purchase ahead of time.

You can hear an interview about the book in this episode of WBUR's Only a Game, which originally aired (coincidentally) the morning of last year's Festival. It runs about 8 minutes.

The Festival is brought to you by the Friends of the Library, with Porter Square Books as our bookseller. All events are free and open to the public except as noted.