Past Events
Second Annual Literary Trivia Night a Huge Success!
Sixty book loving participants attended this event, held at the Central Library on Friday, April 12, 2024, with an impressive knowledge of all things literary. This year’s categories included: Children’s Books, Books Made into Movies, Famous First Lines, Mysteries and Film Noir Movies, Recent Books, What Colors are Missing from These titles, and more. Refreshments and libations were available throughout the evening.
Yolie Lopez, one of our board members, had fun announcing the correct answers and revealing scores. Members of the winning team each received a bottle of wine. Many thanks to all of the people who helped support programs and book purchases at the Santa Barbara Library by attending this fundraiser. We especially enjoyed having two teams from the library staff attend!
Team Literati proudly displays their bottle of wine after their win at the Literary Trivia Night.
An Afternoon of Mah Jongg
Sunday, October 15, 2023
Our 2023 Afternoon of Mah Jong event, held at the Faulkner Gallery, was our best turnout ever. We are so appreciative of our community members who came to support the library and play one of their favorite games. Guests enjoyed a beautiful reception with a selection of savory and sweet treats, wine, and other beverages.
Your donations will be used to support programs at the Santa Barbara Library and to purchase new books.
Past Events
An Evening of Poetry and Music
Thank You to All Who Made Our Poetry and Music Event a Success
Thank you to all who joined us at the Faulkner Gallery on September 22, 2023 for An Evening of Poetry and Music.
Despite the fact that at the last minute two of our poets became ill and could not attend, Milinda Palacio, Emma Trelles and David Starkey provided no shortage of fabulous poems and conversation. Melinda and David surprised us with some singing and guitar playing. David Rojas provided perfect background music and played a great blues song at the end of the program. I would highly recommend him if you are having an event.
Thank you so much for supporting the Santa Barbara Public Library. We are so fortunate to have such talented Poet Laureates.
On Saturday, Oct. 22nd the Friends held their third used book sale in front of the Eastside library. At the end of the sale, we donated the unsold children’s books to Franklin and Adelante Charter School. No sooner had we placed them in the MLK room for storage, than a new kindergarten teacher came by and was thrilled to take some free books to add to her classroom library.
The Friends of the Library held a special Christmas Event on Sunday, December 12th, in the Faulkner Gallery at the Downtown Santa Barbara Library, attended by over 28 young children and their parents or grandparents.
Thank you to all who joined us on Sunday, November 7th from 1:00 to 4:00 PM at the Santa Barbara Library Faulkner Gallery for a fundraiser to support the Santa Barbara Central Library. 
Held via Zoom at 5:00 on October 21, 2020.
Keskinen spoke on the topic of Life/Stories: What We Weave In, What We Leave Out. She will also donate a signed set of her books to a Friends of the Library member that joins the meeting.
In addition to the panel and tour, people were encouraged to fill out a trivia quiz to compete for prizes when they returned to the library. Friends of the Library board members provided treats including some of Kinsey’s favorites, peanut butter and pickle sandwiches, pimento cheese sandwiches and “a better glass of Chardonnay.” A special thank you to Marilyn McMahon for writing a pre-event article in the News Press and to Susan Miles Gulbransen for writing a follow-up in the Noozhawk.
As she graciously did with her first book, What She Gave Away, mystery writer Catharine Riggs partnered with the Santa Barbara Public Library to hold a benefit launch event to support The Friends of the Library. Catharine was interviewed by Barry Punzal, who is the Sports editor of Noozhawk. They both served together on the Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table. As it turns out, Catharine played tennis in college and stills runs to tap into her inner muse. In addition to the interview, she did a riveting reading from her book while the audience enjoyed a reception hosted by the Friends. Catharine donated all of the proceeds of the book sale. In addition, she and her husband gave another generous contribution to help support the work of the Friends of the Library.