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Quick Links
Master Schedule
The complete schedule of upcoming OPAL public online events.
Auditorium
Most OPAL programs are held in the Auditorium.
After clicking on the link above, type in your name and press Enter. First-time
OPAL users need to install a small, safe sofware plug-in.
Archive
Recordings and other documents about previous OPAL programs.
Podcast
For information on listening to previous OPAL events on your portable MP3 player,
visit the OPAL Podcast blog.
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Upcoming OPAL Book Discussions, Poetry Readings, and Other Literary Events
Note: To enter the online room and participate in an event, simply click on the
location hotlink and follow the instructions.
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Friday, April 11, 2008 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time,
noon Central, 11:00 a.m. Mountain, 10:00 a.m. Pacific, and 5:00 p.m. GMT/UTC/Zulu:
A Discussion of the Big Read Book, The Maltese Falcon
Host: Johnson County Library
Online Location:
Johnson County's OPAL Room
The Johnson County Library is hosting several events this spring in conjunction with The Big Read project.
Members of the community are encouraged to read classic detective novel The Maltese Falcon, by Dashiell Hammett,
then come together to discuss the book as a literary work, thriller, love story, and a dark, dry comedy.
Dashiell Hammett's third novel, The Maltese Falcon (1930), set the standard by which all subsequent
detective fiction would be judged. Featuring tough, independent detective Samuel Spade, the story is set in
San Francisco and takes place over a six-day period in 1928.
Thursday, April 17, 2008 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time,
1:00 Central, noon Mountain, 11:00 a.m. Pacific, and 6:00 p.m. GMT/UTC/Zulu:
Celebrate National Poem in Your Pocket Day with the Library of Congress
Host: Library of Congress
Online Location:
OPAL Online Auditorium
On April 17, join with the Library of Congress in an online
celebration of the first national Poem In Your Pocket Day. Select a
favorite published poem (not your own) in advance to share with
others. Participants will present their poem in the order in which
they log in to the OPAL Auditorium, the online venue for this
program. Those who have a microphone have the option of reading
their poem aloud, and to share a URL (if available) at which the poem
can be found online. Participants without microphones may provide a
link to their poem; Library of Congress employees will take turns
reading these poems.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008 at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time,
8:00 Central, 7:00 Mountain, 6:00 Pacific, and 1:00 a.m. Thursday GMT/UTC/Zulu:
Book Discussion of the detective novel The Hot Kid by Elmore Leonard
Set in Oklahoma in the 1030s, this novel traces the fortunes of Deputy U.S. Marshal Carlos ("Carl")
Webster. While searching for Jack Belmont, the ne'er-do-well son of a rich oil man, Carl falls for the
moll Louly Brown.
This discussion is part of the ongoing series of casual book discussions called
"Waiting for the Other Gumshoe to Drop,"
focussing on American and British hard-boiled detective fiction.
This discussion will also be held in Second Life at Mystery Manor on Info Island. You may
participate in OPAL, in Second Life, or both!
NLS Audiobook number RC 60336.
Host: TAP Information Services
Location:
OPAL Online Auditorium
Monday, May 12, 2008 at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time,
8:00 Central, 7:00 Mountain, 6:00 Pacific, and 1:00 a.m. Wednesday GMT/UTC/Zulu:
Land of Lincoln Book Discussion of The Radical and the Republican: Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln,
and the Triumph of Antislavery Politics, by James Oakes
In honor of the 150th anniversary of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, the upcoming bicentennial of Lincoln's birthday
in 2009, and the first year of the Land of Lincoln immersive information/learning environment in Second Life,
a series of monthly book discussions will be held on recently published books about Lincoln for
general readers.
In May we will be discussing The Radical and the Republican: Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln,
and the Triumph of Antislavery Politics, by James Oakes.
Publishers Weekly notes, "The perennial tension between principle and pragmatism in politics frames
this engaging account of two Civil War Era icons. Historian Oakes (Slavery and Freedom) charts the
course by which Douglass and Lincoln, initially far apart on the antislavery spectrum, gravitated
toward each other. Lincoln began as a moderate who advocated banning slavery in the territories
while tolerating it in the South, rejected social equality for blacks and wanted to send freedmen
overseas—-and wound up abolishing slavery outright and increasingly supporting black voting rights.
Conversely, the abolitionist firebrand Douglass moved from an impatient, self-marginalizing moral
rectitude to a recognition of compromise, coalition building and incremental goals as necessary steps forward in a democracy."
You may participate in OPAL, in Second Life (on the Land of Lincoln island), or both.
Watch for further information about these upcoming book discussions:
June 12: The Case of Abraham Lincoln: A Story of Adultery, Murder, and the Making
of a Great President, by Julie M. Fenster and Douglas Brinkley
Host: Alliance Library System
Location:
OPAL Online Auditorium
Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time,
8:00 Central, 7:00 Mountain, 6:00 Pacific, and 1:00 a.m. Thursday GMT/UTC/Zulu:
Book Discussion of the detective novel Hard Time by Sara Paretsky
Chicago private investigator V. I. Warshawksi finds a dead female escaped convict in the road.
In the course of her investigation she is charged with murder by the police, burglarized, beaten, and
imprisoned. The truth will out.
This discussion is part of the ongoing series of casual book discussions called
"Waiting for the Other Gumshoe to Drop,"
focussing on American and British hard-boiled detective fiction.
This discussion will also be held in Second Life at Mystery Manor on Info Island. You may
participate in OPAL, in Second Life, or both!
NLS Audiobook number RC 48812.
Host: TAP Information Services
Location:
OPAL Online Auditorium
Wednesday, June 25, 2008 at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time,
8:00 Central, 7:00 Mountain, 6:00 Pacific, and 1:00 a.m. Thursday GMT/UTC/Zulu:
Book Discussion of the detective novel Blonde Faith by Walter Mosley
Set in L.A. in 1967, this tenth novel in the Easy Rawlins series find Easy dealing with the loss of the
love of his life, Bonnie. He also must find two of his friends, Raymond ("Mouse") Alexander and
Christmas Black, before those who are hunting them do.
This discussion is part of the ongoing series of casual book discussions called
"Waiting for the Other Gumshoe to Drop,"
focussing on American and British hard-boiled detective fiction.
This discussion will also be held in Second Life at Mystery Manor on Info Island. You may
participate in OPAL, in Second Life, or both!
NLS Audiobook number in process.
Host: TAP Information Services
Location:
OPAL Online Auditorium
Wednesday, July 23, 2008 at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time,
8:00 Central, 7:00 Mountain, 6:00 Pacific, and 1:00 a.m. Thursday GMT/UTC/Zulu:
Book Discussion of the detective novel The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett
This is the novel that introduced Nick and Nora Charles, wealthy slueths based in New York City.
The couple combines keen observation, sardonic wit, and grace under duress as they try to
solve the disappearance ten years ago of the thin man, Richard Wynant, an eccentric inventor.
This discussion is part of the ongoing series of casual book discussions called
"Waiting for the Other Gumshoe to Drop,"
focussing on American and British hard-boiled detective fiction.
This discussion will also be held in Second Life at Mystery Manor on Info Island. You may
participate in OPAL, in Second Life, or both!
NLS Audiobook number RC 16349.
Host: TAP Information Services
Location:
OPAL Online Auditorium
Wednesday, August 27, 2008 at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time,
8:00 Central, 7:00 Mountain, 6:00 Pacific, and 1:00 a.m. Thursday GMT/UTC/Zulu:
Book Discussion of the detective novel A Rage in Harlem by Chester Himes
Set in 1950s New York City, this novel follows the fortunes of Jackson, a hapless, gullible
working class Black man, as he tries to protect the love of his life, Imabelle.
Harlem police detectives Grave Digger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson figure prominently in this
high-action novel.
This discussion is part of the ongoing series of casual book discussions called
"Waiting for the Other Gumshoe to Drop,"
focussing on American and British hard-boiled detective fiction.
This discussion will also be held in Second Life at Mystery Manor on Info Island. You may
participate in OPAL, in Second Life, or both!
NLS Audiobook number RC 45215.
Host: TAP Information Services
Location:
OPAL Online Auditorium
Wednesday, September 24, 2008 at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time,
8:00 Central, 7:00 Mountain, 6:00 Pacific, and 1:00 a.m. Thursday GMT/UTC/Zulu:
Book Discussion of the detective novel Cypress Grove by James Sallis
Turner, a retired homicide cop from Memphis and an ex-con, has moved to a cabin outside a
small town in Tennessee seeking peace and solitude. When Lonnie Bates, the local sheriff,
asks Turner to help solve a ritual killing, Turner gets to know the locals as he contemplates
his past.
This discussion is part of the ongoing series of casual book discussions called
"Waiting for the Other Gumshoe to Drop,"
focussing on American and British hard-boiled detective fiction.
This discussion will also be held in Second Life at Mystery Manor on Info Island. You may
participate in OPAL, in Second Life, or both!
NLS Audiobook number RC 59090.
Host: TAP Information Services
Location:
OPAL Online Auditorium
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