Celebrate Our Library! 2026

An Evening of Authors, Books, and Community

November 5, 2026

5:45 p.m. - 9 p.m.

Worcester Public Library

3 Salem Square, Worcester MA

$175 per person

Celebrate Our Library! is the annual fundraiser of the Worcester Public Library Foundation. The evening will feature complimentary beer, wine, and signature drink, food by Simply Delicious Catering, and a moderated discussion with three award winning authors. Proceeds from the event will benefit

the programs and services of the Worcester Public Library.

We are excited to present the 2026 Dr. Richard E. Greene Founders Award to

Lisa Kirby Gibbs during the program.

Leadership Giving Circle - New this year!

We are thrilled to introduce a new opportunity - our Leadership Giving Circle! With the purchase of a General Admission ticket and a gift of $500 or more to our Fund-a-Need, supporting digital equity, you and a registered guest will be invited to an exclusive pre-event reception (5:15 - 6:00 p.m.) with intimate access to our featured authors, champagne, light bites courtesy of the Worcester Restaurant Group, and other benefits!

See registration page for details.

Click to Register!

Meet the Authors

Celeste Ng

Celeste Ng is the bestselling author of three novels, Everything I Never Told You, Little Fires Everywhere, and Our Missing Hearts. Celeste grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Shaker Heights, Ohio. She graduated from Harvard University and earned an MFA from the University of Michigan (now the Helen Zell Writers’ Program at the University of Michigan). Her fiction and essays have appeared in the New York Times, The Guardian, and many other publications, and she is a recipient of the Pushcart Prize, a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and a Guggenheim Fellowship, among other honors.

For more information on Speaker, please visit www.prhspeakers.com.

Annabel Monaghan

New York Times bestselling author Annabel Monaghan has captivated readers with her uplifting and emotional romance novels. Monaghan is the author of It’s a Love Story, Summer Romance, Same Time Next Summer, Nora Goes Off Script, and Dolly All The Time. Her books have been named to numerous book clubs and reading lists, including Good Morning America’s Book Club, Real Simple’s Best Books of the Year, Cosmopolitan’s 30 Best Romance Novels of the Year, Katie Couric Media’s Book Recommendations, LibraryReads Picks, Reader’s Digest Best Beach Reads, and The Today Show’s Best Summer Reads.

Monaghan has a BA in English from Duke University and an MBA in Finance from The Wharton School at The University of Pennsylvania. Her books have been covered in People, The Washington Post, USA Today, Real Simple, Woman’s World, Southern Living, and more. After twenty-five years in the suburbs of New York City, she now splits her time

between Connecticut and Florida.

Jennifer Givhan

Jennifer Givhan is a Mexican American and Indigenous poet and novelist from the Southwestern desert and the recipient of poetry fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and PEN/Rosenthal Emerging Voices. She holds a Master’s degree from California State University Fullerton and a Master’s in Fine Arts from Warren Wilson College. Givhan is the author of five full-length poetry collections and the novels River Woman, River Demon, Jubilee, Trinity Sight, and Salt Bones.

She lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico with her family.

MODERATOR, Stephanie Pasha

Moderator Stephanie Pasha is the Corporate Governance Secretary for edRISK. She serves as President of both the Worcester Public Library Board of Directors and the Board of Directors for the Worcester Animal Rescue League. She holds a B.S. and Ed.M. from Boston University and an M.A. in English and Creative Writing from Southern New Hampshire University. In June of 2026, she was recognized with the American Library Association Trustee Citation. Her dog Enzo remains unimpressed.