Summer is officially here, and so is this year’s Summer Reading Challenge! Celebrate both by attending HCPL’s festival of fandoms—Fandomonium — on Saturday, June 24, 1-5PM at Fairfield Library. We hope you’ll join us for an afternoon full of drop-in activities, workshops, cosplay, games, and more!

Happy Pride Month! June 1 marks the beginning of Pride, a month-long celebration of the history and impact of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (questioning), intersex, and asexual identifying community. HCPL offers a variety of programs, some year-round, plus books and resources to support LGBTQIA+ individuals and families. Read on to learn more about upcoming programs and recommended titles from our collection to help you learn about and celebrate Pride!

Henrico County Public Library’s 2023 Summer Reading challenge, "All Together Now," is all about celebrating kindness, friendship, and unity. During last year’s Summer Reading challenge, the community read nearly 80,000 books. In the spirit of this year’s theme, the library is challenging the community to read 100,000 books together between June 15 and August 15 (pre-registration begins June 1). Read on to learn more about this year's challenge!

Every May the Administration for Community Living celebrates Older Americans Month. This year’s theme, Aging Unbound, promotes flexible thinking around the idea of aging and encourages us to consider the benefits of a community where everyone, no matter what their age, feels engaged, included, and independent (Administration for Community Living). Read on to learn about how you can support yourself or the older adults in your life by exploring resources available at the library.

Our next library profile highlights one of our biggest and busiest libraries —Twin Hickory. Twin Hickory was born in July 2007 when the old Innsbrook Library near Broad Street closed its doors for good. Read on to learn more about the current Twin Hickory location and how its grown over the years!

Meditation and yoga are good for your body and mind! According to the Gale Encyclopedia of Nursing and Allied Health, the benefits of meditation can include reduced stress, anxiety, depression, and blood pressure. It can also improve your self-awareness and tolerance for negative emotions and situations. Furthermore, you can combine meditation with yoga to help increase your strength and flexibility and foster mindfulness. Learn more about kick-starting your meditation and yoga practice with book recommendations and resources available at the library!

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and the library is offering programs for stress management, self-care, and mindfulness to help support your personal wellbeing. You can also access helpful information and resources on a variety of mental health topics through the library’s collection and databases. Read on for information about programs supporting wellness and mindfulness, books from our collection that address mental health, and resources with high quality information on mental health topics, all available free at the library this month and every month.

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage (AAPI) Month, and we are commemorating the occasion with a month full of programs and displays at the library. In our programs, you'll hear from Asian Americans in the Henrico community as they share their personal immigration experiences, learn about Japanese plants, gardening, and flower arranging, and discuss books and films with stories from Cambodia, India, and China. Read on to learn more about our upcoming programs and browse our list of recommended titles by AAPI authors and about AAPI Heritage!

We’d like to thank Jamie Ford and the community for joining us for an evening of conversation and fun! We hope everyone enjoyed themselves as much as we did. What a wonderful way to kick-off our return to an in-person All Henrico Reads event!