Pope County, Arkansas: The Pope County Library System has several more speakers on tap for the month of May. On Saturday, May 10 at noon, Chad Lowe with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s Janet Huckabee Arkansas River Valley Nature Center will give a presentation in Heritage Hall about native Arkansas reptiles; Lowe’s programs are always popular, and he will bring a few live reptiles along.
The Pope County Library Genealogy Group will feature Scott Lee from the Arkansas Genealogical Society at 5:30 pm on Thursday, May 15, for a talk about AI and its uses in the field of Genealogy. This presentation is an overview of how artificial intelligence is used today in genealogy and will cover some technologies on the horizon, plus possibilities for the more distant future. Lee will also include a high-level explanation of artificial intelligence with simple diagrams and examples.
Dover Public Library hosts local author T.L. Simpson at 4:00 pm on Friday, May 16, to discuss his new YA novel, Cope Field, summarized in a starred Kirkus Review as, “A teen baseball star struggles with his feelings toward his abusive father in this contemporary novel set in small-town Arkansas.”
Simpson’s 2024 YA novel, Strong Like You, received strong reviews and the following awards: 2024 Moonbeam Children’s Literature Award, Silver; 2025 YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults; and Top 10 TAYSHA’S READING LIST. Strong Like You was also chosen as an Indiana Read Aloud book.
Dover Public Library will also host Dardanelle author and Arkansas Tech graduate, Tasia C. Taylor, for a special reading of her children’s book Ice Cream Disaster on Friday, May 30, at 4:00 pm. After the reading, attendees will make their own ice cream sundaes.
Pope County Library Genealogy Department will feature an additional talk from T.L. Simpson at 11:00 am on Saturday, March 31, in the River Valley Arts Center as part of the pARTy in the Park celebration. The Arts Center is located at 1001 E. B Street in Russellville.
