LOVE LOCAL

Friends of the Dallas Public Library hosts an annual fall event to celebrate our Library and its incredible staff whose work is creating lasting positive change for our community. This event is an important opportunity to come together to support the Dallas Public Library and to build awareness about our work on the library's behalf.

Due to Covid, this event has been on hiatus since fall, 2019. At that event, we had 320 attend and since 2013, this annual event has raised nearly $400,000 in support for the Dallas Public Library. Please read this recent article from My Sweet Charity to learn more about the event.

We will be hosting this year’s fall event, LOVE LOCAL on the evening of Thursday, October 20 at the J. Erik Jonsson Central Library. That night we'll hear an update about the Dallas Public Library and once again bring together more than 300 influential and generous individuals in a fun atmosphere for a seated dinner honoring the library staff for their extraordinary work, and celebrating our community’s generosity in lifting up the Dallas Public Library.

Their constant innovation during the pandemic to serve our community impacted millions in person and online visitors to our libraries. Staff at Dallas's 29 neighborhood branches and the Central Library went above and beyond managing more than 100,000 curbside appointments while pivoting all programs online including adult education, the annual summer reading program, storytimes for our youngest readers, and more.    

This year's event will feature a panel of distinguished Texas authors and artists including noir novelist Harry Hunsicker, philanthropist and arts advocate Donna Wilhelm, young adult genre phenom Erin Yun, and local political commentator Jim Schutze. The panel will be moderated by Dallas's Poet Laureate, Joachin Zihuatanejo.  Gil's Elegant Catering will provide a lively pre-dinner reception and a variety of appetizers, entrées, and desserts.