Around Town

Novelist Celeste Ng discusses Writing & Democracy at Event Hosted by Watertown Library

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Author Celeste Ng spoke about her book, “Our Missing Hearts,” at the Watertown Free Public Library. The novel is the library’s 2024 selection for its One Book, One Watertown program. (Courtesy of the Watertown Library)

Bestselling author Celeste Ng, whose most recent novel explored dystopian fears increasingly echoed by real-life headlines, told library patrons in Watertown on March 21 that she holds hope for the future and a belief in the possibilities of art. Ng, who lives in Cambridge, came to Watertown Free Public Library to discuss her novel “Our Missing Hearts,” the library’s 2024 selection for its One Book, One Watertown program. Each year, the library suggests a book for city residents to read, and hosts programs to foster a community-wide discussion around the book’s themes.

Around Town

Watertown Photographer Seeks to Capture Beauty, Emotion in Her Work

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This photo of a lamb standing on a llama was taken by Watertown photographer Alice Solorow at the Gore Place farm. The poet John Keats once wrote that “Beauty is truth, truth beauty,” and many photographers spend entire lifetimes trying to find all the truth and beauty they can in the world, through the lenses of their cameras. Watertown resident Alice Solorow has dedicated much of her life to capturing moments of beauty in nature and in people’s lives. As a professional photographer and photography teacher at Chapel Hill-Chauncy Hall in Waltham, she finds joy in showing details that people don’t always notice. “I tend to like things that, well, make me laugh, which is hard to do, or make me cry, or somehow have an emotional outward reaction,” Solorow said, “or just that are so incredibly beautiful.”

For the month of January, the Watertown Free Public Library has been hosting an exhibit of Solorow’s nature photographs entitled “The Nuances of Nature.” Profoundly affected by the violent barrage of natural disasters, the hurricanes and wildfires, Solorow sees the exhibit as a conversation about the environment; she hopes that people who appreciate a photo of a beautiful tulip, or a quirky animal, will pause to consider the climate’s fragility.