Lunch With Books

Lunch With Books logo

Lunch with Books is the library's flagship program for adult patrons. Bring a bag lunch and enjoy presentations by authors, poets, historians, musicians, and a variety of other people. Complimentary beverages are provided.

Though the Library is now fully opened and our in-person programming has returned, we will continue to offer our live streamed broadcasts for those who are unable to attend our programs at the Library.

➤ Lunch With Books: Livestream Editions - new programs broadcast live online
➤ Lunch With Books: "From the Vault" - past programs digitized and now available online

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Many of our Lunch With Books programs have been recorded and, upon request, can be made available to check out.
➤ View a complete list of LWB programs available on DVD at the library


	"Lunch With Books” is the library’s flagship program for adult patrons. Bring a bag lunch and enjoy presentations by authors, poets, historians, musicians and a variety of other people. Complimentary beverages are provided. These free programs usually start at noon on Tuesdays in the auditorium on the lower level of the library.

Lunch With Books Programs

The library currently has over 400 Lunch With Books programs available on DVD. A sampling of these programs can be viewed online through the links below.

April 16, 2013:	➤ The History of Ohio County Public Library with Dr. Chuck Julian
April 12, 2011:	➤ The Forgotten First Campaign: Western Virginia, 1861
May 24, 2011:	➤ Lucy Bagby with John Vacha
September 20, 2011:	➤ The Bicentennial of Steamboating with John Bowman
September 27, 2011:	➤ The Sultana Disaster with Kate Quinn
April 9, 2013:	➤ West Virginia Poet Laureate Marc Harshman reads "Whitman and Wright Visit the Wheeling Middle School" from his book, Green-Silver and Silent
March 13th, 2014:	➤ Wheeling Symphony Panel Discussion: Prayer for the Innocents Maestro André Raphel and composer Avner Dorman discuss Dorman's piece "*Prayer for the Innocents*" before its premiere at the Wheeling Symphony on March 14th, 2014.
June 13th, 2017:	➤ Virtual Walking Tour of Historic Warwood with Christina Rieth

➤ View a complete list of LWB programs available on DVD at the library

Videos

Watch a brief history of the Lunch With Books program:

Hear the Lunch With Books Song featuring Yodeling Dick Brooks:

Feedback from Lunch With Books Guests

“Lunch With Books is an outstanding program — one of the best in the country.”
-NPR Journalist Matthew Algeo, The President is a Sick Man

“With a new book in hand, I’ve visited a lot of libraries lately, and I think the Ohio County Public Library is my all-time favorite.” -Jaimy Gordon, Lord of Misrule (National Book Award winner)

“We set a personal attendance record and personal best for the number
of books sold!” -Peter Zeranski, Polish Classic Recipes

“I am completely smitten with the Lunch with Books patrons...It’s not always easy to read one’s fiction in public, but this library family provided a sea of welcoming faces filled with warmth, attentiveness, and good will. Their generous laughter and emotional investment helped me to bring my prose fully to life.” -Marie Manilla, Still Life with Plums and Shrapnel

“Speaking [at Lunch With Books] was the highlight of my summer. A spectacular facility, a wonderful array of speakers, and a community dedicated to one of its finest resources. You all should be proud of what you're doing. I look forward to returning.” -Rudy Dicks, The ’63 Steelers

“If I want the best and most attentive and responsive audience I know I will have it at Lunch With Books.”
-Jim O'Brien, The Chief and Steeler Stuff

“This is the best series of its kind that I've seen in all my travels in OH-WV-PA.”
-Jim Joyce, The Bicycle Book: Wit, Wisdom, & Wanderings

“Lunch With Books is the best adult library program that I have seen in the state.”
-Bob Barnett, Growing Up in the Last Small Town

Lunch With Books Snapshots

Dan Toomey: On Board Lincoln's Funeral Train, Oct. 25, 2016

Harriet Tubman (Ilene Evans) Visits Lunch With Books

Many thanks to the History Alive! program at the West Virginia Humanities Council

James Alexander Thom (July 26)

July 12: Photos by JJ Young

Nicholas Fry is the curator of the Barriger Library and is the archivist of the B&O Railroad Historical Society.

Greg Smith is a retired educator and is currently president of the B&O Historical Society.

Elizabeth Davis-Young is the widow of J. J. Young Jr. This book realizes her desire to fulfill her husband's unfinished plans for a book of his Wheeling area railroad photographs.

John J. Young Jr.'s (1929–2004) hobby of railroad photography began in Wheeling, WV, and continued after he moved to upstate New York in 1959. He was a member of the faculty of Broome Community College in Binghamton and taught photography until his retirement in 1995. His photographs of railroads across the country were published in books and periodicals throughout his life. He was working on this book before his death in 2004.

Get the book.