While most of the presentations in the Davenport Public Library's monthly 3rd Thursday at Hoover's Presidential Library & Museum program have focused on former president Herbert Hoover, the series will take an overdue look at the extraordinary contributions of his wife when speaker Annette Dunlap, on June 15, delivers her fascinating virtual event Lou Henry Hoover's White House Years, the first in a three-month "best of" series.

Hailed by O the Oprah Magazine as "an attentive and precise writer who dazzles with natural and supernatural observations and lyrical details," a bestselling author will take part in a virtual program offered by Illinois Libraries Present and the Rock Island and Moline Public Libraries, her June 6 event Navigate Your Stars: A Conversation with Jesmyn Ward treating participants to an audience with the talent lauded by Entertainment Weekly as "one of the most searing and singularly gifted writers working today."

Admired for his half-hour comedy special on season three of The Standups that's currently streaming on Netflix, Los Angeles-based comedian Brian Simpson brings his national tour to Davenport's Rhythm City Casino Resort Rhythm Room on May 26, the hilariously uncensored standup having recently made his television debut on Comedy Central's Lights Out with David Spade.

A fascinating, important traveling exhibit examining man-made pollution within our planet's oceans, JUNKraft: The Global Crisis of Plastic Pollution will be on display at Davenport's Putnam Museum & Science Center through October 30, with the exhibition's opening day featuring a Q&A with Dr. Marcus Eriksen, the cofounder and director of research for the 5 Gyres Institute who has firsthand experience on water pollution from more than 20 ocean-crossing expeditions.