A gifted composer and pianist, longtime area-theatre reviewer, and staunch advocate of the local art scene will be the featured guest in the Community Connections series when the Bettendorf Public Library hosts a January 19 program with Jonathan Turner, who will be your knowledgeable, friendly guide as he discusses experiences worth sharing in his recently published book 100 Things to Do in the Quad Cities Before You Die.

With the Washington Post calling his latest book “a gift that's meant to be shared” and Publishers Weekly insisting "this resonant, vivid meditation shouldn’t be missed," a bestselling essaying and award-winning poet takes center stage in Inciting Joy: A Conversation with Ross Gay, a virtual January 11 conversation with the Inciting Joy author made possible by Illinois Libraries Present, and hosted by the Rock Island and Moline Public Libraries.

Court-ing fans in their eagerly anticipated return to Moline, the electrifying athletes of the Harlem Globetrotters bring their “2023 World Tour" to the Vibrant Arena at the MARK on January 10, thrilling crowds with phenomenal basketball action, comic hijinks, ankle-breaking moves, jaw-dropping swag, and rim-rattling dunks in a fully-modernized amphitheater production.

In conjunction with the German American Heritage Center's current exhibition The White Rose: The Student Resistance Against Hitler, Munich 1942-1943, the Davenport venue sponsored a poetry contest seeking original works inspired by the theme of “resistance.” All individuals chosen for the slam were between 13 and 20 years of age, with their poems five minutes or less in length, and the contest winners received $100 as compensation for their entries. With the kind permission of the GAHC and the authors, a selection of winning entries will be published monthly through February.