CLOSURE: Central Library will be closed Tuesday, July 21, through Saturday, July 25, while emergency repairs are made to the building’s cooling system. We expect to reopen Monday, July 27. Click for more details on holds, program schedules, and returns during the closure. 

Notice of Public Meeting: Kalamazoo Public Library Board of Trustees | July 27 | 5:30 pm | Central Library/Van Deusen Room. The packet of information for the meeting can be found on the library’s website. 

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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Year

2026

Language

ENGLISH

Publication Information

Wilton Square

Summary

It is New Year at Camelot and a mysterious green knight appears at King Arthur's court. In a challenge to the knights of the Round Table, he offers his splendid axe as a prize to whoever is brave enough to behead him with just one strike. The condition is that his challenger must seek him out in a year and a day to have the deed returned. Sir Gawain accepts and decapitates the stranger, only to see the green knight pick up his head, walk out of the hall and ride away on his horse. Now Gawain must complete his part of the bargain, search for his foe and confront what seems to be his doom… Michael Smith's translation of this magnificent Arthurian romance takes us back to the original poetic form of the manuscript and brings it alive for a modern audience, while revealing the poem's historic and literary context. Illustrated with detailed recreations of the illuminated lettering in the original manuscript and with the author's own linocut prints, this exciting new edition will appeal to students of the Gawain-poet and the general reader alike.

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