Harper College Community Education

08/28/2026

Elevate your handwriting and discover the timeless elegance of Copperplate Script!

Whether you're brand new to calligraphy or looking to refine your skills, this hands-on course will teach you how to create beautiful letterforms using a pen, nib, and ink. Learn uppercase and lowercase alphabets, master pressure techniques with a pointed nib, and create stunning invitations, envelopes, place cards, and more.

Perfect for creatives, crafters, and anyone who loves beautiful writing!

7:00PM to 9:00PM
Sep 03, 2026 to Sep 24, 2026
Schaumburg Campus

🔗 Learn more and register:

This beginner-friendly class will guide students through the basics of Copperplate script. It will start with an introduction to the essential tools & supplies, & then dive into writing. First, you will learn the basic strokes, followed by the complete lowercase & capital alphabets. Copperplate is k...

08/28/2026

Looking for Saturday Plans? Consider Them Booked!

Tomorrow, Harper College Community Education and Harper College Library are bringing readers, writers and our community together for Bookmarks: A Festival for Readers and Writers!

Stop by anytime between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. to:

📖 Meet local authors and discover new books
✍️ Attend presentations, panels, workshops and readings
📚 Connect with six participating libraries
🎶 Enjoy live music from Harper’s Back Porch R***e, or bring an instrument and join the community jam
☕ Relax with complimentary light refreshments

And we have plenty of festival goodies waiting for you!

📓 Remember classic composition notebooks? The first 100 guests will receive one free, perfect for capturing a story idea, taking notes or beginning something entirely new.

🔖 Which one will mark your next great read? Visit the Harper CE table and choose from four Bookmarks designs, each featuring beautiful artwork and an inspiring author quote.

🎁 Feeling lucky? Every guest will receive a free prize-drawing ticket. Drawings will be held throughout the festival, with prizes including signed books from participating authors, book bundles and Harper CE class vouchers. Winners must be present when called.

Come early for the notebook. Stay for the authors, books, drawings, music and festival fun!

📅 Tomorrow: Saturday, August 29 | 10 a.m.–2 p.m.
📍 Harper Schaumburg Campus
650 E. Higgins Road, Schaumburg
🎟️ Free and open to everyone. Walk-ins are welcome!

Meet authors. Discover new books. Leave inspired, and perhaps with a few goodies!

Learn more and RSVP:
https://harpercollegece.com/bookmarks/

08/28/2026

Looking Back. Moving Forward.

What can the past teach us about who we are—and where we’re going next?

At Bookmarks, meet three authors whose thought-provoking nonfiction takes readers from the complicated birth of Illinois, through America’s relationship with memory and nostalgia, and into a future increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence.

🏛️ In Avenues of Transformation, historian James A. Edstrom explores the surprising path to Illinois statehood. Political ambition, slavery, geography and human failure intertwine in the first full-length book in more than a century to examine Illinois’s admission to the Union.

🔍 In The Art of Looking Back: Joan Didion and American Nostalgia, Maggie McKinley examines how acclaimed author Joan Didion used nostalgia to question American history, identity and cultural myths.

🤖 In Flourish: Coaching Wisdom in the Age of AI, Susan Caesar looks ahead, exploring how human wisdom, emotional intelligence and meaningful connection can help us thrive in a rapidly changing world.

Three books. Three distinct perspectives. One fascinating journey through history, memory and possibility.

Meet the authors and discover their books at Bookmarks: A Festival for Readers and Writers.

📅 Saturday, August 29 | 10 a.m.–2 p.m.
📍 Harper Schaumburg Campus
650 E. Higgins Road, Schaumburg
🎟️ Free and open to everyone

Learn more and RSVP:
https://harpercollegece.com/bookmarks/

08/27/2026

🖋️ Discover the art of beautiful writing in A Beginner’s Day of Calligraphy. Learn two classic styles, Copperplate and Italic, while practicing foundational strokes, lowercase letters, and simple words. Professional tools and all supplies are provided, and you'll take home a practice handout to continue developing your skills after class.

No experience necessary!

📅 August 29, 2026�⏰ 12:00 PM - 4:00 PM�📍 Harper College Community Education�🎨 All materials included�👥 Ages 16+

👉 Enroll today and discover the joy of putting pen to paper! ✨

Enjoy an afternoon exploring not one, but two scripts! One will be a pointed pen Copperplate, the other a broad pen Italic. You will be guided through the basic use of each tool, beginning strokes of each script, the formation of lowercase letters, & writing a few words. No need to purchase supplies...

08/27/2026

Ready for Love, Danger and a Few Unexpected Detours?

Some stories send your heart racing with action. Others carry you across Europe, into a tangled past or face-to-face with something otherworldly.

At Bookmarks: A Festival for Readers and Writers, meet local authors offering very different ways to escape into a great story:

Margaret Kay and Charlie Roberts deliver military romance and romantic suspense filled with danger, courageous heroes and high emotional stakes in the Shepherd Security and Stevens Street Gym series.

Laura Quinn’s Punk Charming takes readers back to 1986 for a mixtape of travel, love and ’80s pop culture. A Chicago college student, a summer in Europe, a mysterious punk Brit and years of near misses create an adventure fueled by paper maps, pay phones and plenty of Duran Duran.

Dr. Vicki Atkinson’s Slivers enters a quiet suburban neighborhood in the summer of 1973, where generations of secrets, mystical forces and family deceit can no longer remain hidden.

Whether your heart races from danger, love, suspense or something supernatural, there’s a story waiting for you at Bookmarks.

📅 Saturday, August 29 | 10 a.m.–2 p.m.
📍 Harper Schaumburg Campus
650 E. Higgins Road, Schaumburg
🎟️ Free and open to everyone

Meet the authors, explore their books and find your next great escape!

Learn more and RSVP:
https://harpercollegece.com/bookmarks/

08/27/2026

Find the Words—and Keep Them Coming!

Whether you’re trying to finish a project or searching for the best way to tell a personal story, two practical Bookmarks sessions can help.

How to Stay Motivated to Finish Your Work

What happens when life consumes your writing time, inspiration disappears or a long-neglected project starts gathering dust?

Harper CE instructor and prolific author Roxanne Boersma, who writes as Margaret Kay, joins middle-grade author Ten Robinson for an honest, encouraging conversation about finding motivation and keeping it.

They’ll discuss writer’s block, helpful routines, discipline versus inspiration, reconnecting with your personal “why” and taking that first small step when momentum disappears.

Roxanne has self-published 30 books under several pen names, including 26 Amazon bestsellers. Ten is a longtime educator whose debut novel, FreakBoy82: Super Chaos, grew from a single sentence into a completed middle-grade book.

Every Day Writing: Writing an Inspiring Essay

Author, journalist and educator Georgianne Harms will share simple techniques for transforming experiences, feelings and facts into clear, compelling personal essays written in your own voice.

Georgianne is the author of Heart Homes: A Mother’s Essays on Living with Love & Loss and the instructor of Harper CE’s Every Day Stories: Essay Writing Workshop. Writers of all experience levels can discover useful ideas, renewed confidence and inspiration for the stories only they can tell.

Join us at Bookmarks: A Festival for Readers and Writers:

📅 Saturday, August 29 | 10 a.m.–2 p.m.
📍 Harper Schaumburg Campus
650 E. Higgins Road, Schaumburg
🎟️ Free and open to everyone

See the schedule and RSVP:
https://harpercollegece.com/bookmarks/

08/27/2026

We're so excited to have our friends from the Palatine Library join us at Bookmarks: A Festival for Readers and Writers this Saturday from 10am-2pm at our Schaumburg Campus, 650 E. Higgins Rd.

Attention book lovers! 📢📚

Join us this Saturday, August 29, at Harper College for Bookmarks: A Festival for Readers and Writers.

With free entry, you’ll get to meet bestselling and local authors, listen to engaging panels and author readings, and enjoy live music… Plus, your favorite Library will be there 😉

For more information and to reserve your spot, visit Harper’s website: https://harpercollegece.com/bookmarks/

08/26/2026

Your Family Tree Is Full of Stories. Ready to Find Them?

Who were the people behind the names? Where did they live? What challenges, adventures and family mysteries shaped their lives?

In Genealogy Research, historian and author Jim Edstrom will help beginners take the first steps toward uncovering their family history.

You’ll learn how to:

🌿 Organize what you already know and begin building your family tree
🔎 Develop effective research strategies
💻 Explore electronic resources such as Ancestry
📚 Find valuable records in libraries, archives and local historical organizations

No completed family tree, detective training or dusty attic required. Just bring your curiosity!

Whether you’re starting with a box of old photographs, a half-remembered family story or simply the question “Where did we come from?”, this introductory workshop will give you a practical path forward.

Bring a question. Leave with a roadmap to your past.

Join us at Bookmarks: A Festival for Readers and Writers:

📅 Saturday, August 29 | 10 a.m.–2 p.m.
📍 Harper Schaumburg Campus
650 E. Higgins Road, Schaumburg
🎟️ Free and open to everyone

See the complete schedule and RSVP:
https://harpercollegece.com/bookmarks/

08/26/2026

Three Woofs, Two Shelter Stories and One Very Good Reason to Celebrate!

Today is National Dog Day, and we’re celebrating with books that put our four-legged friends front and center.

🐶 Margaret Kay’s Animal House Shelter Stories offer two moving tales filled with heart. That First Year is a story of love, loss, family and resilience, told with hope, tears and laughter. Charlie’s New Home explores separation, hope and the bonds that can grow in the most unexpected ways.

🔎 Laura Quinn’s Three Woofs for the Dead, White and Blue delivers dogs, desserts and danger in one lively cozy mystery. When murder disrupts North Haven’s Fourth of July celebration, pawtisserie owner Claire Noble investigates with plenty of help, and scene-stealing, from her Eurasier, Baron. Dog treat recipes included!

Whether you prefer a heartwarming shelter story or a cozy mystery with a canine sidekick, you’ll find a tail worth reading at Bookmarks!

🐾 And there’s another way to help real animals: profits from sales of Sharon Renlon’s poetry collection, Follow the Sun: Life in Meter, will be donated to local animal shelters in accordance with her wishes. Visit Laura Quinn's table to purchase.

Meet these two dog-gone good authors and discover their books at Bookmarks: A Festival for Readers and Writers.

📅 This Saturday, August 29 | 10 a.m.–2 p.m.
📍 Harper College Schaumburg Campus
650 E. Higgins Road, Schaumburg
🎟️ Free and open to everyone

Learn more and RSVP:
https://harpercollegece.com/bookmarks/



Margaret Kay Author

08/26/2026

A festival called Bookmarks deserves bookmarks made right before your eyes!

Visit Prospect Heights Public Library District at Bookmarks and watch its Silhouette cutting machine create special bookmarks for festival visitors. Then take one home to mark the spot in your next great read!

While you’re there, discover the library’s book clubs, reading and writing resources, and a shelf-full of bookish programs coming in September.

Come for the bookmark. Leave with plenty of reasons to visit the library again!

This Saturday, August 29 | 10 a.m.–2 p.m.
Harper Schaumburg
650 E. Higgins Road, Schaumburg Campus
Free and open to everyone

Learn more and RSVP:
https://harpercollegece.com/bookmarks/