Celebrate Pride

After several years of COVID-related restrictions, OPL is looking forward to getting back into the community and reconnecting with local and city-wide 2SLGBTQ+ groups, as well as participating in the city’s yearly Pride festivities August 21-28, 2022.

Here are just a few of the places you can find OPL throughout Ottawa’s Capital Pride celebrations this year: 

• Capital Pride Picnic, in Hintonburg Park 

• Capital Pride Parade, in Centretown 

• Street Festival, on Bank st. 

• Pride eRead, Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me 

• Your local branch 

• And more... 

OPL remains current by keeping up with trends in library services and programming and requests from the public. The number of Drag Queen Family Storytime programs has been growing in numerous cities in Canada and internationally. OPL will again be hosting a Drag Royalty Storytime featuring a Drag Queen and King in partnership with the National Arts Centre. This Storytime will also highlight Every Child Ready to Read early literacy skills with the participation of OPL children’s staff. Programs like these, along with our participation in the parade, supports OPL’s vision to build community and transform lives, and our mission to inspire learning, spark curiosity, and connect people.

OPL strives to be inclusive and welcoming to all by offering spaces and programming that celebrates various groups in Ottawa including the 2SLGBTQ+ community. This is why we do not limit inclusive programming to Pride in August, instead making it part of our regular offerings by scheduling author visits (eg. YA author Tobly McSmith, Comic artist Sophie Labelle, Spoken Word artist Nasra Adem and author Danny Ramadan, to name just a few), Artistic Make-up and Wigs 101 teen programs, outreach at events for the 2SLGBTQ+ community like the OCDSB Rainbow Youth Forum, and even hosting a Holiday Drag Sing-Along in December, among other examples.

OPL will always be proud to present programming which affirms our values of diversity and inclusion; now more than ever, the library truly is for everybody.