An online May 3 program presented by the Rock Island and Silvis Public Libraries, the Virtual Illinois Libraries Present offering Art & Adventures with Author/Illustrator Dan Santat will treat viewers to the intelligence, creativity, and humor of the New York Times bestselling author, joined in this special conversation about books and art with friend and collaborator Minh Lê.

A celebration of exhilarating Middle Eastern music and likely the most popular of all Middle Eastern dance forms, Davenport's Common Chord will host the two-day event So You Think You Can Belly Dance on April 26 and 27, the weekend experience boasting a concert with the Missouri ensemble of Bayati on Saturday and a belly-dancing workshop with live music on Sunday.

Lauded by the L.A. Times as “stunning” and by the Chicago Tribune as “fabulous entertainment for the entire family” Branson, Missouri's wildly popular illusionist Rick Thomas brings his touring spectacle Mansion of Dreams to Davenport's Adler Theatre on April 24, the event delivering, up close and personal, some of most intriguing, innovative, and mind-blowing grand illusions in the world.

With the event co-presented by the Midwest Writing Center, the Quad Cities' longest-running reading series SPECTRA returns to Rock Island's Rozz-Tox on April 10, with Elizabeth Willis reading from her latest book Liontaming in America, longlisted for the 2024 National Book Award in poetry, Iowa Student Poet Ambassador Tanya Rastogi, and Sophia Best, whose first chapbook PINK BATHWATER won the Iowa Chapbook Prize.