San Mateo Public Library Foundation presents
San Mateo Celebrates!
A National Library Week Festival
April 6-12, 2025
Festival in the Library
10am - 2pm | San Mateo Public Library | Food Trucks Onsite
10-10:50am (Oak Room) • Welcome & Storytime • We kick off with a special edition of one of the Library’s most popular programs. VIP guests are the Paws for Tales program and local dignitaries.
11-11:45am (Oak Room) • Judd Winick • Hilo author shares his creative journey and inspires young readers with an engaging presentation about his popular graphic novel series.
12-12:30pm (Oak Room) • Steve the Magic Guy captivates our youngest patrons.
12-1pm (Laurel Room) • Judd Winick signs your books.
12-1pm (Library Bookstore) • Ukulenny leads a ukulele jam — bring your own or one provided.
12:30-2:30pm (Lobby) • Steve the Magic Guy dazzles with balloon creations.
1:30-2pm (Oak Room) • Fratello Marionettes presents Jack & the Beanstalk.
10am-2pm (Cedar Room) • The Reading Bug sells books onsite.
San Mateo Shakes
4:30-5:30pm | San Mateo Public Library (Oak Room)
San Francisco Shakespeare Festival brings their rendition of Romeo and Juliet to us.
Follow two star-crossed teenagers as they fall in love despite the their families’ bitter feud. Set in the 1960’s when generations clashed on how to navigate change. Director Katja Rivera shows how lives can change in an instant. This fast-paced show is one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays.
For more than 35 years the Shakespeare on Tour program has traveled across California to bring a Shakespeare play to thousands of students. The Tour visits more schools and libraries than any other theater group in the state.
Refreshments provided by Hawaiian Breeze Shave Ice.
San Mateo Chats
6-7:30pm | San Mateo Public Library (Oak Room)
Stanford Associate Professor James Zou joins us to talk about the research that put him on the cover of Nature Medicine and how AI is used for scientific discovery and patient diagnosis.
Professor Zou is an associate professor of Biomedical Data Science and, by courtesy, of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at Stanford University. He works on making AI more reliable, human-compatible and statistically rigorous and is especially interested in applications in human disease and health. Zou received his Ph.D from Harvard in 2014 and has been a member of Microsoft Research, a Gates Scholar at Cambridge and a Simons fellow at U.C. Berkeley. He joined Stanford in 2016 and is excited to also be a Chan-Zuckerberg Investigator. He is also a part of the Stanford AI Lab.
This is a free event with refreshments. Space is limited. Registration is required.
San Mateo Delights
6:30-8:30pm | San Mateo Public Library (Oak Room)
Music at Kohl Mansion presents the Pan-Latin quartet SUDAMERICANTO which takes us on a journey through South American and Caribbean traditions with a Brazilian jazz twist.
The group features multi-faceted Puerto Rican vocalist/interpreter Madeleine Zayas and high caliber Bay Area musicians/educators natives from Puerto Rico, Perú, Brazil, Chile, and the U.S., coming together to play original compositions and innovative arrangements of carefully selected classics from the Latin American/Caribbean songbook.
Their eclectic repertoire is influenced by Afro-Peruvian and Argentinian rhythms, Chilean cueca, Brazilian samba and maracatú — and more — all tied together with rhythmic precision and intertwined with jazzy flavors.
Refreshments by Cuban Kitchen.
This is a free event with refreshments. Space is limited. Registration is required
San Mateo Reflects
5:30-7:30pm | San Mateo Public Library (Oak Room)
Dress Codes: How the Laws of Fashion Changed History
Stanford Law Professor Richard Thompson Ford takes us on an exploration of fashion through the ages that asks what our clothing reveals about ourselves and our society. Dress Codes has been translated into five languages and is the inspiration for an Editor’s Choice Ted Talk for 2021.
Two of his other books were selected as Notable Books of the year by the New York Times: The Race Card: how bluffing about bias makes race relations worse (2008) and Rights Gone Wrong: how law corrupts the struggle for equality (2011). He has appeared on national television and radio programs including The Colbert Report, the Rachel Maddow Show, The New Yorker Radio Hour and All Things Considered. He was the co-host with Joe Bankman of the Sirius XM Radio program Stanford Legal from 2020-2022.
This is a free event with refreshments. Space is limited. Registration is required.
San Mateo Knows: Trivia Night Benefit
5:30-8:30pm | San Mateo Public Library (Oak Room)
Put your knowledge to the test in the ultimate trivia showdown that even librarians from other libraries can’t resist! Don’t miss this special ticketed edition of Trivia Night, a standout event in our festival lineup.
Before the battle of wits begins, kick off the evening with pre-trivia festivities in select areas of the first floor, where you’ll enjoy delicious bites, complimentary wine and beer, and a chance to mingle with fellow trivia lovers. Then, as the clock ticks down, we’ll gather in the Oak Room for a thrilling night of brain-teasing fun, hosted by our very own expert librarians.
As a perennial crowd favorite, the Trivia Challenge promises excitement, surprises, and epic bragging rights. Victors will earn prizes, admiration, and eternal trivia glory—so secure your spot early!
Limited Space | Ages 21+ (Complimentary wine & beer)
Ticket purchase required: $125 + $10.23 (Eventbrite fees) | Fair Market Value: $25
Proceeds benefit the San Mateo Public Library.
¡ San Mateo Juega!
12-4pm | Community Center (North Central)
12pm-2pm Community Resource Fair | 2pm-4pm Main Event
Bilingual educator and performer José-Luis Orozco headlines an afternoon of community fun.
José-Luis is a bilingual educator, children’s author, and recording artist who has dedicated his life to creating quality bilingual music, books, and videos for children. His rich catalog includes 15 CDs, a DVD, and 3 award-winning songbooks – a collection that has garnered over 200 million in sales. Each year, he shares his music in live performances for over 100,000 educators at education conferences nationwide, who then integrate his music into their classroom curriculum.
José-Luis es educador bilingüe, autor de libros infantiles y artista de grabaciones que se ha dedicado a crear música, libros y videos de calidad para niños. Su extenso catalogo incluye 15 CDs, un DVD, y 3 libros premiados–una colección que ha vendido más de 2 millones de unidades. Cada año, él comparte su música en vivo a nivel nacional para más de 100,000 maestros en conferencias de educación, quienes incorporan su música a su programa de educación.
San Mateo County Poet Laureate Jorge Argueta announces winners of the children’s poetry contest, while winners of the San Mateo Seeks scavenger hunt prizes will also be revealed!