Libraries present discussion, artists

The Central Arkansas Library System is hosting a book discussion, a concert and an art show this week in Little Rock.

On Wednesday, LaVerne Bell-Tolliver, the first black student to attend Forest Heights Junior High in the city, will speak at noon at the Main Library’s Darragh Center, 100 Rock St.

She wrote The First Twenty-Five: An Oral History of the Desegregation of Little Rock’s Public Junior High Schools, which was published this year. Pinkie Thompson and Kathleen Bell, who both desegregated Pulaski Heights Junior High, will join Bell-Tolliver in the discussion.

On Thursday, the Sounds in the Stacks concert series will start with Saffron, a fivepiece jazz band, at the Dee Brown Library, 6325 Baseline Road. The event will begin at 6:30 p.m. The monthly concert series will feature area musicians with different backgrounds.

Second Friday Art Night will be Friday from 5 to 8 p.m. at Butler Center Galleries and River Market Books and Gifts, both in the River Market District downtown.

“Delta des Refuses” will be on exhibit. It features works from artists who were not selected for the Arkansas Arts Center’s Delta Exhibition. It “seeks to challenge the traditional authority of juried taste by allowing any artist who was excluded from the Delta Exhibition to exhibit in the Refuses show,” similar to the original Paris Salon des Refuses from 1863, a news release said.

The exhibit will be on display through Aug. 25.

Jazz guitarist Isaac Helgestad will provide entertainment on opening night.