photo by: Mike Yoder

The 2016 Read Across Lawrence event will feature, from left, These

Read Across Lawrence 2016 is “Out of This World,” with plenty of space-related programming to prove it. Expanding on this year’s theme, the Lawrence Public Library is hosting several astronomical events beginning this week through February.

Read Across Lawrence for Adults (the annual program also caters to kids and teens) “blasts off” (credit to the library for that bit of space-y humor) Thursday at 7 p.m. in the library auditorium, where participants can snag free copies of this year’s official Read Across Lawrence selection, Andy Weir’s “The Martian,” and enjoy an evening with science fiction authors and Kansas University professors James Gunn and Chris McKitterick as well as experimental particle physicist Philip Baringer. The topic at hand: “the marriage of science and technology throughout the history of the science fiction genre,” the library teases.

On Saturday, the library (rocket) launches Read Across Lawrence for Kids with a pizza party provided by Papa John’s from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. in the auditorium. Lawrence’s littlest readers will receive free copies of “The True Meaning of Smekday” by Adam Rex and watch as library staffers reveal a time capsule to be filled throughout February and sealed at the Read Across Lawrence finale.

This year’s Read Across Lawrence selection for Teens, “These Broken Stars” by Amie Kaufman and Megan Spooner, “enters Lawrence’s orbit” on Feb. 3 from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the auditorium with a book giveaway and testing of a homemade planetarium.

More intergalactic activities — including a 12-hour, library-organized “space camp” for a very lucky group of 25 sixth- through 12th-graders — are slated to follow throughout February. For more information, visit www.lawrence.lib.ks.us.