By Lookout Staff

March 23, 2012 -- Compassion will be the theme of a month-long series of events at the Fairview Branch of the Santa Monica Public Library.

The series will launch with "Cultivating Compassion," a lecture by Diana Winston, director of Mindfulness Education for UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC) April 12 at 7 p.m.

The co-author of "Fully Present: The Science, Art, and Practice of Mindfulness," Winston has practiced mindfulness since 1989, including a year as a Buddhist nun in Burma, and "believes that compassion is a profound state of heart and mind that can actually be developed," organizers said.

Other programs include:

• A reading group that will meet once a week for three weeks to discuss "Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life" by Karen Armstrong, the TED prize-winning author who created the Charter for Compassion, a worldwide movement to foster understanding and empathy.  The discusion group will meet Tuesday April 17, 24 and May 1 at 7 p.m. To register for the three week series, call 310.458.8681. Early registrants will receive free copies of the book.

• A screening and discussion of "Bagdad Café" by local filmmaker and writer Henry Schipper, who will lead a discussion after the screening on Tuesday, May 8 at 7 p.m. Schipper's 1987 cult classic is set in a desolate truck stop on the edge of the Mojave Desert.

• For "Compassion to Action: Volunteer in Your Community" a panel of speakers from Santa Monica non-profit agencies will explain the work that they do and how you can help. Attendees will have the opportunity to sign up to volunteer. The panel takes place Saturday, May 12 at 11 a.m.

The programs are sponsored by Santa Monica Public Library, the Westside Shelter & Hunger Coalition, and UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center and are supported by a Building Common Ground: Discussions of Community, Civility, and Compassion grant from the American Library Association and the Fetzer Institute. Santa Monica Public Library is one of thirty libraries in the U.S. to receive the grant.

All programs will take place at the Fairview Branch Library, 2101 Ocean Park Boulevard. Admission is free, and seating is first come, first served.

The Santa Monica Public Library is wheelchair-accessible. For special disabled services, call Library Administration at 310.458.8606 at least one week before the event. The Fairview Branch Library is served by Big Blue Bus line 8.  Bicycle parking racks are available at the library.