Heat Warning Notification for the City of Hamilton

Heat Warning for the City of Hamilton.

Significant heat and humidity will arrive on Friday July 11. Heat Warnings stay in effect until they are cancelled or escalated to an Extended Heat Warning.

For information about heat-related illnesses, cool place locations and reducing your risk, visit hamilton.ca.

All Branches and Bookmobile Stops
Published:
Friday, July 11, 2025 - 11:00am
Concession Branch Accessible Parking Spot not available

Accessible Parking Spot not available. We are working to resolve the issue as soon as possible.

1
Published:
Friday, July 11, 2025 - 10:15am
Locke Branch - Filming

Filming will take place near the Locke Branch from July 13 to 16, which will impact traffic flow and parking. We apologize for the inconvenience.

  • North side of Homewood Avenue between Lockes Street South and Kent Street
  • North/South side of Stanley Avenue
  • East side of Kent Street between Stanley Avenue and Homewood Avenue
1
Published:
Friday, July 11, 2025 - 8:00am
Bookmobile Stops Cancelled

The Bookmobile visit at Huntington Park (11am-Noon) on Friday, July 11, is cancelled. Service is expected to resume the following week. We apologize for the inconvenience.

1
Affected Branch: Bookmobile
Nearest Branches: 
Bookmobile Stop: 
Published:
Wednesday, July 9, 2025 - 12:00pm
Central Library - Fourth Floor Special Event, July 12

Central Library's Fourth Floor is hosting Steel Town Love Festival on Saturday, July 12 from 11am-4pm. Makerspace and Newcomer Learning Centre will remain open. Floors 1-3 are available for Members to use as study and work spaces instead. 

www.hpl.ca/central

1
Affected Branch: Central Library
Published:
Monday, July 7, 2025 - 8:00am
Terryberry Branch Elevator Out of Order

The parking lot elevator at Terryberry Branch is not working. Members will need to use the accessible ramp at the Mohawk entrance and the inner elevator. We're working to get it fixed quickly.

1
Published:
Saturday, May 31, 2025 - 1:00pm
Public Computers - Audio Volume

Please note that the audio volume levels on our public computers are having issues. The estimated time of disruption is unknown at this time. Thank you for your patience.

 

All Branches and Bookmobile Stops
Published:
Thursday, May 29, 2025 - 4:00pm
Mount Hope Branch Accessibile Ramp Not Available

The accessibility ramp at Mount Hope Branch is damaged. The handrail is not available. The ramp will not be available while being repaired. We aim to fix it quickly.

Published:
Friday, May 23, 2025 - 4:30pm

About the Book & Author

cover of Beautiful Scars

"I'm scared and scarred but I’ve survived"

Tom Wilson was raised in the rough-and-tumble world of Hamilton—Steeltown— in the company of World War II vets, factory workers, fall-guy wrestlers and the deeply guarded secrets kept by his parents, Bunny and George. For decades Tom carved out a life for himself in shadows. He built an international music career and became a father, he battled demons and addiction, and he waited, hoping for the lies to cease and the truth to emerge. It would. And when it did, it would sweep up the St. Lawrence River to the Mohawk reserves of Quebec, on to the heights of the Manhattan skyline.

With a rare gift for storytelling and an astonishing story to tell, Tom writes with unflinching honesty and extraordinary compassion about his search for the truth. It's a story about scars, about the ones that hurt us, and the ones that make us who we are.
 

From Beautiful Scars:

Even as a kid my existence as the son of Bunny and George Wilson seemed far-fetched to me. When I went over it in my head, none of it added up. The other kids on East 36th Street in Hamilton used to tell me stories of their mothers being pregnant and their newborn siblings coming home from the hospital. Nobody ever talked about Bunny's and my return from the hospital. In my mind, my birth was like the nativity, only with gnarly dogs and dirty snow and a chipped picket fence and old blind people with short tempers and dim lights, ashtrays full of Export Plain cigarette butts and bottles of rum.

Once, when I was about four, I asked Bunny, "How come I don't look anything like you and George? How come you are old and the other moms are young?"

"There are secrets I know about you that I’ll take to my grave," she responded. And that pretty well finished that. Bunny built up a wall to protect her secrets, and as a result, I built a wall to protect myself.

Tom Wilson talked about this event in his life in an interview in 2014 on the CBC Radio Program Definitely Not the Opera. Listen to this clip and we know you would want to find out more. 

 

About the Author

TOM WILSON is a three-time Juno winning Canadian musician with multiple gold records. He has written for and recorded songs with Sarah McLachlan, City and Colour, Jason Isbell, Colin James, Lucinda Williams, Billy Ray Cyrus, Mavis Staples and The Rankin Family. His band Junkhouse has scored eleven top-ten hits, and his iconic, Americana-fuelled Blackie and the Rodeo Kings was widely publicized for its presence on George Bush's iPod. Tom's most recent incarnation, Lee Harvey Osmond, has received extensive praise and airplay throughout the United States, where he's been touring for the last two years as a result. His art has shown in galleries in New York City, Vancouver, Toronto and more recently, Ottawa. The author lives in Hamilton, Ontario.