Art and literature are vital to Leslie Balkany's existence. When Balkany joined Ackland Art Museum as a museum educator in 1998, she knew she somehow wanted to provide an art and literature experience for museum attendees.

But it wasn't until 2005 that opportunity knocked -- or, rather, was going to be installed. "Family Legacies," an exhibit featuring mixed media art by the mother-and-daughters trio of Betye, Lezley, and Alison Saar, was going to open at the Ackland.

"I thought I could ask them what books impacted their thinking and their art," Balkany said. The artists recommended "The Collected Stories of Zora Neale Hurston," "Another Country" by James Baldwin, and "Sleeping with the Dictionary" by Harryette Mullen.

Balkany set up an event for each book, one per month, in January, February and March of 2006. Starting with the very first discussion, the series took on a sort of life of its own. A participant, Lois Anderson, told Balkany that her husband, composer T.J. Anderson, had written a piece of music around one of Harryette's poems. So for the final discussion, T.J. Anderson brought his CD to play. Nnenna Freelon attended, as she had recorded some of Mullen's poems. And because she was in town visiting a friend, Mullen herself attended.

Thus was born the Ackland's Art and Literature in the Galleries series. This month the series will focus on the Ackland exhibit, A"ldwyth: Work v./Work n." To complement the art exhibit, Balkany selected the novel "Special Topics in Calamity Physics," by Marisha Pessl.

"I chose this because the book is finely textured, tightly written, very carefully thought out and chronological, and Aldwyth's art is the same thing," Balkany said. "There are multiple layers and lots of references to life and knowledge."

Discussions are scheduled for July 15, 7-8:30 p.m., and July 16, 3:30-5 p.m. For details about the series, go to www.ackland.org or contact Balkany at 962-3342.

The ongoing series usually draws 50 or so participants, she said.

"I think that doing something like this gets people thinking about the verbal and visual in ways they had not thought about before," Balkany said. "Looking and reading deeply and sharing. When you mix up disciplines, it is synergistic. Unexpected things happen."

Before each discussion, Balkany sends participants a handout she calls Food for Thought.

The Ackland's July 16 Aldwyth discussion is one of the events being promoted in the Chapel Hill Public Library"s first adult summer reading program, Master the Art of Reading. The program, like Balkany's Ackland series, explores the intersection of visual and literary arts.

Luba Sawczyn, who leads the library's reference department, said she agrees with Balkany that art and literature are vital.

"One of our central missions as a library is recommending books," Sawczyn said. "This theme gets you to connect with the public you are serving to talk about books and arts."

The library kicked off the program in mid-June by showing "Girl with a Pearl Earring" -- the film adaptation of Tracy Chevalier's novel about the great Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer -- at its regular free Tuesday movie night. That was followed up by a tour of Dutch paintings and art from the movie' times period at the Ackland.

Upcoming events include a presentation by artist Wren Hendrickson at University Mal"s Goldworks on July 10 at 6 p.m., the Aldwyth talk, the film "The Thomas Crown Affair "on July 21 at 6:45, and a presentation by mosaic artist Jeannette Brossart on July 26 at 2 p.m. Events are free but registration is required.

Participants may submit reviews for books they read.

"The adults are really excited we are doing this program," said Sawzcyn, who said she had never read many art-related books.

"I had no idea how much was out there," she said. "I've always gone to art museums, but connecting the literature with the art gives you a whole different perspective."

For details visit the library's Reference Desk or call 968-2780.

On another scale, the Carrboro Branch Library teaches kids about the links between art and literature every Saturday at 10:30 a.m., during story and craft time.

Children services librarian Lisa Long said she is endlessly delighted by how the children relate to the stories she read and how they use the craft time to express what they took away from the story time. In April, Long read stories about spring, then gave the children tissue paper, construction paper, and buttons to make flowers.

"It was wonderful to see how their imaginations took off after hearing the story, seeing the illustrations, but then being given the opportunity to create their own vision of a flower," Long said.

All events at the library are free, including the summer reading program, which is about creativity. Long said the staff is relying on art as a means to express to our patrons how much the children enrolled love to read.

"For each books they read, the kids decorate a strip of construction paper that is then added to a paper chain that is already beginning to snake its way around the library," Long said. For details, call 969-3006.