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Subscribe!Off to Western New York for "A Tale for Three Counties"
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Well, the good people of New York are losing their unfaithful Governor today, but they get me in return! I'm off to Upstate New York to participate in a Community Reads project. The organizers of "A Tale for Three Counties" chose my book as their 2008 Community Reads; I'll be giving talks and signings at four locations spread across three counties in Western New York, between Buffalo and Rochester.
Spearheaded by libraries, universities, and city halls, Community Reads have been taking off over the last few years. At a time when Americans are reading fewer books, and are particularly less likely to read fiction, these projects are a much-needed way to inspire renewed interest in the pleasures of literature. Writers don't often get a chance to interact with readers, so this is an unusual opportunity for me to get feedback and see the many ways in which readers have interpreted the words I put on the page.
Luckily The Last Town on Earth seems to be generating a lot of interest from universities (for All-Freshman Reads) and other communities over the past few months; this is the first in a handful of similar projects I'll be doing this year.
Librarians, university profs and administrators who organize Community Reads might want to take a look at the Web site created by "A Tale For Three Counties". They've done a great job taking the book in different directions, with a college art exhibit on "plague art," a library presentation of items belonging to a WWI soldier, a "review contest" for readers, and articles by the local paper discussing what would happen to their communities should a new epidemic break out. Good stuff, and it's great that people have found so much to delve into.
The local paper, the Batavia Daily News, recently posted an interview with yours truly: here's the
link.
While in Buffalo I'll be doing my first TV interview! If I can figure out how, I'll post a link to the video when I get back...
link to this | File: Book Clubs Community Reads
Spearheaded by libraries, universities, and city halls, Community Reads have been taking off over the last few years. At a time when Americans are reading fewer books, and are particularly less likely to read fiction, these projects are a much-needed way to inspire renewed interest in the pleasures of literature. Writers don't often get a chance to interact with readers, so this is an unusual opportunity for me to get feedback and see the many ways in which readers have interpreted the words I put on the page.
Luckily The Last Town on Earth seems to be generating a lot of interest from universities (for All-Freshman Reads) and other communities over the past few months; this is the first in a handful of similar projects I'll be doing this year.
Librarians, university profs and administrators who organize Community Reads might want to take a look at the Web site created by "A Tale For Three Counties". They've done a great job taking the book in different directions, with a college art exhibit on "plague art," a library presentation of items belonging to a WWI soldier, a "review contest" for readers, and articles by the local paper discussing what would happen to their communities should a new epidemic break out. Good stuff, and it's great that people have found so much to delve into.
The local paper, the Batavia Daily News, recently posted an interview with yours truly: here's the
link.
While in Buffalo I'll be doing my first TV interview! If I can figure out how, I'll post a link to the video when I get back...
link to this | File: Book Clubs Community Reads