October is National Reading Group Month —

Celebrating the joy of shared reading

NEW YORK — September 13, 2010 — To celebrate the joy of shared reading and to encourage more people to get involved with reading groups, the Women’s National Book Association (WNBA) has designated October as National Reading Group Month (NRGM). October 2010 is the fourth annual celebration with 1000s of avid readers taking part in activities through traditional and online book clubs and at neighborhood bookstores and local libraries.

“WNBA proudly endorses this national celebration of reading groups at a time when there is much talk about the ‘decline of the book’ and ‘reading at risk,’” says WNBA National president Mary Grey James. She continues, “The WNBA mission is to promote the value of books and reading and to bring together women and men active in the ‘community of the book.’ National Reading Group Month is a perfect platform for book clubs (individual members and groups) to gather at their local bookstores and libraries to pick their future reading lists and celebrate the congeniality which naturally springs from the reading group experience.”

National Reading Group Month events hosted by the nine WNBA chapters — Boston, Charlotte, Detroit, Los Angeles, Nashville, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. — springboard programs throughout the country during the month of October.

The highly anticipated National Reading Group Month Signature Event to be held in Nashville at the Nashville Public Library Downtown on Saturday, October 9 (breakfast, 9–11 a.m.; book-signing, 11–11:30 a.m.) highlights popular authors Melanie Benjamin (Alice I Have Been, Delacorte), Tom Franklin (Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter, Wm Morrow), Sena Jeter Naslund (Adam & Eve, Wm Morrow), Helen Simonson (Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand, Random House), and Lee Smith (Mrs. Darcy and the Blue-Eyed Stranger, Algonquin Books). In a return engagement, Nashville Public Radio WPLN All Things Considered host Nina Cardona will emcee the panel-program. The “breakfast with authors” is an official part of the Southern Festival of Books. The event is co-sponsored by the Nashville Public Library and Davis-Kidd Nashville.

A full roster of WNBA chapter National Reading Group Month events is listed below. NRGM program information from partner NJ Library Association and its NRGM Task Force is also included. Updates will be posted to the WNBA National (www.wnba-books.org) and local-chapter Web sites, as well as NationalReadingGroupMonth.org and primary social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter (WNBA_National, WNBA_NRGM).

Official 2010 National Reading Group Month Sponsors include HarperCollins Publishers and its imprints Avon A, Harper Paperbacks, and Harper Perennial, Hyperion/Voice, Simon & Schuster, and Unbridled Books. NRGM has special partnerships with Book Group Buzz—A Booklist Blog, Reading Group Choices, and Reading Group Guides, as well as with the American Booksellers Association IndieBound program (“White Box” mailing).

Those publishers, companies, or individuals interested in becoming sponsors of National Reading Group Month 2011 should contact Jill A. Tardiff, National Reading Group Month chair at (201) 656-7220, or jill.tardiff@gmail.com.

Visit National Reading Group Month www.NationalReadingGroupMonth.org,

Facebook http://tinyurl.com/2fba3pc, and Twitter http://twitter.com/WNBA_NRGM.

Events

For more information about individual events, contact the event coordinators listed.

Boston

WNBA-Boston at Hotel 140 (Thurs., Oct. 14; 6–9 p.m.): Edith Pearlman (How to Fall: Stories, Sarabande Books), with Suzanne Berne (Missing Lucile: The Story of My Father’s Mother, Algonquin Books); Michelle Hoover (The Quickening, Other Press); Joseph Monninger (*Eternal on the Water, Gallery Books); Ilie Ruby (The Language of Trees/Avon A). Contact: Lisa Braxton, lisabraxton@hotmail.com.

Charlotte

WNBA-Charlotte at Santé with “bibliofest” co-sponsor Park Road Books (Mon., Oct. 11; 6:30–9 p.m.): Minrose Gwin (*The Queen of Palmrya, Harper Perennial); Rick Rothacker (Banktown: The Rise and Struggles of Charlotte’s Big Banks, John F. Blair, Publisher); Kim Wright (Love in Mid Air, Grand Central Publishing); Jay Varner (Nothing Left to Burn, Algonquin Books). Contact: Quinlan Lee, quinlan@adamsliterary.com.

Detroit

WNBA-Detroit with event co-sponsor Baldwin Public Library-Birmingham (Sat., Oct. 16; 1–4 p.m.): Katrina Kittle (*The Blessings of the Animals, Harper Perennial); Kristina Riggle (The Life You’ve Imagined, Avon A). Contact: Annette Haley, annettehaley@att.net.

Los Angeles

WNBA-LA at the Beverly Hilton–Wilshire with event co-sponsor Book Soup (Sat., Oct. 16, 9 a.m.–12 p.m.): Alan Brennert (Honolulu, Griffin); Marjorie Hart (Summer at Tiffany, Avon A); Tatjana Soli (*The Lotus Eaters, St. Martin’s Press). Contact: Michelle Gilstrap, toastmastergilstrap@gmail.com.

Nashville

WNBA-Nashville with “breakfast with authors” co-sponsors Nashville Public Library Downtown and Davis-Kidd Nashville in conjunction with the Southern Festival of Books (Sat., Oct. 9; breakfast, 9–11 a.m.; book-signing, 11–11:30 a.m.): Nina Cardona (Nashville NPR host/reporter), with Melanie Benjamin (Alice I Have Been, Delacorte Press); Tom Franklin (Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter, Wm Morrow); Sena Jeter Naslund (Adam & Eve, Wm Morrow); Helen Simonson (Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand, Random House); Lee Smith (Mrs. Darcy and the Blue-Eyed Stranger, Algonquin Books). Contact: Lee Fairbend, lfairbend@comcast.net.

New York City

WNBA-NYC with event co-sponsor Greenlight Bookstore (Tues., Oct. 19; 6:30–9 p.m.): Rosalind Reisner (Read On … Life Stories and Jewish American Literature, Libraries Unlimited), with Susan Henderson (*Up from the Blue, Harper Paperbacks); Sheri Holman (The Dress Lodger, Grove Press); Rick Moody (The Four Fingers of Death, Little, Brown); Emily St. John Mandel (The Singer’s Gun, Unbridled Books); Jackson Taylor (The Blue Orchard, Touchstone). Contact: Lori O’Dea, nrgm@wnba-nyc.org.

San Francisco

WNBA-SF with “literary luncheon” co-sponsor Book Passage/Corte Madera (Thurs., Oct. 14; 12–2 p.m.): Joyce Maynard (The Good Daughters, Wm Morrow). Contact Lynn Henriksen, lynn@telltalesouls.com.

Seattle

WNBA-Seattle with event co-sponsor ParkPlace Books (Tues., Oct. 26; 6:30–9 p.m.): Nancy Pearl (Book Lust, More Book Lust, Book Crush and Book Lust to Go, Sasquatch Books), with Dave Boling (Guernica, Bloomsbury USA); Carol Cassella (Healer, S&S); Robert Dugoni (Bodily Harm, Touchstone); Jim Lynch (Border Songs, Vintage Contemporaries); Boyd Morrison (The Ark, Touchstone). Contact: Catherine Rustagi, firefly81@comcast.net, or

Mary Harris, parkplacebooks@integra.net.

Washington, D.C.

WNBA-Washington, D.C. at Busboys & Poets Café (Mon., Oct. 25; 6:30–8:30 p.m.): Shireen Dodson (The Mother-Daughter Book Club, Revised Edition, Harper Paperbacks), with Joyce Hinnefeld (Stranger Here Below, Unbridled Books); Dolen Perkins-Valdez (Wench, Amistad). Contact: Emily Sachs, easachs@gmail.com.

* Great Group Reads 2010 Selections

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Library & Other Events

New Jersey Library Association (http://www.njla.org) National Reading Group Month (NRGM) partner NJLA/NRGM Task Force and New Jersey State Library (NJSL) presents “I’d Rather Be Reading: In Celebration of Reading Groups,” at the Piscataway Public Library-John F. Kennedy Library (Wed., Oct. 13; 9 a.m.-12:45 p.m.): Keynote speakers, Esther Bushell (coordinator, Community Reads) and Carol Fitzgerald (president, Book Report Network); Jennifer Hart (v-p associate publisher, Harper Perennial /Avon A /Harper Paperbacks); Barbara Hoffert (prepub alert editor, Library Journal); Rosalind Reisner (coordinator, NRGM Great Group Reads); Talia Sherer (library marketing manager/adult, Macmillan); Elizabeth Burns (NJSL); Sharon Rawlins (youth-services consultant, NJSL); April Judge (director, West Caldwell Public Library); Doug Baldwin (systems administrator, Cranbury Public Library); David Lisa (urban/adult services specialist, NJSL); Barbara Hauck-Mah (librarian, Rockaway Township Library).

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The Women’s National Book Association (WNBA) is a 501 ( c ) 3 non-profit organization. WNBA is national in its scope and is comprised of women and men who work with and value books. WNBA promotes reading and supports the role of women in the community of the book. For more information about the Women’s National Book Association go to: www.wnba-books.org.

Women’s National Book Association, P.O. Box 237, FDR Station, New York, NY

10150-0231; (212) 208-4629

www.wnba-books.org, www.NationalReadingGroupMonth.org

Press release prepared on September 13, 2010,

by Jill A. Tardiff, National Reading Group Month Chair

Phone: (201) 656-7220