Citywide Reads wraps up this Saturday, March 12, but not to worry -- there are still a couple of events remaining.
A Citywide Reads volunteer wrote the following summary of her experience at the special discussion of Heidi Durrow's The Girl Who Fell from the Sky, as well as the lecture by the author which followed the discussion:
Join us this Saturday, February 26, for a special Citywide Reads author event. The program begins promptly at 2:00 p.m. in the Main Library's MLK Jr. Auditorium, 601 Santa Monica Blvd. Writer Dolen Perkins-Valdez will present an engaging reading and discussion her novel Wench. Seating is on first arrival basis. Tickets are free and available at 1:00 p.m. the day of the event. One ticket per person, and you must be present to receive a ticket.
As those of you who've been following us know, we followed up our special Citywide Reads screening series of Alex Haley's Roots with a cast panel discussion, featuring original cast members from that landmark miniseries. Cast members who joined us were (l to r) Beverly Todd (who played the adult Fanta), Lynne Moody (who played Irene), and surprise guest Georg Stanford Brown (who played Tom). 
If you're interested in joining us for this panel, the program is free and open to the public. Tickets are required for the cast discussion and will be released at noon on Saturday, February 19th in the Main Library's north lobby. One ticket per guest, and guest must be present to receive a ticket. No prior reservations are available. The screening of episode 6 will begin at 1:00 p.m. in our Martin Luther King, Jr. Auditorium. Ticket holders may enjoy this episode's screening, or join us later for the panel. Following the conclusion of the episode 6 screening, at 3:00 p.m., the cast panel discussion will take place in the Martin Luther King, Jr. Auditorium as well. Remember: tickets are required for Auditorium seating for the cast panel, so be sure to stop by early and pick up a ticket before they're gone. Seating is first come, first served, until seating capacity has been reached.
The Main Santa Monica Public Library is at 601 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica, CA 90401. If you need to reach us by phone, call (310) 458-8600, or you can find us on the web at http://www.smpl.org/.
Drayle did something that astounded his wife. Tired of sleeping on the storeroom floor with his new lover, he moved her into the guest bedroom across from his own. That was when Fran began to pinch Lizzie.
The pinches were hard enough to bruise. Fran did it secretly--in the kitchen, on the stairs, in the hallway, in the yard. She searched for new places, beginning with Lizzie's cheek. Then an arm. Thigh. Side. Shoulder. She seemed to relish discovering each new point of hurt. Sometimes Lizzie even caught the woman examining her body, as if searching for a new place. Lizzie tried to stay out of her way. Tried to bypass her in the familiar layout of rooms.At night, Drayle came to her, but Lizzie didn't tell him about Fran's game. Instead, she made excuses for the bruises. She told him that colored people bruise easier than whites. This explanation seemed to satisfy him and he took care not to touch her in those places.
After two weeks, Fran grew tired of her pinches and left Lizzie alone. Lizzie was grateful and went out of her way to make Fran pleased. She cleaned the woman's room without being asked, ironed her clothes, and put extra sausage on the breakfast trays delivered to Fran in the morning.
The house slaves had accepted Lizzie as Drayle's woman, and they now looked to her to convince him of favors. If someone was sick down in the quarters, they asked Lizzie to whisper the news to him so the person would be granted a reprieve. Another time, Lizzie convinced Drayle to let the slaves have extra rations of meat. Each time Lizzie was able to redeem a request, the field slaves accepted her position a bit more.
Special events are an important component of our Santa Monica Citywide Reads program, and this year we're really excited about what we have in store for you. Our 2011 selection is Dolen Perkins-Valdez's Wench, the story of four enslaved mistresses in the decade prior to the Civil War. To coincide with the theme of slavery, we turned to what is surely one of the most well-known and high quality depictions of the topic in the past few decades: Alex Haley's Roots. 
Just as we're officially kicking off Santa Monica Citywide Reads 2011, we've gotten great news from the NAACP Image Awards. Our selection for 2011, Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez, was just nominated for two awards in the NAACP's literature categories: Best Novel and Best First Novel. Needless to say, we're very proud of Dolen and rooting hard for her to take home an award or two.
On Wednesday, January 12th at 7:00 p.m., Chris will visit Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena to sign copies of his first novel, Incendiary. Details on his Vroman's appearance can be found here: http://www.vromansbookstore.com/chris-cleave
The following night, Thursday, January 13th at 7:00 p.m., Chris will visit our good friends Book Soup in West Hollywood, also to sign Incendiary. But we're sure he'll be happy to sign copies of Little Bee as well. More details on that signing can be found here: http://www.booksoup.com/Details.asp?ProductID=2119
If you have a chance to stop by and meet Chris at either of these events, tell him your friends at the Santa Monica Public Library sent you.
