Final Week of Citywide Reads!

Citywide Reads wraps up this Saturday, March 12, but not to worry -- there are still a couple of events remaining.

This year's Citywide Reads pick, Wench, a tale of four slave mistresses taken by their masters to a resort in free territory in pre-Civil War America, has inspired strong feelings in our readers, who have attended Citywide Reads book discussions this year in higher numbers than ever. There is still one more Wench discussion planned, for Saturday, March 12 at 1 p.m. in the Main Library's Multipurpose Room. Please join us!

Those interested in African American history won't want to miss "The Clayton Collections Alive," also happening on Saturday, March 12, at 3 p.m. in the Main Library's Martin Luther King, Jr. Auditorium. Join Larry Earl, Jr. from the Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum in Culver City as he takes us back in time to meet African American poet Phillis Wheatley, and to learn about the struggle for civil rights from the collections housed within this amazing local resource.

About the Mayme A. Clayton Library and Museum: In the early 1960s, Librarian Mayme A. Clayton, Ph.D., began collecting documents, books, photographs, films and memorabilia chronicling the experience of Americans of African descent. Dr. Clayton collected everything from rare books, to movies, to handwritten slave records. In 2006, the MCLM found a permanent home in Culver City, where researchers may accessand study its rich resources. http://www.claytonmuseum.org/

Join us for these events on Saturday, and thank you for helping to make Citywide Reads a success!

NPR, Library Journal Choose Wench as a Best Book

The secret is out! Wench is no longer a hidden gem. Library Journal, a respected trade publication, recently chose Wench as one of its top fiction books for 2010, calling it a "memorable and engaging debut [that] challenges readers to take a fresh look at the 'peculiar institution' of slavery." http://www.libraryjournal.com/lj/newslettersnewsletterbucketbooksmack/887785-439/lj_best_books_2010_more.html.csp

National Public Radio also loves Wench, listing it on the NPR Web site as one of the best books of 2010 ("a fascinating and tragic story that is also a compulsive read") and recommending it as a Book Club Pick: http://www.npr.org/2010/12/06/131734769/book-club-picks-give-em-something-to-talk-about

Meet Dolen Perkins-Valdez, our Citywide Reads Author for 2011

If you’d like to get an early start with Santa Monica Citywide Reads this year, take a look at author Dolen Perkins-Valdez’s website http://www.dolenperkinsvaldez.com/. You’ll find images of the Tawawa House resort, a brief biography of the author, a link to an NPR interview with Lynn Neary on NPR's Tell Me More, and plenty more to explore.

The Santa Monica Citywide Reads selection for 2011 is...

WENCH by Dolen Perkins-Valdez.

WENCH follows the stories of four slave mistresses – Lizzie, Reenie, Sweet and Mawu – over the course of three summers in pre-Civil War America. Taken by their masters on holiday to Tawawa House, a summer resort in Ohio, the women encounter free blacks and whispers of the abolitionist movement and are forced to consider their lives, their positions back home, and their hopes and dreams for the future. Dolen Perkins-Valdez was inspired to write the novel when she came across a footnote about Tawawa House, a real resort, while researching her own doctoral thesis on slave literature. Wench was borne out of the author’s musings on why, when presented with the possibility of escaping into free land, some slaves would run, while others would choose to stay with their masters.

We're certain that WENCH should be a provocative and discussion-worthy book, and we're looking forward to reading it with all of you.

Santa Monica Citywide Reads 2011 will take place from February 14 through March 12, 2011, and will feature free public book discussion groups led by volunteer facilitators and held in libraries, bookstores, coffeehouses, and other venues throughout the city. Related special events, including an author talk with Dolen Perkins-Valdez, are also being planned. Stay tuned here or visit our website at http://www.smpl.org/cwr to keep up with the schedule as it develops.