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!

Reminder: Dolen Perkins-Valdez Event This Saturday!

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.

Citywide Reads begins February 14th!

We're right up to the start of Citywide Reads and looking forward to meeting all of you and discussing Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez in the coming weeks. Citywide Reads officially begins on Monday, February 14th, and our first discussion will be held Wednesday, February 16th, at 7:00 p.m. at our Montana Branch Library, 1704 Montana Avenue.

For those of you who are looking for a small taste of what you're in for, we hope you'll enjoy this brief excerpt from Wench.

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.

Wench is copyright © 2010 Dolen Perkins-Valdez. All rights reserved. It is published by Amistad, a division of HarperCollins Publishers.

Citywide Reads Special Event: Alex Haley's Roots

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.

Beginning February 14, the Main Library will screen the entire miniseries of Roots in a six-day marathon of screenings. Episodes 1 through 5 will screen in our Martin Luther King, Jr. Auditorium at 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, February 14 through 18. The finale, Episode 6, will screen at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 19. Following the final episode screening, at 3:00 p.m., we'll also present a very special discussion on the cultural impact of Roots, moderated by entertainment journalist Janice Rhoshalle Littlejohn and original cast members from the miniseries. We're still putting the panel together, so we don't have guest names to announce just yet, but it's sure to be a truly special event, no matter what.

Note: tickets for the cast panel will be required, and are free to the public. Tickets will be released at noon, February 19th in the Main Library lobby. Only one ticket per guest, and guest must be present to receive a ticket. No reservations are available. Seating is first come, first served.

Hot Off The Presses!

Just a quick entry to congratulate Dolen Perkins-Valdez! We just got word that in the next issue of The New York Times, the trade paperback release of Wench will make its debut at #16 in their best seller list. We hope we had a little bit to do with that. We know lots of you are picking up copies at the library, at your local bookstore, and we're looking forward to reading and discussing it with all of you very soon.

Get Your Copy of Wench Today!

Santa Monica Citywide Reads is now in full swing.
Books are available at the Main and branch libraries, as well as bookstores everywhere. In case you've not been paying attention, this year's selection is Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez.

Wench is the story of four slave mistresses in the pre-Civil War era. The paperback edition of Wench was officially released this past Tuesday (January 25th) and we're hoping Dolen will get a strong response from readers.

In the build-up to the paperback release, The Washington Post just published a very interesting article on Dolen and her book. Those interested can read it here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/21/AR2011012102960.html

The beautiful photo posted above comes courtesy of the Washington Post's Mark Gail.

And, remember, you can always find out more about our Citywide Reads program at the Library's website: http://www.smpl.org/cwr

And the nominees are...

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.

And the news gets even better. Heidi Durrow's The Girl Who Fell from the Sky was also nominated for Best First Novel. Five months ago, when our selection committee met to make our 2011 selection, both Wench and The Girl Who Fell from the Sky were among our five finalists. Selection committee members were so impressed by both books, as well as a third nominee (Kathryn Stockett's The Help), that they asked us to spotlight those books in some way as well. In addition to reading Wench with all of you, we'll also be hosting two special bonus book discussions of The Help and The Girl Who Fell from the Sky during the latter half of Citywide Reads 2011. We weren't able to entice Kathryn Stockett to make a visit to Santa Monica for an author talk to coincide with our discussion of her book, but Heidi Durrow will definitely be visiting with us, immediately following our discussion of The Girl Who Fell from the Sky on Wednesday, March 2nd. And that's just two days before the NAACP Image Awards ceremony, so we'll get to cheer her on personally as well.

We're thrilled that both Wench and The Girl Who Fell from the Sky received nominations, and we hope you'll join us in reading and discussing both, and coming out to meet Dolen and Heidi. For a full listing of dates and times for our Citywide Reads discussions and special events, click through to our PDF resource guide: http://www.smpl.org/cwr/WENCH.pdf.

And be sure to check out the NAACP Image Awards website to see all of their nominees: http://www.naacpimageawards.net/42/nominees-and-honorees/

Check Out Our Resource Guide

Check this out! Citywide Reads blog followers are among the first to see our gorgeous new resource guide for the Santa Monica Citywide Reads 2011 featured novel, Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez. You can check out a PDF of the whole thing at www.smpl.org/cwr/WENCH.pdf. You'll get more info on the book, the author, a historical timeline of slavery, a few other reads we recommend, resources for more information, a few book discussion starter questions, and loads of info on our book discussions and special events. We'll talk more about those later, but be sure to check them out. Some of them are going to be really special.

We hope you'll join us. Books should start arriving at the Main Library and all branches during the week of January 24th. So be sure to stop by.

Chris Cleave passes the baton to Dolen Perkins-Valdez

As we mentioned in our last post, Chris Cleave returned to the Los Angeles-area this past week, and just like the charmer he usually is, he took the time out to film a brief "passing of the baton" video to this year's Santa Monica Citywide Reads author and book, Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez.

Check it out here:



And be sure to start checking in with us next week as we start to roll out the schedule, details and more info on Santa Monica Citywide Reads 2011. We're officially less than a month away from the program's start and we're really excited. See you again soon!

Win a Free Copy of Wench from the Author Herself!

Wench author Dolen Perkins-Valdez is offering a free autographed copy of the book and another prize to whomever is her 1,000th "Like" on Facebook!

Facebook members can "Like" her at this address:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dolen-Perkins-Valdez/153145218813?ref=mf

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

Hardcover vs. Paperback: Which Image Do You Prefer?

Which Image Do You Prefer?

Our Citywide Reads pick for 2010, Dolen Perkins-Valdez’s Wench, will soon be released in paperback (we’ll be giving out copies of the paperback starting in late January). The paperback cover, pictured at right, is obviously quite different from the hardcover jacket image, shown at left. Which do you prefer, and why? For those of you who have read the book, which do you think better symbolizes what the book is about? Please leave comments below.

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.