FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 11, 2007
Contact: ,
Austin Public Library,
(512) 974-7528
Fax: (512) 974-7442

Mayor Will Wynn’s Event with the Author
Keep Austin Reading Campaign Comes to an End

After spending the past several months reading Around the Bloc and discussing it with experts and each other, Mayor’s Book Club participants can meet the author of the book, Stephanie Elizondo Griest.  The Austin Public Library, in partnership with the Mayor’s Office and The University of Texas Humanities Institute, will present Mayor Will Wynn’s Event with the Author on Tuesday, April 17, at 6:00 p.m. at Mercury Hall, 615 Cardinal Lane. (Off S. 1st St., two blocks north of Ben White Blvd.).  A reception with food and drinks provided by Habana Restaurant will begin at 6:00 p.m. The program will start at 7:00 p.m. with a welcome by Mayor Wynn. The discussion with Griest will be moderated by Texas Monthly writer, Mike Shea, and Bookpeople bookstore will sell copies of the book and the author will be available to sign them.  The public is invited to attend this free family event.

For additional information call (512) 974-7400 or visit the Web www.cityofaustin.org/library

About the Mayor's Book Club—Keep Austin Reading
In its sixth year, the 2007 Mayor’s Book Club has been very successful. Since Mayor Wynn announced Around the Bloc as the 2007 selection in February, the book has been checked over a thousand times, and hundreds of people have come together to  discuss the book with University of Texas experts and other Austinities across the city at branch libraries. Around the Bloc is an award winning story of the travels of a young Latina writer and UT alumna Stephanie Elizondo Griest through Communist capitol cities. The book prompted conversations and discussion about America’s role in the world, and our perceptions of foreign peoples and cultures and their perceptions of us. The City of Austin and the Austin Public Library would like to thank all of our partners and sponsors of this year’s reading campaign: The University of Texas Humanities Institute, Texas Gas Service, the Austin Public Library Foundation, the Friends of the Austin Public Library, Seabrooktv.com, ME-TV, and area bookstores.

Visit our previous Mayor's Book Club resource guides online:
Spring 2006: The Devil's Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea
Spring 2005: Writing Austin's Lives by Metro Austin Residents
Spring 2004: All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
Spring 2003: Holes by Louis Sachar
Spring 2002: Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya

To view what other cities across the country are reading visit
The Center for the Book