Press

MEDIA ADVISORY
FOR FRIDAY, APRIL 24, 2009 AT 6:30 P.M.

Media Contact: Patricia Fraga
(512) 974-7528 Fax (512) 974-7442
Patricia.fraga@ci.austin.tx.us

Finale Event for the 8th Annual Citywide Reading Campaign
Mayor’s Book Club ‘09
“KEEP AUSTIN READING”

NOTE: The author of this year’s book title, Dalia Sofer has cancelled her appearance in Austin due to her father’s illness.

Event:

After spending the past several months reading The September of Shiraz and discussing it with experts and each other, Mayor’s Book Club participants can discuss the book with University of Texas professors from Iran and a professor of Jewish literature.  The Austin Public Library, in partnership with the Mayor’s Office and The University of Texas Humanities Institute, will present the finale event for this year’s Mayor’s Book Club. A reception with food and drinks provided and music will begin at 6:30 p.m. The program will start at 7:30 p.m. with a welcome by Mayor Wynn. The discussion will be moderated by Evan Carton Director of the University of Texas Humanities Institute. For additional information call (512) 974-7400.

Location: 

City Hall 301 W. 2nd St. Austin, TX 78701

Date/Time:     

Friday, April 24, 2009
6:30 p.m. food and music by 1001 Nights Orchestra will perform music of the Middle East.
7:30 p.m. Panel discussion

Participants:   

• Mayor Will Wynn
• Evan Carton, Director University of Texas Humanities Institute and a professor of 19th and 20th century American literature. He has also written on issues of Jewish identity after the Holocaust.

Panel; Univeristy of Texas at Austin Professors:

• Nastaran Kherad—a doctoral student at the University of Texas at Austin who published her memoir In the House of My Bibi: Growing Up in Revolutionary Iran
• Moh Ghanoonparvar—a Professor of Middle Eastern Studies and a specialist in 20th century Persian literature and culture and in Iranian emigrant communities in the U.S.
• Karen Grumberg—Assistant Professor of Middle Eastern Studies specializing in contemporary Jewish literatures in Israel, Europe, and the U. S., in literature by women, and in the theme of exile in Israeli and Jewish literature.

Notes:             

2009 Mayor’s Book Club Statistics:
-The September of Shiraz  by Dalia Sofer 
-Hundreds of people participated in  group book discussions across the city at branch libraries and other venues. The book circulated over one thousand times since the announcement on February 19.

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Dalia Sofer was just named one of two winners of this year's Sami Rohr Award for Jewish Fiction.

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Visit our previous Mayor's Book Club resource guides online:
2008: A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah
2007: Around The Bloc by Stephanie Elizondo Griest
2006: The Devil's Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea
2005: Writing Austin's Lives by Metro Austin Residents
2004: All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
2003: Holes by Louis Sachar
2002: Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya

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