FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 14, 2004
Contact: Patricia Fraga, Austin Public Library, (512) 974-7528
Fax: (512) 974-7442

Keep Austin Reading...
Gets Austin Residents Reading and Talking Together

Austin, Texas (May 14, 2004)—The third annual selection of the "Mayor's Book Club" was announced today at a press conference at the Faulk Central Library. The book selected by the mayor for the "Keep Austin Reading" campaign is Cormac McCarthy's, All the Pretty Horses. An award-winning novel, the book is the story of John Grady Cole, a sixteen-year-old who in 1949 finds himself the last of a generation of west-Texas ranchers. Set in the southwest, McCarthy's sixth novel is the first volume of "The Border Trilogy." Mayor Will Wynn and the Austin Public Library invite all of Austin to read this book over the summer and then get together in the fall at area libraries to discuss. The book and renowned movie will be available in both English and Spanish at all library locations and at area bookstores.

The Library, in conjunction with the mayor's office, launches its third annual citywide campaign to develop a community experience through reading and discussion of a shared book. From the beginning The University of Texas Humanities Institute has partnered with the City of Austin and will again assist with discussion groups at local libraries about All the Pretty Horses in the fall of 2004. A schedule of programs and events will be published in July.

Partners of the citywide reading program are the City of Austin, the University of Texas Humanities Institute, the Austin Public Library Foundation, Austin American-Statesman, Texas Gas Service, the Friends of the Austin Public Library, and area bookstores. For additional information about the Mayor's Book Club call (512) 974-7400 or visit www.cityofaustin.org/library

About the Author

Author of seven novels, Cormac McCarthy received little public recognition for his works until his sixth novel, All the Pretty Horses (1992), which won both the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award. His earlier novels are considered Southern Gothic in the tradition of William Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor, with Appalachian settings and dark, brutal stories. In contrast, his most recent novels are set in the American Southwest and Mexico, and focus on boy-heroes undertaking various quests. All of his novels reflect a largely pessimistic world view and a vision of society reduced to primitive levels, yet his characters struggle towards some kind of redemption. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center, one of Austin Public Library's reference databases.

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