In 2013 Richardson Reads celebrates its 10th year uniting the town of Richardson, TX, around books and a shared love of reading. BIC/Terra Communications has been part of their planning process for several of these past few years, and we’re honored to be working with them again this year to celebrate this milestone event. This year, they not only welcome a top-notch author (to be announced), they’ll also remember the many amazing authors they’ve hosted and shared over the years. Susan Allison, the director of the program, joined us for some valuable advice and memories.
BIC: How did Richardson Reads get started, and how has it evolved over the years?
Susan: Planning for the first Richardson Reads One Book began in December 2003. The first programs began in September 2004 with the book Pay it Forward, by Catherine Ryan Hyde. Anticipation for the title of the [next] One Book begins as soon as the current is completed, and interest swells until our “big reveal” – a public unveiling of the current year’s choice.
We’ve made every effort over the past ten years to provide our community with a relevant, discussion-worthy book that reflects our community make-up and issues. This was evident in our second year’s selection, The Kite Runner. With it we involved our local Afghan community and mosque. With each One Book we’ve involved a local non-profit that has ties with the theme of the book, giving them an opportunity for fund-raising and greater public exposure. For instance, with The Art of Racing in the Rain, the Richardson Humane Society received a chance to raise money and awareness. With Glass Castle, a well-known soup kitchen for the homeless was spotlighted. Last year with One Amazing Thing we honored the wishes of our author, Chitra Divakaruni, by giving a charity she’s involved with, Akshaya Patra, an opportunity to share their organization’s mission with the lecture attendees.
BIC: This year is special, your Tenth Anniversary correct? Are you doing anything out of the ordinary to celebrate?
Susan: So far our plan is to remind the Richardson community of all the good books we’ve introduced them to over the last 10 years. We will also try to put together video clips of our past lectures to stimulate interest, and we’ve published a booklist of the RROB board’s favorite titles through the years – we have to read a lot of good books to choose the “ONE.”
BIC: What did you learn from last year’s program that is helping you this year? What are you changing, what worked well?
Susan: Each year we get better at hospitality/author wrangling. The one thing that continues to serve us well is our “master itinerary” that each board member carries the two days the author is in town. On it we can see where the author is supposed to be, when, who is in charge of picking him/her up, etc. It makes us think through the entire event, pin down details, and have a list of cell numbers for everyone involved in case of a “rubber chicken” – the unplanned for kink. The author receives this document, too. It came in very handy a few years ago when our designated driver for one event delivered the author to the wrong hotel – which our flexible guest did not notice until her key did not work and her replacement key opened a door into someone else’s room! She was able to find help immediately by contacting someone else on the board cell numbers list, and took it all in stride.
BIC: What advice or tips can you share with us about hosting a community reads program?
Susan:
- Involve your key players – who can you approach for support, who would like to have their name associated with a literary or educational event? A free community event? Or, an event that involves diversity? Groups and individuals such as these make up a core donor group to RROB from year to year: the local community college, non-profit service groups, literacy groups, book clubs, local hospital, and educators.
- Plan your event down to the last detail – this way you can be more assured that things run smoothly.
- Market your event months in advance – get on people’s radars and calendars.
- Consider the amenities – does your author have food allergies or preferences? Make sure they have a water bottle readily at hand for every event. Have a welcome basket waiting for them in their hotel room – we fill ours with snacks, fruit, water bottles, and local reading material (we put a copy of D Magazine or Texas Monthly), along with a note of welcome from our RROB board and the aforementioned itinerary. We put our authors through a rigorous schedule, so we want him/her to feel welcome and comfortable before we exhaust them!”
BIC: How has your relationship with Books In Common (formerly Terra Com) been beneficial during the past few years?
Susan: Terra has been invaluable in helping us choose the right speaker – steering us away from the “wrong” authors, being a buffer (and in some cases a translator!) between our board and the author or publisher, and an enthusiastic partner in our program and mission. They know what community reads are and what a community may like to read – they are fellow readers who, like librarians, see authors as rock stars.
BIC: Any suggestions for what you’d like to see from the BooksInCommon.org website and newsletter that would be helpful to other event organizers?
Susan: Suggestions of books & authors with added programming tips to use in the community would be helpful – be it contests, ideas for local adjunct speakers or topics to enrich the community read experience, ways to involve local book clubs, or other organizations that might be approached as partners – such as cultural groups, museums, or universities.
BIC: What titles have worked best for your community, and why?
Susan: We have been fortunate that all our titles have resonated with different readers in our communities. A few have been outrageous hits: The Kite Runner, The Art of Racing in the Rain, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, One Amazing Thing, and My Sister’s Keeper. The best part of being a group with a ten-year track record is that we don’t have to “sell” our choices – our community eagerly awaits our choice each year, and even if they might initially be skeptical, they give it a try because they know we pick great books, and stand behind them. Interestingly enough, more than a few people have re-read the book after hearing the speaker – discovering nuances and motivations that are not apparent at first reading – enriching the experience between author and reader in a way not many readers can access.
BIC: Do you have any examples of bridging diversity in a community by coming together around a book?
Susan: Every year this is apparent in our audience – the mixture of teenagers and senior citizens who are there to share an interest in a book – readers from different generations who have the common experience of reading. Many authors have commented on this as they do their signings at the end of the evening – you can see the generations in line together, eager to get an autograph. Garth Stein was particularly struck by this.
Also, with several of our programs: The Kite Runner, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, and One Amazing Thing, we have made a conscious effort to reach out to the Afghan, Asian, and Indian citizens in our community. We are one of the first and the few that does this on a regular basis – something we are very proud of.
BIC: What are some of your fondest or most notable memories from past events?
Susan: When we were driving author Khaled Hosseini (The Kite Runner) to the high school auditorium for his lecture, he noticed that there were no parking spaces left. He asked the board member with him “what’s going on here tonight? Is it a football game?”
She got a big kick out of telling him, “They are here for you!” That was our first “sell out” – all 1,700 seats were filled. This was right before The Kite Runner took off as the phenomenon it is today.
A particularly fun event was the reveal for Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet – we purchased fortune cookies from a supplier who wrote the title, author, and event details on the “fortunes” – and at the designated time in the program we asked everyone to open their fortunes together. Not only was it dramatic, but everyone went home with a reminder for the upcoming lecture.
