Literary Event Consultants

David Katz, Club Book coordinator, discusses how Club Book came about and how it enriches the participating communities in Minnesota through literature.

Would you tell us a bit about your program?  For instance how long has Club Book been coordinating literary events, how did it get started, and how has it changed over the years?

Club Book is a unique player on the Minnesota literary events scene. We collaborate with all eight library systems in the Twin Cities to bring bestselling and award-winning authors to library audiences in all corners of our metro area. In effect, this positions us to host big names in suburban communities that might otherwise not have this kind of cultural opportunity.

Brian Jbara from Grand Valley State Community Reads explains how his community comes together for a common book.

Would you tell us a bit about your program?  For instance how long has Grand Valley State been hosting the Community Reading Project, how did it get started, and how has it changed over the years?

The program is in its 11th year, and is focused on including all of campus and community (unlike first year read, per se). It was started specifically to provide interdisciplinary learning opportunities across campus, and to this day, it has stayed true to that. Each year we try to select a different themed book that addresses big issues or ideas, is accessible, and is “sticky” in nature – we want discussions to entail multiple perspectives.