Welcome to Books In Common, from Director Dawn Stuart
BIC Director Dawn Stuart
For more than a decade I’ve chatted with thousands of literary event planners. From Community Reads committee chairs, to All Campus/Freshman Class Reads staff, to Literary Festival organizers, and beyond, I’ve been part of the process. I’ve helped select book titles that work for a particular type of event and community. I’ve supplied information on speaking fees and author schedules, and organized the details of the author’s visit. Every person and venue is unique, but we all have something in common: we’re passionate about books and inspiring more people to read and share their literary experience with others.
Eventually we get down to the business of organizing event details, but with many of you we’ve had fun along the way simply talking about books and authors and what we can’t wait to read next, so it seldom even seems like work. As our literary relationships have developed we’ve shared candid information about the specifics of what makes a title especially good for a Community Reads selection (aka One Book-One City, aka Book In Common, aka Big Reads, etc.). We’ve explored the “teachable moments” in books being considered for an All Campus or Freshman Class Reads event. We’ve discussed the merits of great books that don’t really work for a Common Reads experience, and how some authors are great writers but not particularly good speakers. With many, I’ve helped develop creative programming ideas, or supplied tools to help implement some clever activities, and arranged media and promotional support. I noticed over the past 13 years that I’ve become sort of a central clearinghouse for so much information surrounding these various types of literary events that it seemed there might be a better place than my aging brain for storing this accumulating data.
So, we’ve created BooksInCommon.org to serve as a virtual gathering space for the sharing of ideas, inspiration, support, and resources among those who organize and host literary events.
Welcome and please join in. Comment, ask questions, share what’s worked or hasn’t, chat with others, ask us for help, participate in the fun and games, and help keep reading a common experience.
