This will be the 5^th year that the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library has  participated in THE BIG READ.  Past books that have been read as part of this program are The Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, Their Eyes Were Watching God, and A Lesson Before Dying. JMRL will be hosting free community programs and discussions about the book and other interesting programs at all branch libraries and other locations throughout the region.  Program brochures and Reader’s Guides will be available early next year at all branch libraries.

Grants  from the NEA  are to host a BIG READ  project between September 2010 and June 2011. THE Big Read brings communities together to read, discuss, and celebrate one of 31 selections from United States and world literature. The National Endowment for the Arts launched THE BIG READ after a  survey in 2004 showed a decline in the reading of literature. Less than half of American adults read literature, according to the report. Since the 2006 pilot program with ten participating organizations, the NEA, in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and in cooperation with Arts Midwest, has given more than 800 grants to support local BIG READ  projects.

Mixing Journalism with Memoir: A Literary Salon with Fran Hawthorne

September 19 · 7:00pm – 9:00pm

WriterHouse, 508 Dale Avenue, Charlottesville

Fran Hawthorne, award-winning author of The Overloaded Liberal: Shopping, Investing, Parenting and Other Daily Dilemmas in an Age of Political Activism (Beacon Press, 2010), will talk about making the political personal. How do you mix research and expert opinion with your own perceptions? How do you tackle a serious topic (like saving the earth) and make it intimate enough to be an enjoyable read? What happens when you insert yourself as a character in a nonfiction book?

Hawthorne is a freelance reporter for the New York Times, Newsday, and The Scientist, with 20 years of journalism experience and four books to her credit.

Free and open to the public.

RSVP on our Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=121983364521105

Become a fan: http://www.facebook.com/WriterHouse

Early Bird Registration for Conference 2010 ends at 11:59pm on August 31

Pitch NYC agents and editors.
Improve your craft.
Meet fellow writers.

Register online today to save on registration fees, or postmark your registration by tomorrow, August 31.

When:   Friday & Saturday, October 8-9
NEW!:   Thursday, October 7 workshops
Where:  The Library of Virginia

Browse the James River Writers website for information about all the speakers and sessions.

One-on-one meetings with agents and editor Heather Lazare are still available.

Registration Fees:
$175 – early registration, paid online by August 31, or postmarked by August 31
$215 – early registration plus one Thursday workshop*
$195 – regular registration, starting September 1 until conference sells out
$235 – regular registration plus one Thursday workshop*
*$40 workshop fee refunded if workshops sell out; note that Michelle Brower’s workshop has already filled; two spaces remain in Clifford Garstang’s workshop.

Featuring: Silas House, Mike Olmert, Charles J. Shields, Charles Todd, Jacqueline Woodson, and more, including NYC literary agents and editor Heather Lazare of Crown’s Three Rivers Press.

Read interviews with conference speakers here.

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Coming to New Dominion Bookshop:

Reading, Discussion, and Book-signing

Thursday, September 9, 2010, at 12:15 PM

Patchwork: Pieces of Appalachia

by Lena Cantrell McNicholas

Lena Cantrell McNicholas loves Southwest Virginia. In her first book, Patchwork—Pieces of Appalachia, she recalls the small Appalachian town of her childhood and the eclectic characters within it. She writes about her memories in a series of poems, stories and vignettes.

Lee Smith, author of Oral History and Fair and Tender Ladies, said, “This fine collection … takes us through Lena’s exciting life of love, adventure, devastating loss, high principles and new beginnings, finally back to her beloved southwest Virginia and the complexities of life alone—all of this told with severe honesty and sweet lyrical grace. Lena knows who she is and where she comes from, and she knows how to tell a good story, too. All you have to do is sit back and listen.”

Elizabeth Doyle Solomon, author of Seasons, says that “McNicholas has written a book from her heart, for the hearts of us all.… Patchwork is a book for today that carries those precious pieces of yesterdays, a book to pass down to the inheritors of tomorrows.”

Lena McNicholas has received numerous awards for her original work and was Poet of the Month for A Magazine December. She is an active member of the Appalachian Poets and Writers, the Blue Ridge Chapter of the Virginia Writers Club, Inc., and the Poetry Society of Virginia.