[OPLINLIST] Bexley Public Library to Host Inaugural Bexley Community Author Series Featuring Colson Whitehead

[Ken Flower]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

*Contacts:    *

Ken Flower | Bexley Public Library

Director of Advancement/Community Relations
614-231-9709 or 614-545-6942
kflower at bexleylibrary.org

Pam Glasgow | Bexley Education Foundation
Executive Director
614-338-2093
pamela.glasgow at bexleyschools.org

Hallie Raskin | Bexley Community Foundation
Executive Director
(614) 235-4070
hallie at bexleycommunityfoundation.org

*Bexley Public Library to Host Inaugural Bexley Community Author Series
Featuring Colson Whitehead*

*BEXLEY, Ohio*—Bexley Community Book Club (BCBC) has welcomed a diverse
array of notable authors to Bexley since its founding in 2008. Beginning in
2017, this program will transition from under the auspices of the Bexley
Education Foundation (BEF) and enjoy a new chapter as a signature program
of Bexley Public Library, fitting with the library’s ongoing commitment to
reading and lifelong learning. The program will be renamed the Bexley
Community Author Series and will maintain the same tradition of excellence
established by BEF. This series will continue as an annual event that
brings authors of significance to Bexley to share their writings and
insights. It is an opportunity to bring topical, influential voices that
inspire reading, and further the Library’s mission to enlighten, engage,
and inspire a community of lifelong learners.

Through the Bexley Education Foundation and the instrumental work of BEF
Emeritus board member Linda Kass, the Bexley Community Book Club has
successfully hosted such notable authors as James McBride (2015), Jennifer
Egan (2013), and Jonathan Safran Foer (2012). To close BEF’s chapter of
BCBC, the Bexley Education Foundation will host National Book Award-winning
author Jacqueline Woodson on December 1 at the Schottenstein Theatre in
Bexley High School for a free community event. The inaugural author visit
for the Bexley Community Author Series will feature award-winning and #1 *New
York Times* bestselling author Colson Whitehead on Tuesday, April 25, 2017.


 A newly-created fund at the Bexley Community Foundation, the Bexley Public
Library Community Author Series Fund, will support the long-term
sustainability of the author series and the work of Bexley Public Library.
Giant Eagle continues their tradition of supporting the author series, and
will serve as the presenting sponsor for Colson Whitehead’s visit. To learn
more about sponsoring this event through a gift to the Author Series Fund
at the Bexley Community Foundation, please contact Ken Flower at Bexley
Public Library (614-545-6942) or Hallie Raskin at the Bexley Community
Foundation (614-235-4070).

Colson Whitehead’s latest book, *The Underground Railroad*, chronicles the
life of a young slave named Cora and her experiences as she makes a
desperate bid for freedom in the antebellum South.  Released in August,
2016, *The Underground Railroad* was an Oprah’s Book Club Selection and has
already been named a potential choice for 2016’s National Book Award, which
will be announced in November.

Community members are invited to save the date for Tuesday, April 25, 2017
at 7:00 p.m. in Bexley High School’s Schottenstein Theatre. Ticketing and
more details will be released soon. To learn more, visit
www.bexleylibrary.org.


​

*Colson Whitehead *is the #1 *New York Times *bestselling author of *The
Underground Railroad *(an Oprah’s Book Club selection), *The Noble
Hustle*, *Zone
One*, *Sag Harbor*, *The Intuitionist*, *John Henry Days*, *Apex Hides the
Hurt*, and one collection of essays, *The Colossus of New York*. Colson
Whitehead's reviews, essays, and fiction have appeared in a number of
publications, such as the *New York Times*, *The New Yorker*, *New York
Magazine*, *Harper's *and*Granta*. He has received a MacArthur Fellowship,
A Guggenheim Fellowship, a Whiting Writers Award, the Dos Passos Prize, a
fellowship at the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers, and was a
finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He has taught at the University of
Houston, Columbia University, Brooklyn College, Hunter College, New York
University, Princeton University, Wesleyan University, and been a
Writer-in-Residence at Vassar College, the University of Richmond, and the
University of Wyoming. He lives in New York City.

*Praise for The Underground Railroad*

“Kept me up at night, had my heart in my throat, almost afraid to turn the
next page. Get it, then get another copy for someone you know because you
are definitely going to want to talk about it once you read that
heart-stopping last page.”

*-Oprah Winfrey (Oprah's Book Club 2016 Selection)*

“[A] potent, almost hallucinatory novel... It possesses the chilling
matter-of-fact power of the slave narratives collected by the Federal
Writers’ Project in the 1930s, with echoes of Toni Morrison’s *Beloved*,
Victor Hugo’s *Les Misérables*, Ralph Ellison’s *Invisible Man*, and brush
strokes borrowed from Jorge Luis Borges, Franz Kafka and Jonathan Swift…He
has told a story essential to our understanding of the American past and
the American present.”

*-Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times*

“[T]hink Toni Morrison (*Beloved*), Alex Haley (*Roots*); think *12 Years a
Slave*…[A]n electrifying novel…a great adventure tale, teeming with
memorable characters…Tense, graphic, uplifting and informed, this is a
story to share and remember.”

*-People, (Book of the Week)*

"With this novel, Colson Whitehead proves that he belongs on any short list
of America's greatest authors--his talent and range are beyond impressive
and impossible to ignore. *The Underground Railroad* is an American
masterpiece, as much a searing document of a cruel history as a uniquely
brilliant work of fiction."

*-Michael Schaub, NPR*

“Far and away the most anticipated literary novel of the year, *The
Underground Railroad* marks a new triumph for Whitehead…[A] book that
resonates with deep emotional timbre. *The Underground Railroad* reanimates
the slave narrative, disrupts our settled sense of the past and stretches
the ligaments of history right into our own era...The canon of essential
novels about America's peculiar institution just grew by one.”

*-Ron Charles, Washington Post*

###

*Where Curiosity Meets Discovery*

*Bexley Public Library has been serving the Bexley community since 1924.
The Library’s mission is to enlighten, engage, and inspire a community of
lifelong learners. An extensive collection, knowledgeable and friendly
staff, innovative programming for kids and adults, and a welcoming space
are all part of what makes our library unique. Bexley Public Library joined
the Central Library Consortium (CLC) in 2014 to expand its services and
offer patrons access to over 4.5 million resources. Learn more at *
*www.bexleylibrary.org* <http://www.bexleylibrary.org/>*. *
*Ken Flower*
Director of Advancement and Community Relations
Bexley Public Library <http://www.bexleylibrary.org> | *Where Curiosity
Meets Discovery*
2411 East Main Street | Bexley, Ohio 43209
Phone: (614) 231-9709 | Direct: (614) 545-6942 | Fax: (614) 231-0794
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