FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Belleville Public Library to Welcome Bestselling Author with Launch of City-Wide Book Club
Belleville, Ill. – November 5, 2020 – Last month, the Belleville Public Library launched Belleville Reads: A City-Wide Book Club as a way to expand services and engage residents throughout the pandemic. Now, in December, the group will welcome the bestselling author of its initial book, The Vanishing Half, by Brit Bennett in its inaugural Author’s Showcase.
“We’re very excited to welcome Ms. Bennett, who will host a discussion about the novel via Zoom,” said Director of Library Leander Spearman. “This is great for the book club because it expands our services to them and directly engages them with the author, who has now released two best-selling books.”
Members of the book club can attend the virtual event at no cost. The event will be held Tues., Dec. 1 at 6:30 p.m. For access to the event, participants must sign up by emailing [email protected]. The event is open to the first 50 participants.
Born and raised in Southern California, Bennett graduated from Stanford University and later earned her MFA in fiction at the University of Michigan, where she won a Hopwood Award in Graduate Short Fiction. In 2014, she received the Hurston/Wright Award for College Writers. She is a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree, and her debut novel The Mothers was a New York Times bestseller. Her second novel The Vanishing Half was an instant #1 New York Times bestseller. Her essays have been featured in The New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, The Paris Review, and Jezebel.
Membership to the book club is still open and there is no cost to become a member. The library has several copies of The Vanishing Half that patrons can check-out with their library card; patrons can order the book at-cost through the library; or patrons can purchase a copy on their own. The Belleville Public Library also works with Amazon and for novels ordered through the library’s unique portal, at www.wowbrary.org/belleville, the library will receive a rebate for the purchase.
Book club members have access to an online discussion board and can participate in interactive events like meeting the author. The club is open to those 18 years and older as some content in the novels is not appropriate for children. A new book will be selected two or three times a year. The City of Belleville, Illinois, incorporated in 1814, is the St. Clair County seat and the largest city in southern Illinois. With a current population of 44,478 (2010), Belleville is home to the longest contiguous main street in the United States, excellent education and healthcare organizations, and thriving businesses and neighborhoods, including three Local Historic Districts and one National Historic District. Mayor Mark Eckert runs the municipal government along with elected officials including City Clerk Jennifer Gain Meyer, Treasurer Dean Hardt, and 16 aldermen representing eight city wards. The vision for the City of Belleville is one where all sectors of the community work together to help the city grow and prosper and to become a model for other communities to follow.
To learn more, visit www.bellevillepubliclibrary.org or call 618-234-0441.
Cutline: Bestselling author Brit Bennett will meet with Belleville Public Library’s City-Wide Book Club in a virtual event on Tues., Dec. 1 at 6:30 p.m.
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The City of Belleville, Illinois, incorporated in 1814, is the St. Clair County seat and the largest city in southern Illinois. With a current population of 44,478 (2010), Belleville is home to the longest contiguous main street in the United States, excellent education and healthcare organizations, and thriving businesses and neighborhoods, including three Local Historic Districts and one National Historic District. Mayor Mark Eckert runs the municipal government along with elected officials including City Clerk Jennifer Gain Meyer, Treasurer Dean Hardt, and 16 aldermen representing eight city wards. The vision for the City of Belleville is one where all sectors of the community work together to help the city grow and prosper and to become a model for other communities to follow.