Maryland Humanities Announces Author Tour
One Maryland One Book Authors Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely Tour Maryland
(Baltimore, MD) – Maryland Humanities will welcome 2016 One Maryland One Book authors Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely to Maryland from September 25–28 for a six-stop statewide tour to speak about their award-winning book, All American Boys. Reynolds and Kiely will start their tour at the Baltimore Book Festival, and then travel to Washington, Harford, Wicomico, Charles, and Prince George’s Counties.
One Maryland One Book (OMOB), a program of the Maryland Center for the Book at Maryland Humanities, brings together diverse people in communities across the state through the shared experience of reading the same book. Each fall, readers participate in book-centered discussions and related programs at public libraries, high schools, colleges, museums, bookstores, and community and senior centers around the state. The book was chosen by a committee of librarians, educators, authors, and parents in February from more than 125 titles suggested last fall by readers across the state under the theme, “the 21st Century Great American Novel.” Find a book discussion near you at www.onemarylandonebook.org.
“We’re proud to offer One Maryland One Book, Maryland’s only statewide reading and discussion program, for the ninth year. All American Boys offers powerful insights into some of the most complex issues faced by Americans today, making it important reading for all Marylanders,” said Phoebe Stein, executive director of Maryland Humanities.
About the Book
A 2016 Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book and recipient of the 2016 Walter Dean Myers Award
In All American Boys, the unforgettable new novel from Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely, two teens—one black, one white—grapple with the repercussions of a single violent act that leaves their school, their community, and, ultimately, the country bitterly divided by racial tension. Written in tandem by two award-winning authors, this tour de force shares the alternating perspectives of Rashad and Quinn as the complications from that single violent moment, the type taken from the headlines, unfold and reverberate to highlight an unwelcome truth.
About the Authors
Jason Reynolds
Jason Reynolds earned a BA in English from The University of Maryland, College Park before moving to Brooklyn, New York to pursue a career in writing. He is the author of the critically acclaimed When I Was the Greatest, for which he was the recipient of the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent, the Coretta Scott King Honor books Boy in the Black Suit and All American Boys (co-written with Brendan Kiely), and As Brave as You, his middle grade debut. You can find his ramblings at JasonWritesBooks.com.
Brendan Kiely
Brendan Kiely received his MFA from the City College of New York. He is the author, with Jason Reynolds, of the Coretta Scott King Author Honor Book All American Boys. His debut novel, The Gospel of Winter, has been published in ten languages, was selected as one of the American Library Association’s Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults 2015, and was a Kirkus Reviews selection for the Best of 2014. He is also the author of The Last True Love Story. Originally from the Boston area, he now lives with his wife in Greenwich Village. Find out more at BrendanKiely.com.
Want to discuss the book or get updates on upcoming events? Join the conversation on the Maryland Center for the Book page.
One Maryland One Book is sponsored by the Institute of Museum and Library Services via LSTA grant funds through the Division of Library Development & Services, Maryland State Department of Education, as well as by the PNC Foundation. Additional support is provided by the Baltimore City Foundation, BGE, Wells Fargo, and M&T Bank.
“Wandering Books”: Where will you find All American Boys?
Copies of the 2016 One Maryland One Book selection will be released to the public in six counties over the next few months as part of “Wandering Books,” a fun campaign that introduces readers across the state to All American Boys and the One Maryland One Book program. Anyone can receive clues about where to find books via Maryland Humanities’ Maryland Center for the Book Facebook page or by following @MDHumanities on Twitter. Libraries in Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Calvert, Frederick, Talbot, and Worcester counties will distribute books throughout their communities. Readers log on to www.bookcrossing.com and register their book’s ID number, post a comment or review, then leave the book for another reader to find. Instructions are located on a label inside the book cover. Participation is free. Those who register books will be automatically entered to win a $25 gift certificate to Barnes & Noble after the campaign ends at the end of October.
2016 One Maryland One Book Author Tour
EVENT LOCATION: Baltimore Book Festival, Baltimore’s Inner Harbor
Date: Sunday, September 25
Time: 1:00 p.m.
Venue: This event will be held in the Book Festival’s main Literary Salon.
EVENT LOCATION: Boonsboro, Washington County
Date: Monday, September 26
Time: 10:00 a.m.
Venue: Boonsboro High School
Address: 10 Campus Ave
Co-hosts: Washington County Free Library
EVENT LOCATION: Abingdon, Harford County
Date: Monday, September 26
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Venue: Abingdon Library
Address: 2510 Tollgate Road
Co-host: Harford County Public Library
EVENT LOCATION: Salisbury, Wicomico County
Date: Tuesday, September 27
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Venue: Salisbury University, Academic Commons
Address: 1101 Camden Avenue
Co-host: Salisbury University
EVENT LOCATION: Waldorf, Charles County
Date: Wednesday, September 28
Time: 11:00 a.m.
Venue: St. Charles High School
Address: 5305 Piney Church Road
Co-host: St. Charles High School
EVENT LOCATION: Oxon Hill, Prince George’s County
Date: Wednesday, September 28
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Venue: Oxon Hill Branch Library
Address: 6200 Oxon Hill Road
Co-host: Prince George’s County Memorial Library System