One Book One Community unveils 2008 book selection at Your Kitchener Market April 19

KITCHENER - The Kitchener Public Library (KPL) is hoping everybody in Waterloo Region will be on the same page again this year, when One Book One Community unveils its mystery book for 2008 on Saturday, April 19, at Your Kitchener Market.

The region-wide initiative, originally launched in 2002, was developed to celebrate literature and provide some common ground for the whole community to discuss. Now in its seventh year, the program helps people build new connections and foster new relations in the community, through the shared experience of reading.

What: One Book One Community 2008 book unveiling
Where: Your Kitchener Market, 300 King St. E.
When: Saturday, April 19 from 10 a.m. to noon

Organized by library staff, area booksellers, city staff and volunteers, the program selects a book written by a Canadian; a book that is engaging and will inspire lively discussion. The organizing committee is committed to making the program an annual celebration of reading and community building.

Since One Book One Community first began, thousands of adults in this region have read these selected books, all written by Canadian authors:

2002 - Alistair Macleod's No Great Mischief
2003 - Jane Urquhart's The Stone Carvers
2004 - Nino Ricci's Lives of the Saints
2005 - Robert J. Sawyer's Hominids
2006 - Joseph Boyden's Three Day Road
2007 - Elizabeth Ruth's Smoke

This year's selection will be announced at Your Kitchener Market on April 19, from 10 a.m. to noon. The book and author are going to be unveiled to the media and local dignitaries. Everyone is welcome to attend.

While the 2008 book has been selected and the author is thrilled, the committee's choice is still under wraps. The food being served at the launch, however, will be supplied by market vendors and that is the only clue to this year's choice that organizers will divulge just yet.

Be sure to visit any branch of the KPL to reserve a copy of the book that all of Waterloo Region will be reading over the coming months.

Waterloo Region is one of only two communities in Canada that have adopted One Book programs and since the program was launched, thousands of people in Waterloo Region have participated. The other city is Vancouver, B.C.