One City, One Book Title, Author Revealed
Written by Post Public Information Representative, Apr 21, 2014, Comments Off
Summer is a great time to read memoir, be ready for author presentation in the fall
Courtesy Xochitl Mora,
(Laredo, TX ) For the seventh year, the Laredo Public Library’s One City, One Book program invites the entire community of Laredo to read, learn and share a common experience by reading a powerful, thought-provoking book by a modern-day author.
This year’s selection is “The River Runs Salt, Runs Sweet: A Memoir of Visegrad, Bosnia” by Jasmina Dervisevic-Cesic.”
“We have two goals for One City, One Book,” says Maria G. Soliz, director of the Laredo Public Library. “One is, of course, to promote literacy, and the other is that we hope that this will
build a sense of community by reading the same book. This initiative will open dialogue among families, friends, co-workers, classmates or even strangers. What better way to do that than to talk about a book!”
This book has also been selected by Texas A&M International University as the Global Read for the freshman class.
“At 15, Jasmina Dervisevic had typical teenage problems. How could she talk to the boy she liked without making a fool of herself? Would she find the right shoes to wear to the high-school party?
She had heard the old stories about World War II, when neighbor turned against neighbor, but she seldom gave them a second thought. That had all happened ages ago, and she was living in a modern Yugoslavian city where Serbs and Muslims were close friends. Then Yugoslavia began to break apart. The national army turned its guns against its own people, and Jasmina had to grow up fast.” Review from Amazon.com
“We are excited to once again be sharing our book title and focus this year with One City, One Book. From campus to community at large, this represents a marvelous opportunity for us all to share in the magic and transformative power of reading,” said Conchita Hickey, Dean of TAMIU”s University College and Director of the University’s Reading the Globe campus read.
This joint program is funded in part by Humanities Texas.
In an effort to enhance the message and themes of the book, the Laredo Public Library also will host book discussions and Bosnian War-themed film screenings leading up to the culmination of the One City, One Book initiative with Dervisevic-Cesic’s lecture in October.
Jasmina Dervisevic-Cesic’s visit to Laredo will start with a lecture to students and faculty at TAMIU on Friday, October 10. The next day, Saturday, October 11, the general public will be able to meet and greet Dervisevic-Cesic at a reception at 9:30 a.m. and hear her lecture at 10:30 a.m. at the Laredo Public Library Multi-Purpose Room, 1120 East Calton Road.
“It is important that we take the lessons we learn from the stories selected for One City, One Book and apply them to very real problems in our community,” said Soliz.
“By understanding the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual toll the author faced, we can better appreciate our freedoms of expression and right to read books of any subject. This is just one more benefit of reading: becoming aware of the problems and challenges in the world around us and finding solutions to them.”
Everyone in the community is invited to stop by the Laredo Public Library to check out a copy of “The River Runs Salt, Runs Sweet.” The book will also be for sale at Books-A-Million bookstore.
Summer is a great time for people to catch up on their reading, and organizers hope that Laredoans will use the holiday to pick up a copy of this powerful memoir and be ready for the One City, One Book activities that will lead up to the author presentation later in October.
