On June 10, 2015, Ohio Center for the Book (OCFB) at Cleveland Public Library will begin a series of lunchtime book club discussions with guest reader Valentino Zullo, featuring Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards (AWBA) winning titles. One book discussion will be held each month, June through August 2015, on Wednesdays at noon, and will take place in the Literature Department and OCFB at Cleveland Public Library, Main Library, 2nd floor. The book talks begin Wednesday, June 10 at 12:00 p.m., with the 1952 AWBA-winner The Wall by John Hersey. Other books in the series are: Other books in the series are: The Boat by Nam Le and Half-Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan. For more information, contact the Literature Department at 216.623.2881. Click here to view, print or download the flyer.
Special Brown Bag Book Club. In collaboration with Popular Library’s African American Brown Bag Book Club, a discussion of Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned by Walter Mosley will be held August 2015 at 12:00 p.m. Discussion of this 1998 AWBA-winner takes place in Popular Library, 1st floor, Main Library. Cleveland Public Library is located at 325 Superior Avenue.
Valentino Zullo is a PhD student in the English department at Kent State University. He holds a Master of Arts in English and Women’s Studies from Bowling Green State University and a Master of Science in Social Administration from The Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University. He is also a student pursuing psychoanalytic training at the Cleveland Psychoanalytic Center. A comics scholar, Valentino hosts the Get Graphic! Graphic Novel Speaker Series, and serves as guest reader for the popular Get Graphic! A Graphic Novel Book Club discussion series, both are presented by Cleveland Public Library and Ohio Center for the Book. Valentino believes in Literature, Social Justice and the Superhero Way!
Edith Anisfield-Wolf, a former Cleveland Public Library Board of Trustee, established AWBA in 1935; it is the only juried book prize that addresses racism and diversity of cultures. The 80th AWBA ceremony will take place Thursday, September 10, 2015, at 6:00 p.m. in the Ohio Theater of PlayhouseSquare, 1511 Euclid Avenue.
A complete set of all of the past winners is housed in Special Collections, Main Library, 3rd floor. For more information about the AWBA, visit the website at www.anisfield-wolf.org.