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Reading project culminates with author visits this week
By Ben Beagle
Daily News Lifestyles Editor
March 26, 2003
"A Tale for Three Counties," a community reading project in Genesee, Orleans and Wyoming counties, culminates this week with the visit of author Leif Enger .
Enger will read from his best-selling novel Peace Like a River , discuss the book and the writing process, and sign copies of the book at three programs, which begin Thursday at Richmond Memorial Library, 19 Ross St., Batavia.
The event is planned for 7 p.m. in the library's Reading Room. All 140 reserved seat tickets have been claimed, said Leslie DeLooze, reference and community services librarian at Richmond.
People with tickets should be seated at 6:45 p.m.; general seating will follow.
Overflow seating will be provided in the Gallery Room where Enger 's presentation can be viewed via closed circuit television and where he will retire to for the book signing. Those in the Gallery Room will be first in line for the book signing, DeLooze said.
Enger will present similar programs at 7 p.m. Friday at Lee-Whedon Memorial Library, 620 West Ave., Medina, and 2 p.m. Saturday in the auditorium at Perry Elementary/Middle School, 50 Olin St., Perry. Tickets are not required for the Medina or Perry events.
In January, Enger spent three days leading programs in Traverse City, Mich., for a community reading project called "Traverse City Reads."
That project, which started last November, included book discussions and ended with a three-day visit by Enger and his wife Robin at the end of January.
The visit included activities such as author readings, book signings and a staged reading developed from Peace Like a River .
Each event was well attended, with one reading drawing about 600 people and the theater program attracting about 500, said Victoria Sutherland, publisher of ForeWord magazine, a book industry publication which organized "Traverse City Reads" with the city's library.
The project covered five counties with a population of about 60,000 people.
If Enger 's visit to Traverse City is any indication of what to expect here then librarians could see a long night.
Sutherland said she planned about two hours for the first reading and book signing. It lasted four.
"He touched every age with the same emphasis whether it was a teen-ager who showed up as part of an extra credit assignment to older readers who connected to his story," Sutherland said. "He never blinked. He loved having that access to his readers."
Twenty libraries in Genesee, Orleans and Wyoming counties organized "A Tale for Three Counties." Sponsors include The Daily News , the Genesee-Orleans Regional Arts Council, the Arts Council for Wyoming County and the Bank of Castile. Additional funds have come from Friends of Richmond Memorial Library, Wal-Mart, Friends of Perry Public Library and Friends of Lee-Whedon Memorial Library. Other contributions have been provided by the Nioga Library System, the Pioneer Library System, Genesee Valley Board of Cooperative Educational Services School Library System and the Niagara Orleans BOCES School Library System.
Courtesy of Batavia Newspapers Corporation