Initiatives
The New York City Mayor’s Office of Entertainment and Media’s One Book, One New York program will return for a second year. In April, NYC residents will vote online to determine the title that will be read city-wide, with the winner to be announced in early May. The nominees this year each feature a different neighborhood in NYC:
If Beale Street Could Talk, by James Baldwin
Manhattan Beach, by Jennifer Egan
White Tears, by Hari Kunzru
Behold the Dreamers, by Imbolo Mbue
When I Was Puerto Rican, by Esmeralda Santiago
This year’s program is a partnership with New York Magazine and Vulture (a change from last year, when the Mayor’s Office partnered with BuzzFeed), and will include a conversation with the author of the selected book at Vulture Festival taking place May 19-20. The publishers of the five nominated books have provided a total 5,000 copies to New York City’s library branches.
Media and entertainment commissioner Julie Menin says: “These beautifully told tales reflect the rich variety of experiences and voices that make New York’s literary culture second to none. We hope once again that One Book, One New York will inspire great conversations, foster compassion in difficult times, support our vital publishing industry, and spur New Yorkers to rediscover their local libraries and neighborhood bookstores.”
Drue Heinz, 103, founder of Ecco Press and former publisher of the Paris Review, died March 30 in Lasswade, Scotland.