Celebrate the 8th Annual Books on the Bayou and share a great book with your neighbor! This year's book selection is Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.
Books on the Bayou brings together Houstonians to read the same book at the same time, provoking discussion among co-workers, friends, families and classrooms. The program cultivates a culture of reading in Houston by encouraging people to visit libraries, bookstores, community centers, homes, churches, and schools to discuss the featured book.
Now through October 31, 2009 everyone is invited to attend the many diverse activities that are planned at all neighborhood library locations. There will be book and film discussions, displays, and storytelling.
For a detailed list of events visit www.houstonlibrary.org/booksonthebayou or pick up a Resource Guide any of the Houston Public Library's 36 neighborhood locations. For more details call 832-393-1313. All programs are free and open to the public.
Can't make it to one of our Books on the Bayou discussions? Check out HPL's Books on the Bayou discussion group on Goodreads.com!
Lauded as the intellectual and spiritual foremother to a generation of black and women writers, Zora Neale Hurston began her career as an anthropologist. This lifelong passion to collect, record, and broadcast the everyday idiomatic communication of her people would inform four novels, two collections of folklore, an autobiography, and dozens of stories, articles, plays, and essays. The protagonist that readers most often associate with Zora Neale Hurston is Janie Crawford – a woman who, like Hurston, not only survives against long odds, but triumphs.
- Adapted from The National Endowment for the Arts, "The Big Read"
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 1991
ISBN-13: 9780252017780
ISBN-10: 0252017781
Call Number: HURST
Initially published in 1937, this novel about a proud, independent black woman has, since its reissue in trade paper in 1978, been the most widely read and highly acclaimed novel in the canon of African-American literature. When Janie Starks returns to her rural Florida home, her small black community is overwhelmed with curiosity about her relationship with a younger man.
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Books on the Bayou Celebration Featuring
Lucy Anne Hurston
Saturday, October 3 | 1 PM
Central Library | 500 McKinney, 77002
832-393-1313
Lucy Anne Hurston, the niece of literary luminary and Harlem Renaissance writer Zora Neale Hurston, is the author of Speak, So You Can Speak Again: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston. Though only three years old when Zora died in relative obscurity, Lucy Anne Hurston has, over her lifetime, compiled a detailed knowledge of her aunt’s life and work with a historian’s observant eye.
Lucy Anne Hurston’s own work as an academic sociologist, with field research in Jamaica and St. Kitts, among other places, provides her with a unique connection to her aunt’s perspective and life. She has been the producer and host of two documentaries on Zora and the director of a high school production of her play Mule Bone. Lucy Anne Hurston currently teaches sociology at Manchester Community College (CT) and lives in Bloomfield, Connecticut.
Learn more about the Books on the Bayou Celebration!
Books on the Bayou
Closing Event
Featuring Valerie Boyd
Saturday, October 31 | 2 PM
Central Library | 500 McKinney, 77002
832-393-1313
Join us for an afternoon of musical entertainment and a visit from author and scholar, Valerie Boyd, as the 8th Annual Books on the Bayou comes to a close.
Zora Neale Hurston scholar Valerie Boyd will discuss and sign copies of her book Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston. Valerie Boyd is the Charlayne Hunter-Gault Distinguished Writer in Residence at the University of Georgia.
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Thursday, October 8 | 7 PM
Central Library | 500 McKinney, 77002 | 832-393-1313
60 Minutes and CBS Evening News correspondent Byron Pitts opens up about his life - how he turned struggle into strength through his faith and overcame impossible odds to achieve enormous success in life.
Throughout Byron’s life a few key people ‘stepped out on nothing’ to make a difference for him, from his mother who worked tirelessly to raise her kids right - while delivering ample amounts of tough love - to his college roommate who helped Byron practice his vocabulary. In Step out on Nothing, Byron even gives credit to those who didn’t believe in him, like the college professor who labeled him a failure and said he would amount to nothing. By following his steadfast passion for journalism Byron persevered and after fifteen years in local television, he landed a job as a national correspondent for CBS News in 1998.
Please join us for this exciting event. Capacity is limited.
Please RSVP to 832-393-1652.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: |
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 09/29/2009
ISBN-13: 9780312577667
ISBN-10: 0312577664
An Emmy-winning broadcast journalist outlines the disadvantages he overcame in the pursuit of his career, from his abandonment by his father in childhood and tough inner-city upbringing to his speech impediment and functional illiteracy.
An Evening Afternoon with Louise Penny
Wednesday, October 14 | 12 NOON
Central Library | 500 McKinney, 77002
832-393-1313
Award-winning Canadian mystery writer Louise Penny will sign and discuss her latest “Three Pines” novel, The Brutal Telling.
Louise Penny’s first Armand Gamache mystery, Still Life, won the New Blood Dagger, Arthur Ellis, Barry, Anthony, and Dilys awards; her second, A Fatal Grace, won the 2007 Agatha Award for Best Novel; her third, The Cruelest Month, was #1 on the hardcover IMBA bestseller list in March 2008, and her fourth, A Rule Against Murder, was a New York Times Bestseller. She lives in a small village south of Montreal.
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 09/22/2009
ISBN-13: 9780312377038
ISBN-10: 0312377037
After a stranger is murdered in a bistro and antiques store in the village of Three Pines and the bistro's owner Oliver becomes the main suspect, Chief Inspector Gamache must sift through a number of clues, go deep into the woods, and cross the continent in order to solve the case, in a book by the best-selling author of A Rule Against Murder.
An Evening with
Sarah Cortez
and Lucha Corpi
Wednesday, November 4 | 7 PM
Central Library | 500 McKinney, 77002
832-393-1313
Sarah Cortez and Lucha Corpi, both Mexican-American writers, wrote poetry before turning to mystery fiction. Short stories by both women are included in Hit List: The Best of Latino Mystery, a short story collection edited by Sarah Cortez.
Sarah Cortez, a poet, educator, and law enforcement officer, is the author of a poetry collection, How to Undress a Cop, which won the PEN Texas Literary Award in Poetry. In addition to Hit List, she is the editor of Windows into My World: Latino Youth Write Their Lives, which won a 2008 Skipping Stones Honor Award. She lives and works in Houston, Texas.
Lucha Corpi is a poet, novelist, and children’s book author. She has written four mystery novels featuring Gloria Damasco: Death at Solstice, Black Widow’s Wardrobe, Cactus Blood and Eulogy for a Brown Angel.
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 03/31/2009
ISBN-13: 9781558855434
ISBN-10: 1558855432
Collection of first time short mystery fiction by Latino authors who have pioneered the genre, using it to showcase their unique cultures, neighborhoods & realities. Contains both stylistically & ethnically diverse stories that run the gamut of the genre, from traditional to noir, private eye to police procedural, even chick lit.
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- Books on the Bayou
- Their Eyes Were Watching God - by Zora Neale Hurston
- Books on the Bayou Celebration
- Books on the Bayou Closing Event
- An Evening With...
- Byron Pitts
- Step Out on Nothing: How Family and Faith Helped Me Conquer Life's Challenges - by Byron Pitts
- Louise Penny
- The Brutal Telling - by Louise Penny
- Sarah Cortez and Lucha Corpi
- Hit List: The Best of Latino Mystery - edited by Sarah Cortez
- Ask a Librarian
Download the 2009
Books on the Bayou Resource Guide
Book Discussions
Join us for a discussion of this year’s Books on the Bayou selection, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.
Thursday, October 1 | 6 PM
Heights Neighborhood Library
Thursday, October 1 | 6 PM
Freed-Montrose Neighborhood Library
This Book Discussion is held in conjunction with the Houston Great Books Council.
Tuesday, October 6 | 12 NOON
Central Library
Thursday, October 8 | 2 PM
Jungman Neighborhood Library
Thursday, October 8 | 4:30 PM
Smith Neighborhood Library
Thursday, October 8 | 6 PM
Park Place Regional Library
Saturday, October 10 | 1 PM
Robinson-Westchase Neighborhood Library
Monday, October 12 | 6:30 PM
Dixon Neighborhood Library
Thursday, October 15 | 1 PM
Collier Regional Library
Friday, October 16 | 2 PM
Central Library
Saturday, October 17 | 4 PM
McCrane-Kashmere Neighborhood Library
Monday, October 19 | 6:30 PM
McGovern-Stella Link Neighborhood Library
Thursday, October 22 | 6:30 PM
Stanaker Neighborhood Library
Saturday, October 24 | 2 PM
HPL Express Discovery Green
Tuesday, October 27 | 4:30 PM
HPL Express Frank
Film Screenings
Join us for a screening of the Harpo Productions film, “Their Eyes Were Watching God” starring Halle Berry.
Saturday, October 3 | 2:30 PM
Scenic Woods Regional Library
Monday, October 5 | 12 NOON
Pleasantville Neighborhood Library
Tuesday, October 6 | 4 PM
Kendall Neighborhood Library
Thursday, October 8 | 5:30 PM
Looscan Neighborhood Library
Thursday, October 15 | 5 PM
Moody Neighborhood Library
Saturday, October 17 | 2 PM
Lakewood Neighborhood Library
Monday, October 19 | 5:30 PM
Carnegie Neighborhood Library
Monday, October 19 | 6:15 PM
Hillendahl Neighborhood Library
Monday, October 19 | 4 PM
Young Neighborhood Library
Wednesday, October 21 | 4 PM
Kendall Neighborhood Library
Thursday, October 22 | 6 PM
Henington-Alief Regional Library
Saturday, October 24 | 3 PM
HPL Express Frank
Monday, October 26 | 6:30 PM
Collier Regional Library
Wednesday, October 28 | 7 PM
Scenic Woods Regional Library
Special Performances
Join us for special musical and theatrical performances at your neighborhood library. Provided by MoShows Entertainment.
Monday, October 5 | 6:30 PM
Mikki Holland | “Mom’s Mabley”
Stanaker Neighborhood Library
Thursday, October 8 | 6:30 PM
Cassandra Tyson | “Sassy Jazz”
Scenic Woods Regional Library
Saturday, October 10 | 4 PM
Terry Parker | “Mr. Entertainer”
Acres Homes Neighborhood Library
Monday, October 12 | 5PM
Terry Parker | “Mr. Entertainer”
Young Neighborhood Library
Thursday, October 22 | 6:30 PM
Fanci Dancer & Mr. Smooth
“Swingout & 2-Step”
Park Place Regional Library
Central Library Events
Join us for the following special Books on the Bayou events at HPL's Central Library.
Wednesday, October 7
JAWAD presents “Rainbow Colored Sounds” | 6 PM
Dr. Nicole A. Waligora-Davis | 7 PM
Join us for a musical performance by JAWAD, followed by featured speaker, Dr. Nicole Waligora-Davis, Assistant Professor of English at Rice University.
Wednesday, October 14
TWEED! presents “Ladies of the Blues” | 6 PM
Dr. Elizabeth Brown-Guillory | 7 PM
Join us for a musical performance by TWEED!, followed by featured speaker, Dr. Elizabeth Brown-Guillory, Associate Provost and Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs at Texas Southern University and former Professor of English at University of Houston.
Wednesday, October 21
Bill Milligan presents “The Electric Poet Unplugged” | 6 PM
Storyteller Kathy Culmer | 7 PM
Join us for a performance by Bill Milligan, followed by a presentation from storyteller Kathy Culmer.
Wednesday, October 28
Kijana presents “Harlem Poets & Vaudeville Love Songs” | 6 PM
Book Discussion | 7 PM
Join us for a musical performance by Kijana, and stay for a discussion of Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston.