The City Needs Your Help: Choose The Book You Want New Yorkers To Read Together!
New Yorkers are notoriously hard to pin down — in every sense. We’re always moving. We’re always busy. Plus, our tastes vary widely and are not always obvious. That elderly woman on the train putting away her knitting and pulling out a book about the alternative rock band The Replacements? Not a surprise.
But as much as we savor our individuality and solitary time, we also can’t help but yearn for connection. Watch how many people jump up at the chance to give someone directions on a train. We gather together any chance we get — to listen to music, to see theater, to learn from each other. But rarely does the entire city do the same thing together at once.
For the second year, the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) is getting New Yorkers on the same page through their One Book, One New York campaign:
Throughout the month of April, you can vote for one of the following five books New Yorkers will read together by clicking here:
The winning choice will be announced on May 3rd. Then the city will get to reading — as well as engage with each other in conversations around the book both online and at various book clubs and events hosted by libraries throughout the five boroughs.
During the entire process, you can follow and participate in the conversation online using the hashtag #OneBookNY.
MOME Commissioner Julie Menin shed a little light on how these books were selected. She explained that they consulted with literary leaders throughout the city “seeking stories reflecting New York City’s rich history, diverse neighborhoods, and resilient people.” Then book editors from New York magazine and Vulture helped narrow the list down to a group of books that “explore themes of missing fathers, tragic love and racial injustice through the eyes of unforgettable narrators that will speak to book lovers and new audiences alike.”
Commissioner Menin created the campaign after seeing similar initiatives launched in other cities. There had been other attempts to launch it previously, but it was only after she became Commissioner in 2016, when the agency’s scope expanded to include a range of additional industries under the “media and entertainment” umbrella including publishing, advertising, music, and digital content, that she was able to get the gears in motion to make it happen. The agency’s goal is to both support the local bookselling industry while also celebrating New York City’s rich literary culture.
If you’re having trouble choosing, check out this April 17 segment with the authors on WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show (video begins at 1:16:10):
This post was sponsored by the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) . If you would like to reach our readers, please contact us.