Join us for One Maryland One Book!

Purple Hibiscus

The Ruth Enlow Library of Garrett County invites the community to participate in this year’s One Maryland One Book project – a program designed to bring diverse groups of Marylanders together in library, school, or community settings to share a common reading experience by discussing a work of literature and participating in related events. The selected book for 2017 is Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Three book discussions are planned this year: Wednesday, September 13, 5:30 – 7 p.m. for adults at the Accident Library; Monday, October 2, 6 – 7:30 p.m. for teens at the Oakland Library; and Wednesday, October 18, 6 – 7:30 p.m. for adults at the Oakland Library.

All events are free and open to the public. Copies of the book are available at the Accident and Oakland libraries for participants. To register, contact Kim at the Accident Library (301-746-8792 or kcecil@relib.net), Bonnie at the Oakland Library for the adult discussion (301-334-3996, x0117 or bonnie@relib.net), or Susanne Kight for the teen discussion ((301-334-3996, x0105 or skight@relib.net). 

Krista McKenzie, Library Services Supervisor of the Media Department at Frostburg State University, will facilitate the adult discussions at both Accident and Oakland. A former Instructional and Reference Librarian at Garrett College, McKenzie earned her Bachelor of Science in English, Philosophy, and Secondary Education from Frostburg State University in 2001. Several years later, she achieved her Master’s in Education and an MBA from FSU, and in 2010, a Master’s in Library and Information Science from Drexel University. A member of the American Library Association and the Maryland Library Association, McKenzie has presented at the local, state, and national levels. She also serves on committees for YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association) and ACRL (Association of College & Research Libraries).

The Maryland Humanities’ description of this year’s OMOB selection reads, “Fifteen-year-old Kambili and her older brother Jaja lead a privileged life in Enugu, Nigeria. They live in a beautiful house, with a caring family, and attend an exclusive missionary school. They’re completely shielded from the troubles of the world. Yet, as Kambili reveals in her tender-voiced account, things are less perfect than they appear. Although her Papa is generous and well respected, he is fanatically religious and tyrannical at home—a home that is silent and suffocating. As the country begins to fall apart under a military coup, Kambili and Jaja are sent to their aunt, a university professor outside the city, where they discover a life beyond the confines of their father’s authority. Books cram the shelves, curry and nutmeg permeate the air, and their cousins’ laughter rings throughout the house. When they return home, tensions within the family escalate, and Kambili must find the strength to keep her loved ones together. Purple Hibiscus is an exquisite novel about the emotional turmoil of adolescence, the powerful bonds of family, and the bright promise of freedom.”

“Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is the leading African writer of her generation,” notes Maryland Humanities. “She grew up on the campus of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and left Nigeria for the U.S. at the age of 19. Among her many accolades, Adichie was awarded a Hodder fellowship at Princeton University (2005-2006) and a fellowship at the Radcliffe Institute of Harvard University (2011-2012). In 2008, Ms. Adichie earned a coveted MacArthur Genius Award.

Her work is read around the world, and has been translated into over thirty languages. Her first novel Purple Hibiscus won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, and her second novel, Half of a Yellow Sun, won the Orange Prize (now the Bailey’s Women’s Prize), which is the world’s top prize for female writers. Her 2013 novel Americanah has received numerous accolades, including the US National Book Critics Circle Award. It was named one of The New York Times Top Ten Best Books of the Year.

Adichie has been invited to speak around the world. Most notably her 2009 TED Talk, The Danger of A Single Story, is now one of the top ten most-viewed TED Talks of all time, with over five millions views. Her 2012 TED talk, We Should All Be Feminists, has started a worldwide conversation about feminism, especially after it inspired a song by Beyoncé. It was published as a book in 2014. Her most recent book, Dear Ijeawele, or a Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions, was published in March 2017.

Ms. Adichie is committed to assisting young aspiring writers. As one of her commitments, she leads an annual Writers Workshop in Nigeria, for which applications come from around the world.”

One Maryland One Book is Maryland’s only statewide community reading project and is the signature program of the Maryland Center for the Book at Maryland Humanities. Initiated in fall 2008, this year-long project culminates with two months of public programs, using literature to spur conversations in communities around the state. More information about the program and author tours is available at this link.

Additional support for this program is provided by Western Maryland Regional Library, the regional resource center for the public libraries of Allegany, Garrett, and Washington Counties.

A listing of events and services at the Ruth Enlow Library is available on the website at www.relib.net. Follow the library on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RuthEnlowLibrary.