The Bexley Education Foundation (BEF), the first public school foundation in Central Ohio, is launching a unique model for a community-based author initiative to encourage reading, in conjunction with its 25th anniversary.

Designed to involve the community on a grass roots level through a host of year-long ancillary events culminating in the author's visit to the community on April 30, 2008, this new initiative has been aptly named Bexley Community Book Club. This initiative will serve as the first of an annual "community read" of the works by a selected author.
  

Nationally acclaimed writer Pete Hamill, whose diverse career has endured for more than forty years, has been selected to be the inaugural author for Bexley Community Book Club.

"The Bexley Education Foundation sought to create a program that could benefit and strengthen arts programming within the Bexley Schools," said Robert Darwin, Chair of the Bexley Education Foundation Board of Governors. "We are thrilled to be able to launch this new initiative as a celebration of the 25 years of support by this private foundation in support of public education in Bexley."

"We are excited to showcase Bexley's belief in the importance of education and lifelong learning, and to promote reading, through the establishment of Bexley Community Book Club," said Linda Kass, Founding Chair for the new initiative and Chair-Elect of the BEF Board. "We hope to have at least 50 book clubs in and around Bexley reading Pete Hamill's books and becoming more familiar with his body of work."

Several partnerships have been established to create awareness and encourage community participation, including a media partnership with WBNS 10TV. A partnership with Barnes and Noble Booksellers at Easton will include in store promotions to begin this month, as well as two Barnes and Noble Bookfairs, with a percentage of book profits to benefit Bexley Education Foundation's new initiative.
"Barnes and Noble looks for opportunities to partner with organizations that focus on higher learning, literacy and the arts. The Bexley Community Book Club model certainly fits that mission," said Karen Austin, Community Relations Manager at Barnes and Noble Booksellers at Easton.

In addition, the Bexley Public Library will host several book talks for the community featuring Kacey Kowars, host of a popular internet show on books. Mr. Kowars will also address Bexley High School students in the spring in anticipation of Mr. Hamill's visit.

Mr. Hamill's visit to Bexley on April 30, 2008 will include three points of community contact: an afternoon with Bexley High School students; a private "meet and greet" dinner reception for sponsors at Giuseppe's Ritrovo; and a 7:30 p.m. community-wide presentation in the Schottenstein Theatre at Bexley High School, followed by a book signing. WBNS 10TV news anchor Andrea Cambern will serve as master of ceremonies at the community-wide presentation.

Pete Hamill launched his writing career with the New York Post in 1960. During his extensive career in journalism, Hamill's voice became a New York fixture whether he was covering wars in Vietnam, Nicaragua, Lebanon and Northern Ireland, reporting on the World Series or the events of September 11, 2001, or writing about art, jazz, immigration and politics. Perhaps one of Mr. Hamill's most intriguing achievements in New York journalism is the fact that he served as editor-in-chief of both the New York Post and the New York Daily News, the city's two most notoriously competitive dailies.

Along with his reporting from around the city or the globe, Mr. Hamill has published ten novels, two short story collections, and two biographies, and has written movie and television scripts. Hamill's 1997 novel, Snow in August, was on the New York Times bestseller list for four months. His memoir, A Drinking Life, was on the same New York Times list for 13 weeks. A biographical essay, Why Sinatra Matters, deals with the music of the late singer and the social forces that made his work unique. His latest bestselling novel, North River, published in June by Little, Brown and Company, tells the story of a doctor's professional and personal struggles in the icy grip of the Great Depression.

Presenting Sponsor for the inaugural Bexley Community Book Club is Linda and Frank Kass. Lead sponsors include Crane Group Co., Glimcher Realty Trust, The Jeffrey Company, Mount Carmel Health System, National City, Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP, and Schottenstein Stores Corporation.

Proceeds from Bexley Community Book Club, through sponsorships, ticket sales and book sales, will help support literary, performing and visual arts facilities and/or programs for the Bexley City Schools through the Arts Endowment Fund of the Bexley Education Foundation. Further information, including individual ticket sales information (advance general admission tickets are $25 each), can be obtained by calling the BEF office at 338-2093.

The Bexley Education Foundation funds programs and projects to ensure educational excellence in the Bexley City Schools, one of the top public school districts in the state and nation.