2020 If All Arkansas Read the Same Book events to be virtual

LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas State Library’s 2020 If All Arkansas Read the Same Book community-read project will be a virtual event this year, a news release said.

“Due to the continuing challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Arkansas Center for the Book at the Arkansas State Library has made the difficult decision to transition from faceto-face events to two 90-minute virtual activities with the author,” the release said.

The virtual events will take place on Wednesday, July 15, and Thursday, July 16, and both events will be available statewide.

As previously announced, Kim Michele Richardson’s bestselling novel, “The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek” (Sourcebooks Landmark, 2019), is the selection for the 2020 If All Arkansas Read the Same Book.

The release said additional details will be provided closer to the event dates. Additional activities and programs via social media are also planned to encourage reading and discussing the book across the state of Arkansas throughout the summer.

Richardson has written four works of historical fiction and a bestselling memoir, “The Unbreakable Child.” Her latest multi-award winning novel, “The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek,” is a New York Times bestseller and has earned a 2019 LibraryReads Best Book, a 2019 Forbes Best Historical Novel, an Oprah’s Buzziest Books pick and a Women’s National Book Association Great Group Reads selection.

Inspired by the Works Progress Administration Pack Horse Library initiative in Kentucky during the Great Depression, the novel “resonates with a moving and vivid focus on how books, reading and libraries can change lives. Kim Michele Richardson lives with her family in Kentucky and is also the founder of the Shy Rabbit residency for writers and artists.”

If All Arkansas Read the Same Book is presented by the Arkansas Center for the Book at the Arkansas State Library, which is a division of the Arkansas Department of Education. The project is made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.