ATLANTA “Save the Book Review” READ-IN!

WHAT: ATLANTA Save the Book Review READ-IN! Bring a book (or many books!) you love, and let’s create a critical mass of readers to put the pressure on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution to reverse its terrible decision to “reorganize” its book review out of existence! They got rid of the book review editor, and without an official champion for books within the paper, the quality of books coverage is endangered! It will become disorganized and sporadic, if not simply perfunctory, until, worse, it’s no longer there.

TIME: 10:00 AM until…you decide!

DATE: THURSDAY, MAY 3, 2007
*rain or shine

LOCATION: Converge in front of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Hold open your book and read aloud or to yourself. Trust me, you won’t be the only one. Picture hundreds of people doing the same thing! [*directions below]

WHO: Open to any and all readers and lovers of books and newspapers. Come one, come all Atlantans (or ATLiens), Georgians, and maybe even some of you hardcore out-of-staters.

WHY: Because the city of Atlanta wants a robust, reader-friendly, intelligent book review, not just a section run on auto-pilot from above. Teresa Weaver has created and run exactly this kind of section for almost ten years now and we want the AJC to reward her expertise, not eliminate her job.

Again, if you haven’t signed the "Protect Atlanta's Book Review " petition yet, here’s the link to it:

"Protect Atlanta's Book Review "

http://www.petitiononline.com/atl2007/petition.html

This week, the National Book Critics Circle’s launched a big campaign to help save book review sections in newspapers nationwide, and the momentum will continue next week. Read what authors, critics, and many other voices in the world of books and publishing have been saying about the issue.

http://bookcriticscircle.blogspot.com/

Thank so much for your support, and PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD.


Bet you never thought of book reviews in terms of the endangered species list!