Please Join Us for
The First Annual Book 'Em North Carolina Event!
Please make plans now to join me, more than 75 authors and more than half a dozen publishers at the First Annual Book 'Em North Carolina event! We are asking all authors and publishers to help spread the word your friends, family, fans, and customers!
Where &When
Robeson Community College
A.D. Lewis Auditorium (Building 15)
5160 Fayetteville Road
Lumberton, North Carolina 28358
February 25, 2012
9:30 AM - 4:00 PM
It's FREE and open to the public!
OUR STATE Magazine lists it as one of the top five things every North Carolinian needs to do in February!
Meet New York Times best-selling authors Carla Neggers and Michael Palmer, more than 30 award-winning authors, more than 75 authors of various genres, and more than 6 publishers for an innovative Writers Conference & Book Fair to raise money for literacy campaigns!
I'll be there with my four mysteries and I hope to see you there. Here's a message from co-founder, Trish Terrell:
Buy a Book – and Stop a Crook!
Many of us enjoy what reading a book can do for us. It can take us around the world, through the ages, enlighten, educate, pull at our emotions, change our perceptions of the world, and so much more.
But have you ever stopped to think about the connection between being literate and living in a low crime area? Or how literacy impacts social services?
It’s a fact that 83% of all those in juvenile court are functionally illiterate. Have you ever wondered how their lives might have been changed if they’d learned to love books and reading?
More than 60% of our prison population is functionally illiterate, and most male inmates read at a third grade level or below. At a time when the prison population is exploding, could literacy be one key to reducing that number?
A full 90% of all welfare recipients are high school dropouts. At a time when jobs are hard to come by, those without reading skills are destined for lives at minimum wage—if they can find a job. And as comedian Chris Rock so eloquently put it (and I paraphrase) employers paying minimum wage are saying if they could pay you less, they would. Reading is one ticket out of that cycle.
The national unemployment rate for persons without a high school education is double the rate for persons with some college.
Three out of every four food stamp recipients perform at the lowest literacy levels—usually below third grade.
With these facts in mind, Book ‘Em North Carolina comes to Lumberton on Saturday, February 25, 2012 with an innovative book fair and writers conference. It takes place from 9:30 am to 4:00 pm at Robeson Community College, conveniently located along Interstate 95 at Exit 22 and just 8 miles from Interstate 74.
More than 75 authors will be on hand to sell and sign their books, with a substantial portion of the proceeds going to increase literacy in our community. More than 6 publishers will join these authors for panel discussions and solo talks on everything from writing to publishing to improving the quality of your life.
New York Times best-selling authors Carla Neggers and Michael Palmer are traveling from Vermont and Massachusetts to help bring attention to the connection between illiteracy and crime and raise money to increase literacy and reduce crime. Both have new books being released and Lumberton is one of their first stops to launch these new titles.
A Children’s Corner will conduct readings to the smallest children all day long, as well as special activities and events. And the first 100 children age 9 and younger will receive a free book when they come to the Children’s Corner Saturday morning.
With authors coming from as far away as Scotland and attendees coming from New Jersey, Florida and points in between, it’s sure to be an exciting, fun-filled day. We hope you’ll join us! For more information, visit www.bookemnc.org.
This guest blog was written by suspense author and Book ‘Em Foundation co-founder p.m.terrell.
