Great Michigan Read author Emily St. John Mandel to visit Bayliss Library

NEWS RELEASE

BAYLISS PUBLIC LIBRARY

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Great Michigan Read author Emily St. John Mandel to visit Bayliss

Bayliss Public Library, an affiliate of Superior District Library, is hosting the 2015-16 Great Michigan Read author, Emily St. John Mandel on Tuesday, April 5 at 7 p.m.

She will be speaking about her novel Station Eleven, the story of the Traveling Symphony, a troupe of Shakespearean actors and musicians traveling the shores of the Great Lakes in a post-apocalyptic Michigan.

Ninety-nine percent of the population has died from a flu pandemic.

The book is the story of the survival of those left behind who strive to remake their lives by preserving the qualities that make us human: culture, art and humanities.

Emily St. John Mandel was born and raised on the west coast of British Columbia, Canada.

She studied contemporary dance at the School of Toronto Dance Theatre and lived briefly in Montreal before relocating to New York.

Her fourth novel, Station Eleven, was a 2014 National Book Award Finalist, a 2015 Michigan Notable Book, and a 2015 winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award.

All four of her novels were Indie Next Picks, and The Singer’s Gun was the 2014 winner of the Prix Mystere de la Critique in France.

Her short fiction and essays have been anthologized in numerous collections, including Best American Mystery Stories 2013.

She is a staff writer for The Millions, and she lives in New York City with her husband.

Station Eleven has been the focus of various programs at Bayliss Library in March and at libraries throughout Michigan this year.

The book appeals to audiences from young adult to senior citizen and to those especially interested in post-apocalyptic and suspenseful writing.

The author says, “It’s also about friendship, memory, love, celebrity, our obsession with objects, oppressive dinner parties, comic books, and knife-throwing.”

Book World will provide books for sale and signing at the April 5 event.

The Friends of Bayliss Library will provide refreshments.

The Great Michigan Read is presented by the Michigan Humanities Council, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and is generously funded by Meijer and other businesses and foundations, organizations, and individuals.

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