Shorewood Reads 2018, a community read featuring the award-winning novel Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, will kick off on Wednesday, January 24, with a Story Slam.
The open mic event will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the lower level meeting room of the Shorewood Village Center, 3920 N. Murray Ave., with storytellers of all ages invited to share five-minute personal stories or original fictional tales on the theme of airports or transportation, topics evoked in Station Eleven. Makayla Campbell, a senior at Shorewood High School who has been involved in theater for seven years, will emcee the event.
Mandel's Station Eleven is set in the Upper Midwest along the shores of Lake Michigan, and features the exploits of a traveling Shakespearean theatre troupe and a small orchestra attempting to bring culture and hope to small communities that have survived a horrendous flu pandemic. The troupe's motto, "survival is insufficient," is powerful and timely. The novel was a 2014 National Book Award Finalist and winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award.
Shorewood Reads 2018 will include more than a dozen major events over the next few months, culminating in a visit from Mandel on April 10. Its goal is to unite the community through a shared reading experience. The major sponsors of the program are the Shorewood Library, Friends of Shorewood Library, the Shorewood Foundation, and the Shorewood Schools.
All Shorewood Reads events are free and open to the public.
More information on Shorewood Reads 2018 is available at http://www.shorewoodlibrary.org/shorewoodreads/