<div dir="ltr"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><b>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE</b></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><b>October 10, 2018</b></p>

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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><b>CONTACT</b></p>

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;font-size:12pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Karen Trout<br>Coordinator, Reading Together<br>Kalamazoo Public Library<br>269-553-7895  <span class="gmail-MsoHyperlink" style="color:rgb(5,99,193);text-decoration-line:underline"><a href="mailto:karent@kpl.gov" style="color:rgb(5,99,193)">karent@kpl.gov</a></span></p>

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<p align="center" style="margin:2.4pt 0in 9.6pt;text-align:center;line-height:18pt;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><b><span style="font-size:14pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:black">Kalamazoo Public Library - 2019 Reading Together Author:</span></b><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:black"><br>
<b>Angie Thomas: The Hate U Give</b></span></p>

<p style="margin:2.4pt 0in 9.6pt;line-height:18pt;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="background-color:rgb(243,243,243)"><font color="#000000">Kalamazoo, MI - Wednesday, October 10, 2018.</font></span> <a href="http://www.kpl.gov/" title="Kalamazoo Public Library" style="color:rgb(5,99,193)">Kalamazoo Public Library</a></span><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:black"> is pleased to announce the </span><a href="http://www.kpl.gov/reading-together/" title="Reading Together" style="color:rgb(5,99,193)"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(25,114,204)">Reading Together</span></a><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:black"> title for 2019: <em>The Hate U Give </em>by <i>New York Times</i> bestselling author Angie Thomas. Join us at </span><span class="gmail-MsoHyperlink" style="color:rgb(5,99,193);text-decoration-line:underline"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(25,114,204)"><a href="http://www.cheneryaud.com/" title="Chenery Auditorium" style="color:rgb(5,99,193)"><span style="color:rgb(25,114,204)">Chenery Auditorium</span></a></span></span><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:black"> on Wednesday, April 17, 2019, 7 pm to hear Thomas trace the development of her book—and in so doing, speak to the heart of race, activism and social change in America today. Admission is free and open to the public. The presentation will be followed by a book signing. Bookbug/this is a bookstore will sell copies of <em>The Hate U Give</em> at the event.</span></p>

<p style="margin:2.4pt 0in 9.6pt;line-height:18pt;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:black">Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter navigates between the poverty-stricken neighborhood where she lives and the upper-crust suburban prep school she attends. Her life is up-ended when she is the sole witness to the shooting of her childhood best friend, Khalil, by a police officer. As Starr finds herself even more torn between the two vastly different worlds she inhabits, she also has to contend with speaking her truth and, in the process, trying to stay alive herself. </span></p>

<p style="margin:2.4pt 0in 9.6pt;line-height:18pt;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><i><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:black">The Hate U Give</span></i><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:black">—widely known as the first Black Lives Matter-inspired YA novel—has been a #1 <i>New York Times</i> bestseller for 70 weeks. Described as “the best—and most important—book of the year,” by <i>Entertainment Weekly</i>, it has already been adapted into a major feature film (Oct. 19), and Thomas’ hotly anticipated follow-up <i>On the Come Up (</i>Feb. 5)<i> </i>is generating buzz. Thomas’ keynotes resonate with the same authenticity, insight, and hope that make her book so powerful, and give context and background to the culture, politics, and movement that inspired it.  </span></p>

<p style="margin:2.4pt 0in 9.6pt;line-height:18pt;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:black">Copies of <i>The Hate U Give</i> are now available at all five </span><a href="http://www.kpl.gov/locations-hours/" style="color:rgb(5,99,193)"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">KPL locations</span></a><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:black">. </span></p>

<p style="margin:2.4pt 0in 9.6pt;line-height:18pt;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><strong style="font-size:12pt"><i><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:black">“Angie Thomas has written a stunning, brilliant, gut-wrenching novel that will be remembered as a classic of our time.”</span></i></strong><strong style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:black"> – John Green, #1 NYT Bestselling Author of <i>The Fault of our Stars.</i></span></strong></p>

<p style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:19.5pt;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><strong><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:black">About the Author</span></strong><b><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:black"><br>
</span></b><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:black">Angie Thomas is the inaugural winner of the Walter Dean Myers Grant 2015, awarded by We Need Diverse Books. Born, raised, and still residing in Jackson, Mississippi—and a former teen rapper—she holds a BFA in Creative Writing from Belhaven University and an unofficial degree in hip hop.<br><br></span></p>

<p style="margin:2.4pt 0in 9.6pt;line-height:18pt;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><strong><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:black">About Reading Together</span></strong><b><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:black"><br>
</span></b><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:black">The purpose of Reading Together is to build a stronger community with deeper connections through the common experience of reading the same book and exploring its themes together. When we do that, we engage and learn, not only about ourselves, but more importantly about each other and the world around us.</span></p>

<p style="margin:2.4pt 0in 9.6pt;line-height:18pt;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:black">By experiencing the same book, hearing the author of that work speak right here in Kalamazoo, and examining the book’s themes through a local lens, we are able to embrace our similarities and differences from a common point of reference.</span></p>

<p style="margin:2.4pt 0in 9.6pt;line-height:18pt;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-size:12pt;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:black">Very simply, when we read together, we grow together. Learn more at </span><a href="http://www.kpl.gov/reading-together" title="www.kpl.gov/reading-together" style="color:rgb(5,99,193)"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:rgb(25,114,204)">www.kpl.gov/reading-together</span></a><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:black">.</span></p></div>