The publication date for Harper Lee's Go Set a Watchman (Harper) is only 12 days away. Last month, we gave an overview of the many launch parties, film screenings and readings that bookstores are planning to celebrate this historic release. Here are more:
Gibson's Bookstore, Concord, N.H., will host a reading of To Kill a Mockingbird in its entirety, beginning July 13 at noon and ending at midnight on July 14. Readers include a New Hampshire Public Radio host, a teacher, a librarian, executive director of the Humanities Council and other "local luminaries."
Left Bank Books, St. Louis, Mo., opens at 8 a.m. July 14 for an all-day Mockingbird read-a-thon featuring authors Jody Feldman and Sarah Bromley. Customers can reserve their own 15-minute reading slot to receive a Go Set a Watchman button. Watchman purchasers will get free coffee and donuts, and a cocktail during the 5-7 p.m. "literary cocktail hour." A Kobo, autographed books and bookstore swag will be raffled to benefit River City Readers, a local school literacy program.
Fairfield University Bookstore, Fairfield, Conn., managed by Follett, is hosting a read-a-thon of Watchman on July 14 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. by professors, librarians and any book lovers who RSVP to FairfieldUBookstoreEvents@gmail.com with availability and contact information.
Chester County Book Company, West Chester, Pa., hosts a Mockingbird book discussion at 10 p.m. on July 13, followed by a midnight release party for Watchman with food and beverages.
Anderson's Bookshops, Naperville and Downers Grove, Ill., is organizing a book discussion, film screening and launch party at the historic Tivoli Theatre in Downers Grove, according to the Chicago Tribune, beginning 8 p.m. on July 13. Tickets are $36 and include a copy of Watchman, with the option of buying up to two $10 companion tickets. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Charleston County Public Library's Cynthia Graham Hurd Memorial Fund, in honor of the librarian killed at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., last month.
Bookshop Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, Calif., and the Del Mar Theatre present a screening of To Kill a Mockingbird on July 14 at 7:30 p.m. followed by a discussion of the film and book. Tickets are $7.50 for the movie or $33.50 for a seat, Watchman at a 15% discount and a "What Would Scout Do?" bumper sticker.
Norwich Bookstore, Norwich, Vt., will serve Mockingbird-themed refreshments, sweet tea cakes and homemade lemonade, on the afternoon of July 14, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., as long as their supplies last.
The University of Mary Washington Bookstore, Fredericksburg, Va., hosts a book talk and reception from 1 to 3 p.m. on July 14. English professor Gary Richards, an expert on Southern literature and Harper Lee, will speak and answer questions, according to Fredericksburg's Free Lance-Star.
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| Mary Badham | |
Actress Mary Badham, whose performance as Scout in the 1962 Mockingbird film earned her an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress at age 10, will read from Mockingbird and Watchman at the 92nd Street Y's Poetry Center in Manhattan on July 14 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $24. Watch the live stream here.
U.K. independent bookstores will also be joining in the festivities, according to the Bookseller. Wallingford Bookshop in Oxfordshire, Rossiter Bookshop in Monmouth, Castle Bookshop in Ludlow, Pengwern Books in Shrewsbury, City Books in Hove, Foyles in Charing Cross Road and Newham Bookshop in East London (in conjunction with the Wanstead Tap, a craft beer emporium), are all screening the Mockingbird film in a run up to midnight sales of Watchman.
Northumberland's Forum Books opens early on July 14 for speed reader Anne Jones's attempt to read Watchman in under 30 minutes, while Devizes Books in Wiltshire hosts musician Liam Rafferty, who has written a musical starring Atticus Finch, and London's Lutyens & Rubinstein has a publication day discussion panel. Other indies will compete in a window display contest by U.K. publisher Penguin Random House using the hashtag #GoSetAWatchman, with a case of wine as the prize for regional winners. --Tobias Mutter