A pandemic-driven book club has grown into something Rebecca Harper never imagined.
“It’s blown up. It’s been wonderful,” said Harper, an associate professor of literacy and director of the Augusta University Writing Project, of the virtual author series she began more than a year ago.
The main goal of the project was to connect teachers with the authors of books they could use in their classrooms.
Harper has her biggest virtual author event to date scheduled for Jan. 8 — Jason Reynolds, New York Times Bestselling author, who has written books such as “Miles Morales: Spider Man,” the Track series (“Ghost,” “Patina,” “Sunny” and “Lu”) and “Long Way Down,” which received a Newberry honor, a Printz honor and a Coretta Scott King honor.
“He’s a huge force in young adult literature,” Harper said.
Harper learned of him before he became well-known.
“I met him several years ago. He signed a book for me. Nobody was in line,” she said.
Now, it’s a different story, and it took several months to get the details of Reynolds’ engagement worked out. Harper is excited about the event.
[adrotate banner=”51″]
While the number of participants in other virtual book club meetings has ranged from a low of 10 to a high of 100 with an average of about 30, registration for the Reynolds’ event had already surpassed them all by mid-December with more than 244 reservations made.
And it has drawn the attention of the national Writing Project, which will facilitate the technical side of this virtual meeting, she said.
The project began in 2020 after Harper wondered if an author might be interested in speaking to a group of teachers about his books. She reached out, and the author said “yes.” That gave her the confidence boost she needed to ask others.
Some authors have declined, and some have had speaking fees that were out of her budget, but Harper has persisted.
She branched out into specific types of author events such as an LGBTQ author series in June.
Through the talks, she’s achieved her goals, and she’s gotten books into the hands of students. Close to 1,000 books have been donated and given to teachers who’ve participated in the workshops.
Not only do teachers in the Augusta area participate, but teachers nationwide are able to access the virtual program.
The talk with Jason Reynolds will be at 3 p.m. Jan. 8. To learn more or to register, visit https://augusta.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cw5GKTheCL0OpDM
Charmain Z. Brackett is the Features Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com
