2005 CITYWIDE READS FEATURES
THE KITE RUNNER

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date:       November 1, 2004
Contact:  Susan Annett, Principal Librarian, Public Services, (310) 458-8640
                susan.annett@smgov.net
               

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is the featured book for Santa Monica Citywide Reads scheduled for April 11 through May 21, 2005. Sponsored by the City of Santa Monica and the Santa Monica Public Library, Citywide Reads is a community reading program that invites residents and visitors to Santa Monica to read The Kite Runner (Riverhead Books, 2003) and to discuss the novel in book clubs held citywide.

Set in Afghanistan and in America, this book traces the unlikely friendship of a wealthy Afghan youth and a servant's son, in a tale that spans three decades, from the final days of Afghanistan's monarchy through the Soviet invasion and the reign of the Taliban to the present day. "This novel invites readers to peer through a window into Afghanistan before the Russian occupation and imagine what it would be like to grow up during troubled times," says Carol Jago, Santa Monica High School’s English department chair and a member of the Citywide Reads Advisory Committee. "The author offers no simple solutions but rather a heartbreaking story of friends caught up in history. After reading this novel, media coverage of the region took on new meaning. Fiction can sometimes teach us every bit as much as news reports."

The author, Khaled Hosseini, was born in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1965 and emigrated with his family to California in 1980, where he has been a practicing physician since 1996. The Kite Runner is Hosseini’s debut novel and is the first Afghan novel to be written in English. Published to much critical acclaim--including designation as the "Best Book of the Year" by the San Francisco Chronicle and recipient of a 2004 Alex Award as an adult book that appeals to teen readers--The Kite Runner is currently a best-selling paperback and available as an audio book. For more information about the author and the book, visit www.khaledhosseini.com.

Santa Monica Citywide Reads 2005 takes place April 11 through May 21, and features free public book discussion groups held in coffeehouses, bookstores, libraries, and other venues. Related events, such as lectures, a World Music performance, and an appearance by the author Khaled Hosseini at Santa Monica College on May 21, are also being planned. For information about Citywide Reads, visit www.smpl.org/cwr or call the Santa Monica Public Library at (310) 458-8600.

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This page was last updated on 11/22/04.