Amarillo Public Library 1 out of 30 in the US to host book discussion group

AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - The Amarillo Public Library is one out of 30 libraries in the U.S. selected to host a book discussion group called Stories of Exile.

The discussion will cover four books made up of short stories and essays which have been translated from Yiddish to English and cover a broad topic.

“The refugee experience, themes of displacement, diaspora, homelessness, identity and journeys from country to country, and they use Yiddish literature as a launching pad or portal for that discussion,” said Program Specialist for the Amarillo Public Library Cynthia Hunt.

The library will also be providing program for each month that is related to the book discussion.

“The first one is going to have Courtney Crowley from WTAMU’s history department, she’ll be talking about anti-semitism,” said Hunt.

One thing to be highlighted is they will offer the discussion virtually to Region 16 teachers.

“Dalhart or Perryton or Canadian, they can just stay after school for a little bit and we’ll be doing a book club from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. virtually, and if they want to take part in that they can get up to three hours of continuing education credit,” said Hunt.

The library says after success of past programs they’ve been a part of, they are looking forward to the community’s involvement.

“When we hosted the World on the Move traveling exhibition, people came and they shared their own stories, they learned about stories of migration from all over the world and again they told us that they learned so much, and that is the same kind of reaction we expect to have with stories of exile,” said APL Coordinator of PR & Programming Stacy Clopton.

The series will be starting within the next month.

“The book discussion group itself is going to start in September and it will meet once a month September through December, and then it will be over,” said Hunt.

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