To celebrate the joy of shared reading and encourage more people to get involved in reading groups, the Women's National Book Association (WNBA) has designated October as National Reading Group Month (NRGM). October, 2009, will be the third annual celebration.

Festivities will include events with a host of favorite book club authors. These will take place across the nation in each of the Association's ten chapter cities: Boston, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles, Nashville, New York City, San Francisco, Washington, DC, Seattle, and the newly formed Charlotte, North Carolina chapter. WNBA (don't you love the initials?) is a non-profit educational professional trade organization, promoting books and reading since 1917. The Association draws members from all segments of the book industry.

NRGM and the New Jersey State Library Association will present "Readers, Writers & Reading Groups: A Day of Reading Group Workshops" at the College of New Jersey- Ewing, on Saturday, October 3rd. I will be presenting two workshops at this conference; they are "Book Passion: My Life as a Reading Group Facilitator: Tips from the Frontline." Both of my workshops will be moderated by April Judge, the director of this conference. April was in the audience at the panel I was on at Book Expo America at the Javits Center in NYC, and right then and there, she had me ink in October 3rd. How could I not go to a librarians' conference when librarians are some of my favorite people? They have the same value system I do, and when I was a teacher, I could always be found hanging out with the librarians, or media specialists as they're now called. It's the librarians who defend the First Amendment and are always in the firing line about censorship. I can't wait to spend the day with them - this is all very heady and exciting!