Award-Winning Independent Booksellers | Since 2001

LET'S TALK BOOKS: THE ROLE OF THE CRITIC IN THE DIGITAL AGE

A ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION WITH FOUR ACCLAIMED BOOK REVIEWERS

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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 14TH | 2PM

What have been the most talked-about books of 2017? How do reviewers avoid conflicts of interest in an ever-connected world? What is the role of the critic in the digital age — and do book reviews even matter anymore? Four acclaimed book reviewers — Bethanne Patrick, Susan Coll, Marion Winik, and Harvey Freedenberg — weigh in on the ethics of book reviewing, why the critic still matters, and what should be at the top of your reading list for 2017. In exploring the role of the book reviewer in the age of the internet, our critics give us an inside-baseball perspective of the industry — and what it means for book reviews going forward. This event is sponsored by Susquehanna University Department of English & Creative Writing.

Bethanne Patrick, writer, author and journalist, is above all a reader, one who has built her career on talking and writing about books. Whether she’s recommending a great book, interviewing a novelist or promoting reading online, Bethanne covers both the creative and digital side of the publishing industry. In 2009, she founded the popular #FridayReads hashtag under the Twitter handle @BookMaven. The weekly #FridayReads conversation, which peaks on Fridays but runs 24/7, attracts thousands of readers around the world.

Longtime All Things Considered commentator (1991-2006) Marion Winik is the host of The Weekly Reader radio show and podcast based at Baltimore's NPR station, WYPR. She reviews books for Newsday, People, Kirkus Review and other venues. She is the author of First Comes Love, The Glen Rock Book of the Dead and seven other books. Her monthly column at BaltimoreFishbowl.com has received the “Best Column” and “Best Humorist” awards from Baltimore Magazine, and her essays have been published in The New York Times Magazine, The Sun and many other publications. She is a professor in the MFA program at the University of Baltimore.

Susan Coll is the author of five novels, most recently The Stager-- -a New York Times and Chicago Tribune Editor’s Choice. Her work has appeared in publications including the New York Times Book Review, the Washington Post, Washingtonian Magazine, Moment Magazine, NPR.org, atlantic.com, and The Millions. She is currently teaching an intensive, year-long novel writing class at The Writer’s Center in Bethesda and worked at Politics & Prose bookstore, where she oversaw events and programs for five years.

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Beginning with reviews for BookPage, Harvey Freedenberg has been writing about books since 2005, and in that time has written more than 700 reviews for publication. Harvey, who is a member of the National Book Critics Circle, writes for print publications and websites that include Bookreporter.com Shelf-Awareness.com, Harrisburg Magazine and the Minneapolis Star Tribune, as well as various literary blogs. Harvey served on the Board of the Dauphin County Library System for 17 years, including two years as its President, and, for several years, was a member of the Selection Committee for the “One Book, One Community” program.