The Maryland Humanities Council is pleased to bring celebrated author James McBride to tour Maryland this September and October. McBride’s novel, Song Yet Sung, has been chosen as the 2009 title for One Maryland One Book, Maryland’s only statewide community reading program, which is now in its second year.

McBride, an award-winning author, composer, and screenwriter, is also the author of the New York Times best-selling memoir,The Color of Water, and the novel, Miracle at St. Anna, which was recently made into a film directed by Spike Lee.

Set on Maryland’s Eastern Shore in the 1850s, Song Yet Sung weaves an intricate and gripping tale of escaped slaves, free blacks, and slave-catchers. The protagonist is an enslaved woman called The Dreamer, whose gift for visions of the future quickly reaches mythic proportions following her escape from a local plantation.

”I am delighted. It has to be one of the proudest moments of my career,” said McBride on hearing of the selection of Song Yet Sung as Maryland’s book for 2009. “The fact that the book was chosen by native Marylanders means all that much more. Like many Americans, I had no idea that the Eastern Shore of Maryland was the gateway to freedom for so many; nor did I realize the depth and complexity of relationships that existed between blacks and whites at that time, all of which were played out in Maryland.”

McBride will kick-off his tour of Maryland at the 2009 Baltimore Book Festival, where he will speak at the festival’s Literary Salon. In addition to Baltimore City, McBride will visit seven Maryland counties. Scheduled tour dates are:

Baltimore Book Festival,
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Noon
Literary Salon
Mount Vernon Square (East Park), Baltimore
Information: 410-685-0095

Sunday, September 27, 2009
4:00 p.m.
Bridgeway Community Church
9189 Red Branch Road, Columbia
Information: 410-730-4855

Monday, October 26, 2009
10:00 a.m.
North Hagerstown High School
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, Hagerstown
Information: 301-739-3250 ext. 186

Monday, October 26, 2009
7:00 p.m.
Montgomery College Rockville Campus
Theatre Arts Arena
51 Mannakee Street, Rockville
Information: 240-567-7417

Tuesday, October 27, 2009
2:30 p.m.
Bowie State University
Thurgood Marshall Library, Special Collections Room, Suite 2202
14000 Jericho Park Road, Bowie
Information: 301-860-3850

Wednesday, October 28, 2009
9:30 a.m.
North Dorchester High School
5875 Cloverdale Road, Hurlock
Information: 410-228-7331

Wednesday, October 28, 2009
2:30 p.m.
University of Maryland Eastern Shore
Student Services Center Theater, Princess Anne
Information: 410-651-7696

Wednesday, October 28, 2009
7:00 p.m.
Salisbury University
Guerrieri University Center, Wicomico Room
Dogwood Drive, Salisbury
Information: 410-543-6100

Thursday, October 29, 2009
4:30 p.m.
Washington College
The Alonzo G. and Virginia Gent Decker Theatre
Gibson Center for the Arts
300 Washington Avenue, Chestertown
Information: 410-778-7899

In addition to McBride’s author tour, every Maryland jurisdiction will participate in One Maryland One Book by holding local programs in September and October at libraries, colleges and universities, high schools, museums, and bookstores. There will be over 100 events around the state, including book discussions, living history performances, author appearances, and writing workshops. Updated event information will be posted on the One Maryland One Book calendar atwww.onemarylandonebook.org.

One Maryland One Book, a program of the Maryland Center for the Book at the Maryland Humanities Council, is Maryland’s first and only statewide community reading project. One Maryland One Book is designed to bring together diverse people in communities across the state through the shared experience of reading the same book and participating in book-centered discussions and other related programming. All related public programming will take place in September and October 2009.

One Maryland One Book is funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, LSTA grant funds, through the Division of Library Development & Services, Maryland State Department of Education; Bank of America Foundation; Verizon; Constellation Energy; and Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts and in partnership with the Enoch Pratt Free Library and Barnes and Noble.

For more information or for organizations interested in partnering with the Maryland Humanities Council on this project, visit the website at www.onemarylandonebook.org or call 410-685-6161.

The Maryland Humanities Council is a statewide, educational, nonprofit organization that is affiliated with the National Endowment for the Humanities. The purpose of the Council is to stimulate and promote informed dialogue and civic engagement on issues critical to Marylanders.