Tenth Annual Roswell Reads Event!

Roswell Reads is a community-wide reading event inviting all residents to read the same book. Events, book discussions and a visit from the author of this year's selection will all be held throughout the month of March, so start marking your calendar's now! Imagine hundreds of Roswell residents sharing the experience of reading and discussing a common book and you have the essence of Roswell Reads. It is based on the "One Book...One City" community reading programs held across the country. Sponsored by the City of Roswell, the Friends of the Roswell Library and the Roswell Reads Committee, the novel selected for 2015 is The Distance Between Us by award-winning author Reyna Grande. 

The Distance Between Us is Reyna Grande’s personal, heart-wrenching, and ultimately triumphant memoir about her journey from Mexico to the United States as an undocumented child immigrant, where she learned that the separation between a parent and child can be measured as much in emotional distance and abandonment as it can be in miles. An engaging writer with a talent for infusing her narrative with personal and affecting characterizations and stories, Grande truly offers an unprecedented look into the immigration experience and the reality that millions of people are facing each day. The Distance Between Us is an inspirational coming-of-age story about the pursuit of a better life. 

You can find copies of this title in the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System by searching our catalog. Below you will see a complete list of all the events that will be taking place. The award-winning author will talk about this book and her writing at the Roswell Reads Literary Luncheon on Saturday, March 14, 2015, at 11:30 a.m. at the Roswell Adult Recreation Center, 830 Grimes Bridge Road, 770-641-3950.

Luncheon tickets are $20 each and are available online or may be purchased in person (no mail-ins) at the Friends of the Roswell Library Bookstore at the Roswell Library. Reserved seating for groups of six or more. We hope to see you at one or all of these fantastic literary events!

Roswell Reads The Distance Between Us

Roswell Branch115 Norcross Street, Roswell 30075 For information call 770.640.3075 Roswell Reads Children’s Program: Me and My Family StorySaturday, February 28. 2:00 p.m.  Hear the children’s Roswell Reads selection My Diary from Here to There by Amada Irma Perez read in English and Spanish. Then discuss your family history and start your own diary. Led by Vicky Jaksic and Martha Powell, Media Specialists in the Fulton County School System. Roswell Reads Book Discussion: Sunday Afternoon with Mary AppsSunday, March 1. 2:00 p.m.  Discussion of Roswell Reads 2015 book selection The Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande. Roswell Reads Book Discussion: Dana Barrett and FriendsTuesday, March 3. 7:00 p.m.  Discussion of Roswell Reads 2015 book selection The Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande. Roswell Reads Book Discussion: East Roswell Becomes Part of Roswell ReadsSunday, March 8. 2:00 p.m.  Debbie Weiss leads a discussion of Roswell Reads 2015 book selection The Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande. Roswell Reads Program: Immigration StoriesTuesday, March 10. 7:00 p.m.  Panel discussion with local immigrants who share their stories as well as stories of immigration from the StoryCorps library. Moderated by Daniel Horowitz Garcia, Regional Manager for StoryCorps in Atlanta. Roswell Reads Program: Writing Your StoryFriday, March 13. 10:00 a.m. Jessica Handler, memoirist and author of Invisible Sisters and Braving the Firewill teach a class on writing your own memoir or autobiography. This program held at Roswell City Hall, 38 Hill Street, Room 220, Roswell, GA 30075. Roswell Reads Program: Literary Luncheon Featuring Reyna GrandeSaturday, March 14. 11:30 a.m.  Join us for a luncheon with the author of The Distance Between Us. Ms. Grande will discuss her life and work. This program will be held at the Roswell Adult Recreation Center, 830 Grimes Bridge Road, Roswell, GA 30075.

East Roswell Library Grand Opening Celebration!

Please join us as your new East Roswell Library makes it's long anticipated debut! The Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System announces the grand opening of the new East Roswell Library, which will open to the public with a celebration on Friday, February 20 at 11:00 a.m.

The new 15,000-square-foot library for East Roswell is part of Phase I of the Library Building Program. The library is located at 2301 Holcomb Bridge Road in Roswell.

KHAFRA Engineering Consultants, in association with Holzheimer Bolek Meehan Architects, provided design and engineering services for the new library. Ajax Building Corporation of Georgia provided construction management services on this project, and Heery/Russell, a joint venture, is the program management team.

The East Roswell Library’s design centers around a connection with its wooded surroundings creating a functional library space within a canopy of trees. The use of natural materials such as stone and wood combined with the large expanses of glass filter the boundary between the exterior and interior spaces of the library while providing views to patrons looking out from within the building. A welcoming covered bridge entry leads visitors into the space where they are immediately presented with views through the building and into the natural landscape beyond. The community will enjoy and use its meeting room, study rooms and separate spaces for children and teens. 

An important part of each new library is its public art project. Through the Fulton County Art in Public Places Resolution, 1% of each building project budget goes toward the creation of public art. For the East Roswell Library, artist Chris Condon was selected through a community-driven selection process, and has produced a series of wood and stone sculptures of woodland animals visitors will see throughout the library entitled, New Growth Forest. 

In November 2008, Fulton County voters overwhelmingly passed the Library Bond Referendum. The plan will greatly enhance all of the county’s libraries, and includes 8 new branch libraries: Alpharetta, East Roswell, Milton, Northwest Atlanta, Palmetto, Southeast Atlanta, Metropolitan and Wolf Creek and two expansion projects: Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History and the South Fulton Library. The Library Building Program plan maintains 34 libraries, the current number of libraries in the system, by eliminating leased spaces and its oldest libraries. Green building design and sustainability are priorities for these library building projects, and the Library System expects to achieve LEED Silver on all of the Phase I projects.

Those attending the event are asked to park in the front parking lot of East Roswell Park, located at 9000 Fouts Road, Roswell, and a shuttle will take attendees from this location to the ceremony; there is no parking available at the site the morning of the event.

For more information or to R.S.V.P. please call 404-730-1977 or email zenobia.claxton@fultoncountyga.gov. To keep up-to-date on the Library Building Program or other library events, visit our website. We hope to see a lot of our patrons on this exciting day!

Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System is the largest in the state, with 34 libraries and a collection of more than 2.3 million items. It offers innovative programs, services and virtual resources tailored to meet the needs of each branch's community. Children, teens and adults may choose from a variety of classes, visit exhibitions, listen to authors discuss their work, check out videos, DVDs and CDs, attend book club discussions, get homework help, hear music and see live performances. Last year patrons borrowed more than 2.7 million items, made 3.4 million visits to the libraries and our website had over 7.9 million hits.