Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Vote on What NYC's Biggest Book Club Will Read First

By Julia Bottles | February 1, 2017 2:26pm | Updated on February 3, 2017 2:52pm
 The city is letting New Yorkers pick which novel will be the first in its
The city is letting New Yorkers pick which novel will be the first in its "One Book, One New York" program.
View Full Caption
Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment

New York City's launching its biggest book club.

Wednesday, the city announced "One Book, One New York," a program that will try to get New Yorkers all reading the same book — and they're letting bibliophiles pick which one it'll be.

Throughout February, New Yorkers can vote online and at digital kiosks on subway platforms for one of five award-winning novels, all of which have connections to the city. Those books are: 

• "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
 "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates
 "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" by Junot Díaz
 "The Sellout" by Paul Beatty
 "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith

Part of the One Book, One New York launch includes videos of Bebe Neuwirth ("Madame Secretary"), William H. Macy ("Shameless"), Giancarlo Esposito ("The Get Down), comedian Larry Wilmore, and Danielle Brooks ("Orange is the New Black") all advocating for their picks.

In early March the winning book will be announced and featured in libraries and bookstores across the city. One Book, One New York events will then take place throughout the city leading up to a culminating event in June, the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment said in a statement.

The program is similar to one started in Chicago in 2001 that got Chicagoans reading "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee. Other cities have adopted the idea including Philadelphia, which is reading "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" by Mark Haddon in 2017, and Boston which does a version of the program called One City One Story.

Watch all of the celebrity book endorsements to help you decide how to cast your vote: