James Patterson to Discuss College Book Bucks Program at Wi7 Panel

This week, the American Booksellers Association announced that author James Patterson would be part of a featured panel at the upcoming Winter Institute that will discuss both his innovative College Book Bucks program and how the book industry can better encourage and engage young readers. Winners of the College Book Bucks program — which this year will give away $70,000 to college-bound high school seniors — use their prize money to purchase books at IndieBound-affiliated independent bookstores.

Joining Patterson at the event will be two booksellers whose stores participated in the program — Cathy Langer, of Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver, Colorado, and Bill Reilly, co-owner of The River’s End Bookstore in Oswego, New York, and one of last year’s winning students, Logan Bishop of Lubbock, Texas, a freshman at the University of Texas, who is using his $2,500 scholarship to purchase books at BookPeople in Austin, Texas. 

This is the second year in a row that Patterson is conducting a program for high school seniors who are headed for college. They can enter the competition by visiting JamesPatterson.com and submitting an essay that answers the question “How has your favorite book inspired you toward what you’d like to do in life?”

“As both a writer and advocate, James Patterson has provided strong support, encouragement, and attention to the critically important issue of encouraging young readers,” said ABA CEO Oren Teicher. “His continuing work through the College Bucks Program highlights the unique role that independent booksellers play in encouraging young readers and in helping to promote a wide range of titles for all interests and ages. We recognize, however, that our industry must always look for new ideas and approaches, and we think this panel — with three articulate advocates for young readers — will offer a stimulating and insightful discussion.”

David Young, Chairman and CEO of Hachette Book Group, said “James Patterson’s passion and commitment to getting kids reading is inspiring.  His dedication to writing books that young readers love, and his charitable efforts on behalf of readers, schools, libraries, and bookstores have made great strides in the fight for literacy.  This conversation with booksellers is a vital next step in an ongoing campaign to bring a love of books to a wider population of young readers, a step that has important ramifications on the futures of those readers and the country as a whole.”

The featured panel on encouraging young readers will be held at the Wednesday, January 18, lunch at Wi7, from 12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. It will be an open seating event for all attending booksellers.

Complete details about Wi7, including travel discounts to New Orleans from American Airlines, Delta Airlines, and Amtrak, are available on the Wi7 website. Registered booksellers whose Wi7 plans have changed are asked to contact ABA staff with cancellation requests as soon as possible, so that waiting booksellers can take their places. Cancellations and questions should be sent to wi7@bookweb.org.