Let Books Transform You This April

(April 1, 2011) – This April, join Toronto Public Library for a city-wide celebration of books and reading.

Come out to more than 80 events across the city – including readings, panel discussions, performances, and more.

Meet your favourite writers and celebrities, including Alexander McCall Smith, Alissa York, Andrew Pyper, David Bezmozgis, Gail Bowen, Howard Jacobson, Tim Flannery, and many others.

And all of Toronto is being encouraged to read one book with hopes of transforming the city into a giant book club.

This year’s chosen book is Midnight at the Dragon Café by Judy Fong Bates.

Set in a small Ontario town in the 1960s, this debut novel by Judy Fong Bates tells the story of a young Chinese girl and her family – the owners of the only Chinese restaurant in town.

Through Su-Jen’s eyes, the hard life behind the scenes at the Dragon Café unfolds. As Su-Jen’s father works continually for a better future, her mother, a beautiful but embittered woman, settles uneasily into their new life.

When Su-Jen’s half-brother arrives, smouldering under the responsibilities he must bear as the dutiful Chinese son, he forms an alliance with Su-Jen’s mother, one that will have devastating consequences. Written in spare, intimate prose, Midnight at the Dragon Café is a vivid portrait of a childhood divided by two cultures and touched by unfulfilled longings and unspoken secrets.

To find out about events, visit: http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/ktr/