An Evening with the Author

The Lisa Wingate, author of this year’s Fauquier Community Read selection, to speak at Rice Theater

by Lisa Pavlock, Public Information Coordinator, Fauquier County Public Library

Lisa Wingate, best-selling author of Before We Were Yours, Fauquier County Public Library’s Community Read selection for this year, will make a personal appearance to discuss her work and process for writing on Thursday, May 16 as the finale to the 2019 Fauquier Community Read.  

Family lineage, exploring our past and family ties are popular themes in literature. In Before We Were Yours, Wingate, a former journalist, inspirational speaker and author of more than 20 novels, crafts a compelling, ultimately uplifting story of two families, generations apart, that are forever changed by heartbreaking injustice. Based on one of America’s most notorious real-life scandals in which Georgia Tann, director of a Memphis-based adoption organization, kidnapped and sold poor children to wealthy families all over the United States, Before We Were Yours has won acclaim from critics and readers alike, launching it to a spot on the New York Times Bestseller list for over a year.

Now in its second year, Fauquier Community Read is a free program sponsored by Fauquier County Public Library, which encourages community members to read and discuss the same book. Community Reads across the country engage and enlighten citizens, foster a sense of community and create a culture of community-wide reading.

In 2018, hundreds of Fauquier County residents participated in the first Fauquier Community Read, reading the same book, sharing their thoughts and opinions with others and engaging in conversations about Thunder Dog by Michael Hingson. Over 700 people attended the more than a dozen community read events offered by the library.

“We were thrilled by the community’s response to the first Community Read,” noted Maria Del Rosso, Fauquier County Public Library director. “It confirms that Fauquier County is a community of readers. A community that reads together, grows together,” Del Rosso concluded.

Before We Were Yours is available in multiple formats – including e-Audio, e-Book, large and traditional print – at all three Fauquier library locations.

An Evening with the Author will be held at the Rice Theater, Highland School. The program begins at 7 p.m. After her remarks, Ms. Wingate will answer audience questions.  A book signing will follow. Books will be available for purchase at the event from The Open Book of Warrenton. The program is free. Seating is limited; advance registration is strongly recommended. To register, call 540-422-8532 or go to fauquierlibrary.org/fauquier-community-read.