100 Books. 1 Winner. The Great American Read, hosted by Meredith Vieira, explores the power of books and the joy of reading through the lens of America’s 100 best-loved novels, as voted on by the public. Tune in May 22 at 8/7c for the premiere on PBS – and during our Summer of Reading, we invite you to READ, VOTE FOR and SHARE the books you love, before the Fall series returns to reveal America’s favorite novel.

We will have a special preview of the premiere episode and then talk books with a panel of people from different sectors of the Twin Cities Literary world.

 6:30pm – Doors

• Mix and Mingle with Cash bar and light appetizers
• Take part in an informal vote for your favorite from the list (vote online beginning May 22nd)
• Discuss books you think should be on the list that weren’t included!

7:00pm – Welcome and Screener

8:00pm – Panel Discussion

Moderator:

Steph Opitz is the founding director of Wordplay at The Loft Literary Center. She serves on committees for the National BookFoundation, PEN America, Rain Taxi, among others. She has curated literary events and festivals around the country and was the books reviewer for Marie Claire magazine for six years. Her book reviews can also be found in Garden & Gun, Departures, Kirkus, and elsewhere.

Twitter: @stephopitz.

Panelists:

Andrew Karre is executive editor at Dutton Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Penguin Random House. He publishes young adult and middle grade fiction and nonfiction and has had the privilege of working with a number of award winning authors, including Minnesota Book Award winners Shannon Gibney and Carrie Mesrobian.

Twitter and Instagram:  @andrewkarre

Anitra Budd is a freelance editor and writer and was previously editor at Coffee House Press where she worked with a number of authors, including Quintan Ana Wikswo, T. Geronimo Johnson, Julia Iromuanya, Ron Padgett, and Christopher Merkner. In addition to writing and editing, Budd teaches editing and publishing at Macalester College, at the University of Minnesota, and in the low-residency MFA program at Sierra Nevada College.

Twitter:  @anitrasb

Instagram:  @anitrabudd

Matt Keliher is a graduate of the University of St. Thomas, and has been a bookseller with Subtext Bookstore in downtown St. Paul for five years. You can find him on Twitter usually talking about books and basketball. @MAKeliher.

Twitter: @MAKeliher

Twitter and Intragram:  @subtextbooks

Facebook: SubText: A Bookstore