2010 Wilkes Reads Together!

Wilkes Reads Together 2010 season will begin with a kickoff hosted by the Wilkes County Public Library in Historic Downtown North Wilkesboro on Tuesday, April 27th, at 6:15pm.

The celebration will include the announcement of the book to be read by the Wilkes County community and music from The Elkville String Band who will be playing traditional County Roots Music in the Friends of the Library Meeting Room.

About the Author

Jennifer Niven’s third book and first novel, Velva Jean Learns to Drive (based on the Emmy Award-winning film of the same name), was released in July 2009 by Penguin-Plume, and is already in its fourth printing. It was the Costco Book of the Month for August 2009, and Publishers Weekly (in a starred review) called it “a touching read, funny and wise, like a crazy blend of Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, a less morose Flannery O'Connor and maybe a shot of Hank Williams.”

Her fourth book, a memoir – The Aqua-Net Diaries: Big Hair, Big Dreams, Small Town – was released in February 2010 by Gallery Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, and has been optioned by Warner Brothers as a television series (which Jennifer is writing) and is being produced by Charlie Sheen’s company. Jennifer is currently working on her fifth book, the sequel to her novel: Velva Jean Learns to Fly.

Other books include The Ice Master, released in November 2000 and named one of the top ten nonfiction books of the year by Entertainment Weekly, and Ada Blackjack, a Book Sense Top Ten Pick.

For more information,

visit her website: http://www.jenniferniven.com/

photo by Stephen Hunton

About the Book

Velva Jean Learns to Drive

Set in Appalachia in the years before World War II, Velva Jean Learns to Drive is a poignant story of a spirited young girl growing up in the gold- mining and moonshining South. Before she dies, Velva Jean's mother urges her to "live out there in the great wide world."

Velva Jean dreams of becoming a big-time singer in Nashville until she falls in love with Harley Bright, a handsome juvenile delinquent turned revival preacher.

As their tumultuous love story unfolds, Velva Jean must choose between keeping her hard-won home and pursuing her dream of singing in the Grand Ole Opry.