About the Program
What if everybody read the same book? What if those readers had multiple opportunities, both formal and informal, to talk to each other about the book? What if a wide variety of agencies, both public and private, came together to sponsor such a region-wide effort, thus declaring with one voice that reading is not only a source of individual pleasure, but a tool for community-building? What if the author came to our community to join in the discussion?
This is the idea that Jim Hepworth of Confluence Press brought to the Lewis-Clark Valley in 2000. He contacted Lewiston City Library and Asotin County Library and the program was born. Since then, our communities have read and discussed seven different books and enjoyed interaction with the authors of those books. The program has expanded throughout the region to Lapwai, Pullman, Moscow, Colfax and Palouse.
We have received grants supporting Everybody Reads from the Institute for Museums and Library Services, The Washington State Library, and The Idaho Humanities Council.
