Ethan Davidson, Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and Gretchen Gonzales Davidson, 2022
A Tale of Two Gretchens
After seeing a Book Beat post on National Book Month, Gretchen Gonzales Davidson, a musician, culture worker, and board member of the Detroit Institute of the Arts, Michigan Arts Council, and the Michigan Opera Theater, petitioned Governor Whitmer to issue a proclamation for the state. We recently contacted Ms. Davidson after learning about her involvment promoting National Book Month.”The National Book Month post inspired me to look into proclamations for the Michigan Arts and Culture Council,” said Ms. Davidson, “The basic idea was to draw more awareness to Book Month throughout the State. It’s important to draw attention to arts and culture in any way we can. I actually worked on three proclamations this month: Arts and Humanities month, Book month, and Library Appreciation month.”
National Book Month began in 2003, an idea that grew from the National Book Awards when finalists are announced in September and October.The month-long celebration focuses on the importance of reading, writing and literature and a time that honors the nation’s best books and authors. “The National Book Foundation, which sponsors the annual National Book Awards, is embracing October as National Book Month, as part of a national effort to raise the profile of reading in American culture,” announced Publisher’s Weekly.
Twenty-five Finalists to contend for the 2022 National Book Awards in the categories of Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature have now been announced. Winners of the 2022 National Book Awards will be announced live November 16 at the 73rd National Book Awards.
The greatest gift is the passion for reading.
It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it excites,
it gives you knowledge of the world and experience of a wide kind.
It is a moral illumination.
~Elizabeth Hardwick
Read Governor Whitmer’s Proclamation: October 2022 is Book Month
