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Rainbow Rowell, Thursday, April 14/Get Tickets Now

Rainbow Rowell, a popular author of adult and young adult fiction will be the first speaker in the Lackawanna County Library System’s 2016 Matthew F. Flynn Library Lecture Series on Thursday, April 14 at 7 p.m. in the Scranton Cultural Center.

Ms. Rowell will appear as part of “On the Same Page in Lackawanna County,” the annual county wide reading program, which will feature her novel Landline.

She is the author of Fangirl and Eleanor & Park, two popular young adult novels that are also enjoyed by adult readers.

In addition to Landline, her novels for adults include Carry On, and Kindred Spirits and Attachments. It has been said that she writes books about teenagers that adults read and books about adults that teens read.

A native Nebraskan, she began her writing career on the staff of the Omaha World-Herald. Her first novel, Attachments, was listed as one of the outstanding debuts of the year by Kirkus Review, but it was her young adult novels, Fangirl and Eleanor & Park, that got her national attention.

DreamWorks is now planning a movie based on Eleanor & Park and Rowell has been asked to write the screenplay.

“We are excited about having Rainbow Rowell’s book for “On the Same Page” this year, and we are even more excited to have her coming to speak in Lackawanna County, said Mary Garm, library system administrator.

Landline got great reviews when it was published. Said the Chicago Tribune, it’s “a book that’s a joy from sentence to sentence, and on that intimate level [where] there’s absolutely nothing unoriginal or clichéd”.

Entertainment Weekly described it as “a summer must read,” and Library Journal gave it a starred review and said of Rowell, “reading her work feels like listening to your hilariously insightful best friend tell her best stories.”

“On the Same Page in Lackawanna County” is among hundreds of community reading programs organized by libraries around the country.

“The idea is to get lots of people reading the same book and talking about it,” said Mrs. Garm. “People who read Landline can talk about the book among friends or they can join book discussions at any of the county’s libraries.”

Book discussions are being led by Stephanie Longo and run through the end of April. Check the library system’s website (www.lclshome.org) for dates, times and locations.

In previous years, “On the Same Page” has featured books by Brad Meltzer, Lisa Scottoline Julie Powell, Tess Gerritsen, Laura Lippman, Douglas Preston and James Grippando.

Funding for the Library Lecture Series is provided by the Lackawanna County Office of Arts and Culture.

Tickets for the event can be obtained at any Lackawanna County Library System library or online.