Lemuria’s celebration of Eudora Welty this fall has been nothing short of staggering: after the fantastic book signing/party held in celebration of the publication of my young adult biography, A Daring Life: A Biography of Eudora Welty, back in August, Joe, John, Lisa, Emily, Maggie, and all the great booksellers at Lemuria have continued to keep Eudora front and center with a series of wonderful new ads, posters and bookmarks that feature her image as well as her words. And every time I visit Lemuria, which is often, I see a fresh new arrangement of Welty titles and photographs, as well as my book, prominently displayed in the store.

Lemuria is taking this focus on Welty one step further, and announcing a new, monthly Eudora Welty Book Club. It will be called the “The Cereus Readers” in honor of Eudora and her friends who gathered for the annual blooming of the night-blooming cereus flower and called themselves “The Night-Blooming Cereus Club.” In this same spirit of friendship and fellowship, this new book club is launched.

As we all know, Eudora was a great reader. At the time of her death there were over 5,000 books in her house! And Lemuria was her bookstore. As we celebrate the publication of My Bookstore this week, a book that collects essays, stories, odes, and words of gratitude and praise for stores like Lemuria that offer pleasure, guidance, and support for writers like myself, we want to celebrate Eudora as well–in the store where she shopped and had so many memorable readings and signings–by reading her works as well as authors she loved and admired.

The first meeting of “The Cereus Readers” will be Thursday, January 24, 2013, at noon in Lemuria’s Dot.Com events building. I will facilitate the first book club, but will be sharing the responsibility of leading discussions with Lee Anne Bryan, Carla Wall, Jan Taylor, and Freda Spell–all extremely knowledgeable on Eudora Welty and her works.

I invite you to be part of “The Cereus Readers.” If you would like to be added to our e-mail list, please send a message to Lisa Newman at Lemuria Books: lisa[at]lemuriabooks[dot]com. She will send out an e-mail update as January nears with details of meeting dates and a reading list.

Carolyn Brown
A Daring Life: A Biography of Eudora Welty

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