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WKCTC Celebrates 10 Years of One Book Read

New York Times Bestseller Tells Story of Catastrophe, Survival and Growth

Paducah, KY (01/04/2018) — It's been 10 years since the first acclaimed author came to West Kentucky Community and Technical College for the inaugural One Book Read. The 10th anniversary is being celebrated with the New York Times bestseller, The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker.

Walker, who will visit the WKCTC campus as the finale to the 10th anniversary One Book Read, will present a public presentation on March 13 and a student presentation on March 14. Both presentations are free.

The Age of Miracles details the rotation of the Earth that has begun to slow making the days and nights grow longer and longer, disrupting everyone and everything. Gravity is affected; the birds, the tides, human behavior, and cosmic rhythms are thrown into disarray. Crops begin to fail, the oceans rise, food and water are hoarded, and there is talk about the end of the world with the possibility of having to relocate to another planet.

The story revolves around 11-year-old Julia, who on top of the catastrophic events that take place with the "slowing," has to also deal with her own personal world-divisions widening between her parents, strange behavior by her friends, the pain and vulnerability of first love, a growing sense of isolation, and a surprising, rebellious new strength she finds through it all.

"This is the perfect book for our 10-year anniversary," said Amy Sullivan, WKCTC One Book Read committee co-chair. "We've heard so many amazing comments from its tie-in to the total solar eclipse of 2017 to the idea that this could really happen in the future."

The One Book Read project is a community-wide effort to encourage reading and improve regional literacy rates. The project encourages the community, area school districts, and colleges to read the same book and come together to discuss it in a variety of settings.

Events for the 10th anniversary One Book Read will happen in the coming months, including a community-wide photo and social media contest. For more information, visit onebookread.com.

This year's One Book Read is funded in part by a grant from South Arts in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Kentucky Arts Council.

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West Kentucky Community and Technical College (WKCTC) has been recognized as an Aspen Prize Top 10 Community College each of the four times the Prize has been awarded by the Aspen Institute and has twice been named a Finalist with Distinction for providing students with strong job training and continuing higher education opportunity, for achieving high completion and transfer rates, and for providing strong employment results for its graduates.

Media Attachments

This year marks the 10th anniversary of WKCTC’s One Book Read with Karen Thompson Walker’s The Age of Miracles.

Karen Thompson Walker, author of The Age of Miracles, will be on the WKCTC campus for 10th anniversary of the college's One Book Read March 13-14.

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker marks the 10th anniversary of WKCTC’s One Book Read.

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