News Flash

Executive - Press Release

Posted on: February 27, 2020

County Executive Meyer announces details on New Castle County Reads 2020 book, guest

New Castle, DE – County Executive Matt Meyer and Community Services General Manager Marcus Henry are pleased to announce the featured title for New Castle County Reads 2020, Pachinko, by Min Jin Lee.


“We are excited to welcome an author of Min Jin Lee’s caliber to New Castle County,” said County Executive Meyer. “The incredible hard work of the NCC Reads Committee have outdone themselves in attracting this world class talent to the First County in the First State. The feedback we have received already indicates this will be another successful NCC Reads event, as tradition dictates.”


Ms. Lee will present a free author talk and book signing on Thursday, April 23 at 7:00 pm, at the Chase Center on the Riverfront in Wilmington.


Related programs and book discussions are being held at libraries throughout New Castle County in March and April. Events are posted on the NCC Reads page found at nccde.org/libraries. These free events will be open to everyone, and will offer a great opportunity to talk with others about the book.


Published in 2017, the novel was a finalist for the National Book Award. Richly told and profoundly moving, the bestselling epic features four generations of a poor, proud immigrant family’s fight to control their destinies in Japan -- surviving and thriving against the indifferent arc of history.


The New York Times called the novel, "Stunning... Despite the compelling sweep of time and history, it is the characters and their tumultuous lives that propel the narrative... A compassionate, clear gaze at the chaotic landscape of life itself."


Min Jin Lee is a recipient of fellowships in Fiction from the Guggenheim Foundation (2018), the Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study at Harvard (2018-2019), and the New York Foundation for the Arts (2000). She is the author of another novel, Free Food for Millionaires.


New Castle County Reads is an annual program presented by New Castle County Libraries. In 2010, New Castle County Reads began hosting a talk by the featured author, so that a large number of community members could enjoy not only reading the book, but hearing the author. Each year since then, this highlight event has attracted large crowds to these free events which present talented writers along with an opportunity to meet the author during book signings.


Past authors have included:

2019 – Hillary Jordan (Mudbound)

2018 – Christina Baker Kline (Orphan Train)

2017 – Ayana Mathis (The Twelve Tribes of Hattie)

2016 – Daniel James Brown (The Boys in the Boat)

2015 – Walter Mosley (The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey)

2014 – David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook)

2013 – Geraldine Brooks (March)

2012 – Jamie Ford (Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet)

2011 – Garth Stein (The Art of Racing in the Rain)

2010 – Ann Patchett (bel canto)

2009 – Bill Bryson (A Walk in the Woods)

2008 – Jeannette Walls (The Glass Castle)

2007 – Anne Tyler (Digging to America)

2006 – Koren Zailckas (Smashed)

2005 – Rachel Simon (Riding the Bus With My Sister)



For a summary and additional information about Pachinko, please visit www.minjinlee.com.

 For further information about NCC Reads, please visit your local library or go to www.nccde.org/libraries.

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