Tails & Tales: Summer Reading Challenge 2021
June 1 — August 13
Whether you’re young and enjoying a break from school or a bit older and just grateful for a little more sunshine, this is the perfect season to explore new stories, ideas and places. Join Gwinnett County Public Library’s (GCPL) Tails & Tales Summer Reading Challenge and get motivated to stay curious — and earn awesome prizes along the way! Challenges vary depending on age group.
To participate, visit gwinnettpl.beanstack.org/reader365, and log into an existing Beanstack account or new one as first-time user. Pre-registration for the 2021 Challenge began May 1. Whether you use Beanstack through a web browser or the app, you’ll be able to log minutes, earn virtual badges, discover cool videos and more all summer long. Stop by a library branch during the summer to pick up your very own Summer Reading Challenge welcome pack.
2021 Summer Reading Series — Virtual
June 15, 29, 7-8 p.m.
Presented by the Georgia Center for the Book, Gwinnett County Public Library and the AJC Decatur Book Festival. This year, author Joshilyn Jackson and her co-captain, Atlanta author and journalist Nicki Salcedo, have curated a selection of some of the year’s best reads.
Tickets are free and open to the public. Registration is required at gwinnettpl.org. If you’d like to purchase copies of these books, the library asks that you purchase from A Cappella Books, partners for this event.
June 15 — Hosted by Nicki Salcedo in conversation with P. Djèlí Clark and Nghi Vo.
Phenderson Djéli Clark is the award-winning author of the novellas Ring Shout, The Black God’s Drums and The Haunting of Tram Car 015. Nghi Vo is the author of the acclaimed novellas The Empress of Salt and Fortune and When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain.
June 29 — Hosted by Joshilyn Jackson in conversation with Kaitlyn Greenidge and Kirstin Valdez Quade.
Kaitlyn Greenidge’s debut novel, We Love You, Charlie Freeman, was one of the New York Times Critics’ Top 10 Books of 2016 and a finalist for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize.
Kirstin Valdez Quade is the author of the novel The Five Wounds, and her short story collection, Night at the Fiestas, won the John Leonard Prize from the National Book Critics Circle, the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a “5 Under 35” award from the National Book Foundation, and was a finalist for the New York Public Library Young Lions Award.
