Ruth Ozeki's My Year of Meats Chosen as VPL's 2007 One Book, One Vancouver Title

For Immediate Release, April 23, 2007

(Vancouver, British Columbia) -- Ruth Ozeki's critically acclaimed cross-cultural tale, My Year of Meats, has been selected as the Library's One Book, One Vancouver title for 2007. Get ready for another summer of sizzling reads and events as Vancouver Public Library's One Book, One Vancouver presents its "meatiest" title to date!

An undeniably juicy novel, My Year of Meats is an engaging and savory blend of humour and social and cultural commentary that brings together the media, the global meat industry, and two women from opposite ends of the earth who join forces to expose the meat industry's hazardous practices.

Ruth Ozeki is an award-winning novelist and documentary filmmaker, whose work has garnered international critical acclaim for its fresh humour and ability to integrate issues of science, environment, politics, and global popular culture into unique hybrid narrative forms. She has lectured around the world, and has worked in commercial television and media production for over a decade.

Now in its sixth year, One Book, One Vancouver is a book club for the entire city, cultivating a culture of reading and discussion in Vancouver by bringing people together around one great book. From May to June 2007, VPL will be hosting a variety of events in appreciation of the book. Programming will also be held at the Word on the Street Festival in September.

On Monday, May 7 at 7:30 p.m., Ruth Ozeki will make her first One Book appearance in the Alice MacKay Room at the Central Library, 350 West Georgia Street.

Vancouver readers will also be given a special chance to meet the author and talk about the book at several book discussions groups held at library branches across the city, starting on Tuesday, May 8 at VPL's Oakridge Branch at 3 p.m. and Joe Fortes Branch at 7:30 p.m.

For more information, about Ruth Ozeki appearances and other One Book, One Vancouver events, visit www.vpl.ca, or contact your local library branch.

One Book, One Vancouver is presented by Vancouver Public Library with support from Penguin Group Canada, Book Warehouse, the Necessary Voices Society, the Listel Hotel, Word on the Street, and media partners CBC Radio One and The Vancouver Sun.

Founded in 1869, the Vancouver Public Library is one of Canada's largest library systems, dedicated to meeting the lifelong learning, reading, recreation, and information needs of the people of Vancouver. Each year, the Library's 22 branches serve over 370,000 patrons, offer over 2.5 million items and countless online resources to the public, and answer more than one million reference questions. In 2006, a record 10 million items were circulated.