The New York Public Library and WNYC’s “All of It” with Alison Stewart Select The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead as July Virtual Book Club Title

JULY 1, 2020—Following the continued success of their joint virtual book club, The New York Public Library and WNYC’s arts and culture show All of It with Alison Stewart have announced the fourth book of the partnership. The July title will be The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead, recipient of the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

The book was featured on the Library’s Black Liberation Reading List, curated in early June by The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (a research arm of the Library) as a response to recent uprisings following the death of George Floyd. The list includes 95 books that celebrate and foster a better understanding of the Black experience.

The Nickel Boys is based on the true story of the Dozier School, a reform school in Florida that operated for 111 years and had its history exposed by a university's investigation. A former fellow of the Library’s Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers,  Whitehead’s previous novel, The Underground Railroad, won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize. New Yorkers are encouraged to borrow the book for free via The New York Public Library’s e-reader app SimplyE (available on Apple and Android devices). 

Tens of thousands of New Yorkers have participated in the book club, a virtual extension of Stewart’s book club Get Lit with All Of It. All of the previous titles were the Library’s top checkouts in their respective months: April’s selection Deacon King Kong by James McBride received nearly 5,000 checkouts, May’s book My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell was checked out 7,000 times, and June’s book, The Glass Hotel by Emily St. Mandel, had nearly 12,000 checkouts. 

Host Alison Stewart and the Library will join readers throughout July, providing touch points on air and on Instagram at @allofitwnyc and @nypl. Stewart will host a live stream conversation and audience Q&A with Colson Whitehead in late July. 

To meet the demand for this initiative, the Library has secured a significant number of e-copies of Whitehead’s book. To borrow it (or any of the more than 300,000 free e-books offered through the Library’s app) one must download the SimplyE app and have a New York Public Library card. Those who already have cards can link them to the app; those who need cards can apply within the app and, if they’re in New York State, immediately start borrowing. 

The WNYC and New York Public Library partnership will continue for the next several months, as the city continues to cope with the spread of COVID-19 and its aftermath. Future books will be announced on All of It, which airs every weekday on WNYC 93.9 FM, AM 820, and via streaming at wnyc.org from 12-2pm ET.

For more information on the book club or on downloading the book, visit wnyc.org/getlit or nypl.org/virtualbookclub. For more information on the wide range of virtual services offered by the Library during this crisis, visit nypl.org.

About The New York Public Library

For 125 years, The New York Public Library has been a free provider of education and information for the people of New York and beyond. With 92 locations—including research and branch libraries—throughout the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island, the Library offers free materials, computer access, classes, exhibitions, programming and more to everyone from toddlers to scholars, and has seen record numbers of attendance and circulation in recent years. The New York Public Library receives approximately 16 million visits through its doors annually and millions more around the globe who use its resources at www.nypl.org. To offer this wide array of free programming, The New York Public Library relies on both public and private funding. Learn more about how to support the Library at nypl.org/support. 

About WNYC

With an urban vibrancy and a global perspective, WNYC is New York’s public radio station, broadcasting and streaming award-winning journalism, groundbreaking audio programming and essential talk radio to the city and beyond. WNYC is a leading member station of NPR and also broadcasts programs from the BBC World Service, along with a roster of WNYC-produced local programs that champion the stories and spirit of New York City and the surrounding region, including The Brian Lehrer Show and All of It with Alison Stewart. From its state-of-the-art studios, WNYC is reshaping audio for a new generation of listeners, producing some of the most-loved nationally-syndicated public radio programs including Radiolab, On the Media, The Takeaway and Snap Judgment. WNYC broadcasts on 93.9 FM and AM 820 to listeners in New York and the tri-state area, and is available to audiences everywhere at WNYC.org, the WNYC app and through major digital radio services, all made possible through the generous support of our members, donors and sponsors.

About All of It with Alison Stewart

All Of It with Alison Stewart is WNYC’s live, weekday, participatory culture talk show that covers everything on a screen, music, literature, history, science, cooking, cleaning, popular culture, and ways of life for a city that is staying inside.  It’s about art and life, and the listeners, airing every weekday from 12-2pm ET on WNYC 93.9 FM, AM 820, and via streaming at wnyc.org.  "Get Lit with All Of It" is the show’s monthly on-air, social media, and live stream book club.