Are you an educator in Nashville, Tennessee looking to join a book club or reading group? Look no further! Monthly meetings, occasional seminars, and special events offer moments to meet members of book-related professions, as well as people with strong ties and interests in the world of books. Parnassus Books has a registry of book clubs, which allows local book groups to order and purchase their club's monthly selection at a discount. Kathy Davis-Kidd helped open Parnassus Books, and many members of her book clubs in Davis-Kidd now attend their book clubs in Parnassus. The Nashville Chapter of the Women's National Book Association (WNBA) has been active and energetic over the years, participating in and sponsoring many book-related projects.
Money was raised through auctions, garage sales, book sales and the book Literary Allusions Cookbook, published in 1982. In February 2002, the Nashville Chapter donated two original watercolors by Jerry Pinkney, winner of the Caldecott Prize, of the book Goin Someplace Special, by Patricia McKissack, to the Nashville Public Library. The Chapter is made up of members from local publishers, libraries, universities, the writing community and other book lovers. It stands out for its many programs and events. Previously, a WNBA scholarship fund was created in 1968 to help third-year students at the university who intended to pursue a career in the world of books.
Kathy Davis-Kidd created the Davis-Kidd bookstore clubs in Nashville and was director of the Davis-Kidd Book Club, the Davis-Kidd Classics Club and the Davis-Kidd Women's Book Club for seventeen years. In 1968 and 1987, the WNBA joined the Tennessee Literary Return Celebration and worked to start the Southern Book Festival. For the past five years, the Nashville chapter has hosted the signature event of the WNBA national organization's Great Group Reads spin-off event. Club members represent a variety of subject areas including English, Spanish, mathematics, English language learning, counseling and elementary education, and teach at local K-12 schools in Nashville and surrounding counties. In 1995, a literary map of Tennessee was published as a result of collaboration between the WNBA Nashville, the Tennessee Bicentennial Commission, and the Tennessee Council of English Teachers.
The Chapter has continued to participate in promoting book fairs, with the Humanities Tennessee Southern Book Festival every year. The chapter participated in the 1959 Art Festival with an exhibition that showed the various phases of book publishing and art.
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