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Library News

One Book/One Community 2020 to take place throughout Trumbull County in March

(02/21/20) – Readers throughout Trumbull County are invited to be part of One Book/One Community 2020 as local libraries join together to read and discuss The Long Tomorrow, a science fiction novel by Leigh Brackett.

One Book/One Community is an annual initiative that encourages everyone to celebrate reading through conversations and events related to one book. Public discussions about the book will be held at many Trumbull County libraries, and a unique series of films, guest speakers, and special events are planned throughout March.

This year’s featured book is a coming-of-age story and a futuristic science fiction novel by Leigh Brackett. Written in 1955, at the height of the Cold War when it seemed inevitable that the U.S. and the Soviet Union would engage in nuclear war. The Long Tomorrow explores one of the possible outcomes of that battle.

Two generations after the destruction of the world as they knew it, the survivors in The Long Tomorrow have taken up a simple existence where technology is considered evil and no cities are permitted. Religious leaders forbid any acknowledgment of what life was like before the apocalypse. Cousins Esau and Len are growing tired of their lives in a repressive farming community in northeastern Ohio. The boys hear rumors of a functioning city in the West and decide to risk everything and strike out for Bartorstown.

Nominated for a Hugo Award, science fiction’s most prestigious award, in 1956, the novel was included in the Library of America two-volume boxed set American Science Fiction: Nine Classic Novels of the 1950s, edited by Gary K. Wolfe.

Copies of the book in paper format are available to borrow from many of the libraries in Trumbull County.

Leigh Brackett (1915-1978) was born in Los Angeles, California, but moved to Kinsman, Ohio, with her husband, fellow science fiction writer Edmond Hamilton. The couple spent a quarter century in northeast Ohio before her return to California. Her observation of the local Amish community heavily influenced The Long Tomorrow.

Brackett was specifically a science fiction author, and she has been referred to as the Queen of Space Opera. She was also a screenwriter, known for her work on such films as The Big Sleep, Rio Bravo, and The Long Goodbye. She worked on a draft of the Star Wars sequel, delivered just prior to her death, and received full screenwriting credit for Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back.

One Book/One Community 2020 is supported in part by the Martini Martin Arts Trust.

Look for One Book/One Community activities listed in the library calendar, or stop by any W-TCPL location and pick up copy of the free event guide.

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