UNION COUNTY, NJ — The Union County Board of County Commissioners has announced the launch of the new Commissioners’ Literary Circle Book Club, presented in celebration of Women’s History Month 2023 by the women of the Commissioner Board: Vice Chairwoman Kimberly Palmieri-Mouded and commissioners Bette Jane Kowalski, Rebecca Williams, Lourdes Leon and Angela R. Garretson.
Union County residents who are interested in joining the new Commissioners’ Literary Circle Book Club can register online at ucnj.org/bookclub23 to participate in community discussions on Zoom.
“I fully support our women Commissioners in launching this new initiative, and what better month to do so than Women’s History Month,” said Commissioner Chairperson Sergio Granados. “This is a great way for all women across Union County to connect with like-minded readers, and a fantastic opportunity to hear different perspectives, ask questions and overall connect as a county. I encourage everyone who loves to read or is looking to meet new people in their community to join.”
“As commissioners in the first majority-female Commissioner Board in New Jersey history, we are proud to raise our voices in celebration of women writers who share their enriching insights with readers both here in the United States and around the world,” said Vice Chairwoman Kimberly Palmieri-Mouded.
Each month, members of the Commissioners Literary Circle Book Club will read and discuss a book recommended by a female member of the commissioner board. Spanning works of fiction as well as biographies and other non-fiction, the selections will highlight strong female characters, authors and historical figures.
The first Commissioners’ Literary Circle book is “More Stories We Tell: The Best Contemporary Short Stories by North American Women,” selected by Williams.
“The theme of Women’s History Month 2023 is ‘Celebrating Women Who Tell our Stories,’ and ‘More Stories We Tell’ conveys the rich variety of storytelling among contemporary women writers,” Williams said. “The collection includes 24 works by Joyce Carol Oates, Margaret Atwood, Mary Gaitskill, Alice Munro, Sandra Cisneros, Lorrie Moore and many more literary lights.”
“More Stories We Tell: The Best Contemporary Short Stories by North American Women” was published by Pantheon in 2004 and edited by Wendy Martin, chairperson of the Department of English at Claremont Graduate University in California. It is a followup to her 1990 collection, “We are the Stories We Tell.”
The Commissioners Literary Circle is a project of the Union County Office on Women in the Department of Economic Development. For more information, visit online at ucnj.org/women or contact the office coordinator Jen Erdos at [email protected].