(360) 943-5001 - Fax (360) 586-6838 - 415 Tumwater Blvd. SW - Tumwater, WA 98501
Reference & Information line: 704-INFO (360-704-4636) in Olympia area or toll-free 1-800-562-6022.
TRL Web site: http://www.trlib.org

Media Contact: Leanne Ingle, Communications Specialist, 360-704-4508, or Susan Hanson, Communications Manager, 360-704-4507. Outside Olympia calling area: (877) 284-6237.

Timberland Regional Library Director, Jodi Reng, will moderate a panel discussion of the social issues underlying Sue Monk Kidd’s novel, "The Secret Life of Bees." The event is free of charge and open to the public.

This forum is part of Timberland Regional Library’s (TRL) Timberland Reads Together: "The Secret Life of Bees," a program series that continues through October for promoting reading and building community. The panelists are scholars and practitioners in areas that relate to issues in "The Secret Life of Bees" such as race, gender and family relations, domestic violence, child protection, and mental health

The discussion will be at The Evergreen State College’s Seminar II Building, Room C1105 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, September 21. Ms Reng will ask questions of panelists; then the audience will be invited to ask their own questions.

Attending and participating in the panel is an example of exploring a book beyond its literary aspects and discovering connections to real life. For information about participating in other Timberland library programs relating to "The Secret Life of Bees," people can stop by their local Timberland library, call (360) 704-4636, or visit www.trlib.org the TRL Web site.

Thomas L. (Les) Purce, Ph.D is President of The Evergreen State College (TESC), Olympia’s nationally recognized, public liberal arts and sciences college.

Babacar M'Baye, Ph.D., American Cultural Studies, teaches African American Studies at TESC. He grew up in Senegal and has lived many years in the U.S.

Nancy Koppelman, Ph.D., American Studies, is teaching "Consuming Utopia: From Wilderness to Wal-Mart" this fall at TESC.

Elizabeth McHugh, PA-C is the Director of Health & Counseling at TESC. She is currently finishing a Masters in Physician Assistant Studies, specializing in Psychiatry.

Laura Hurtado-Webb, the Community Services Coordinator for Safeplace. Her work has focused on services to children, women and families in social agencies and the justice system.

Maureen Fitzgerald is Executive Director of the Washington State Association of Children's Advocacy Centers and Director of Monarch Children's Advocacy Center. Her work has focused on children, families and poverty.

Jodi Reng, MLS, the panel discussion moderator for this event, is the Director of Timberland Regional Library, the regional public library system for Thurston, Mason, Lewis, Grays Harbor and Pacific counties.

Timberland Regional Library serves the information, reading and lifelong learning needs of the Grays Harbor, Lewis, Mason, Pacific, and Thurston county public at 27 community libraries and 4 school-based cooperative library centers. The library system is funded by local property taxes. For information on any subject, the public can telephone Timberland’s Central Reference Service librarians at 704-INFO (704-4636) in the Olympia area or 1-800-562-6022, toll-free, from all other areas. Or they can "Ask a Librarian" online at www.trlib.org. Anyone needing special accommodations to participate in a library’s program may contact the library 4 days in advance.

Revised 09/12/05