Readers’ Choice Award-winning author coming to Lincolnshire

Illinois teens spoke loud and clear when they selected the young adult novel “Thirteen Reasons Why” as their top choice for the 2013 Illinois’ High School Readers’ Choice Award.

Readers can meet its author, New York Times best-selling novelist Jay Asher, on Tuesday, Feb. 4, at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire.

The event will begin at 7 p.m.

“Thirteen Reasons Why” is about a teen suicide and the bullying and casual cruelty that led up to it. Since its publication in 2007, it has gained fans worldwide, especially teens who connect with the book’s message of tolerance and compassion.

The Thirteen Reasons Why Project, at 13rwproject.com, provides readers with an opportunity to share how the story has affected their lives.

Asher’s visit is jointly sponsored by the Vernon Area Public Library and the Stevenson High School Foundation.

The evening event is a public complement to Stevenson High School’s biennial Odyssey Fine Arts Festival, which is exclusively for students.

Asher is slated to present four student workshops during Odyssey.

For more information about the Odyssey Fine Arts Festival, visit d125.org/odyssey.

Copies of the book will be available for purchase and autographs at the event, courtesy of the Lake Forest Book Store.

This event is free and open to all. Register online at bit.ly/jayasher, or by calling (224) 543-1485. You can also register at the library’s public service desks.