Message #71 From:
Stock News Bot Date: January 11, 2007 05:01:00 AM
SBUX News Riveting True Story of Hope and Redemption A Long Way Gone is Next Starbucks Featured Book
SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Starbucks (Nasdaq:SBUX) announced today the second title in its
innovative book program: A Long Way Gone,
by first-time author Ishmael Beah. This powerful story of hope and
redemption is a former child soldier’s rare
first-hand account of fighting as a boy in the war-torn country of
Sierra Leone. Ishmael Beah’s story of
childhood lost and adulthood found is an inspiring journey from
heartbreaking tragedy to salvation. Starbucks will begin selling the
book in its U.S. Company-operated locations beginning February 15, 2007.
Starbucks Entertainment’s choice of A
Long Way Gone follows the successful collaboration with Hyperion
and best-selling author Mitch Albom for its inaugural literary offering, For
One More Day. Starbucks book program is committed to discovery
and discussion through relevant, new literary works, and the selection
of A Long Way Gone from publishing
house Farrar, Straus and Giroux is exemplary of Starbucks unparalleled
commitment to introduce its millions of customers to quality
entertainment, and to supporting new and emerging talent.
“This is a marvelous chance for any writer. I
am pleased to work with Starbucks to share my story,”
said Ishmael Beah. “I look forward to bringing
this message to readers across the country.”
Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz commented, “This
is one of the most gripping books I have ever read. We were all inspired
by this tale of determination and hope and knew it was an important book
to share with our customers. You owe it to yourself to read this book
and we hope you are moved to talk with others about this compelling
story.”
“When recommending books to our customers,
our approach is about community and conversation. Our goal is to
complement the overall Starbucks Experience, building on the
trust our customers already feel for the music and films we recommend,”
said Ken Lombard, president of Starbucks Entertainment. “We
are proud to recommend A Long Way Gone
to the millions of customers who visit our stores each week.”
Author Ishmael Beah will engage in a 10-city Starbucks book tour,
beginning February 15, 2007, where he will speak with customers about
his writing and his life. To further foster discussion, Starbucks will
present its second Book Break program in select Starbucks locations
across the U.S. on March 7. These innovative Book Breaks are hosted
discussion groups in which customers can focus on the compelling themes
presented in Beah’s memoir.
“All of us at FSG are thrilled that Starbucks
has chosen to offer Ishmael’s brave and
moving memoir in its book program, and we’re
excited about working closely with them to help this brilliant young
writer’s powerful work find the readers it
deserves everywhere,” said Jonathan Galassi,
President & Publisher, Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Starbucks will donate $2 for every copy of A
Long Way Gone sold at Starbucks to the U.S. fund for UNICEF, with
a minimum donation of $100,000. Created to help children around the
world overcome the obstacles that poverty, violence, disease and
discrimination place in a child’s path,
UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund,
has played a key role in the rehabilitation of Beah, lifting him from
the front lines and reintegrating him into civilian life in Sierra Leone
as a teenager. Funds donated by Starbucks from the sale of the book will
support UNICEF’s work in war torn locales,
including Sierra Leone, Beah’s native country.
A Long Way Gone is a memoir about
a 12-year old boy who experiences the horrors of war in Sierra Leone and
manages to escape with his heart and mind intact. This socially relevant
story is told in a unique first-person way that is unflinchingly honest.
The author, now 26, was transformed from a fun-loving boy into a lethal
child soldier, and then rehabilitated into a teenage UN spokesperson,
all in a few tumultuous years. His story demonstrates the power of the
human spirit to overcome unimaginable odds.
The book has already garnered critical acclaim, and excerpts from A
Long Way Gone are slated to run in The New York Times Magazine
on January 14, 2007. Sebastian Junger, author of A
Perfect Storm, has called the book “one
of the most important war stories of our generation.”
He continues, “Ishmael Beah has not only
emerged intact from this chaos, he has become one of its most eloquent
chroniclers.”
About Ishmael Beah
Ishmael Beahcame to the United States when he was 17 and
graduated from Oberlin College in 2004. He is a member of Human Rights
Watch Children’s Division Advisory Committee
and has addressed the United Nations on several occasions. He lives in
New York City.
About Ishmael Beah’s A
Long Way Gone
In A Long Way Gone, Beah, now 26
years old, tells how at the age of 12, he fled attacking rebels and
wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By 13, he had been
picked up by the government army, and Beah, at heart a gentle boy, found
that he was capable of truly terrible acts. This story tells what war is
like through the eyes of a child soldier. It is rare to find a
first-person account from someone who came through this hell and
survived. Farrar, Straus and Giroux will release A
Long Way Gone at traditional retail stores and at Starbucks
Company-operated locations in the U.S. on February 15, 2007.
About Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Farrar, Straus and Giroux was founded in 1946 by Roger W. Straus. The
firm is renowned for its international list of literary fiction,
nonfiction, poetry and children’s books.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux authors have won extraordinary acclaim over
the years, including numerous National Book Awards, Pulitzer Prizes, and
twenty-one Nobel Prizes in literature.
About UNICEF
Founded in 1946, UNICEF helps save, protect and improve the lives of
children in 156 countries and territories through immunization,
education, health care, nutrition, clean water and sanitation. UNICEF is
non-partisan and its cooperation is free of discrimination. In
everything it does, the most disadvantaged children and the countries in
greatest need have priority. For more information about UNICEF please go
to www.unicefusa.org.
About Starbucks Entertainment
Starbucks Entertainment selects the best in music, books, and film from
both emerging and established talent to offer Starbucks customers the
opportunity to discover quality entertainment in a fun and convenient
way that is part of their daily coffee routines. Starbucks Entertainment
has made a transformative impact on the entertainment industry by
providing a new and convenient way for consumers to discover, experience
and acquire all genres of great music as well as exceptional books and
films through its innovative partnerships with music labels, publishers
and filmmakers to co-release, market and distribute both exclusive and
non-exclusive entertainment products, its 24-hour digital music channel
on XM Satellite Radio (XM Channel 75) and its breakthrough Starbucks
Hear Music™ Coffeehouses in Santa Monica, San
Antonio, Miami and Bellevue, Washington. Many Starbucks Entertainment
selections can be purchased at Starbucks retail locations in select
markets worldwide, as well as online at www.starbucks.com/hearmusic.
Starbucks Entertainment has also teamed with Apple to create a Starbucks
Entertainment area on the iTunes store (www.iTunes.com),
enabling customers to preview, buy and download a wide variety of
popular Starbucks Entertainment music titles and specially created
playlists in a convenient and unparalleled digital, online music buying
experience.
