PRESS RELEASE FOR ALLAN WOLF'S APRIL 14 EVENT

Allan Wolf’s Unprecedented Novel in Verse Depicts the Human Side of the sinking of the doomed RMS Titanic

Many Events Planned to Mark the 100^th Anniversary of the Sinking

The Watch That Ends the Night: Voices From the Titanic, published by Candlewick Press, has received five starred reviews, the prestigious Claudia Lewis Poetry Award from Bank Street College, and was voted one of the best books of the year by both Horn Book and The American Library Association.  Booklist calls the book a “masterpiece” with “voices so authentic they hurt.”

April 2012 will witness the timely convergence of National Poetry Month and the 100^th Anniversary of the sinking of the doomed RMS Titanic.  To mark the occasion author Allan Wolf has created a poetic novel in the voices of the passengers and crew who were actually on board that fateful night of April 14, 1912. 

Of the many recent books about the Titanic, none approach the disaster as uniquely as Wolf’s The Watch That Ends the Night: Voices from the Titanic.  This well-researched book written in twenty-four voices allows the reader to experience the disaster from multiple points of view.  The captain, a nine-year-old boy, a Lebanese immigrant girl, a wealthy socialite, a professional gambler, a member of the ship’s orchestra, a baker, the lookout, even a stowaway ship rat and the iceberg itself tell their stories.   

Wolf says, “This story of  an ad hoc community created by fate and proximity, forced to face sudden disaster, is as relevant today as a hundred years ago.  The people represented in my book lived and breathed and loved.  They were as real as you or me.  they could have been any one of us.  And that is why, after a century, the Titanic still fascinates.”

The people of Fairfield, Connecticut took Wolf’s message to heart  by choosing The Watch That Ends the Night as their One Book, One Town city-wide reading title.   A month of Titanic-themed events culminated in a readers’ theatre presentation starring 600 community members reenacting the heart-rending moment when the ship has finally slipped beneath the waves.

The Titanic Museum at Pigeon Forge, TN has invited Wolf to read from his book in front of 3000 people gathered on April 14, for a special memorial event.   Then on Sunday, April 15 (100 years to the day that Titanic sank) at 4:00 PM, Wolf will be at UNC-A for a special event which will include a visual slide presentation, a reading by the author, a readers’ theatre presentation by an ensemble cast, Titanic related music, and a few surprises. 

Allan Wolf contact info:

http://www.allanwolf.com

e-mail:  allanwolf100@gmail.com

phone:  828-254-9668

tHE BOOK

The Watch That Ends the Night:  Voices from the Titanic

(Candlewick Press)

AWARDS

1) A Junior Library Guild Selection

2) A Horn Book Fanfare Best Book of the Year 

3) A 2012 BEST FICTION FOR YOUNG ADULTS, American Library Association 

4) 2012 Claudia Lewis Award for Poetry, Bankstreet College 

5) A 2012 Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) best book 

6)  Poetry Foundation, Laureate Book of the Month Selection (March) 

RECENTLY FEATURED IN

The Huffington Post;

The Wallstreet Journal;

Publisher’s Weekly;

The ALAN Journal of Adult and Adolescent Literacy 

REVIEWS

“Allan Wolf has imagined his way deep into the cold, dark waters of history and has come back carrying a couple of dozen voices that he discovered there, voices whose authenticity is not only convincing but compelling.”

—Ted Kooser, former U.S. Poet Laureate and winner of the Pulitzer Prize

“A masterpiece.  Wolf leaves no emotion unplumbed, no area of research uninvestigated, and his voices are so authentic they hurt.  Everyone should read it. Outstanding, insightful back matter completes this landmark work.”  Booklist, Starred Review

A lyrical, monumental work of fact and imagination that reads like an oral history revved up by the drama of the event.  Kirkus Review, Starred Review

WOW!  Junior Library Guild 

Several concrete poems add visual interest; the Iceberg poems gradually get shorter as the monster melts, and the melee above decks is shown through a series of four-line poems surrounded by snippets of frantic conversation that converge in the gutter. As the ship sinks, the words of shipbuilder Thomas Andrews’s poem tilt and then drop off the page.   Horn Book Magazine, Starred Review  

Wolf's carefully crafted characters evolve as the voyage slides to its icy conclusion; readers may be surprised by the potency of the final impact.  Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

A well-detailed and historically accurate portrayal of the events and brings the feelings and emotions of the characters alive.   Library Media Connection, Starred Review

The poet’s commemoration of the Titanic disaster is a unique account among the numerous books scheduled for release in the run up to April 15, 2012, the centenary of the sinking, and lovers of poetry and Titanica alike will revel in its pages.  Encyclopedia-Titanica.com

Allan Wolf has combined meticulous research with open-hearted poetry to craft the story of the Titanic in a fresh and compelling way. A remarkable accomplishment.”


— Helen Frost, author of Crossing Stones and Hidden