The Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy has announced the launch of the Barbara Bush Centennial – a national, yearlong celebration marking the 100th anniversary of its founder’s birth.
The Barbara Bush Centennial will officially launch with a special Celebration of Reading event at a private club in New York City on Wednesday, November 20, 2024. Created by Barbara Bush more than three decades ago, the Foundation’s Celebration of Reading events bring together bestselling authors, entertainers and special guests, including Jenna Bush Hager and Lauren Bush Lauren, to raise support for nationwide literacy programs and increase awareness of our country’s literacy challenge.
The November 20, 2024, event will feature Brooke Shields(actor, model and author of books including the forthcoming release “Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old”) in conversation with Lauren Bush Lauren (founder and CEO of FEED), as well as appearances by authors Jessamine Chan (“The School for Good Mothers”) and Kirsten Miller (“Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books,” “The Change”). The event will be co-chaired by Lori Wachs and Ali Velshi (host of “Velshi” and chief correspondent for MSNBC), with Velshi serving as emcee for the evening.
Over the course of 2025, the Barbara Bush Centennial will include a series of Celebration of Reading events in Miami, Florida, Kennebunkport, Maine, Dallas, Texas, and Washington, D.C.; special initiatives highlighting Barbara Bush’s extraordinary life and legacy; and the launch of new family literacy programming.
TODAY’s Read with Jenna book club will participate in the series of Celebration of Reading events, which will feature select appearances by Jenna Bush Hager.
The Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy has been a leading advocate for family literacy for more than three decades. Established by former First Lady Barbara Bush in 1989, today the Foundation is a public charity providing high-quality programs, resources, education initiatives and research to help families and communities nationwide build brighter futures through family literacy. Learn more at www.BarbaraBush.org.