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The Secret Life of Bees was awarded the 2004 Book Sense Book of the Year in paperback on June 4 at BOOK EXPO AMERICA in Chicago. The award is presented annually by Book Sense, a national organization of independent booksellers. Jane Pauley presented the award to Sue. In her comments, Sue expressed gratitude to “booksellers , her publisher, and her readers” The finalists were Atonement, Life of Pi, The Dive from Clausen’s Pier, and Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff.
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The Mermaid Chair has remained for six months on the New York Times bestseller list for hardcover fiction, while The Secret Life of Bees marks over two years on the New York Times bestseller list for paperback fiction.
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Since The Secret Life of Bees was published in 2002, approximately three and a half million copies of the hardcover and paperback have been sold.
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The Secret Life of Bees has been nominated for the 2004 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. An initiative of the city of Dublin, Ireland, the award seeks to acknowledge a novel of high literary merit written in or translated into the English language.
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ReadingGroupGuides.com reports that The Secret Life of Bees is the favorite pick among book groups. Voices of more than 2,400 book group members across the U.S. were represented in a survey conducted online at www.ReadingGroupChoices.com between January and March, 2004. The Secret Life of Bees was in first place followed by The DaVinci Code. If your book club is interested in discussing Bees, you will find a Readers’ Guide and “conversation” with the author at the back of the paperback edition. Also take a look at the Readers’ Guide posted at the web site.
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The American Place Theater presented The Secret Life of Bees on stage in New York City April 27. The evening was a Gala Benefit featuring a one-woman performance by Denise Wilbanks, adapted and directed by Wynn Handman. Costumes were designed by Academy Award winning costume designer Ann Roth. Sue Monk Kidd was presented with the Literature To Life award from American Place Theatre during the event. The evening was conceived by American Place Theatre’s executive director, David Kenner. This unique event was a benefit for American Place Theatre’s “Literature to Life” program, an ongoing art education initiative for students. The play had a 2-week educational run. Other novels presented in the past include: The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison, The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros, and The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams. The performances was held at the New York Society for Ethical Culture’s Concert Hall.
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Sue Monk Kidd chose Stephanie Kallos’ debut novel Broken For You as the December selection for The Today Show Book Club. Each month The Today Show invites a well known author to pick a book for their book club. Sue announced her selection on the show December 14, 2004. She appeared on the live segment along with the book’s author Stephanie Kallos, and spoke of her reasons for choosing Kallos’ book, referring to it as “a moving and redemptive story filled with hope.” Kidd cited the novel’s beautiful language, eccentric characters and its powerful theme of taking what is broken inside us and reconfiguring it into mosaics of meaning and beauty.
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The Secret Life of Bees has been chosen as the 2004 state read for Rhode Island.
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Sue appeared on the television show “New Morning” on the Hallmark Channel April 27, 2004. The profile piece took place at Sue’s home in South Carolina and focused on ways that Sue seeks “to nurture her spirit.” The segment included her husband, Sandy and her black lab, Lily.
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The Secret Life Of Bees has been published in 21 countries including: the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Holland, Greece, Poland, Israel, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, South Korea, Turkey, Croatia, Germany, Portugal, Italy, Japan, Taiwan and the Slovak Republic.
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