The Urban Readers Book Club, an adult book club and The Book Club, a teen book club, both formed through Read to Succeed Buffalo, will host local/poet author Ntare Ali Gault as their guest speaker for a "Read and Speak."

Book club members will have the opportunity to listen to the author read from his works and ask questions about Gault's book, The Sun Will Rise: an Urban Memoir tonight, Tuesday, February 2nd, from 6 to 8 PM, at the East Delavan Branch of the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library, also designated as Read to Succeed Buffalo's first Success Center.

Both book clubs were formed at the request of the community and as part of Read to Succeed Buffalo's Success Center at the East Delavan library. Read to Succeed is an organization dedicated to improving literacy throughout Buffalo, with a significant emphasis on its literacy zone in the Northwest quadrant of Buffalo.

Rather than establishing services deemed necessary by outside organizations, Read to Succeed surveyed the local community to determine the types of literacy services and activities that they thought were important, and the book clubs were born. The clubs are held monthly, and are facilitated by Karima Amin, a renowned local storyteller and author. Gault's presentation marks the first time a published author will address the clubs.

Read to Succeed Buffalo, Inc. began in 2007 to address Buffalo's staggering literacy problems. A funding collaborative that includes the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, The Margaret L. Wendt Foundation and The John R. Oishei Foundation, currently supports the organization. Read to Succeed Buffalo is comprised of a coalition of over 50 local organizations dedicated to improving literacy in the City of Buffalo. The organization works collaboratively with coalition partners to break the cycle of intergenerational illiteracy by achieving the goal of 100 percent literacy for every adult and child in the City of Buffalo.

A grant from The Josephine Goodyear Foundation has made it possible for each book club member to receive and keep each month's book selection.