Art League Book Club

“Dr. Margaret Coté, and assistant professor of English at the Hazleton Campus of Penn State, won the hearts of many with her beauty, her charm and her profound insight with the reading of The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough to a large audience in the gallery. She pointed out that future classics are being written today as the long endurance and supreme writing of this story lay testimony. Moreover, the power of this work captured by Dr. Coté on February 9, 1979, inspired a group, who had often talked about a book club, to ask her to act as a moderator, and the first meeting of the newly formed Hazleton Art League Book Club took place March 7, 1979.

Even when Dr. Coté was transferred to the Allentown Campus, she traveled to Hazleton to meet with the Club, but when she moved away from that area, members, who had become accustomed to the round-table discussion, took turns in suggesting what books should be reviewed, serving as moderators. Books were chosen that were finally in paperback editions to reduce the cost. Mrs. Betty Barrett and Mary E. Ferry were the principals in the formation of this Club.”

— A Brief History of the Hazleton Art League Book Club.