Dear Our Shared Shelf,

Our next book will be Persepolis, a graphic novel that serves as the memoir of the author, Marjane Satrapi. It's about a bold and brave young woman and her experiences in 1980s Iran.

Persepolis was first published in French in 2003 and like Art Spiegelman's Maus (which was about the Holocaust and was the first graphic novel to win the Pulitzer Prize) is now widely considered a classic of the graphic novel form.

Satrapi grew up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution and its aftermath; Persepolis is the story of her childhood. Through Marji's youthful (though not-always-innocent)...

Emma had already participated to it last year, in a sketch called 'The Vicar of Dibley'.


The campaign to help kids living in poverty is returning to the U.S. for the second time with a star-studded NBC event on May 26.
As Red Nose Day gets ready to return to the U.S. for the second year, the charitable campaign is revealing some of the stars set to participate in its May 26 NBC special.

Tracy Morgan, Emma Watson, Danny Trejo and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt star Ellie Kemper will all take part in the two-hour event, broadcast live from L.A. from 9-11 p.m. ET.

Craig Ferguson will host the special...

3rd book for Our Shared Shelf is bell hooks' 'All About Love: New Visions'.

This month's book choice is in honor of bell hooks who interviewed me for Paper magazine this month. Maya Angelou said of bell’s work, “Each offering from bell hooks is a major event, she has so much to give us’. I love hearing from bell, I am pretty excited to start “All About Love: New Visions". It’s been on my list for a while.

link

Emma recommended a few other things:

Ok Team!

First thing's first, The Color Purple. I read it in two sittings and am now telling EVERYONE I know to watch the film too....

I didn't know what to expect when I started this Book Club. To have 100k members in less than a month is amazing and for this I am so grateful but even more amazing is the level at which I see these topics being engaged with and discussed and how generous people are being with their responses and insights into the material. This is what is meaningful to me. Then more recently to look on Instagram and literally see people from all over the world coming together to discuss these issues in groups, over Skype, in person, mothers and daughters, friends, selfies, pictures of cats and dogs...