Bookish: Natalie Portman to chair National Library Week

NEW YORK (AP) — Natalie Portman's latest role is on behalf of the country's libraries.

The Oscar-winning actress will serve as honorary chair of National Library Week, the American Library Association announced Monday. National Library Week runs next April 4-10.

Portman will help promote the role libraries have played in their communities during the pandemic.

“I’m delighted to join ALA and libraries everywhere in celebrating National Library Week,” Portman said in a statement. “Libraries are open, inclusive places that foster a sense of belonging and community. They show us anything is possible by encouraging a love of learning, discovery and exploration. I hope people will take time during the week to visit their library online or in person.”

Portman has long been an advocate for books, and on her Instagram account has posted pictures of what she is reading, including Bernardine Evaristo's Booker Prize-winning “Girl, Woman, Other” and New Yorker staff writer Jia Tolentino's “Trick Mirror.” She is also the author of the picture book “Natalie Portman's Fables," in which she retells such classics as “The Three Little Pigs" and “The Tortoise and the Hare.”

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