Larkin Supporting Literacy Network After Ambassadorship Announcement
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STOCKBRIDGE, Mass. — Alison Larkin, the author, actress, stand-up comic and audiobook narrator who lives in southern Berkshire County, has just been named ambassador of the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation in the United States.
Larkin's award-winning narration of the works of Jane Austen including Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion and Emma brought her to the attention of the Foundation creator Caroline Jane Knight, Austen's fifth great-niece, who conferred the ambassadorship. To mark her appointment, Larkin is donating $5 to the Foundation for every Jane Austen audiobook purchased through her website, Alison Larkin Presents…, during the month of December.
Money donated from the purchase of Larkin’s Jane Austen audiobooks will be directed by the Literacy Foundation to support the Literacy Network of South Berkshire, a nonprofit organization with whose mission is to make one-on-one instruction in basic academic skills accessible to adults living or working in southern Berkshire County, where Larkin lives.
"LitNet is honored to be teaming up with Alison Larkin and the Jane Austen Literacy Foundation to address the need for fundamental literacy skills in Alison’s local community," Jennifer Hermanski, executive director of LitNet, said.
"I am honored to join the Literacy Foundation as its ambassador in the U.S. to help bring the basic skills and love of reading and writing to children who might otherwise not have opportunities to learn," Larkin said.
"The Jane Austen Literacy Foundation is pleased and proud to appoint Alison Larkin its Ambassador in the US, where her dedication will help bring the invaluable gift of literacy to her adopted country’s children; and we are most grateful for her generous gift to the Foundation," Knight said,
Larkin was born in Washington DC, adopted by British parents and raised in England and Africa, but at age 28 when she discovered her birth mother living in Bald Mountain, Tenn., she moved to America and became a stand-up comic. Her celebrated one-woman show has been seen in concert performances on both sides of the Atlantic and has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for charitable organizations.
She has narrated more than 150 audiobooks, many of them New York Times bestsellers that have appeared on countless Best of the Year and Pick of the Month lists.
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