Contact:
Karen Campbell
616-698-3246
karen.campbell@zondervan.com
Bestselling author partners with NFL Quarterback to gain awareness for the foster care system
Grand Rapids, Mich., May 23, 2007 – Karen Kingsbury, New York Times bestselling author and America's top-selling inspirational novelist, will release her first street-date hardcover novel, Between Sundays on November 6, 2007. The novel, with foreword by NFL star quarterback Alex Smith, is set in the world of professional football and sheds light on the foster care system with the design to spread awareness.
Because of an unprecedented response from thousands of readers each month, Kingsbury has received the trademark Life-Changing Fiction™ from the US Patent and Trademark Office. She is the only novelist with such a trademark. Kingsbury's novels deal with real contemporary issues, and she often hears that one of her novels has saved a reader's marriage, strengthened their faith, or triggered a healed relationship. Between Sundays figures to be another such novel, one with the power to change lives.
In Between Sundays, Kingsbury teamed up with Alex Smith, quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, for a number of reasons. Smith wants to give back to his community, much like the characters in Between Sundays. As a top-selling novelist, Kingsbury feels the same way. Though uncommon for a novel, Kingsbury and Smith felt strongly that his foreword would help readers understand the very real issues facing older foster children, who often become homeless or incarcerated in the years after turning 18. In the process they hope to raise awareness to this national dilemma and work toward solutions.
Between Sundays is a story about two professional football players with much to give and much to learn, a woman with a heart for underprivileged kids, and a lonely foster child as they experience a season of self-discovery and God's power to change peoples' hearts. Together they learn lessons in character, grace, and the importance of giving back to one's community.
Smith, the first pick in the first round of the 2005 draft, recently formed the Alex Smith Foundation – an organization to help foster children with their transition into adulthood. Once a foster child leaves the system at the age of 18, they are more or less left to fend for themselves. Studies show that within two years, approximately 50% are unemployed, one-third become homeless, and 25% end up in jail.* With the help of his foundation, Smith hopes to make a real difference in the lives of the foster children in the Bay Area.
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