Celebrating 15 years of
books and community
Celebrating 15 years of
books and community
We have so much to celebrate after 15 years of BookSparks, and we couldn’t have done it without our amazing community. So in honor of 15 years we’re granting 15 bookish wishes! Nominate someone promoting reading in your community below, and be entered to win our limited edition birthday tote and hat. Then, take a trip down memory lane with us as we look back with deep gratitude at just a few of the highlights from the last 15 years.
We’re granting 15 bookish wishes
Enter to win a hat and tote by nominating someone promoting reading in your community.
Do you know someone (yourself counts as someone!) promoting literacy in your area that has a bookish wish? Maybe you know a librarian looking to start a new reading program, or a teacher building their classroom library, or an influencer hosting local reading events. Tell us about someone (including yourself!) with a creative idea to promote reading in their community. We’ll select 15 of the bookish wishes to grant in honor of our 15th birthday.
When you nominate someone, you’re also entered to win our limited edition “for the plot” hat and tote, which are also available to purchase.
Nominate someone promoting literacy in your area
We’ve partnered with 15 bookstagrammers to each give away a year of books, on us!
Be sure you’re following them on Instagram so you can enter to win!
Looking back at 15 years of books and community
Over the past 15 years we’ve had the immense pleasure of working with so many amazing authors, storytellers, publishers, brands, influencers and fans. We’re taking a look back at just a few of many, many highlights in the timeline below. At the heart of everything is the tight-knit book community BookSparks has built and fostered for 15 years — thank you for being a part of it!
Spring 2009: BookSparks was founded by Crystal Patriarche.
2010: Merging Crystal’s high-tech PR experience with publishing we helped launch Auryn Inc’s story book app founded by Academy Award-winning animators from DreamWorks and Walt Disney. The app launched featuring books by Hans Christian Anderson, Dean Koontz and Jamie Lee Curtis.
2010 – 2011: A few of BookSparks’ early clients:
Summer: BookSparks launched our first ever Summer Reading Challenge.
2013: BookSparks helped launch Stan Lee’s Kids Universe at our first of many Comic-Cons.
2014 – 2016: BookSparks built momentum in the Women’s Fiction space.
Summer 2014: BookSparks first worked with Taylor Jenkins Reid on her novel, After I Do. We continued to work with Jenkins Reid on her novels, Maybe in Another Life, One True Loves, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, and Daisy Jones & The Six. Malibu Rising was our Summer 2021 Book Club Pick.
2014-15: BookSparks began relationships with Amazon Lake Union, Blink YA, and St Martin’s Press, working with each of these publishers on multiple titles.
2014 – 2017: BookSparks built momentum in the middle grade and young adult book space, including executing our first of many creative campaigns promoting a book-to-screen adaptation.
2014 – 2017: BookSparks built momentum in the domestic suspense and thriller space.
Fall 2016: BookSparks launched our online book club, which has grown to include nearly 1000 book clubs and has read dozens of picks including Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney, How to Walk Away by Katherine Center, The People We Hate at the Wedding by Grand Ginder, Luster by Raven Leilani, Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez, Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby, and The Bullet Swallower by Elizabeth Gonzalez James.
2017: BookSparks began working with the Flatiron Books marketing team on a regular basis.
Summer 2017: Paula Hawkins, #1 bestselling author of The Girl on the Train, joined us as the host of the 2017 Summer Reading Challenge with her thriller Into the Water. We were also joined by one of our first Bookstagram Ambassadors, and we now partner with over 100 book influencers each challenge.
Winter 2017: BookSparks partnered with Speak Wines to launch a line of bookish wines.
Spring 2018: BookSparks partnered with Cosmopolitan for an event celebrating the release of The Elizas by Sara Shepard, author of Pretty Little Liars.
Summer 2018: BookSparks first worked with Carola Lovering on her debut novel, Tell Me Lies, now a series on Hulu. We continued to work with Lovering on her novels Too Good to be True and Can’t Look Away.
Fall 2018: Emmy Award winner and Golden Globe nominee Katherine Heigl joined as our 2018 Fall Reading Challenge celebrity guest. Katherine joined our other FRC partners S’well, Union Wine Co., Hint Water, Rifle Paper Co., Nosh with Tash and Jo Gick of NBC’s hit show “Making It.”
Spring 2019: BookSparks worked with Rachel Howzell Hall on her novel They All Fall Down. We continued to work with Howzell Hall on her novels And Now She’s Gone, These Toxic Things, We Lie Here, What Never Happened and the forthcoming What Fire Brings.
Summer 2019: Molly Sims joined our 2019 Summer Reading Challenge celebrity guest, joining other partners including Toyota, The Skimm, Dream Hotels, Paperless Post, Homesick, Una Lou Rosé, Hi Desert Dwellings, and Prone to Wander.
Summer 2019: BookSparks teamed up with Pop Sugar Playground for the second year in a row to create an author panel, this year including Andrea Bartz, Rachel Howzell Hall, Michele Campbell and Wendy Walker. We also hosted events with Busy Philipps, Grant Ginder, Taylor Jenkins Reid, and more.
Fall 2019: Ali Wong’s Dear Girls was featured in our annual Fall Reading Challenge, which was hosted by Jojo Moyes and also included her novel The Giver of Stars. Tiffani Thiessen from the beloved television shows “Saved by the Bell” and “Beverly Hills 90210” joined as our celebrity guest.
Winter 2020: BookSparks went to Sundance Festival, hosting an influencer event with Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt as part of our annual Winter Reading Challenge.
Spring 2020: BookSparks teamed up with Toyota and Macmillan Audio to go to Alt Summit and welcome readers to our Alt Summit Book Nook, where they could sample audiobooks including Alicia Keys’ memoir More Myself, You Are Not Alone by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanan, A Good Neighborhood by Theresa Anne Fowler, and Anna K. by Jenny Lee.
Spring 2020: BookSparks launched Spring’s Biggest Virtual Book Tour to help authors and indie bookstores Keep Calm and Carry On during the early days of the pandemic, as venues closed and events were canceled.
Summer 2020: Jennifer Weiner hosted our 2020 Summer Reading Challenge with her novel Big Summer. We hosted a virtual book club event with Kevin Kwan along with PureWow’s Jenny Jin, to discuss his novel Sex and Vanity. That year’s lineup also included Beach Read by Emily Henry, a BookSparks fan favorite author summer after summer, as well as Felix Ever After by Kacen Kallendar and A Star is Bored by Byron Lane.
Winter 2021: BookSparks worked with Netflix to promote the premiere of “Firefly Lane” based on the book by Kristin Hannah, launching a long-running partnership promoting book-to-screen adaptations.
Winter 2021: BookSparks welcomed Jenny Han for our annual BookSparks Valentine’s Day BookGrams to promote the adaptation of her bestselling series, To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before.
Summer 2021: BookSparks and Reese’s Book Club shared Laura Dave’s novel The Last Thing He Told Me, which was adapted into a series starring Jennifer Garner. We were also joined our host Jenny Lee, author of Anna K. Away, and our other partners: Frolic, Minted, Simple Self Co, The Hivery and Rue La La.
Summer 2022: Jasmine Guillory joined as our 2022 Summer Reading Challenge host. Our annual Summer Reading Challenges now reach over 20 million readers each year.
Fall 2022: Celeste Ng joined as host of our 2022 Fall Reading Challenge with her latest novel Our Missing Hearts. Our Fall Reading Challenges now reach as many as 12 million readers each year.
Fall 2022: BookSparks partnered with Netflix to invite our VIP influencers and authors to the NYC premiere of “Luckiest Girl Alive” as well as providing red carpet coverage. The film stars Mila Kunas and is based on the New York Times bestseller by Jessica Knoll.
Summer 2023: BookSparks partnered with Netflix to invite our VIP influencers and authors to the NYC premiere of “The Perfect Find” at the Tribeca Film Festival, as well as providing red carpet coverage. The film stars Gabrielle Union and based on the bestselling book by Tia Williams. The novel was also part of our annual Summer Reading Challenge that year, and Union sent our readers a special message about the film.
Winter 2023: BookSparks continued our popular tradition of holiday BookGrams.
Winter 2024: The BookSparks Book Club was joined by Elizabeth Gonzalez James for a virtual discussion of her novel The Bullet Swallower, a BookSparks Book Club selection.
Winter 2024: BookSparks partnered with Netflix to attend the “Bridgerton” Season 3 teaser release and cast panel in London. We also invited our influencer network to attend the event virtually.
Winter 2024: BookSparks partnered with influencers around the country to drop off Valentine’s Day BookGrams at their favorite local coffee shops so other readers could go on a blind date with a book.
Spring 2024: BookSparks celebrates our 15th birthday!
Looking back at 15 years of books and community
Over the past 15 years we’ve had the immense pleasure of working with so many amazing authors, storytellers, publishers, brands, influencers and fans. We’re taking a look back at just a few of many, many highlights in the timeline below. At the heart of everything is the tight-knit book community BookSparks has built and fostered for 15 years — thank you for being a part of it!
Spring 2009: BookSparks was founded by Crystal Patriarche.
2010: Merging Crystal’s high-tech PR experience with publishing we helped launch Auryn Inc’s story book app founded by Academy Award-winning animators from DreamWorks and Walt Disney. The app launched featuring books by Hans Christian Anderson, Dean Koontz and Jamie Lee Curtis.
2010 – 2011: A few of BookSparks’ early clients:
Summer: BookSparks launched our first ever Summer Reading Challenge.
2013: BookSparks helped launch Stan Lee’s Kids Universe at our first of many Comic-Cons.
2014 – 2016: BookSparks built momentum in the Women’s Fiction space.
Summer 2014: BookSparks first worked with Taylor Jenkins Reid on her novel, After I Do. We continued to work with Jenkins Reid on her novels, Maybe in Another Life, One True Loves, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, and Daisy Jones & The Six. Malibu Rising was our Summer 2021 Book Club Pick.
2014-15: BookSparks began relationships with Amazon Lake Union, Blink YA, and St Martin’s Press, working with each of these publishers on multiple titles.
2014 – 2017: BookSparks built momentum in the middle grade and young adult book space, including executing our first of many creative campaigns promoting a book-to-screen adaptation.
2014 – 2017: BookSparks built momentum in the domestic suspense and thriller space.
Fall 2016: BookSparks launched our online book club, which has grown to include nearly 1000 book clubs and has read dozens of picks including Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney, How to Walk Away by Katherine Center, The People We Hate at the Wedding by Grand Ginder, Luster by Raven Leilani, Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez, Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby, and The Bullet Swallower by Elizabeth Gonzalez James.
2017: BookSparks began working with the Flatiron Books marketing team on a regular basis.
Summer 2017: Paula Hawkins, #1 bestselling author of The Girl on the Train, joined us as our first-ever author host of the 2017 Summer Reading Challenge with her thriller Into the Water. We were also joined by one of our first Bookstagram Ambassadors, and we now partner with over 100 book influencers each challenge.
Winter 2017: BookSparks partnered with Speak Wines to launch a line of bookish wines.
Spring 2018: BookSparks partnered with Cosmopolitan for an event celebrating the release of The Elizas by Sara Shepard, author of Pretty Little Liars.
Summer 2018: BookSparks first worked with Carola Lovering on her debut novel, Tell Me Lies, now a series on Hulu. We continued to work with Lovering on her novels Too Good to be True and Can’t Look Away.
Fall 2018: Emmy Award winner and Golden Globe nominee Katherine Heigl joined as our 2018 Fall Reading Challenge celebrity guest. Katherine joined our other FRC partners S’well, Union Wine Co., Hint Water, Rifle Paper Co., Nosh with Tash and Jo Gick of NBC’s hit show “Making It.”
Spring 2019: BookSparks worked with Rachel Howzell Hall on her novel They All Fall Down. We continued to work with Howzell Hall on her novels And Now She’s Gone, These Toxic Things, We Lie Here, What Never Happened and the forthcoming What Fire Brings.
Summer 2019: Molly Sims joined our 2019 Summer Reading Challenge celebrity guest, joining other partners including Toyota, The Skimm, Dream Hotels, Paperless Post, Homesick, Una Lou Rosé, Hi Desert Dwellings, and Prone to Wander.
Summer 2019: BookSparks teamed up with Pop Sugar Playground for the second year in a row to create an author panel, this year including Andrea Bartz, Rachel Howzell Hall, Michele Campbell and Wendy Walker. We also hosted events with Busy Philipps, Grant Ginder, Taylor Jenkins Reid, and more.
Fall 2019: Ali Wong’s Dear Girls was featured in our annual Fall Reading Challenge, which was hosted by Jojo Moyes and also included her novel The Giver of Stars. Tiffani Thiessen from the beloved television shows “Saved by the Bell” and “Beverly Hills 90210” joined as our celebrity guest.
Winter 2020: BookSparks went to Sundance Festival, hosting an influencer event with Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt as part of our annual Winter Reading Challenge.
Spring 2020: BookSparks teamed up with Toyota and Macmillan Audio to go to Alt Summit and welcome readers to our Alt Summit Book Nook, where they could sample audiobooks including Alicia Keys’ memoir More Myself, You Are Not Alone by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanan, A Good Neighborhood by Theresa Anne Fowler, and Anna K. by Jenny Lee.
Spring 2020: BookSparks launched Spring’s Biggest Virtual Book Tour to help authors and indie bookstores Keep Calm and Carry On during the early days of the pandemic, as venues closed and events were canceled.
Summer 2020: Jennifer Weiner hosts our 2020 Summer Reading Challenge with her novel Big Summer. We hosted a virtual book club event with Kevin Kwan along with PureWow’s Jenny Jin, to discuss his novel Sex and Vanity. That year’s lineup also included Beach Read by Emily Henry, a BookSparks fan favorite author summer after summer, as well as Felix Ever After by Kacen Kallendar and A Star is Bored by Byron Lane.
Winter 2021: BookSparks worked with Netflix to promote the premiere of “Firefly Lane” based on the book by Kristin Hannah, launching a long-running partnership promoting book-to-screen adaptations.
Winter 2021: BookSparks welcomed Jenny Han for our annual BookSparks Valentine’s Day BookGrams to promote the adaptation of her bestselling series, To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before.
Summer 2021: BookSparks and Reese’s Book Club shared Laura Dave’s novel The Last Thing He Told Me, which was adapted into a series starring Jennifer Garner. We were also joined our host Jenny Lee, author of Anna K. Away, and our other partners: Frolic, Minted, Simple Self Co, The Hivery and Rue La La.
Summer 2022: Jasmine Guillory joined as our 2022 Summer Reading Challenge host. Our annual Summer Reading Challenges now reach over 20 million readers each year.
Fall 2022: Celeste Ng joined as host of our 2022 Fall Reading Challenge with her latest novel Our Missing Hearts. Our Fall Reading Challenges now reach as many as 12 million readers each year.
Fall 2022: BookSparks partnered with Netflix to invite our VIP influencers and authors to the NYC premiere of “Luckiest Girl Alive” as well as providing red carpet coverage. The film stars Mila Kunas and is based on the New York Times bestseller by Jessica Knoll.
Summer 2023: BookSparks partnered with Netflix to invite our VIP influencers and authors to the NYC premiere of “The Perfect Find” at the Tribeca Film Festival, as well as providing red carpet coverage. The film stars Gabrielle Union and based on the bestselling book by Tia Williams. The novel was also part of our annual Summer Reading Challenge that year, and Union sent our readers a special message about the film.
Winter 2023: BookSparks continued our popular tradition of holiday BookGrams.
Winter 2024: The BookSparks Book Club was joined by Elizabeth Gonzalez James for a virtual discussion of her novel The Bullet Swallower, a BookSparks Book Club selection.
Winter 2024: BookSparks partnered with Netflix to attend the “Bridgerton” Season 3 teaser release and cast panel in London. We also invited our influencer network to attend the event virtually.
Winter 2024: BookSparks partnered with influencers around the country to drop off Valentine’s Day BookGrams at their favorite local coffee shops so other readers could go on a blind date with a book.
Spring 2024: BookSparks celebrates our 15th birthday!
