'The Great Summer Read: The New York Times Free Book Series' Begins July 12; Novel Approach to Reading Gets New York City on the Same Page; BMW Signs on as Exclusive Sponsor.

NEW YORK -- The New York Times announced today it will serialize four well-known literary works in a new book promotion called "The Great Summer Read: The New York Times Free Book Series"(TM) which begins July 12. Each book will be published in its entirety in seven daily installments that will start on Monday and culminate on Sunday. Chapters of the books will be inserted into copies of The Times and distributed in the New York metropolitan region. Tri-State BMW Dealers has signed on to be the exclusive sponsor of the program.

The four books chosen for the series are "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald beginning July 12; "Like Water for Chocolate" by Laura Esquivel beginning July 26; "Breakfast at Tiffany's" by Truman Capote beginning August 9; and "The Color of Water" by James McBride beginning August 23.

"As a newspaper, we are a natural advocate for fostering a passion for reading," said Alyse Myers, vice president of marketing services at The New York Times. "To advance this cause, we decided to revive the venerable tradition of serializing books and to offer them free, with the daily newspaper - for the whole city to enjoy. What better way to bring our diverse city together than by offering readers the opportunity to share in some great books?"

"We've partnered with the Tri-State BMW Dealers to bring some 'great summer reads' to our customers in the New York metropolitan area this summer," said Gene Donnelly, vice president, Eastern Region, BMW of North America, LLC. "This program is designed to enrich the communities where we do business by fostering reading of good books and it celebrates our passion for literacy, education and cultural understanding. We're proud to help make it possible."

NYTimes.com will post the first chapter of each book online and will host online discussion groups for readers to share their thoughts on the books with other Times readers (www.nytimes.com/summerread). Each forum will go live the day the first excerpt is published in the newspaper.

The Times is supporting each publication with a host of events including celebrity readings and panel discussions. The first reading will be at Borders with Sam Waterston and his daughter, Elisabeth, reading from passages of the Fitzgerald novel on Monday, July 12, at 6 p.m. at the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle. Sam Waterston portrayed Nick Carraway in the movie version of "The Great Gatsby." James McBride, author of "The Color of Water," will do a reading at Borders on Monday, August 23, and will participate in a panel discussion at The Brooklyn Public Library on Tuesday, August 24. Additional celebrity readings are being planned.

To help promote "The Great Summer Read," The Times will launch a series of newspaper, television and radio advertisements to run throughout the summer.

Borders will also promote "The Great Summer Read" in all of their 38 metro-area stores with signage, discounts and, where possible, distribution of the daily installments.

The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT), a leading media company with 2003 revenues of $3.2 billion, includes The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe, 16 other newspapers, eight network-affiliated television stations, two New York City radio stations and more than 40 Web sites, including NYTimes.com and Boston.com. For the fourth consecutive year, the Company was ranked No. 1 in the publishing industry in Fortune's 2004 list of America's Most Admired Companies. The Company's core purpose is to enhance society by creating, collecting and distributing high-quality news, information and entertainment.

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