eBranch Blog

October 31, 2006

HCPL Partners With APAHA and iFest for Big Read

Houston and surrounding communities to participate in national program to promote literary reading and will feature Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club

The Joy Luck Club
Washington, D.C. ? October 31, 2006 - The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) today announced that Harris County Public Library is one of 72 organizations that will receive grants to support Big Read programs between January and June 2007. The Big Read is a new national program by the NEA, in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and Arts Midwest, that encourages literary reading by asking communities to come together to read and discuss one book. The organizations selected to participate in the Big Read will receive grants ranging from $5,000 to $40,000 to promote and carry out month-long, community-based programs. The Big Read in the Houston area will take place in May 2007.

Harris County Public Library received a $40,000 grant to celebrate The Big Read. ?We are thrilled at the opportunity to bring this nationally recognized program to the area,? said HCPL Director Cathy Park.

"We are delighted to be partners in The Big Read. It's exciting to know that our partnership on the national level can make it possible for local communities across the United States to connect around reading a good book,? said IMLS Director Dr. Anne-Imelda M. Radice. ?My message to the new communities that are now part of The Big Read is: Bravo, I urge everyone to get involved; reading together is a powerful experience!"

Participating communities, ranging in population from 7,000 to more than 4 million, will read and celebrate one of eight classic American novels: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, My Antonia by Willa Cather, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, or The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. To encourage community-wide participation in the project, each organization will collaborate with public and private partners within its community to develop a program of activities related to the selected novel.

Harris County Public Library, in partnership with the Asian Pacific American Heritage Association, Houston?s iFest as well as school districts and library systems in neighboring counties, will provide a variety of cultural programming in addition to book discussions about Tan?s novel. iFest, which is celebrating China this year, will serve as the official kick off for The Big Read program. The school districts that are participating in this program include Houston ISD, Aldine ISD, Clear Creek ISD and Alief ISD. Participating library systems include Montgomery County Memorial Library System, Brazoria County Library System, Sterling Municipal Library, Helen Hall Library and Fort Bend County Library.

In addition to direct grants, the NEA also will provide participating communities with a library of free materials, including reader?s and teacher?s guides for each of the Big Read novels, an audio guide for each novel featuring distinguished actors and writers, an online organizer?s guide for hosting a Big Read program, a customized television public service announcement, Big Read display materials, and a comprehensive program Web site. The Boeing Company will support the Big Read in communities with a military base.

11/7/06: Edited the Title