The Orcas Writers Festival Gurus are gearing up for a new year, starting with the Big Read, a grant program that gives money to support a community-wide reading program. The Gurus have decided that Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston is a good choice for the Big Read.
It works like this: libraries and community organizations come together, choose one book from the Big Read booklist, and plan events over the space of a month that entice the whole community to read and discuss the same book.
The Big Read program, sponsored by the National Endowment of the Arts, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and Arts Midwest, is working directly to give communities the means to read together and have fun while they’re doing it.
The Orcas Island Writers Festival would like to bring the Big Read program to the San Juan Islands community in connection with their September festival.
A San Juan READS! program would inspire reading among adolescents, bring lapsed readers back to the pleasures of a good book, and bring the community together.
The Festival Gurus have a number of ideas for San Juan READS! events and welcome more ideas and participation:
· The festival will devote a number of events to the Big Read, including a reading from Hurston’s book by an up-and-coming author, a lecture on Hurston by an authority on African-American literature, and an invitation to several African-American authors.
· A special all-day African-American literature class will be offered to the high schools, focused on Their Eyes Were Watching God.
· There will be a free screening of the movie Their Eyes Were Watching God.
The Orcas Writers Festival Gurus have said that this program is not something any one group can do alone—in fact, the Big Read grant program won’t give anyone funds unless they can prove they have significant community involvement.
The organizers need to be able to demonstrate to the Big Read program a significant community interest in making this happen. A Big Read program is, by definition, a community program.
Festival founder Barbara Lewis says, “We are committed to doing the major legwork. The Orcas Island Public Library has agreed to be our host. (Thanks!) But two community groups aren’t a community. We need a chorus of support.
The Big Read grant program is an excellent opportunity to bring our community together and get people reading. Please contact us if you or someone you know would like to get involved.”
Contact Lewis at rite4me@aol.com.
