Congressional District: 2

The Northern Arizona Book Festival's 2025 Indigenous Writers' Symposium will take its inspiration from Tommy Orange's THERE, THERE. Programming will include a launch event with Orange, a large-scale art installation, a place-based GIS anthology project, a literary walking tour of the Flagstaff bordertown, an Indigenous translation slam, as well as poetry readings, panels, and workshops.

NEA Big Read in Ottawa County will revolve around John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath.” Through book discussions, tribal renditions of the era, and play performance, community members will have an opportunity to learn about Oklahoma during the depression.

Eastern Connecticut State University will partner with public libraries, local schools, and regional environmental nonprofits to engage families, school-aged and university students. Innovative programming will connect regional community members with the arts, humanities, and environmental science themes offered by The Bear by Andrew Krivak. Program Dates: September 1, 2024 - May 1, 2025

The Chattahoochee Valley Libraries join forces with other organizations and our community to celebrate and examine WHERE WE LIVE as this year’s NEA BIG READ celebration. Using Atlanta author Tayari Jones’ celebrated "Silver Sparrow" as our guide, we’ll examine how our time, place, and people have inspired – and can inspire –creative and historical endeavors both great and small.

Inspired by Yang's The Latehomecomer to think about place both literally and metaphorically, we will provide a robust program including book discussions, writing prompts, public events, a writing retreat, and an open anthology call. The framework for thinking about place and identity holistically builds on Yang’s memoir’s structure, and the ways our place’s geology and topography affects ethology.

The Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association (PVMA) and Montague Public Libraries, with other libraries and organizations, will bring 61 Connecticut River Valley towns and cities together through creative programs to explore Ross Gay’s poetry collection “Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude” and the healing power of nature, community, and art in the face of loss and pain—November 2024 through June 2025.

The Lewis & Clark Library and partners are exploring the theme of Where We Live alongside the book “Cold Millions” by Jess Walter with lectures, performances, writing workshops and conversations. We will learn about Montana’s labor history and women activists, the Indigenous experience of marginalization, as well as the power of storytelling in our own lives.

Each winter, Fishtrap brings our local community together to read a work of American literature, providing free books and resources to schools, libraries, and community centers in rural Wallowa and Union counties. In recent years the program has involved 25% of the county population through a mix of discussion groups, films, lectures, in-school curriculum, performances, and exhibits.

The Rose Theater will provide a one-hour touring production of Romeo & Juliet for Freshmen in seven Nebraska urban and rural high schools and one community location. Following the play, we will lead an optional post-show workshop for English and Drama students. The Rose is committed to a standards-based approach, ensuring that our time spent in schools supports the work done by educators.

The Colorado Shakespeare Festival will perform a 45-minute Much Ado About Nothing at schools across Colorado as part of a series highlighting patterns of violence in Shakespeare. Post-show workshops are informed by violence prevention research and based in theatre exercises that build empathy, interpersonal skills, and collaboration--all key elements of healthy relationships and safe communities.