Program/Grant: NEA Big Read

The Lorain Public Library System will partner with the Lorain Historical Society, Oberlin Public Library, Oberlin Heritage Center, Community Foundation of Lorain County, local schools, civic organizations, and businesses to offer diverse programming for audiences of all ages inspired by "Beloved" by Toni Morrison from Tuesday, September 3, 2024, through Monday, June 30, 2025.

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.

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.

"Where we live" in Athens, Georgia is fluid, changing with each new resident. Every community member's origins inform where we, as a city, are going. Our focus is on "The People," our ancestors and lineage and the places we all call "home." Through shared reading of Gyasi's novel, Homegoing, we explore our city's African American history and culture, connecting to present-day diversity.

In 2025, the Kansas City Public Library will proudly host its 8th Big Read, featuring the memoir "Sitting Pretty: The View from My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body" by local author Rebekah Taussig. Our 6-week event will encompass city-wide book clubs, workshops, and author events, focusing on Taussig's book and addressing issues related to disability rights and awareness within our community.

Collaborating with DeKalb Co. Public Library, GA Center for the Book, and a diverse network of community partners, 7 Stages will organize and promote a series of literary and artistic outreach events inspired by Charles Yu’s Interior Chinatown. An estimated 2,000 community members in metro Atlanta will participate in the shared reading and artistic response experience from 10/2024 - 5/2025.

THE BEST WE COULD BE by Thi Bui will help teen and adult San Diegans understand more about what it means to be an immigrant here, through one family’s personal experience. Opportunities to explore immigration, displacement, family, one’s place in one’s community, war, and memoir will be provided in libraries and classrooms via book discussions, visual art and writing workshops, and other events.

Peter White Public Library's NEA Big Read --based on Roz Chast's "Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?"--consists of community-wide events focused on the people who shape/have shaped/will shape WHERE WE LIVE. Emphasizing inter-generational communication, our diverse programming encourages dialogue and interaction between young and old through art, writing, interview, and performance.

Taller Comunidad la Goyco will offer a shared intergenerational experience for living in our changing city of Santurce through activities inspired by The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. Cultural programming, book discussions and creative workshops will focus on how Cisnero's narrative illuminates the stories of belonging in our neighborhood, between September, 20204 and June, 2025.

The Arts & Justice Collective hosts Big Read Cape Cod, exploring themes within "Citizen: An American Lyric." We are a group of non-profit or mission driven organizations based on Cape Cod, MA that uses our collective strengths, missions, and resources to empower each other and our community to create a culture of belonging for members of historically-excluded groups through art and social justice.