If there’s one big idea promoted by the Big Read, it’s that books have the power to bring communities together and ignite conversations. The initiative is now accepting applications for its 2016-17 grant program, which will award 75 organizations grants ranging from $5,000 to $20,000.
The Big Read, founded in 2006 by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and managed by Arts Midwest, supports and funds community reading programs that focus on a single book or poet. Grantees can choose from novels offered in the Big Read library. Along with the grant, the organizations receive online training, digital guides and promotional materials to bolster community involvement.
Libraries, or organizations that partner with libraries, are eligible to apply by Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016. The Big Read also encourages libraries to host creative events, such as art exhibits, theatrical readings, cook-offs and festivals, that accompany the novel’s theme.
Grantees can choose from a list of 32 novels, ranging from classics such as Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby,” to poetry authored by Emily Dickinson and Edgar Allan Poe. The most recent additions to the library are contemporary novels: “Silver Sparrow” by Tayari Jones and “In the Shadow of the Banyan” by Vaddey Ratner.
In these novels, readers are whisked away to 1980s Atlanta to uncover family secrets and travel to 1970s Cambodia to endure the Khmer Rouge through a 7-year-old's perspective. The books, which are both written by women and follow female characters, were selected to encourage communities and their libraries to showcase diverse female voices, according to Eleanor Billington, the program manager for the Big Read.
“By drawing communities together and asking them to consider a powerful story such as ‘Silver Sparrow’ or ‘In the Shadow of the Banyan,’ the Big Read invites participants to see themselves in unfamiliar narratives, voice their opinions, expand their perspective, and ultimately, embrace their role as citizens,” wrote Billington in a NEA blog post.
More information regarding application forms and grant requirements can be found on the Big Read’s website.
