The Big Read is returning to Christian County for a second year in a row, thanks to a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Pennyroyal Arts Council.
The PAC recently secured the $16,200 matching grant to put on the community and student-engagement reading program which includes themed activities based around a single book.
Director Margaret Prim says last year’s big read was a big success drawing in around 10,000 participants.
“It’s really just to help our communities come together and planning events and reading a common book, trying to bring literacy to the forefront of our community and we’ll be giving free copies of the book and all the events surrounding the Big Read are free to the public," said Prim.
Prim says the grant is matching so the council and its partners will have to fundraise.
This year’s book is Harper Lee’s 1960 classic “To Kill A Mockingbird” which is loosely based on the author’s own childhood and observations on race and society in the American south. It was later made into the Academy Award-winning film starring Gregory Peck.
Prim says it was one of 37 on the NEA's booklist and all the planned activities be themed on the novel.
“We’re still in the planning process right now, but we’ll have keynote speakers and a big kick-off celebration," said Prim. "I can tell you that we’ve secured Mary Badham, who played Scout in the movie. We’ve got book discussions that will happen in the library, a lot of fun events like a Boo Radley cemetery walk in the month of October.”
Prim says last year’s Big Read, based on “The Maltese Falcon,” was a big success drawing in around 10,000 participants.
The event is free to the public and runs October 8 through November 14. More information on schedules will be available in August.
