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BIG READ BRINGS AUTHORS, EVENTS TO MCLD
The Big Read, an initiative designed to revitalize the role of literary reading in American popular culture among adults and youth, will kick off more than six weeks of festivities in libraries in the Maricopa County Library District beginning in mid-September.
According to Library District youth services manager, Alicia Snarr, “The Big Read is a celebration of literature that encourages the community to read and discuss a common story. The 2009 selection for The Big Read, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, generates interesting discussion about the freedom to read, the influence of media and the danger of mindless entertainment.”
Movie screenings and book discussions of Fahrenheit 451 will be hosted at North Valley and Northwest Regional libraries and Perry, Fountain Hills, Sun City, and Goodyear Branch libraries.
Sun City and Northwest libraries are slated to welcome author Sam Weller, who wrote The Bradbury Chronicles: The Life of Ray Bradbury, the first-ever Bradbury biography. Weller is a frequent and highly sought-after lecturer on the life and works of Bradbury.
On September 17, at the Queen Creek Branch Library, 14 local authors from the Desert Sleuths Chapter of Sisters in Crime and the Desert Rose Chapter of Romance Writers in America will take the stage at the Queen Creek Branch Library to discuss the freedom to read and other issues.
Several District libraries will present other Big Read events such as stories and songs around a “campfire,” fire house tours, and banned book trivia.
For specific information about dates, hours, locations and specific Big Read activities, please visit the Library District Web site at www.mcldaz.org.
The Maricopa County Library District is home to 17 regional and branch libraries and welcomed a record 3.4 million visitors during fiscal year 2008-09.