Library Receives Grant for The Big Read

November 13, 2012

The Columbia College Chicago Library received a $16,000 grant to host The Big Read in Chicago and select suburban areas. The Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) designed to restore reading to the center of American culture. The Library is one of 78 not-for-profit organizations to receive a grant to host this project between September 2012 and June 2013. 

The Big Read in Chicago will take place April-May 2013 on campus and throughout the Chicago area, and it will feature In the Time of Butterflies by Julia Alvarez. This is the fourth Big Read for Columbia and the third for the Library. Past Big Reads have included Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (2009) and The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien (2011). 

The Big Read provides communities nationwide with the opportunity to read, discuss, and celebrate one of 31 selections from US and world literature. The 78 selected programs will receive Big Read grants to promote and carry out community-based reading programs featuring activities such as read-a-thons, book discussions, lectures, movie screenings, and performing arts events. Participating communities also receive high-quality, free-of-charge educational materials to supplement each title.