THE BIG READ

Golden Isles Arts and Humanities, in partnership with the Three Rivers Library System, the College of Coastal Georgia, and local public school systems, is honored to be one of only 75 communities across the U.S. to receive a grant in the latest round of The Big Read. We will be doing an expanded month-long program of discussion groups, exhibits, films, performances, lectures, school programs, and special public events throughout Glynn, McIntosh and Camden counties (with additional library events in other counties) as part of Coastal Georgia Reads The Great Gatsby.

This community-building initiative focusing on F. Scott Fitzgerald's immortal novel of American in the 1920s will begin in February 2011. Please check this page in the coming months for a complete calendar of events.

The Big Read, launched nationally in 2006 by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), encourages literary reading by asking communities to come together to read and discuss a single book. Modeled on successful "one book, one community" programs, the Big Read was created to address the national decline in literary reading as documented in the NEA's 2004 landmark survey “Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America.” The survey showed that less than half the American adult population now reads literature. The Big Read, both locally and nationally, has done much to reverse this decline.

GIAHA and partners received this latest Big Read grant, thanks in large part to the great success of our three previous initiatives focusing on Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 (September 2007), Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird (January 2009), and the tales and poems of Edgar Allan Poe (October 2009). Please contact us via email or at 912-262-6934 to find out how you, your organization, or your business can be a part of this valuable and fun community program.