Orcas Writers Festival wants to sponsor the Big Read

The Orcas Island Writers Festival is planning to bring the Big Read program to the San Juan Island community in connection with their September festival.

“A San Juan READS! program would inspire reading among adolescents, bring lapsed readers back to the pleasures of a good book, and bring the community together,” said Barbara Lewis Orcas Island Writers Festival Director. “Reading, writing, and community are what the Orcas Island Writers Festival are all about, so for us it’s a perfect fit.”

Festival organizers have chosen “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” by Zora Neale Hurston from the Big Read book list as a good choice for the Orcas community. The Big Read idea is for the entire community to read and discuss the same book during the month of September as part of The Orcas Island Writers Festival.

Other ideas for events as part of San Juan READS! include a reading from the book by an up-and-coming author, a lecture on Hurston by an authority on African-American literature, invitations to African-American authors to attend the festival, an all-day African-American literature class offered to the high schools focused on the book and a free screening of the movie “Their Eyes Were Watching God.”

Festival organizers, must show community-wide involvement in order to be eligible for the grant. The Orcas Island Public Library has agreed to be the host but more support is needed.

“The Big Read grant program is an excellent opportunity to bring our community together and get people reading,” Lewis said. “We need people. We need your brilliant ideas. Most of all, we need to be able to demonstrate to the Big Read program a significant community interest in making this happen. A Big Read program is, by definition, a community program. We are committed to doing the major legwork. Please contact us if you or someone you know would like to get involved.”

Those interested in assisting with the program should contact Lewis at rite4me@aol.com.

The Big Read, an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts, is designed to restore reading to the center of American culture and provides grant money to support a community-wide program. In partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and in cooperation with Arts Midwest, The Big Read’s goal is to bring together partners across the country to encourage reading for pleasure and enlightenment. The program began in 2006 with ten communities, and this year 400 communities in the United States will have hosted a Big Read program.

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