Creating a Nation of Readers...
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 NEA presents The Big Read in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and in cooperation with Arts Midwest.
The Daniel A. Reed Library at SUNY Fredonia, in cooperation with the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation, the Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Library System and the National Endowment for the Arts, is sponsoring the third Big Read Program across both Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties.
Willa Cather's My Antonia, a timeless tale of pioneer life, has been selected for this year's Big Read. In addition to the nineteen school districts across the two counties, we hope to capture the attention of the local communites as well. We have several exciting and captivating events planned for this year, ranging from book discussions, lectures and exhibits. For a complete listing of events, please visit the Calendar of Events.
For those individuals unable to attend all of the events, we have created a blog through which members of the community not only can comment, but also acts as an online forum for discussing the book. We invite everyone to contribute to, as well as, share ideas at the My Antonia - The Big Read Program of Chautauqua and Cattaraugus Counties Blog.