LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Lake County Library’s NEA Big Read for 2023 has successfully wrapped up its six-week program that explored themes of the book selection, Pulitzer Prize winning poetry collection “Postcolonial Love Poem” by Natalie Diaz.
One of 62 nonprofit organizations nationwide chosen to receive an NEA Big Read grant for the 2022-2023 program year, this was the first time the Lake County Library returned to NEA Big Read programming since pre-COVID in 2018.
A $9,500 grant was awarded to the Library to host the NEA Big Read countywide with dynamic community reading programs.
The NEA Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest, which seeks to broaden our understanding of our world, our neighbors, and ourselves through the power of a shared reading experience.
Showcasing a diverse range of themes, voices, and perspectives, the NEA Big Read aims to inspire meaningful conversations, artistic responses, and new discoveries and connections in each community.
Organizations chosen to receive an NEA Big Read grant are selected by a panel of outside experts who review the proposed projects for artistic excellence and merit. Competitive applications demonstrate strong literary programming, experience in building effective local partnerships, reaching and engaging new and diverse audiences, working with educators, involving local and state public officials, and working with media.
For this year’s NEA Big Read, the book selection was chosen by Library staff from the Big Read book list, and the first time poetry was chosen for the countywide program. The NEA Big Read was coordinated by Literacy Program Coordinator and Lake County Poet Laureate Georgina Marie Guardado, Library Technician and Programming Coordinator Amy Patton, and County Librarian Christopher Veach.
The Big Read was supported by all library staff at each branch, and the Little Read designed for children was supported by Supervising Library Technician and Children’s Programming Coordinator Barbara Green.
Postcolonial Love Poem was chosen due to its popularity and how the poems push against the forces of racism, environmental destruction, addiction, and mental illness from a place of desire, love, and language. Library staff felt it was important to embrace representation, marginalized identities, and new perspectives that otherwise might not be explored in our county in a public way. While the book is complex and might have required more than one reading to aid in understanding, it offered the opportunity to read and think in a new way.
During Big Read programming, 433 free copies of the book were distributed to the public and a variety of 26 free public events related to the book were held. Despite continued COVID precautions and record-breaking storms, events drew a combined total of more than 450 adults and children combined.
Events included book discussions, writing workshops, museum presentations, farmers’ market booths, poetry readings, and an author event. A Little Read Storytime series was provided and offered comparative, age-appropriate titles to the adult Big Read book.
To spread the word for the Big Read program and invite as many community members as possible, the library utilized social media outreach, press releases, radio advertising, word of mouth, professional networking and partner collaborations.
The library thanks the many partners that helped bring about the success of the program including Bicoastal Media, Brenda Yeager, Denise Low-Weso, Friends of the Lake County Library, Redwood Community Services - Harbor Youth Resource Center, Jabez W. Churchill, Jennifer Mills Kerr, Kimi Sugioka, Lake County Community Radio KPFZ 88.1 F.M., Lake County Arts Council including Jordan O'Halloran and Richard Schmidt, County of Lake Board of Supervisors including Bruno Sabatier, Lake County Campus of Woodland Community College including Mary Wilson and Michael Thurin, Lake County Farmers' Finest and Cornelia Sieber, Lake County Friends of Mendocino College including Wilda Shock, Lake County Genealogical Society, Lake County Literacy Coalition, Museums of Lake County including Clark McAbee and Carolynn Birilli, Lake County News, Lake County Office of Education including Dana Adams, California Poet Laureate Lee Herrick, Mendo Lake Family Life Magazine, Mendocino College Lake Center including Monica Flores and Steve Hellman, Mia Ruiz, Natalie Diaz, O'Meara Bros. Brewing Company, Lake County Record-Bee, Retired Teachers Association of Lake County, The Bloom, Visit Lower Lake and Watershed Books.
Visit arts.gov/neabigread for more information about the NEA Big Read. Organizations interested in applying for an NEA Big Read grant in the future should visit Arts Midwest’s at https://artsmidwest.org/ for more information.
Georgina Marie Guardado is the Lake County Library’s Literacy Program coordinator.
2023 NEA Big Read a success
- Georgina Marie Guardado
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