Big Read

Ventura Big Read - February 2010

For the full schedule of events in Ventura County visit http://neabigread.org/communities/?community_id=1121

For more information about National Big Read visit  http://www.neabigread.org/

For more information on the Ventura Big Read, contact Eric Wallner, Cultural Affairs Supervisor at 677-3911 or ewallner@ci.ventura.ca.us

The City of Ventura Cultural Affairs Division in partnership with the Ventura County Library was selected by the National Endowment for the Arts to take part in the Big Read, a community-wide reading initiative designed to restore reading to the center of American culture. To promote reading, a book is selected and the entire community is encouraged to read the book at the same time and participate in discussion groups on the book's themes.

This year's book is To Kill a Mockingbird.  As author Harper Lee's narrator, Scout Finch, tries to draw out a reclusive neighbor, she bears witness to a racially charged trial that shapes the character of her Alabama community. For more information on the book, see http://neabigread.org/books/mockingbird/

Here are a few of the highlights of this year’s Ventura Big Read:

A Kick-Off Celebration (and book giveaway) featuring a screening of the documentary “Fearful Symmetry” in partnership with the Ventura Film Society

A theater of the spoken word event by nationally acclaimed performer and storyteller Valerie Tutson, “Stories of Courage and Transformation”, in partnership with Performances to Grow On

“Careers in the Law” event at the Oxnard City Council Chambers

A screening of the film version of “To Kill a Mockingbird” at the Ojai Playhouse

Bird watching trip to Lake Casitas

A mock trial

A one act play based on the novel at the Barranca Vista Imagination Center

Lively book discussion groups at libraries countywide

Book displays in all 13 county libraries   www.vencolibrary.org