Rapides Reads
Presented By:
Rapides Parish Library
The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, with the State
Library of Louisiana, announced in July that it has been recommended for a grant
to host The Big Read in Alexandria, Mandeville, Slidell and Shreveport. 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 Big Read is managed by
Arts Midwest. The LEH is one of 78 not-for-profits to be recommended for a
grant to host a Big Read project between September 2012 and June 2013. The Big
Read events will be managed by the Shreve Memorial Library (Caddo
Parish), the Rapides Parish Library and the St. Tammany Parish Library.
All interested participants will have the opportunity to read and discuss Tim
O’Brien’s critically acclaimed The Things They Carried, a series
of related stories about a combat platoon in Vietnam that weave the power of
fiction and the honesty of personal account into a seamless expression of war
as experience.
“O’Brien’s stories were published in 1990 but are anything but irrelevant to us today,” Segreto noted. “We have thousands of recent combat veterans from the wars in southwest Asia who are coping with post conflict experiences that are hauntingly similar to those endured by veterans from the war in southeast Asia 40 years ago. Scarcely a week passes without news about recent veterans diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder, and the challenges society faces with expanding awareness and services for them.” He concluded, “O’Brien’s book stands as great literature in itself and affords us the opportunity to step back in time to hold a mirror to ourselves today.”
Activities will take place in libraries, other facilities and in schools in the three parishes beginning in September. For information about specific events in the three parishes, contact:
- Debra Kavanaugh in Shreveport, 318-226-5864/dkavanaugh@shreve-lib.org;
- Tammy DiBartolo in Alexandria, 318-442-2483 ext. 1906/youthservices@rpl.org;
- Mimi Nothacker in Covington, 985-893-6280 ext. 120/mimi@stpl.us.
A special panel discussion event will also occur at the 2012 Louisiana Book Festival in Baton Rouge on October 27. For information on this panel, contact Jim Davis at the State Library of Louisiana, 225-342-9714/jdavis@slol.lib.la.us.
Upcoming Events
- Kick Off Event (September 22)
- The American Soldier, Guardians of our Freedom (September 22 - November 2)
- Visit our Hineston Branch anytime during our Big Read programming to receive information and hand-out based activities about the Vietnam War and the soldiers who fought it.
- Keynote Address (October 13)
- The keynote address for this year's Big Read selection The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien will be given by Dr. Ginger Jones. To RSVP or for more information contact Tammy DiBartolo at 318-442-2483 x 1906
- Book Discussion at Westside (October 18)
- Please join us for a Big Read book discussion led by Dr. Kevin Ells from LSUA. For more information or to reserve a seat, please contact Tammy DiBartolo at (318) 442-2483 x1906 or email at youthservices@rpl.org.
- Book Discussion at Westside (October 27)
- Please join us for a Big Read book discussion led by Dr. Kevin Ells from LSUA. For more information or to reserve a seat, please contact Tammy DiBartolo at (318) 442-2483 x1906 or email at youthservices@rpl.org.
- Book Discussion at LSUA (November 1)
- Please join us for a Big Read book discussion led by Dr. Kevin Ells of LSUA. The discussion will be held in the LSUA Multipurpose Academic Center in Room 302. To reserve a seat or for more information, please contact Tammy DiBartolo at (318)442-2483 x1906.
- Soiree in the Stacks - Friends of the Library Big Read Event (November 2)
- Please join the Rapides Friends of the Library as the celebrate another Big Read selection. This year's book is The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. Music from the Viet Nam war era will be provided by Judy Caplan Ginsburg and David Marler. For more information, please contact Tammy DiBartolo at (318)442-2483 x1906 or email at youthservices@rpl.org.
- Book Discussion at Westside (November 8)
- Please join us for a Big Read book discussion led by Dr. Kevin Ells from LSUA. For more information or to reserve a seat, please contact Tammy DiBartolo at (318) 442-2483 x1906 or email at youthservices@rpl.org.