Their Eyes Were Watching God, the brilliant novel published in 1937 by
Zora Neale Hurston, is the focus of THE BIG READ, a city-wide reading event in April and May created by the National Endowment for the Arts. Everyone in the city will be reading the same book at the same time!
DC's Big Read is part of the The Big Read, an initiative of the National Endowment of the Arts in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Arts Midwest. DC's Big Read is presented by the
Humanities Council of Washington, DC and the
DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.
The events below are at the Woodridge Library, 1801 Hamlin Street, NE (at the corner of 18th and Rhode Island Avenue, NE).Now through May 19th, 2007Book display, "Remembering Zora Neale Hurston"
Monday, April 30th, 2007, 6:30pmJoin us for a video presentation of the film "Their Eyes Were Watching God," produced by Oprah Winfrey, starring Halle Berry. The Friends of the Woodridge Library (FWL) will provide refreshments. The branch has copies of the book for check-out; FWL has provided a limited number of copies to give away if the recipient commits to attending and participating in the May 2nd discussion (details below).
Wednesday, May 2nd, 2007, 6pmWith refreshments provided by FWL, DC performer, author and playwright
Joy Jones will kick off discussion of the novel. Joy says, "I discovered Zora Neale Hurston in college and it was like discovering chocolate. The study of literature suddenly became delicious!"
Ms. Jones grew up in NE an avid reader and regular patron at Woodridge Library. She still visits DCPL for books many times a month. Her recent op-ed piece in the
Washington Post, "
Marriage is for White People," received national attention.
Reading groups and book clubs are especially urged to attend, to share information about the book, and also to tell how to form a good book club and make it work. The
Literary Friends have prepared a book box filled with materials about Hurston that book groups can borrow.
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Details on DC Big Read events at MLK and branch libraries around the city [pdf]
