“The Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.” The Contra Costa County Library has been awarded a grant to participate in The Big Read, a program of the National Endowment for the Arts designed to revitalize the role of literature in American culture and to encourage citizens to read for pleasure and enlightenment. The Library is 1 of 77 not-for-profit organizations across the country to host a Big Read, which will feature the book The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. Free copies of the book will be available to the public (while supplies last) at the following participating Contra Costa County Libraries beginning on March 30th: Crockett, Rodeo, Hercules, Pinole, El Sobrante, San Pablo, Kensington and El Cerrito. Please visit our website for locations and open hours at ccclib.org The Things They Carried (1990) is considered one of the finest books about the Vietnam War. The book’s narrator follows a platoon of infantrymen through the jungles of Vietnam. They trudge through the muck of a constant downpour, get hit by sniper fire, pull body parts out of a tree, laugh while they tell their stories to each other, and fall silent when faced with making sense of it all—both in the moment and twenty years later. This awardwinning work is a brutal, sometimes funny, often profound narrative about the human heart—how it fares under pressure and what it can endure. In addition to giving away copies of the book to the public, the Library will provide classroom sets of the book to the West Contra Costa Unified School District and John Swett High School to be incorporated into their curriculum. Additionally, most of the English classes at Contra Costa College will read and discuss the book. Contra Costa College faculty will also lead a series of book discussions on various topics at the College Library. See the online Big Read guide for details of these discussions and all other Big Read Programs: guides.ccclib. org/onebook/westcounty. The Library inviTes you To join us aT The foLLowing free big read evenTs: April 10, 7pm, Contra Costa College Knox Theatre: Staged reading of The Things They Carried by Word for Word Performing Arts Company April 13, 7pm, Kensington Library: Lecture about Vietnamese writer Vu Trong Phung given by Dr. Peter Zinoman, UC Berkeley Associate Professor of History April 15, 5:30pm, Contra Costa College Library: Panel discussion—Reflections of present day and Vietnam vets, moderated by Dr Jeffrey Michels, Co-Chair English Dept., CC College April 18, 1pm Contra Costa College Knox Theatre: Reader’s Theatre Workshop for teens and college students (reserve a spot online at ccclib.org) April 18, 2pm, Pinole Library: The Au Co Vietnamese Cultural Center in San Francisco presents a travelogue with Jake Nguyen April 20, 6:30pm, Crockett Library: book discussion led by Jason Berner, CC College Liberal Arts Dean April 22, 5:30pm Contra Costa College Library: Panel discussion; War at Home: Drafts, protests and resistance, moderated by Professor Judy Flum April 27, 5:30pm, Contra Costa College Library: Panel discussion; Vietnam War and Refugee Reflections featuring Andrew Lam and San Pablo Mayor Kathy Chao Rothberg April 27, 6:30pm, Kensington Library: Book discussion led by Ben Jahn, CC College English Department April 30, 6:30pm, El Sobrante Library: Vietnam Vets share their experiences plus a screening of War Ink May 4, 7pm, Hercules Library: Book discussion led by Dickson Lam, CC College Associate English Professor May 7, 7:15pm, Rialto Theatre in El Cerrito: screening of The Beautiful Country May 12, 6pm, San Pablo Library: Book discussion May 16, 3pm, Hercules Library: Vanessa Vo performs traditional Vietnamese music May 25, 1pm, Rithet Park in Crockett: Dan DeShara performs popular music from the Vietnam War era May 26, 7pm, El Cerrito Library: Book discussion
Contra Costa Marketplace - April 2015
To see the actual publication please follow the link above