Michigan Says Hemingway's a Great Read
by Claire Kirch -- Publishers Weekly, 7/11/2007 11:32:00 AM
The Michigan Humanities Council [MHC] is partnering with 124 libraries and cultural arts organizations across the state to launch an ambitious literacy initiative, a year-long Great Michigan Read program. The first book in the program will be Ernest Hemingway's Nick Adams Stories, a collection of interlinked short stories about a young man's coming of age. Stories was selected from 100 nominations by the seven members of the book selection committee, all of them either educators, authors, or literary journalists living in the state.
"It's about Michigan, and that was a requirement," Scott Hirko, MHC's public relations office said. "One of the stories, "Big Two-Hearted River," is the defining story about the Michigan experience. That was a contributing factor to the acceptance of this collection as the first Michigan read."
The Great Michigan Read officially began July 9, though there will be a kick off on July 27, with an announcement at the Michigan Hemingway Society's annual dinner in Petoskey, where Hemingway spent many of his summers.
Over the course of the next year, Michiganians are encouraged to read the Nick Adams Stories, using the reader's guide created by the MHC. Stories was published in 1981 by Simon & Schuster and remains in print. In conjunction with the Great Michigan Read, S&S has just released an audiobook of Stories.
Participants may also attend programs scheduled in all the communities participating in the Great Michigan Read; to date 100 communities have signed up. The MHC hopes that Great Michigan Read will be a major step in helping connect residents of the state, where 18% adult are functionally illiterate, with literature.
To help promote the initiative, the Michigan Talk commercial radio network and Michigan's PBS television intend to schedule Great Michigan Read programs. And two traveling exhibits of Hemingway family memorabilia, "Up North with the Hemingways" will criss-cross the state throughout the year. The Michigan Humanities Council also intends to award up to $7,500 in grants for proposals that expose new audiences to literature.
