NEA Awards Over $3 Million in Latest Round of Big Read Grants

-- Publishers Weekly, 6/24/2009 7:01:00 AM

The National Endowment for the Arts is giving out funds totaling over $3 million to 269 organizations as part of its latest Big Read initiative. The program, which launched as a pilot initiative in 2006, has grown exponentially since its inception; in its first Big Read push in 2006, the NEA gave $265,000 to 10 cities to start community reading programs.

The latest Big Read program from the NEA will see nonprofits and libraries participating to host Big Read events between September 2009 and June 2010, with the institutions receiving money ranging from $2,500 to $20,000. The book selected are culled from the NEA's pre-selected list of titles, and range from Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried to Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.

A full list of the organizations and libraries which received grants can be found on the NEA's website here.