The Golden Isles Arts and Humanities has selected “Beloved” by Toni Morrison for this year’s Big Read that starts Friday, Feb 4 through March. The Big Read is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts and Arts Midwest, and aims to inspire meaningful conversations in communities through a shared reading experience. The NEA Big Read annually provides support to selected nonprofit organizations around the country to host community-wide reading programs designed around a single NEA Big Read title.
The College of Coastal Georgia is a partner of this year’s Big Read with several professors giving lectures and Big Read activities happening on campus.
Here is a list of College-related Big Read events:
· “Racism in American Institutions” lecture by Dr. Roscoe Scarborough will be held at 5:30 p.m. Feb 2, in room 108 at the Casino.
· “Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am” will be screened at 11 a.m. Feb 9 at Stembler Theatre.
· “Slave Resistance, Protest and Revolt” lecture by Dr. Hector Montford at 6 p.m. Feb. 10 at the Brunswick Library.
· “Rememory in Toni Morrison’s Beloved” lecture by Dr. Andrea Kwasny at 6 p.m. Feb. 15 at the Brunswick Library.
· “Beloved” will be screen at 7 p.m. Feb. 22 at Stembler Theatre
· “No Victims Here: Agency in Beloved” will feature Dr. Daniel Black of Clark Atlanta University at 2 p.m. Feb. 23 at Stembler Theatre. Clark will speak on Morrison’s “Beloved” in context with her others works.
· Staged reading of Toni Morrison’s powerful first novel “The Bluest Eye” by students of Dr. Kyle Fox’s African American literature class. The reading will be at 3 p.m. Feb. 27 at the Ritz Theatre. Fox also served on the planning committee for the Big Read.
· “Coping to Survive: A Psychological Perspective” lecture by Dr. Aurora Ramos Nuñez at 5:30 p.m. March 2 at the St. Simons Island Library.
· “Banning Beloved: Politics, Literature and Censorship” lecture by Dr. Nicole Pankiewicz at 6 p.m. March 8.
For younger readers, the Big Read features Middle and Little Big Read companion books. The Middle Big Read book is “Elijah of Buxton” by Christopher Paul Curtis and the Little Big Read book is “Aunt Harriet’s Underground Railroad in the Sky.” Copies of “Beloved” and the Middle and Little Big Read books are available at the local libraries and at the Ritz Theatre in downtown Brunswick.
The full schedule of Big Read events can be found online at https://goldenislesarts.org/programs/nea-big-read
Thumbnail photo by Nancy Reynolds/Golden Isles Magazine