The BA Hosts the Chairman of the US National Endowment for Arts in the Launch of the “Big Read” Program in Egypt
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Alexandria—
The BA hosted a seminar on Monday, 4 February 2008, entitled “The Big Read”, in which Michael Dana Gioia, Chairman of National Endowment for the Arts, Washington DC, USA, introduced the “Big Read” program, launched by the Endowment in Egypt through the BA to promote literary reading.
Mr. Justin Siberell, First Secretary and Director of the American Center in Alexandria, introduced Michael Dana Gioia, who explained “The Big Read Project” as a one of the most important initiatives launched by the National Endowment for the Arts, Washington DC, USA, and the biggest program to promote reading in the history of the USA.
He added that the program was designed to restore reading to the center of American culture. The Big Read answers a big need, as revealed in the landmark report: Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading on America. This 2004 report by the National Endowment for the Arts found that not only is literary reading in America declining rapidly among all groups, but that the rate of decline has accelerated, especially among the young. The Big Read aims to address this crisis; it provides citizens with the opportunity to read and discuss a single book within their communities, through presenting a limited number of American literature classics from different literary schools and urging students and other members of the community to read and discuss them within interesting and exciting cultural events.
On launching the program in Egypt, Gioia said that Egypt and Russia were the first two countries to adopt the program, which uses reading to enter the lives of other communities and to improve our relations with the other from different societies or cultures. The selected novels representing the American literature in the program were, namely: The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, <1>Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, in addition to the English translation of Naguib Mahfouz’s The Thief and the Dogs.
It is worth mentioning that Dr. Azza El-Kholy, Professor of American Literature, Faculty of Arts, Alexandria University, and Deputy Director of the Institute for Peace Studies (IPS), will be responsible for implementing the program at the BA.