Dr. Dyer travels with Big Read project
Dr. Dan Dyer will spend time in March participating in the annual National Endowment for the Arts Big Read project.
Dyer, a longtime member of the Western Reserve Academy English Department, will travel to Boise, Idaho, on March 10 and to Santa Clara, Calif., on March 22 to talk about Jack London's The Call of the Wild. He will deliver a geographical and historical presentation of the sites, from California to the Yukon, represented in the book.
The Big Read, launched as a pilot program in 2006 with 10 communities featuring four books, is designed to restore reading to the center of American culture. The NEA presents The Big Read in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and in cooperation with Arts Midwest. The event, which has grown as more than 800 grants have been awarded to host communities, brings together partners across the country to encourage reading for pleasure and enlightenment. The initiative includes innovative reading programs in selected cities and towns, comprehensive resources for discussing classic literature and an extensive website providing comprehensive information on authors and their works.
Dyer is the author of The Call of the Wild (Annotated and Illustrated) and was named the Jack London Foundation's Man of the Year in 1996. His book, Jack London: A Biography, was named a Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association.
Dyer has been delivering presentations for The Big Read since 2008.
"My first year I traveled to Washington state to a very rural, apple-growing region," he said. "Almost everyone who attended was Hispanic and I remember the children were so appreciative. I've also done presentations at the Santa Marina (Calif.) County Library to a room full of librarians and scholars. So the groups are always very different."
For more information on The Big Read, visit this link.
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