2020 NEA BIG READ: Attleboro – Launching September 10!
ATTLEBORO – The NEA Big Read begins an odyssey of its own Thursday, Sept. 10, as it launches its 2020 program based on the Greek-themed novel Circe by Madeline Miller.
This event is 6-8 p.m. on the patio outside of the Attleboro Public Library and at the adjoining Balfour Riverwalk Park. Free copies of the book and event calendars will be handed out.
Events that day include a petting zoo with rabbits, ducks, chickens and baby goats sponsored by The Bristol County Savings Charitable Foundation, children’s take & make craft kits: Medusa headbands for children 3 to 7 years old and a Light-Up Mythology jar for children 8 and up.
Registering in advance is required for timed entrance to the petting zoo. The program website, attleboros1abc.org, has more information and steps for signing up using the Events link.
Circe is the story of a girl raised in the house of Helios who turns to mortals for companionship, menacing the Greek gods and at the same time celebrating fierce female strength in a man’s world.
The book was an instant New York Times bestseller. Miller’s first book, “The Song of Achilles,” was also a Times bestseller and won the 2012 Orange Prize for Fiction.
Miller, a Brown University graduate with a bachelor’s and a master’s degrees in Classics, will make a virtual Big Read appearance in a discussion of her book Thursday, Oct. 8.
The two-month-long event includes in September an in-gallery and virtual exhibit at the Attleboro Arts Museum called “Scylla – The Ugly Truth Revealed” starting Saturday, Sept. 12, as the NEA Big Read kick-off event, a STEAM project to build an ancient Greek temple the week of Sept. 14-18, a women’s suffrage virtual lecture by Barbara Benson Wednesday, Sept. 16, a mythological anime workshop via Zoom Thursday, Sept. 24, and a lecture on the history witch persecutions Wednesday, Sept. 30.
There will also be numerous book club discussions for adults and children. A full list of events in September and October is available online at attleboros1abc.org
To help fund Big Read programming, Attleboro’s 1ABC Committee has received a $15,000 NEA Big Read grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Also contributing funding for the two months of events in September and October are Bristol County Savings Bank Charitable Foundation, the Attleboro Cultural Council, Friends of Attleboro Public Library, Rotary Club of Attleboro and the Trustees of the Attleboro Public Library.
NEA Big Read: Attleboro partners include the Attleboro Arts Museum, Attleboro Area Industrial Museum, Attleboro Farmers Market, Attleboro Land Trust, Attleboro Public Library, Attleboro Public Schools, Bishop Feehan High School, Bridgewater State University, Bristol Community College, Community VNA, DoubleACS, The Literacy Center, and The Sun Chronicle.
For more information and to register for events, visit attleboros1abc.org or call the Attleboro Public Library at 508-222-0157.
NEA Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest. It encourages residents of a community to read the same book at the same time and enhance the shared experience through local arts and culture activities.