The Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts, in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and in cooperation with Arts Midwest. It brings the transformative power of literature into the lives of its citizens. A 2004 NEA report, Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America, identified a critical decline in reading for pleasure among American adults. The Big Read aims to address this issue directly by providing citizens with the opportunity to read and discuss a single book within their communities.
The purpose of The Big Read, like the purpose of literature itself, is pleasure. Not necessarily an easy pleasure, but a deliciously rich and complex one. A great book combines enlightenment with enchantment. It awakens our imagination and enlarges our humanity. It can even offer harrowing insights that somehow console and comfort us.
The prospect of an America where only a few people share a love of reading is just too lonely to bear. Even if statistics didn't show that readers are more active in their own communities and more engaged in their own lives, the act of reading would still be an indispensable part of what makes us fully human. It is for these reasons, with the incredible legacy of our nation's literature, that the NEA invites you to join The Big Read.
