Franklin’s Big Read Program
This Saturday, March 29th, the City of Franklin and the Williamson County Public Library invite the entire community to join them as they kick-off the City’s first ever Big Read Program.
This exciting six-week program kicks off with a Roaring Twenties party at the Cool Springs Galleria featuring music and dance from the era. Mayor John Schroer will be on hand to proclaim the official start of Franklin’s Big Read, as volunteers hand out free copies of The Maltese Falcon (while supplies last).
Made possible through a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Arts Midwest, the Big Read is designed to restore reading to the center of American culture by engaging entire communities in group discussions of classic literature. Over twenty events are planned throughout April, including several book discussions, art exhibits, lectures, film screenings, and a Murder Mystery Dinner Theater to wrap things up.
The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett, Franklin’s choice for The Big Read, is a novel set in San Francisco in the late 20’s. Out of Hammett’s own experiences, he writes a detective story about a man’s alienation from society and his lack of emotional involvement with his fellow man and woman. With this classic novel, Hammett created a new literary genre, the “hard boiled” detective fiction.
“The Little Read” encourages students in the Franklin Special School District and Battle Ground Academy (Lower School) to also become involved by reading mystery books geared toward younger readers (the Malted Falcon by Bruce Hale and Mystery at the Club Sandwich by Doug Cushman). Older students have already begun reading the classic Falcon and have planned their own events to celebrate the program.
For a list of other scheduled events, click here. For more information or to volunteer, call 550-6606 or e-mail bigread@franklin-gov.com.
